Martin and the River

Written by Jon-Erik Lappano

Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-444-4

36 pp.

Ages 3-6

March 2022

 

As Earth Day nears, we need to consider that the experiences of young people with the natural world will be quite different depending on where they live. But, if Martin and the River shows us anything, it's that it doesn't have to be that way.

From Martin and the River by Jon-Erik Lappano, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Martin lives in a rural community where the river and its environs are more than just the landscape of his life: they are his companions. He watches the frogs, great blue herons and crayfish. He knows the behaviour of the otters and osprey. Countless hours are spent at the river that runs through the fields behind his house. Then a new job moves the family to the city.

From Martin and the River by Jon-Erik Lappano, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

As Martin prepares to leave the river and its life force, he seeks a plan to help. But it's not until his parents take him for a visit to the city, with its subway, museum, and its own natural area that Martin finds a way to bring the river to the city with him.

From Martin and the River by Jon-Erik Lappano, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Story from Jon-Erik Lappano? Art by Josée Bisaillon? I was already sold on Martin and the River. I knew it would be impactful and it is because it touches on big ideas of adapting to change and of our relationships with nature. Every child will experience some change in their lives, especially the leaving behind of the familiar and going to the unknown, whether it be home, family or school. How they deal with that change is important in determining how disquieting the transition will or will not be. Martin may be a resilient child but change is still change and leaving behind his beloved river was going to be hard. Thankfully he and his parents knew enough to help make that transition smoother by finding another river for him to embrace.

Beyond the concept of change, Martin and the River is a big story because of the child's relationship with the river and its elements, hence my choice to review this book for our upcoming Earth Day. For Martin, Earth Day is everyday. It's appreciating the natural world and its plants and animals and water. It's acknowledging how nature sustains us, especially spiritually. He was fortunate to be able to spend time communing with the river and experiencing the life within. But these experiences helped him to bridge a difficult transition because he was able to appreciate that another natural environment had much to offer as well, just different. 

And don't Josée Bisaillon's illustrations, blends of coloured pencil, pastels, gouache and digital art, just burst with the life of that river and the scenes of the city? From the lush greenery, golden fields and busy indoor and outdoor city scapes, Josée Bisaillon has taken us into Martin's busy brain, imagining, appreciating and feeling. Everything is big and bold and wild.

Not every child is fortunate to have a river as a friend, but I hope that every child finds their own natural element, as Martin did with his rivers, to underscore their lives and guide them with reflection, resilience and imagination.

This is the Boat that Ben Built

Written by Jen Lynn Bailey
Illustrated by Maggie Zeng

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-242-4

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

March 2022 

While many cumulative tales, those in which the story starts with one person or thing and continues to add new elements while repeating those already introduced, are often humourous and can lead to the absurd, This is the Boat that Ben Built actually has a sense of calm about it. OK, there is a little bit of the silly, but only enough to provide a giggle and a smile to the relaxing atmosphere of a child on a northern Canadian river amidst a plethora of land, water and sky creatures.

From This is the Boat that Ben Built by Jen Lynn Bailey, illus. by Maggie Zeng

Under the watchful eye of his life-vested mother and dog on shore, Ben heads out in his boat Explorer on a peaceful river. He's well prepared with his binoculars, fishing gear, and investigative tools like a journal, magnifying glass and jars.

From This is the Boat that Ben Built by Jen Lynn Bailey, illus. by Maggie Zeng

From This is the boat that Ben built, the reader progresses with the young boy to the river (This is the river that carries the boat that Ben built), to the fish that swim in the river, the beaver that builds there, the loon that floats, a goose that grins, a black bear, a moose, a heron and owl. And then there's mayhem!

From This is the Boat that Ben Built by Jen Lynn Bailey, illus. by Maggie Zeng

This is the Boat that Ben Built ends as calmly as it started, though Ben has added some travellers to his boat, and all young readers will be both entertained and educated as the repetitive text moves the story from tranquility to tumult and back to balance. By wrapping her lessons on the fauna of the northern river ecosystem in the humour of a goofy story of animals in a wild chain reaction, author Jen Lynn Bailey is providing valuable STEM lessons for young children and amusing them with the antics on the river. So, for teachers who need to introduce their students to the interrelationships of living things or those who want to blend some science into their reading programs–cumulative, repetitive stories are fabulous for growing readers–This is the Boat that Ben Built ticks all the boxes.

 

Of course, Maggie Zeng's artwork just adds to both the calmness and the sweetness of the story. Another illustrator might have leaned to the silly but Maggie Zeng keeps with the naturalness of a river ecosystem, giving the animals, the people and the landscape all identifiable attributes but with a softness that comes of awareness of audience and message. The river alone, whether of the turquoise green or yellow-green of sediment rich waters, is as easy moving as the story, carrying Ben and his boat as it does young readers.

From This is the Boat that Ben Built by Jen Lynn Bailey, illus. by Maggie Zeng

This is the Boat that Ben Built is a tale of discovery and appreciation for a natural ecosystem but Jen Lynn Bailey and Maggie Zeng do well to tie it to a bit of silliness that will have kids laughing as they learn.

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To learn more about This is the Boat that Ben Built, check out its upcoming virtual book launch, free to all ages, with author Jen Lynn Bailey and illustrator Maggie Zeng on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 from 7- 8 PM EST.  Registration for this event can be accessed at bit.ly/boatben

And Then the Seed Grew

Written and illustrated by Marianne Dubuc

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0207-7

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2019

Above ground, a seed falls onto the soil and, observed by a green sprite and a gnome, begins to grow. But its impact below ground is as impressive as what the world sees sprouting above for And Then the Seed Grew is as much about a plant's life cycle as it is about community.

From And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc

In a garden above ground live little Jack and Mr. Gnome, though the inhabitants below ground–Yvonne the mole, the Field Mouse family, Paulie the earthworm and Colette the ant–often make their way up there too. When a new seed begins to grow, it sends its root into the bathroom of the mole's home–she has a multi-chamber abode–and blocks Colette's path. Though Yvonne sets to work with her tools to repair the damage, the root continues to grow, repeatedly blocking the ants' paths and even interrupting Susie's birthday party at the Field Mouse home.

The below-ground animals are not pleased with the changes they have to make and are exhausted in trying to deal with the encroaching plant. Yvonne can no longer use her bathroom, the Field Mouse family have to move and the ants are dizzy with the detours they've had to make. Even Mr. Gnome is impacted by the growth of the plant's stem and leaves and now yellow flowers, all virtually trapping him in his house. At an emergency meeting, they agree to cut the plant down. That is, until little Jack helps them see the plant's value in shade, in sight lines and in its newly formed fruit.

From And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc

Teachers will find And Then the Seed Grew a charming way to teach a plant's life cycle. From the breaking of the seed coat to the first root and leaves to the flowers and fruit and then seed again, young readers will learn about how a plant grows. And though there are supernatural elements–I have yet to see a sprite or gnome around my tomato plants–there are important lessons about the interrelationship of living things and the complexity of ecosystems below ground. Marianne Dubuc's cutaway illustrations make a segment of the natural world, albeit a fantastic one, up-close and revelatory. But there is so much more to And Then the Seed Grew than just a science lesson.

Marianne Dubuc's story, originally published in French as Le jardin de Jaco (2018),  does much to support Ralph Waldo Emerson's idea that a weed is but a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. All the creatures of this community are feeling the impact of a new arrival, so different than anything they've known, but they all benefit from its presence, not the least of which is the building of that community to one of friendships. I know it's just a tomato plant and just a few mythical and some earthly creatures, but And Then the Seed Grew could be an allegory of accepting new members into our community who may be unfamiliar and even initially unsettling because of our own perceptions of their impacts. But, the creatures of And Then the Seed Grew recognize in time that with tolerance comes fruitful blessings. It's a universal lesson of acceptance.

From And Then the Seed Grew by Marianne Dubuc

The Wolves Return: A New Beginning for Yellowstone National Park

Written and illustrated by Celia Godkin

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-011-6

32 pp.

Ages 6-9

March 2017

I know a science teacher whose go-to book to introduce interrelationships of living things and the balance of natural ecosystems is Celia Godkin’s award-winning book Wolf Island (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1989/2006).  I encourage a new generation of science teachers to look to her new book The Wolves Return to demonstrate those same concepts as they relate to the wolves of Yellowstone National Park and spark a new appreciation for the natural world with an aim to stewardship and not manipulation.

Canadian gray wolves once roamed much of North America before they became an inconvenience to settlers’ livestock and were hunted relentlessly until they became listed as a threatened species in much of the US.  To help revitalize affected ecosystems, twenty-three gray wolves captured in Canada were released in Yellowstone between 1995 and 1996.  The Wolves Return documents in prose and detailed illustrations the impacts of the Yellowstone Wolf Project on the local habitats and wildlife, celebrating the success of reintroducing the wolves here.

But the way Celia Godkin tells the story is not to just lay out that bare facts as many unseasoned writers might but instead to provide visual commentary, in words and pictures, of what would have been happening.

From The Wolves Return 

by Celia Godkin

The Wolves Return begins with a lone wolf’s howl, later joined by those of the pack, sounds previously unknown to a herd of elk grazing in the river valley.

On a moonlit night, a howl rings out across the river valley.  The elk prick their ears.  They have not heard this sound before, yet they are afraid.

Weeks later, the elk, now aware of this threat, have moved themselves to the higher, wooded slopes where trees provide some protection from direct attacks by the wolves. Consequently, seedlings once eaten by the elk are allowed to flourish and grow into aspen trees in the river valley. With the trees come the beavers who build dams and lodges creating ponds that invite more wildlife like muskrats, birds, insects, and an abundance of species, plant and animal, creating a new ecosystem.  Celia Godkin illustrates the complex and sophisticated food webs–not just food chains–and evolving landscape of habitats but punctuates the story with the science of the return of the wolves in her appendices.

From The Wolves Return 

by Celia Godkin

The scientist in Celia Godkin–she has a Master’s degree in zoology–comes through in the precision of her illustrations but her coloured pencil and watercolour fine art is more expressive than just a record of the living ecosystem.  She gives life to the organisms and places within The Wolves Return, though I know that young readers will be amazed by her detailed and accurate depictions of the animals.

Just like Wolf Island, The Wolves Return should become a teacher’s primary picture book for introducing discussions about habitats and communities, the diversity of living things and interactions with ecosystems.  With The Wolves Return, Celia Godkin is able to inform,  fascinate and initiate dialogue about the world we impact in both negative and positive ways and how it can gloriously amend itself sometimes with just a tiny bit of help.

From The Wolves Return 

by Celia Godkin