Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment

Written by Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua

Illustrated by Natalya Tariq

Second Story Press

978-1-772603651

24 pp.

Ages 4-9

February 2024

Today, February 11th, is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment, a book about a little Muslim girl who takes on a big experiment, seems like the perfect picture book to review today. 

From Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment, written by Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua, illustrated by Natalya Tariq

Khadija is excited to take her parents and little brother Omar to her school to see the science fair. But this isn't a science fair where children display their projects. This is one in which professional scientists discuss their research and demonstrate experiments and do cool things. Khadija is impressed with all the scientists in their lab coats and safety goggles but wonders why not one is wearing a hijab.

From Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment, written by Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua, illustrated by Natalya Tariq

At the fair, Khadija is given a boxed experiment which she is excited to try, mostly to prove that she could be a true scientist. But the family is expecting many guests for Eid, and she is told to wait. But wait she cannot. So as Amma cooks up delicious foods, Khadija heads into the bathroom armed with some ingredients, including food dye, and her Abba's favourite mug.

From Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment, written by Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua, illustrated by Natalya Tariq

She follows the directions and is, at first, delighted with the foamy mixture, until it expands beyond the mug and onto the counter and onto the floor. This gaffe gives Khadija's parents an opportunity to talk to her about what it means to be a scientist, including the need for curiosity and patience, and that there is not just one way to be a scientist. In fact, they get her a little something for Eid that gets her started on her own journey to becoming one.

From Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment, written by Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua, illustrated by Natalya Tariq

Authors Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua know about the curiosity that compels a child to become a scientist as this is something which they both achieved. That inquisitiveness is natural to young children. They want to learn and know and try things. I recall my own young niece and nephews who wanted to do "sparimenting" and even arranging a science-based birthday party for one. For some, that curiosity is sadly extinguished when they are led to believe that they cannot "do science" whether because of their gender, their experiences, or something else. Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua shows young readers that a little Muslim girl who wants to be a scientist can achieve that dream, because their message in Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment is all about opportunity and inclusion. 

Ottawa illustrator Natalya Tariq uses cartoon art to give brightness and innocence to Khadija's story. There's a wide-eyed wonder to the child that is infused in every illustration. From her eager acceptance of the boxed experiment to observing all the different scientists at the fair and to her delight at a very special gift for a budding scientist. Natalya Tariq makes us see Khadija's wonder and interest in science, but also her heritage and her family, and, like the text, reminds us that the two are wholly compatible.

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment supports Khadija in her ambition to become a scientist, starting with an experiment that any child can undertake (check online for instructions). This can only inspire all children to follow their dreams, whether into science or into the arts.

The Library Bus

Written by Bahram Rahman

Illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-101-4

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

November, 2020

While education should be a right for all everywhere, sometimes someone has to step up to make sure those without access because of gender inequality or location or some other restriction get the schooling they should be receiving. That someone in The Library Bus is Pari's mother.

From The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman, illus. by Gabrielle Grimard

Little Pari, who will not be starting school until the following year, is going to help her mother on the library bus she takes around to villages and refugee camps without access to schools. Pari knows this is a privilege and takes her role seriously, repeating to herself that she should, "Arrange the books...clean up...be nice to the other girls." For the girls who wait patiently for the bus's arrival and cherish their time with the books and their teacher, the library bus is their school.

From The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman, illus. by Gabrielle Grimard

They exchange their library books for new ones and sit down with Pari's mother who teaches them the alphabet and their numbers in English. For the children of the refugee camps, they provide school supplies like notebooks and pencils. Pari is impressed by how much the girls know and want to learn. As she helps, she listens and learns too, ably reading the important acronyms of WFP and UNHCR by the time they leave the camp.

From The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman, illus. by Gabrielle Grimard

When Pari asks her mother where she learned the alphabet, she is told how Grandpa taught her mother in the basement as girls were prohibited from attending school. For that reason, she insists that Pari study well when she gets to school so that she might experience the freedom that learning gives.

The encouragement of learning is always powerful but by embodying it in Afghanistan, a country impacted by war and restrictive policies, Bahram Rahman's first children's book tells it gently but with influence. Many Canadian children will not appreciate the privilege that attending school and receiving an education entails. It is the norm for them. But for Bahram Rahman's characters, education is everything, and the generosity and impact of the library bus and its in-house teacher are significant.

From The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman, illus. by Gabrielle Grimard

Illustrated by award-winning artist Gabrielle Grimard with watercolour and digital media, Bahram Rahman's gentle strength of message is emulated. The softness of the watercolour and the openness of Gabrielle Grimard's character's faces invite the readers in to the story and the bus, allowing them to travel with Pari and her Mama and join the girls to be part of something bigger and meaningful.

While Bahram Rahman claims to have taken liberties to rearrange the details in the telling of the story of The Library Bus, based on his own experiences and meeting others in Afghanistan, I see only the truth about the hope gifted to the girls with the books and teaching that came with the bus's weekly visits. Now, by Bahram Rahman and Gabrielle Grimard's hands, the travels of The Library Bus will lead to even greater learning.

Girl of the Southern Sea

Written by Michelle Kadarusman

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-081-9

224 pp.

Ages 8-12

May 2019

This is the story of Nia, a girl who lives with her five-year-old brother Rudi and their father in a tin shack along the train tracks of Jakarta, Indonesia. Though at fourteen she has finished middle school, she craves to continue her education, but there is no extra money for the school fees needed for high school. Instead she works to tend to the family: getting her brother to and from school, making meals, cleaning, and preparing batter for their father's fried banana cart. Sadly, it also means bringing her father home from nights of drinking arak (an alcoholic drink) at Jango's hut and cleaning up after Bapak's poor choices. Still Nia tries to see a future, hopeful of saving money for school and writing stories about Dewi Kadita, the Queen of the Southern Sea, who offers life lessons and the promise of a better life from dire circumstances.

But, with any story, there are plot twists and conflicts that challenge characters and wrench the narrative from a smooth path to a satisfying terminus. For Nia, it's a minibus crash from which she alone survives essentially unscathed. In a culture rife with superstitions and a predilection for supernatural stories, Nia's survival is seen as a miracle and consequently their banana fritters attributed with being infused with good luck. But how fortunate is Nia truly?

This is the basis for Michelle Kadarusman's story of Nia, but I cannot convey the depth of the storytelling within Girl of the Southern Sea and it's message for girls to make their own opportunities. (A portion of the book's proceeds go to Plan International Canada's #BecauseIAmaGirl campaign.) Even dealing with her father's alcoholism and weakness of character, and inherent vulnerabilities because of poverty and alarming cultural and social attitudes, Nia is driven to continue her education and write her stories. She stands up for herself–"I am not your promise to give." (pg. 196)– and makes sure that her life becomes the story she wants told.

I am here to live a different story. I am here to write my own story. (pg. 202)

There are so many tragedies in Nia's story that come when others try to impose their lives on her circumstances. There are the corrupt police who assault her father; her best friend Yuli who may be involved in illicit activities as a way to improve her conditions; vigilantes who turn on Nia violently when the good luck they purported she peddled was proven to be lacking; and her father who is willing to choose his own needs over those of his children. Still Nia takes guidance from her mother, via dreams, and from Dewi Kadita, the princess cursed with disfiguring skin conditions relieved only in the Southern Sea, and begins to make a life for herself. Its origins may be saturated in misfortune and tragedy but it will become the story she wants to write for herself and make her the Girl of the Southern Sea.

Sugar and Snails

Written by Sarah Tsiang

Illustrated by Sonja Wimmer

Annick Press

978-1-77321-005-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

March 2018

Though many nursery rhymes have some dark meaning behind them,  I like to think the old English nursery rhyme about boys being made of “frogs and snails and puppy dog tails” and girls being made of “sugar and spice and everything nice” was an innocent poem people may have used to poke fun at the differences between boys and girls.  Then again, maybe not.  But Sarah Tsiang takes the sexism out of that nursery rhyme and shows us that boys and girls can be just about anything they want to be.

From Sugar and Snails

by Sarah Tsiang 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

Sugar and Snails begins with an embroidered piece of stitchery with the old rhyme on it, and then page by page a grandfather unravels that saying for his grandchildren after the boy wonders about sweet boys such as himself.  The elderly man suggests a myriad of things boys and girls could be as he pretends to recall how the rhyme goes.  But as he suggests things, the grandchildren recognize that they just don't fit.  She doesn't like dresses, and he doesn't like frogs.  There's rocks and butterfly socks, rain boots and whales, and even dirt and lemon dessert.  Any of these could be assigned to either child or both.  It's an equal opportunity rhyme of a menagerie of delights, which ends with the grandfather proclaiming to them, "Dangnamit, I give up.  What in the heck are you made of?" and the stitches of the embroidery being unravelled by little hands.

From Sugar and Snails

by Sarah Tsiang 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

Sarah Tsiang makes Sugar and Snails a wacky speculative poem that attempts, amusingly though foolishly, to differentiate between boys and girls.  But it's German artist Sonja Wimmer's surreal illustrations that bring that outrageousness to the forefront.  Sonja Wimmer, who illustrated Belle DeMont's wonderful I Love My Purse (Annick, 2017), lends wonderful fluidity and connectedness between the children and that which might define either of them, with a frisson of humour and folly. 

From Sugar and Snails

by Sarah Tsiang 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

If Sugar and Snails teaches us anything, it's that labelling is restrictive and inappropriate, and children, girls, boys or non-binary, should just be themselves, no matter what an old rhyme proposes.

As a Boy

by Plan International

Second Story Press

98-1-77260-016-2

24 pp.

Ages 5-9

September 2016

I don’t know why we always seem to set up competitions between boys and girls, or separate them into teams that are boys versus girls.  There may be pockets (sometimes very large ones) around the world that feel the need to treat boys and girls differently and separately, justifying that attitude with archaic ideas from religion or culture.  But As a Boy, which launches today, demonstrates that boys can be just as supportive of girls’ rights as girls have needed to be and the book does so in a superbly photographed fashion with simple but prophetic statements of encouragement and defense.

Beginning with a cheerful spread of a dozen photos of babies whose gender is impossible to discern, As a Boy recognizes that being a boy or a girl is simply a matter of chance.  For the boys, choices will be both presumed and provided as opportunities.  While there are opportunities that boys are very fortunate to have, like education, it’s not all glory as there are expectations to being a man.  However, the boys in these photographs from across the globe, photos of boys with other boys, with girls, as fathers, as brothers and sons, recognize that all children need “to be free to choose what they want to be” (pg. 17) and that “As boys, we can stand up for everyone” (pg. 23). What a powerful message of advocacy for the rights of all to choose.

Perhaps a companion book to Plan International’s earlier Because I am a Girl: I Can Change the World (Second Story Press, 2014) or Every Day is Malala Day (Second Story Press, 2014), As a Boy has its own lesson of advocacy to share.  The message is dominant but it wouldn’t have the impact it does if not for the diversity of photographs taken of babies, boys, girls, and families from around the world.  Every child is here, as they should be, given the opportunity to shine with life and chances and choices.  As a Boy lets the world know that this is the way it should be.

Every Day is Malala Day

by Rosemary McCarney with Plan International

Second Story Press

978-1-927583-31-9

32 pp.

Ages 7-12

March, 2014

Malala Yousafzai's story is an inspirational one.  This 15-year-old girl was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out for the rights of all girls to receive an education.  Her drive for justice was not diminished by her injury but, instead, drew global attention and accolades, all modestly accepted by this young woman.  After the United Nations declared July 12, 2013 Malala Day, Plan International produced a film (Dear Malala) depicting girls writing to Malala and sharing their appreciation and support for her endeavours for all girls.  Photographs of girls from many countries (countries identified in each photo) are captioned with the girls' poignant words and messages to Malala.  These are the words we all need to hear and take to heart.

Dedicated to the "other 65 million girls in the world today who are neither in primary school nor secondary school" (pg. 32), Every Day is Malala Day stands up for girls everywhere, acknowledging their rights, their trials, their strengths and their hopes for a world in which education is for all. It is a stunningly beautiful book in its captivating photographs of hopeful girls and their simple words, appended with Malala Yousafzai's brilliant speech at the United Nations. 

The telling of Malala's story, through the news or videos, is a difficult one and most presentations of this story do not consider the needs of a youthful audience, the very audience for whom Malala struggles.  THIS is the story that every child, every parent, every teacher and every school administer should be reading. And reading again.  Every Day is Malala Day recognizes the tragedy of Malala's rise to the world stage but the far greater story is the impact it has had on children and others to join her in her crusade.  The young women whose words appear on the pages of this book pound with hope and admiration and the determination to carry her message forward.  The power of  Malala's story as told by Rosemary McCarney with Plan International has the candour and honour of its righteous message.

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Dear Malala, the Plan International video upon which Every Day is Malala Day is based, can be viewed on the Plan International channel on YouTube.  I've attached it here for readers perusal.  It is a powerful video.

Uploaded by Plan International on June 26, 2013 to YouTube.

International Day of the Girl: BookList 5

To support today's International Day of the Girl, as designated by the United Nations, this fifth and final book list focuses on series put out by several Canadian publishers that focus on girls being. . .

  Fierce    Fearless   Free  

From http://litworld.org/standupforgirls on October 3, 2012.

Series

Dear Canada
from Scholastic Canada  

http://www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada/

Personal diaries of girls experiencing different events in Canada's history, from rebellions and epidemics to disasters and economic hardships.

Girls with Grit

from Groundwood Books

canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.ca/2012/01/girls-with-grit-series.html

Exemplary stories depict the courage and tenacity of girls and young women who endure and even overcome challenges that include poverty, homelessness, abuse, war, leprosy and conflicts of all manner. 

Our Canadian Girl

from Penguin Canada

http://www.ourcanadiangirl.ca/ 

Series of historical fiction for girls about girls who lived during different times in Canada's history.

Women's Hall of Fame

from Second Story Press

http://secondstorypress.ca/list/women-s-hall-of-fame-series

Collective biographies of women from around the world who are leaders in their chosen fields.
 

   *   *   *   *   *  

See the other four book lists for International Day of the Girl at the following links:

• Picture Books

• Fiction

• Young Adult Fiction

• Non-fiction

   *   *   *   *   *  

Please support literacy for all and help all children understand the inequities and hardships experienced by many girls solely because of their gender. 

Read youngCanLit that advocates for girls to be 

 Fierce    Fearless   Free 

International Day of the Girl: BookList 4

Salute, applaud and stand up for girls with LitWorld's Stand Up for Girls campaign.

Let us stand together to champion the right of all girls to be Fierce, Fearless and Free.

Retrieved from http://litworld.org/standupforgirls 

on October 3, 2012. 

In aid of the United Nation's International Day of the Girl, October 11, support the goal of literacy for girls world-wide with these non-fiction titles that advocates for girls to be...

   Fierce       Fearless      Free   

Non-Fiction

Bite of the Mango
by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McLelland
Annick Press
216 pp.
Ages 14+
2008
This is the true story of Mariatu Kamara of civil war-torn Sierra Leone whose village is attacked by boy-rebel soldiers and who has both her hands cut off. 

Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Illustrated by Tom Bagley
Walrus/Whitecap Books
120 pp.
Ages 9-12
2009
Thirty-four women in various fields are showcased for their amazing accomplishments.

Factory Girl
by Barbara Greenwood
Kids Can Press
136 pp.
Ages 9-14
2007
A fictionalized story of twelve-year-old Emily, interwoven with historical accounts, of work in a factory at the early 20th century.

Fearless Female Journalists
by Joy Crysdale
Second Story Press
118 pp.
Ages 9-13
2010
Ten female journalists, including Canadians, defied racism, sexism, personal illness and other obstacles to ensure they got the story.

Hana's Suitcase Anniversary Album

by Karen Levine

Second Story Press

176 pp.

Ages 9-13

2012 

Fumiko Ishioka, director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Centre, discovers an old suitcase and unravels the poignant story of Czechoslovakian-born Jew, Hana Brady, during the Holocaust. 

Nerves Out Loud: Critical Moments in the Lives of Seven Teen Girls
Edited by Susan Musgrave
Annick Press
112 pp.
Ages 14+
2001
Seven authors, including the editor, share details of personal events that shaped their lives.

No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure
by Susan Hughes and Willow Dawson
Kids Can Press
80 pp.
Ages 9-12
2008
The stories of seven females who disguised themselves as males in order to circumvent gender-based prejudice.

Scribbling Women: True Tales from Astonishing Lives
by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books
208 pp.
Ages 10-13
2012
A collection of literary biographies from across time, revealing cultures, stories, histories, and tragedies.

Shannen and the Dream for a School

by Janet Wilson
Second Story Press
978-1-926920-30-6 
206 pp.
Ages 8+
2011
Thirteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin fought to rid her Cree community in Attawapiskat of its contaminated, temporary school and have a new one built. 

 

A Stranger at Home: A True Story
by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
Illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes
Annick Press
120 pp.
Ages 8-13
2011
Margaret Pokiak returns to her Inuit community after two years at residential school and finds herself feeling like an outsider.

 

   Help girls be   

    Fierce       Fearless      Free    

Three previous lists for International Day of the Girl can be accessed here:
• Picture Books
• Fiction (middle grade novels)
• Young Adult fiction 

International Day of the Girl: BookList 3

This third book list, to support the UN's International Day of the Girl, October 11, provides some young adult fiction that lets us...

...stand together to champion the right of all girls to be Fierce, Fearless and Free.

From http://litworld.org/standupforgirls 

on October 3, 2012.  

Young Adult

Ashes, Ashes
by Jo Treggiari
Scholastic Press
341 pp.
Ages 12+
2011
In dystopian New York City, Lucy Holloway has survived the plague that has killed so many, but now must evade those who seek to capture her and learn who she can trust.

Blood Red Road

by Moira Young

Doubleday Canada

459 pp.

Ages 14+

2011

In a post-Wreckers world, Saba heads for brutal Hopetown where the Tonton (who abducted her twin brother Lugh) keep order with slavery and deadly entertainment.

Cape Town

by Brenda Hammond

Great Plains Teen Fiction

326 pp.

Ages 14+

2012

Attending ballet school at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, Renee Pretorius becomes immersed in the beginnings of the anti-apartheid movement of 1989.

Chanda's Secrets

by Allan Stratton
Annick Press
193 pp.
Ages 12-15
2004
In Sub-Saharan Africa, sixteen-year-old Chanda takes responsibility for her ill mother and younger siblings in an atmosphere rife with fear and suspicion about HIV/AIDS.

Fostergirls
by Liane Shaw
Second Story Press
256 pp.
Ages13-16
2011
At yet another foster home, Sadie Thompson, 15, vows to avoid any disturbances until she turns 16 and can ask for legal emancipation.

Gravity Journal 

by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Great Plains Teen Fiction
162 pp.
Ages 12-15
2008
Anise battles anorexia in a rehab centre, reflecting on her health, circumstances and emotions in a journal.

Half World
by Hiromi Goto
Illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Puffin Canada
190 pp.
Ages 12-15
2009
After her mother dies and enters Half World, Melanie follows her and must re-establish balance between the three realms (Flesh, Spirit and Half World).

Hunted

by Cheryl Rainfield

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

316 pp.

Ages 13+

2012

Caitlyn, 15, has lived through her father's murder, her brother's abduction and her mother's denial of her gifts to evade the government agents determined to destroy Paranormals such as herself.

I'll Be Home Soon
by Luanne Armstrong
Ronsdale Press
200 pp.
Ages 10+
2012
Thirteen-year-old Regan takes to the streets to look for her mother after she disappears.

Kate 

by Valerie Sherrard
Dundurn Press
232 pp.
Ages 11-15
2003
Having been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, Kate is determined to enjoy all her remaining days to their fullest.

Mostly Happy

by Pam Bustin
Thistledown Press
272 pp.
Ages 16+
2008

Even in her tentative life, with her naive parents and then just her flighty mother Prissy, Bean works to create harmony and move forward.

Mountain Girl, River Girl 

by Ting-xing Ye
Puffin Canada
213 pp.
Ages 12-15
2008
Two girls leave their homes to look for better lives in a bigger modern Chinese city but must rely on their courage and wit to survive.

Plain Kate
by Erin Bow
Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic
314 pp.
Ages 12-15
2010
Orphaned Kate finds the means to survive while dealing with the suspicions of villagers and those of the gypsies that offer her some support.

Secrets
by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books
175 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005
Short stories by women about female protagonists who must deal with secrets.

Skim
by Mariko Tamaki 
Illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi
141 pp.
Ages 14+
2008
Skim navigates the challenges of her teenage years at school, exploring new friends, witchcraft, and a personal relationship with a female teacher.

Surviving Sam
by Karen Rivers

Polestar/Raincoast Books
205 pp.
Ages 14-17
2001
Three years after her twin brother Sam dies in an avalanche that she survives, Pagan is still struggling to separate herself from his memory and death.

A Spy in the House: The Agency, Book 1
by Y. S. Lee
Candlewick Press/Random House Canada
335 pp.
Ages 13-17
2009
Mary Quinn, rescued from hanging, is recruited by the Agency, a covert operation of female spies, to investigate smuggling activities.

This is Not a Test

by Courtney Summers

St. Martin's Griffin

326 pp.

Ages 13+

2012

Sloane becomes part of a group finding refuge in the high school from marauding zombies.

Thunder Over Kandahar
by Sharon E. McKay
Annick Press
260 pp.
Ages 12+
2010
Unescorted by men, Yasmine (separated from her parents) and Tamanna (escaping a forced marriage and abuse) attempt to reach the safety of Pakistan.

Under the Moon
by Deborah Kerbel
Dancing Cat Books (Cormorant Books)
194 pp.
Ages 12-15
2012
Lily is desperate to deal with her relentless wakefulness, even sneaking out at night, and the compounded turmoil she experiences.

Voiceless

by Caroline Wissing

Thistledown Press

241 pp.

Ages 14+

2012
After her granny is murdered, Annabel goes into foster care and finds both compassion and danger, though not where she expects.

   Help girls be   

    Fierce       Fearless      Free    

Two previous lists for International Day of the Girl can be accessed here:
• Picture Books
• Fiction (middle grade novels)