My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean

Written by Bill Richardson

Illustrated by Bill Pechet

Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

978-1-998802098

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

May 2024 

 

With a mondegreen play of words on the traditional Scottish folk song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," Bill Richardson and Bill Pechet have given us another bunny story of a legendary incident. Like their earlier book Hare B & B (2021), readers are treated to a silly but playful adventure, this time one in which a stuffed rabbit endeavours to make its way home with a lot of help from a menagerie of animals. And it's all to the accompaniment of some talented singing seagulls.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

When a bow-tied and sunglass-wearing bunny is abandoned at the beach and a seagull falls in love, a global escapade ensues. With a seagull bemoaning the stuffie's plight of being dragged out to sea, My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean becomes a lament.

My Bunny was wet and bedraggled,

My Bunny was dashed by the waves,

My Bunny was found by a starfish,

And that's how my Bunny was saved.

The words may not all be as we may have learned them but they certainly sound like they were made for a story about an errant bunny.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

And, boy, does this bunny travel, and with the help of everything from a starfish and a whale, a tallship and a kangaroo, and more. Still when Bunny finally gets back to the family–who should be chastised for abandoning Bunny in the first place–there will still be someone lamenting Bunny's absence.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

I defy you to read this story and not sing it to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." It's so easy to do with words that rhyme and flow, especially with a repetitive chorus. The story may be different and homophones used, but Bill Richardson, who does clever very well, keeps the rhythm and the momentum of the original and gives it the humour and cheekiness that will delight readers of all ages. Kids may sympathize with a lost stuffie, but adults will chuckle at the lovestruck seagull and the astonishing path of the bunny to its home.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

That cheekiness is seen in Bill Pechet's sketch art, from Bunny relaxing on a bed inside the whale's belly to seagulls singing atop the "Bunnilator" plane heading between signposts "Here" and "There." Sticking with his palette of pale turquoise, light lime green, and pale orange, Bill Pechet keeps us on that ocean, on the land, and in the air as Bunny finds its way home. And he makes us laugh.

 

Bunny may make it home via a prolonged path, but they will be prepared for another such eventuality. (Come on, it wasn't Bunny's fault that they were left behind.) And with a seagull singing its yearning for Bunny still, I suspect Bunny will never be alone again.

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)

Harvey Comes Home

Written by Colleen Nelson

Illustrations by Tara Anderson

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-097-0

224 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2019

A scent, a touch, a colour, a voice. They can draw memories. And memories can take you places. They can take you away from the present and towards something else. They can take you to a past that needs to be remembered or give direction to follow forward. And they can take you home in more ways than one.
 
Harvey is a West Highland Terrier who is left in the care of a dog-sitter while Maggie and her family go on holidays. While they are away, Harvey gets out of his yard and "His curiosity takes him farther and farther away from his home." (pg. 18) After several days away, scrambling for food, attacked by another dog, distracted from a rescue, Harvey is found by eleven-year-old Austin who helps his Grandpa out after school at the Brayside Retirement Villa. Though his mother and grandfather insist that Harvey's owners must be looking for him and that Austin needs to take him to the shelter to help locate them, Austin lies about his efforts, hopeful that he'll be able to keep the dog.

During the day, Harvey stays with Grandpa Phillip at Brayside where everyone, staff and residents alike, fawn over the Westie who acts as an unofficial therapy dog. But when Austin arrives, Harvey accompanies him on his chores. When the reticent Mr. Pickering takes a liking to Harvey, Austin finds the ninety-six-year-old man finally willing to talk and share about his past. He talks of his own dog, General, and of growing up during the 1930s. Though Mr. Pickering is sometimes confused about who Austin is, whether his own wife is still alive, and what Brayside is, he goes to a place of memory with Harvey by his side. As for Harvey, when he "sits beside Mr. Pickering, he drifts off into a place of contentment." (pg. 69)

While Mr. Pickering reminisces about living during the Depression and his complicated friendship with an abandoned girl named Bertie, Harvey's memories of Maggie are fading to elusive scents and sounds, Austin continues in his uncomfortable lies, and Maggie searches desperately for the Westie. Colleen Nelson's title may give away a happy ending for Harvey but it's wrapped in a complex tug-of-war of emotions as Mr. Pickering tells his heartrending stories about hardships and tragedies and lessons about forgiveness are learned.

Told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Harvey, Maggie and Austin, Harvey Comes Home is not just a story about a dog lost and found. It's a story about the bonds between human and dog. These are the bonds that tie us in love and gratitude, responsibility and empathy. They are the ones that give us our humanity via our benevolence for others. But Harvey Comes Home is also about the power of memory to bring us home. I will admit that Colleen Nelson's story brought me to tears time and time again, as an aging Mr. Pickering grabs at his memories, as Bertie survives against all odds, and as Harvey and General are loved and love.  Colleen Nelson always tells a good story (see her YA titles Sadia, Blood Brothers, Finding Hope, and The Fall for a great sampling) but, in her first middle-grade novel, she is able to grab the reader's heartstrings while blending a dog story with an intergenerational relationship and embedding profound reflections on the Depression and the Dust Bowl. It's a complete package as Harvey's, Maggie's and Austin's stories converge, integrated with heart and important messages about connecting with others and forgiveness for mistakes made when scared, hurt or alone.

Harvey Comes Home will make dog-lovers hug their animals and children ask their grandparents to share their stories from their own childhoods, bringing all a little closer and giving life to new memories for all.

From Harvey Comes Home by Colleen Nelson, illus. by Tara Anderson