Friends Find a Way!

Written by Heather M. O'Connor

Illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9386-3

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2023

 

When Suze first joined Tyson's class in Heather M. O'Connor's Fast Friends (2020), there was some nervousness about a non-verbal child in a wheelchair becoming friends with a boy who couldn't slow down. But, the two children did become friends, and fast friends at that, with Suze enjoying the speed in her wheelchair as much as Tyson loved helping her race about. Now the class is heading to the zoo for a field trip and both Tyson and Suze are excited to see the cheetah, an animal known for speed.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

At the zoo, the class are buddied up–Tyson with Suze–and told to stay together. As they focus on visiting different animals, the kids help direct the class, using the map. Of course, when it's time to see the cheetah, Tyson and Suze know just where to go. But as Tyson remains enthralled with the cheetahs, the class moves on, and suddenly Tyson and Suze are on their own. Tyson hadn't been paying attention, but Suze had, and though she can't express herself verbally, she knows how to tell Tyson where the class has gone.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

While some readers may see Suze's disability as the focus of Friends Find a Way!, author Heather M. O'Connor spends less time on Suze's limitations and more on the connection that Suze and Tyson have. That friendship may have been based initially on their appreciation for speed, but it has evolved into one of camaraderie, similar interests, and cooperation. There is no judgment about who can do or can't do something but instead shows them working together to get what they both need and want. It's that working together to navigate the rambling paths of the zoo to the missing class and to get there as quickly as possible that is how this friendship works. And a story about friends finding a way, whether to rejoining their class or to making their lives fuller and better, is the way to go.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

Claudia Dávila, who illustrated Fast Friends as well as Friends Find a Way!, keeps her digital art colourful, upbeat and dynamic, just like Suze and Tyson. And her illustrations are as inclusive as Heather M. O'Connor's story. Claudia Dávila shows us people of all ages, abilities, cultures and more and makes them all part of the community. And with a delightful assortment of animals, from the sloth and red panda, Komodo dragon and kangaroos, she also takes us on a visit to the zoo alongside Suze and Tyson's class.

Friends do find a way to make things work and Tyson and Suze have found a friendship that works for them, whether at school or at the zoo. They are truly fast friends, both in the speed of their mobility and in the security of the connection, with new experiences strengthening that bond even more.

• • • • • • • 

 

Fast Friends (2020)

Friends Find a Way (2023)

A World Below

Written by Wesley King

A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

978-1-4814-7822-9

261 pp.

Ages 8-14

2018

It's a dark, dark place in the caves and tunnels of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and Eric, Silvia and the other students of Mr. Baker's small advanced middle-school class are going to find out just how dark it can be when a field trip goes from scholarly to scary.

When an earthquake hits, sending rocks falling and splitting the ground beneath, teacher Mr. Baker disappears into one crack and the kids are dragged deep into the earth by currents of cold water. When thirteen-year-old Eric Johnson drags himself out of the water, he finds himself alone and determined to find his way out. The other students have travelled further down, unable to extricate themselves until they reach still waters. After reviving one student with CPR, Silvia Rodrigues who is desperately trying to keep her anxiety in check is unofficially designated their leader and suggests they find Eric. But, in addition to chapters focusing on Eric and Silvia's perspectives, there are those told of a boy of similar age, Carlos, the King of the Midnight Realm, who is determined to keep his underground community safe from the exiled traitors called Worms and the dangerous "surface humans."

In an adventure-survival story that feels a bit like a melding of Indiana Jones with The Lord of the Flies without the creepy parts, Wesley King, award-winning author of The Vindico (Penguin, 2012) and OCDaniel (Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, 2016) celebrates kids who may see themselves as different and even weak because of their mental health issues or personalities but who are strong and bright and resilient and the stuff of heroes. Silvia tries to hide the vulnerability she feels with her anxiety and panic attacks that keep her from sleeping well but her peers see her as brave and a true leader. Eric and Carlos are living with the reminders of their fathers' strengths or failings and judging themselves by those memories. Eric's father, before leaving to make a new family, was a jerk to Eric's mom and called Eric weird because he was a loner who liked to read. Carlos is trying to lead his people as his father before him did but sees his compassion and insight as contrary and consequently dangerous to those he is destined to rule.

"We shouldn't be spending our whole lives trying to be exactly like our parents. That won't work." (pg. 189)

In an extraordinary world of tree-like mushrooms, rats the size of beagles, spiders and catfish-like creatures as large as cars, and oppressive darkness only relieved by occasional bioluminescence and intermittent flashlight or cell phone light, these young people struggle through their fears, shared and not, to survive and even learn about others and themselves.

"But keeping my distance ... it's just ... easy."
"Stupid things usually are," she said simply. (pg. 215)

Like Jean Craighead George's book My Side of the Mountain, to which both Eric and Wesley King both reference, A World Below allows young people to see what separation from our peers and families can deliver. It gives us a chance to see ourselves as we are, not as others might see us or as we think we are seen. There's a clarity of perception that comes with focusing on what really matters–here, survival–and finding new realities, both within and externally. A World Below may be a coming-of-age story, based solely on the youth of the characters and their efforts to understand themselves and the world around them, but it goes beyond that, guiding readers through the darkness of twisted thinking and fears and into the light of understanding and empathy for self and others.

Dojo Daytrip

by Chris Tougas

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-142-8

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2015

They may be ninjas but they are still children:  boisterous, inquisitive, energetic and rowdy.  And a field trip with Master to a farm doesn't do anything but fuel their fires!  Remember Chris Tougas' six little ninjas from Dojo Daycare (Owlkids Books, 2014)?  Well, they're back and as effervescent as a newly opened pop bottle.

And Master must feel the same way as the six ninjas–never named but each unique and recognizable by hair or lack thereof–explode off the bus and begin to explore and cause ninja mayhem! But, it's Master who continues to find himself in buckets of awkwardness: falling in the pigs' trough, or running from a bull, or spooking a horse.  The little ninjas have just not been paying attention, distracted by the chicks, or other farmyard entities, and

It's a big barnyard disaster!
No one's there to save the Master.
The ninjas all forgot their creed:
Always help someone in need.

But after a few "Yikes!" and "Yee-ow!" moments, the ninjas realize the Master needs help and they jump in to make things right.  It's a full day of activities and activity and rhyming and word play, and it's not surprising that the little ones seem tired on the road home, though a taurine stowaway suggests more mayhem is in their future.

Dojo Daytrip is a fun romp at the farm with Chris Tougas' agile ninjas and their adult wrangler, reminiscent of many school field trips with their "if something can do wrong, it will" moments.  But Chris Tougas twists that story line by having the Master at the heart of the craziness and allowing the little ninjas to solve the problems and go beyond the call of duty.  The Master may be harping on the little ones forgetting their creed but they're just too busy having fun.  Chris Tougas' words are light and rhythmic and work so well with his bold characters and sparse settings.  It's a fast read, perfect for a read-aloud before a school trip, but take the time to notice all the details like the red scarf that riles the bull, or the one farting ninja, or the little chicks that wave good-bye, or the ninja teddy-bear.  There's a richness of details and facial expressions and such that add so much to the simple story of helping out those in need that Dojo Daytrip will be a fun keeper to use in the classroom for field trip prep, for rhyming exemplars and for a pastural past-time without getting on a bus.