Salma Writes a Book

Written by Danny Ramadan

Illustrated by Anna Bron

Annick Press

978-1-77321-803-8

120 pp.

Ages 6-9

 September 2023

 

Young Salma, whom we first met in Danny Ramadan and Anna Bron's first picture book Salma the Syrian Chef, is pretty excited to finally meet her uncle, Khalou Dawood, who'd left Syria before her own family to attend university in Toronto before moving to Vancouver. Now he's come to visit, and she is thrilled. But when Salma asks why he has never visited before, things get very tense, and Mama says they will not talk about it.

From Salma Writes a Book, written by Danny Ramadan, illus. by Anna Bron

Though he does not stay with them, her khalou takes her for outings and plays with her, and when her mother has a dizzy spell and Salma is worried, she calls Dawood who comes to help. He is a supportive younger brother, and Salma hopes she'll be a good sibling too when she learns her mother is expecting a baby.

Salma is determined to learn the right way to be a big sister and so she decides to do her research and write her own book titled, "Salma's Guide to Being The Best Older Sibling Ever." Not only does she need to learn how to write a book, but she must also find out from her classmates what is important about being a sibling. But Salma is confused when she sees her mother and her uncle interact. They seem to be close, but Salma wants to know why they have not visited before. Then Mama gets angry when Dawood brings his husband Michael to Salma's apartment for Eid al-Adha dinner. Michael choses to leave, as does Dawood, and Salma is perplexed. 

After a fiasco with her friend Riya's mother's shawl, which the girls cover up, Salma is convinced she doesn't know anything about being a sibling.

She has to learn how to make the right decisions, and how to teach her sibling the same. She has to learn how to guide her sibling, and how to be a role model. And worse of all, she still doesn't know when it is okay to be mad at your sibling, or how to fix things after a fight. (pg. 69)

It's only by understanding their mistakes, that Salma, and even her mother, can move forward and become the siblings they want to be.

While I don't know how many bits of writer Danny Ramadan's own story are the basis of Salma Writes a Book, I do know that there are lessons here that we all need to learn. From understanding "how confusion and fear can lead to mistakes" (pg. 81) and that sometimes it takes time to resolve them. It can mean reconciling confusion between what we've always been told and a new perspective. It could mean taking responsibility and fixing things. It could mean apologizing. Danny Ramadan makes us realize that mistakes can be little things or big things but fixing them is always worthwhile. And by helping Salma see the breadth of mistakes that can be made, from damaging someone else's property, to lying, or to being rude and intolerant, Danny Ramadan has given her opportunities to learn about correcting mistakes and hopefully help her become a more compassionate and supportive older sibling.

Though an early reader with fewer illustrations than Salma's first book, Salma Writes a Book still has more than two dozen black-and-white illustrations by Anna Bron that show us the extent of Salma's experiences, with meeting her khalou and his husband, interviewing her peers, struggling to write, and being part of her family. Young readers will appreciate seeing Salma in all her joys and frustrations, knowing how she might feel as she struggles trying to learn and understand through her own confusion and fears. Fortunately, with a fourth Salma book slated for 2024–Salma Joins the Team–we won't need to wait too long to learn the lessons Danny Ramadan has had Salma learn so that she might be a fabulous big sister to baby Nora.

• • • • • • •

Salma the Syrian Chef (2020)

Salma Makes a Home (2023)

Salma Writes a Book (2023)

Salma Joins the Team (coming in 2024)

Smash

Written by Adam Schafer

Illustrated by Noel Tuazon

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-635-3

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

January 2023

 

This child likes to smash stuff. He smashes his own stuff and other people's stuff. He smashes with a bat, his trike, his hands–anything that can destroy.

From Smash by Adam Schafer, illus. by Noel Tuazon

But it's soon revealed that his smashing has more to do with what he can't do, like read or draw, than what he can do. Still, his frustrations are not making him a lot of friends.

From Smash by Adam Schafer, illus. by Noel Tuazon

Then he realizes that the same hands that destroy can just as easily build. He puts a couple of pieces together here and then a few there and, with simple assembly, he makes himself and others quite happy. 

This child is any toddler who lacks the power to do more complicated things, like reading or writing, and, as a way of coping, takes matters into his own hands, and that means destroying what he can. At first glance, it's simple destruction and upsetting to others. But, unknowingly, he's learning. He's learning how things fit together, how they can be manipulated, and ultimately self-control. I suspect Adam Schafer is a father who has witnessed a toddler being destructive because he sees the normalcy of a very young child trying to take control of his situation in whatever way he can. The child wants to feel good about what he can do–don't we all?–but realizes, after seeing the reactions of others, that destroying things only makes him feel good and only temporarily. When he switches to building, then everyone gets happy as does he with his sense of accomplishment.  

 

Adam Schafer has written a book for very young children about very young children. There are fewer than 100 words in the whole book and most are in sentences of two or three words. (Children will be able to read this book soon enough because of its structure.) Your little ones may be in their destructive phase but Smash will help them see the joy that comes from the building phase too as well as giving them that reading boost when they realize they can read Smash on their own.

From Smash by Adam Schafer, illus. by Noel Tuazon

Noel Tuazon's artwork of ink and watercolour gives the child's actions the power of movement both in his destruction and construction. He makes the child the center of his world, as is the case for toddlers, when he is destroying things but then Noel Tuazon introduces more colour once the child extends himself into his structures, as he builds and creates.

If you have a little one at home who loves to smash, then Adam Schafer's story will be all too familiar. But, Adam Schafer, with the illustrative assistance of Noel Tuazon, demonstrates that the frustration of powerless can be set aside when the energy is put to building whether it be structures, self-actualization or friendships.

Sleep, Sheep!

Written by Kerry Lyn Sparrow

Illustrated by Guillaume Perreault

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-796-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2018

Duncan may be the little guy who can defer sleep with an endless stream of demands and excuses but he meets his match in Sheep #68, one of the counting sheep Duncan needs to help him fall asleep. Getting a sheep to jump in its predetermined sequence seems to be as hard as getting a little one to sleep. Go figure.

From Sleep, Sheep! by Kerry Lyn Sparrow, illus. by Guillaume Perreault

Duncan didn't mind going to bed but he'd do anything to avoid sleep. He would need to change his jammies, to change his socks, to get a night light or two, to get a drink of water, to read another story, to find his favourite toy, to change his pillow, etc., etc., etc. But one night, his clever mother makes sure every thing he might ever need and more is in his room (except for the washroom). When he declares he is not sleepy, she recommends that he count sheep.

From Sleep, Sheep! by Kerry Lyn Sparrow, illus. by Guillaume Perreault

Soon a barrage of sheep, labelled with different coloured race numbers, are jumping over Duncan's bed and he counts. He starts to get sleepy but he has to sit up when Sheep #68 refuses to jump. Seems there's always something to prevent Sheep #68 from leaping and keeping up Duncan's count. With every request, Duncan gives in. Water, bathroom, the need to stretch, consider his green socks, and on and on. Eventually Duncan recommends that Sheep #68 join, without leaping over the bed, the first sixty-seven sheep already sleeping on one side of the bedroom. And with that, Duncan and Sheep #1 through #68 are asleep. 

Who knew that bedtime could be so exhausting?

What a turnaround of a story, from little boy who frustrates his mother with his relentless bedtime demands to a sheep frustrating the same boy with its exhaustive appeals. It's probably maddening for all concerned: mother, child, sheep. But, told with the seriousness of children who are trying to reason their way through difficult situations, it's actually maddeningly absurd. But, Kerry Lyn Sparrow, parent and teacher, seems to know how to handle the wearisome bedtime antics of children and makes sure that Duncan gets as good as he gives without any nastiness or offence. In Sleep, Sheep!, Kerry Lyn Sparrow's first book, she gives Duncan and Sheep #68 true voices that reflect their anxieties and resoluteness but still makes them empathetic characters.

From Sleep, Sheep! by Kerry Lyn Sparrow, illus. by Guillaume Perreault

Even Quebec's Guillaume Perreault makes his cartoon characters relatable, giving them expressions of confusion, embarrassment, fear and even pleasure. I couldn't help but feel pity for Sheep #68.  Just as Duncan feels the pressure to fall asleep, it feels the pressure to perform. Appropriately, Guillaume Perreault, who shared the win for the 2017 Le Prix TD with Larry Tremblay for their book Même pas vrai (Éditions de la Bagnole, 2016), works with Kerry Lyn Sparrow's story to make it evident that compassion is required to help make an awkward situation right. After all, who is going to stay up all night waiting for one sheep to jump? Here's hoping Duncan wakes up in the morning still recognizing the similarity in the sheep's actions with his own and the consequent happy endings that come with sleep.