Tout le monde à bord!

Written by Rhéa Dufresne

Illustrated by Marion Arbona

Monsieur Ed

978-1-924663028

32 pp.

Ages 4+

April 2018

Prepare for an explosion for the senses amidst the busyness of the animals as they leave the city for vacations. Tout le monde à bord! has all the hallmarks for a holiday read for little ones with the bustling activity of locating creatures and solving shadow mysteries to keep them engrossed for the duration of travel.

A wild assortment of animals, including a zebra, penguin, giraffe, fish, and aardvark, gloriously rich in colour and shape, gather at the train station to board the train. It's mayhem as they search for their companions and squeeze aboard ready to set out.

From Tout le monde à bord! by Rhéa Dufresne, illus. by Marion Arbona

Parents will recognize the cries of the animals as they wonder if they've forgotten anything, as they urge others to hurry, as they complain that it's going to be crowded, and then the need to wait for that ever late traveller.

Even as the train winds and weaves its way through forests and hills to the sandy desert into the snowy mountains, jungle, sea and marsh, different shadows of creatures appear.  Young ones might think they can identify each animal behind the clouds of dust or hot chocolate steam or whale blowhole stream, but they'll probably be wrong every time. (The shadow creatures in the illustration below certainly look like birds with webbed feet and beaks, but don't be fooled.)

From Tout le monde à bord! by Rhéa Dufresne, illus. by Marion Arbona

And as they travel, the hilarity of their dialogue and outbursts reveal family squabbles, worries, joys, and more. From the penguin chastizing her mate-Je t'avais dit qu'on aurait mieux faut d'aller chez ma mère au Pôle Nord ("I told you it would be better to go to my mother's at the North Pole")–to the vendor selling plankton ice cream at the sea, Tout le monde à bord! is rich in dialogue and commentary. And with Marion Arbona's wonderfully stylized creatures and the assortment of travel spots, Tout le monde à bord is a trip for the visual senses and geographical sensibilities.

Rhéa Dufresne and Marion Arbona are both stars in the Quebec children's literature world. Having collaborated on award-winning titles like Arachnéa (Éditions de l'Isatis, 2012) and La nuit (Éditions de l'Isatis, 2015), as well as on books separately, they are well-known amongst French-language youngCanLit creators and to young readers. But, even though Tout le monde à bord! is a French-language picture book, the simplicity of the story and the bounty of its illustrations make it accessible to both French speakers andthose learning the language. (Teachers, it would also be a superb book for developing visual literacy and using the artwork to help translate the text.)

Whether a holiday in the summer or a winter vacation, take a trip with this motley crew of animals on their vacances. There's lots to experience throughout their journey and your reading of Tout le monde à bord!

Ben Says Goodbye

by Sarah Ellis

Illustrated by Kim La Fave

Pajama Press

978-1-927485-79-8

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

October 1, 2015

Last time (A+ for Big Ben) darling preschooler Ben had to deal with being the only one in the family not getting a report card and feeling like a little kid.  This time he has another challenge to overcome: the moving away of his best friend Peter.  Desolate, Ben moves away too, under the table to become a caveboy, with only his teddy bear for companionship.  There he eats with his fingers and plays with rocks, and responds to offered food with the occasional "guh." And, most importantly, he is able to to recreate his time with Peter in amazing petroglyphs that provide him with closure and appreciation for their friendship.

Sarah Ellis' latest Ben story focuses on a common upset for children: the moving away of a friend.  Her text shows how a child doesn't recognize all the efforts of others to distract from the potential trauma but instead allows him to immerse himself in his memories, giving them texture in the drawings he produces within his cave.  Kim La Fave, who gets little Ben's shy or determined face spot on, illustrates Ben Says Goodbye so expressively that Ben's angst and ultimate release and acceptance are remarkably visible.  Using the simplest of lines, Kim La Fave gets the angles of the faces, hands and bodies with their tiny feet so right that their intentions are always plain, allowing even the youngest readers to see more into the artwork than might be expected.  And the cave drawings are so evocative of boys having fun and making adventures from their limitless activities. It's not surprising that Ben will miss his compadre when they've already lived so many lives in a few short years.

Best of all is the culminating picture and text that, without saying much, say everything, providing a hopeful future of friendship, albeit with someone of the opposite gender.  A happy ending to a story that demonstrates that even the very young can work their way through difficult situations on their own and come out smiling.  Ben has so much to teach all of us, even if he is just a preschooler!