We Need Everyone

Written by Michael Redhead Champagne

Illustrated by Tiff Bartel

HighWater Press

978-1-77492-011-4

40 pp.

Ages 6-8

January 2024

 

Belonging is such an important emotional need for children and for all. But too often we compare ourselves with others and see their gifts and accomplishments as greater than our own, worrying that we don't belong or aren't good enough. Community advocate Michael Redhead Champagne will help children see that they all belong because we need everyone.

From We Need Everyone, written by Michael Redhead Champagne, illustrated by Tiff Bartel

We Need Everyone's book character Michael, easily recognizable by his bouncy asymmetrical hair, speaks to everyone about gifts. 

Gifts are skills and talents we share with others. Every gift is different, and every gift is special.

For many children, recognizing their own gifts may be a challenge, so Michael takes them through a series of steps to finding their gifts. These include making lists of what they like to do as well as what they are good at doing. If they have difficulties identifying those, they can always ask for help. Then it comes down to practising those gifts.

From We Need Everyone, written by Michael Redhead Champagne, illustrated by Tiff Bartel

But there is more to having a gift if we are to share them and build strong communities. Michael Redhead Champagne equates building community with activism and speaks of all those who help make our communities richer: artists, athletes, chefs, gamers, storytellers, and friends.

When you share your gift, you give strength to others. Even if you feel too small, too young, or too quiet, your gift is too special to keep to yourself.

Michael Redhill Champagne speaks from a place of knowing. He is Ininew (Cree), having been raised in Winnipeg's North End with his family from Shamattawa First Nation in northern Manitoba.  He knows what it means to belong to a community and to make a community. He shares his inspiration through public speaking and writing, hosting media events and telling of stories. We Need Everyone, his debut picture book, continues his message of empowerment and influence by helping kids see that they all have superpowers that are their gifts, and that these gifts, though not always easily identifiable, are what will help make our communities stronger. 

From We Need Everyone, written by Michael Redhead Champagne, illustrated by Tiff Bartel

Winnipeg artist Tiff Bartel ensures that the illustrations in We Need Everyone reflect Michael Redhill Champagne's message that everyone is needed. She includes children of all skin colours, sizes, and abilities. She shows a girl in a hijab cooking, children gardening, a child playing sledge hockey, another signing "I love you" and others painting. Some are active, some are quiet, some are sharing their cultures, and many are learning. And they are engaged joyously and vibrantly in ways to enrich their communities and acknowledge their own gifts.

We need everyone, and by sharing their gifts of storytelling and art, Michael Redhead Champagne and Tiff Bartel will give children strength and inspiration to see themselves as needed and belonging too.

 • • • • • • •

A free teacher's guide, titled Teacher Guide for We Need Everyone:
Empowering Students to be Active Community Members Through Indigenous Perspectives in Primary Classrooms and Beyond  is available from HighWater Press (Portage & Main Press) here.

When Rubin Plays

Written and illustrated by Gracey Zhang

Orchard Books (Scholastic)

978-1-338-64826-3

56 pp.

Ages 4-8

July 2023

 

In a small town by a rain forest, there is an orchestra. Rubin's sister Isabel plays in this orchestra, and Rubin would listen through the open windows of their rehearsal space. The music is inspirational and uplifts Rubin. When he asks the maestro if he can play too, Rubin is handed a violin. But the sounds that come out of it when Rubin plays are screechy and howly, and the other young musicians snicker.

From When Rubin Plays by Gracey Zhang

Rubin is instructed by the maestro to practise so that he might be able to play with the rest of the orchestra. First the boy practises quietly at the back of the room. Then, when everyone leaves, he takes himself deep into the forest to practise. Still his violin is "shrill and uneven." But soon he is surrounded by cats who follow his playing, replying to his music with their own howling. 

Back and forth they went, their sounds a leaping crescendo deep into the night.

From When Rubin Plays by Gracey Zhang

When he returns next to the practice room, the young musicians offer Rubin some tips and he continues to play at the back of the room.  But at night, he plays with passion for his feline audience who perform their own music.

When the orchestra gives a concert, Rubin joins them, though he plays "too quietly, too small." But when Isabel encourages him to play, he does so, and an unexpected feline display of sound and dance brings the human audience to their feet. In a musical merger of orchestra, audience, cats and Rubin, harmony and connection are achieved.

From When Rubin Plays by Gracey Zhang

Author-illustrator Gracey Zhang based her story on an image that she had of a boy playing a violin to cats. Learning of a centuries-old history of baroque classical music in small Bolivian towns, Gracey Zhang blended the two into When Rubin Plays. Her story melds the richness that music brings to a child and to a community of both humans and felines while focussing on the passion of a young boy for learning an instrument. Rubin's music might need some refinement but his determination to play, even when only cats are his audience, is paramount. Ultimately, his persistence elevates his playing to connect the boy with the rest of the orchestra and with his audiences, as well as enabling his audiences to connect with each other.

The interactions of child with the music as well as for his listeners is dynamic, and Gracey Zhang's illustrations, primarily ink and paint, lend movement to that dynamism. There's the sounds of the violin playing and the cats' responses to the music that are full of life, but then Gracey Zhang also gives everything the colour of vitality. There is an energy to the musicians, to the people, to the animals that supersedes any skill or lack thereof, and it comes through in the brightness of colours in the clothing and the diversity of felines. When Rubin Plays is a book of life and connection to music and others.

Whether Rubin plays for the cats, with the orchestra, for an audience of people, or for the joy it brings him, there is passion. It's the enthusiasm that comes with finding something that touches you. Rubin's music, whether screechy or melodic, is always full of passion and reminds us all to follow our hearts, even when others may see, or hear, it differently.

Smile So Big

Written by Sunshine Quem Tenasco

Illustrated by Chief Lady Bird

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-8767-1

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

March 2023

Most of us, adult and child alike, will see something less than perfect in our appearance: too wide, too short, too white, too dark, nose or teeth too big, eyes too widely-spaced. There’s always seems to something that we see that others may or may not. How to see the truth?

From Smile So Big by Sunshine Quem Tenasco, illus. by Chief Lady Bird

Challa has a big, toothy smile and when she gets teased about it, her mom reassures her and shows Challa a beautiful mirror with a thunderbird design and fringe. Her mother tells her that this family heirloom would show the holder's true self, but the rule was that they "had to say what they saw in the reflection." Challa looks into the mirror and sees all her attributes and says, "I'm smiling so big. I sure do look cute." With that, the beads around the mirror light up. Challa is delighted.

From Smile So Big by Sunshine Quem Tenasco, illus. by Chief Lady Bird

When she shows her friend Neebin, who was always being teased about his long hair, Challa notices how he smiles and looks so cute when looking in the mirror. When he acknowledges aloud that he loves his long braid hair, not only do the beads light up, but the whole playground shakes and sparkles with magic! The same happens when her cousin Keggy recognizes how much she loves her dark skin and the house shakes and sparkles as it's enveloped in the magic of the thunderbird. When her friend Kiniw sees his own beauty and accepts his small size, the magic is revealed again.

From Smile So Big by Sunshine Quem Tenasco, illus. by Chief Lady Bird

Challa is perplexed why she only saw the beads light up, not the magic that came with it. She tries again to acknowledge her eyes, her nose, her hair, and her dimple but the magic doesn't appear until she feels and expresses real love for her smile.

Sunshine Quem Tenasco, Anishinaabe from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, brings young readers to an Indigenous community and yet the story she tells will be understood by all of us who may be teased, or worse, about some aspect of our physical nature. With a little help from a magic mirror and the support of those who love us and came before us, we can all see, accept, and appreciate who we really are. Whether there's a magical mirror in your life or not, there are those who help you see the beauty within and those people, whether in our lives now or gone already, are our greatest champions. It's not because of validating who we are; it's because they reflect who we are through their love. Sunshine Quem Tenasco's dedication includes the following words: "To all the Indigenous kids on Turtle Island and to all the boys with braids, you are so loved. You are important. You are powerful." Her words lift those to whom she has dedicated her book but also to every child who has the good fortune to read this picture book.

Chief Lady Bird, a Chippewa and Potawatomi artist who collaborated with Sunshine Quem Tenasco on Nibi's Water Song (2019), gives us both the realism and the magic in her illustrations. The boldness of her colour and shapes impress with their power of message about beauty and self, encouragement, and heritage. Chief Lady Bird gives life and context to Sunshine Quem Tenasco's words, and together Smile So Big is as enchanting as it is grounded.

For every smile hidden because of unease, and for every cruel teasing endured, Smile So Big gives young readers the courage to see their beauty as reflected in their own mirrors, magical or not, as held by themselves and those who love them.

It's My Body!

Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-9650-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-8

September 2022

Elise Gravel has always used her quirky illustrative way to entertain while teaching STEM, from her Disgusting Critters series to The Mushroom Fan Club and even her early graphic novel series Arlo & Pips. But in recent years, Elise Gravel's picture books have shown a proclivity for encouraging young readers to be respectful of self and others by demonstrating that we are more alike than our differences might suggest. In It's My Body!, Elise Gravel reminds us that our bodies are our own, to love and appreciate, even as they are different in shape, colour, ability and how we feel about them.

From It's My Body! by Elise Gravel

If we're going to talk about our bodies, we first have to recognize all the different kinds there are. Brilliantly, Elise Gravel gives us dozens of bodies, all unrecognizable as people but all representative of the myriad of human body types. Some have two legs, some do not. Some have ears, and some do not. Some are tiny, some thin, some pear-shaped, and others stocky. Some move by wheels and some with canes. And they can all do stuff.

From It's My Body! by Elise Gravel

What we choose to do with our bodies is up to us but Elise Gravel recommends that we honour them by keeping them healthy and happy with good food, activity, cleanliness, fresh air and rest. And she reminds us that "Nobody should touch your body in ways that you don't like" and we should respect that for others as well.

From It's My Body! by Elise Gravel

Without belabouring any one issue like inappropriate touch or hygiene, illness or diversity, disability or body positivity, Elise Gravel gives it all to us. She reminds us to be kind to ourselves and others and to appreciate our differences as well as our similarities. With her one-of-a-kind monsters, Elise Gravel makes us feel worthy and included, no matter what we can do, feel or look like. That will help children with the ideation of self-esteem, while also shepherding them to good mental and physical health. After all, as Elise Gravel's green-and-yellow-spotted character reminds us:

Thank you, BODY. Without you, I would be a NO-BODY!

As Glenn As Can Be

Written by Sarah Ellis

Illustrated by Nancy Vo

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-468-0

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2022

Who was Glenn Gould? To many adult Canadians, he was the classical pianist whose interpretation of Bach's Goldberg Variations is beyond comparison. For others, he is a bronze cast on a bench in front of Toronto's CBC building, where a studio is named for him. And to the world, he is a musical genius. But how did Glenn Gould become one of the world's finest musicians and also a man of some mystery? Now, with As Glenn As Can Be, young readers will know him as well.

From As Glenn As Can Be by Sarah Ellis, illus. by Nancy Vo

As a child and an adult, Glenn knew what he liked and didn't like. While these might seem incongruous at times, they made perfect sense to Glenn. He liked boats and being on the water but he didn't like fishing. He liked word play and pranks and humour but he didn't like when it was used to bully or humiliate. He liked the outdoors and nature but not the cold that came with it. (He might wear a coat, scarf, cap and gloves to the beach in summer to avoid it.) He liked reading and learning, but not school. And he had a love-hate relationship with rules. Rules that dictated math and puzzles and music were much appreciated. But rules that squashed him were not.

From As Glenn As Can Be by Sarah Ellis, illus. by Nancy Vo

But he loved playing the piano. 

Playing the piano is when Glenn gets to be totally and completely Glenn.

And everyone wanted to hear him play in concert. All over the world he was heralded as the virtuoso he was. Problem was that there were times when Glenn didn't want to perform. He didn't like the crowds who made noises, and coughed and sneezed. He didn't like cold concert halls. Finally Glenn found a way to make the music he and others loved while being true to his own likes and needs.

From As Glenn As Can Be by Sarah Ellis, illus. by Nancy Vo

Glenn Gould has always been a bit of an enigma to those who didn't know him well.  His passion for his music and playing of the piano were paramount to him but performance to large audiences did not support his needs for quiet, solitude and more. Instead of playing up his perceived eccentricities, Sarah Ellis lets us see Glenn Gould as a child and then an adult with likes and dislikes that direct his choices and preferences. She helps us all see him as human, and acknowledges that young children may feel different at times or be perceived as such but that doesn't mean they are less than others. Sarah Ellis demonstrates such a sensitivity to Glenn Gould's challenges of balancing what he likes and doesn't like that he only comes across as brilliant. Period. There is no "in spite of" anything or judgements. He was as Glenn Gould could be: exceptional in his art, individual in his likes and dislikes, and forthcoming in his needs. 

Vancouver's Nancy Vo's earlier picture books, The Outlaw and The Ranger, hinted at the greatness that she would bring to an picture book biography of Glenn Gould. Using pen and watercolour with acetone transfer, Nancy Vo has given gravitas to the story of Glenn Gould, not unlike the man himself. Emphasizing the earthy tones of browns, greys and blues, with only occasional splashes of gold, Nancy Vo gives Glenn Gould's life a weightiness–though not heaviness–that is occasionally brightened with light. It's easy to see Glenn as a child, listening to the radio during WWII, spending time with his many pets and engrossed in his piano playing. 

From As Glenn As Can Be by Sarah Ellis, illus. by Nancy Vo

As Glenn As Can Be cannot possibly tell us everything about Glenn Gould, though Sarah Ellis's afterward and notes to help kids and adults learn more about him bring us a little closer to understanding him better. It's easier to appreciate a great man when we can witness how he balanced his needs and wants against his dislikes and obligations. Though As Glenn As Can Be doesn't speak about the end of his life, it is reassuring to know that the music that he made and made him will live on for generations, and now this book will help do that too.

Starboy: Inspired by the Life and Lyrics of David Bowie

Written and illustrated by Jami Gigot
Henry Holt and Company
978-1-250-23943-3
40 pp.
Ages 4-8
May 2021 

Fans of musician David Bowie will certainly welcome this new picture book from Jami Gigot, now of Vancouver, but anyone who has ever felt different and unable to fit in without compromising self will appreciate Starboy.

From Starboy by Jami Gigot

This is the story of David who felt different, like maybe he'd fallen to Earth from outer space. His mismatched eyes, skinny legs (perfect for dancing) and keen hearing with sticky-out ears alluded to his difference. And then there was the "cosmic murmur" or "chattering of stars" he could hear and got his body moving and his toes tapping. Then he felt "connected to the universe and the rhythm of the stars."

From Starboy by Jami Gigot

But at school, his need to move and live with colour was not appreciated. When the kids asked him what planet he was from, he wondered too, though he made efforts to fit in. 

Though the stars could bring out the spark in him, it would go away if he closed his window. That is, until that same spark came through his radio and he realized it was music that was giving him the spark. He started making his own music, with homemade instruments, taking the spark with him wherever he went.

His eyes FLASHED,
his toes TIP-TAPPED,
and his hips SHIMMY-SHAKED!

The music fed his imagination and, with a revolution in world music–Elvis Presley is seen in the news–it was feeding those around him too. 

From Starboy by Jami Gigot

No one can deny the contributions of David Bowie to the music world. Through more than several generations, his music evolved in time and space, created in permutations that were both personal and worldly. From a child who felt different but found a spark in the greater universe and then in music, David Bowie evolved, accepting his inspiration and his métier as he needed it to be, not as prescribed by others, and never languishing in one genre of music or style. Playing off of Bowie's many personalities as well as relevant lyrics, particularly from his "Ziggy Stardust" album, Jami Gigot lets us see this boy who found the music in his soul by looking to the stars but who lived a grey life by silencing it. The colour was always there, especially in the brilliant pinks and purples that swirl in and around him, but it's when he finally feels heard, that the colour lives in him.

From Starboy by Jami Gigot

Jami Gigot may honour David Bowie with her Starboy story but she tells all children that they can be themselves and it will be glorious when they do and are heard.

Sun Dog & My Deal with the Universe: Double Book Launch (Toronto, ON)

What's better than a book launch?  

A double book launch!

Author Deborah Kerbel  

is launching two new books 

 Her first picture book 

with amazing plasticine artist

 Suzanne Del Rizzo

is

Sun Dog

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-038-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2018

as well as

a new middle grade novel

My Deal with the Universe

 

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Scholastic Canada

978-1443157568

240 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2018

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Join Deborah Kerbel and Suzanne Del Rizzo

on 

Saturday, June 2, 2018

2 p.m.

at

Indigo Yorkdale

Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Toronto

There will:

• readings by author and illustrator

• prizes

• refreshments

• plasticine activities, and

• book signings.

A little bit about the books:

Sun Dog, from Pajama Press website at http://pajamapress.ca/book/sun_dog/

Juno and her boy live in a red house at the top of the world. One day Juno will be big and strong enough to help pull a sled across the tundra, but for now she is just a small puppy with a big-dog heart. Small puppies have to go to bed when their boys do, but Juno can’t sleep with the midnight sun shining out across the town. She slips outside to play. Returning to see a hungry polar bear sniffing around the open door, Juno has no time to be afraid. It’s time to find her voice, summon the big dog inside her, and save her beloved boy.

My Deal with the Universe, from Scholastic Canada's website at http://www.scholastic.ca/rights/titles/special/my-deal-with-the-universe/

Maybe "normal" isn't all it's cracked up to be.... All twelve year-old Daisy Fisher wants is to be normal — or at least to not stick out like a sore thumb. But growing up in the house disparagingly referred to as the “Jungle” makes that pretty much impossible. When your parents’ activism brands them as a nuisance and your house is overrun with vines and critters, it’s not so easy to fit in. And it definitely doesn’t help when the neighbours declare your family public enemy number one. Or when your best (and possibly only) friend leaves for summer camp and forgets you exist. Or when your twin brother’s cancer might be growing back.

Will this be the summer Daisy changes things for the better? She can’t help where she lives, but if she could find a new friend, cultivate some courage, and figure out a way to keep her brother healthy, maybe life will finally be normal. Or will it? When her anxiety about her brother getting sick again threatens to boil over just as the Jungle comes under investigation, Daisy has to face down her greatest fears, not to mention the neighbours who are threatening her home. In the process, she learns some surprising truths about herself, and that maybe “normal” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. My Deal with the Universe is a contemporary middle-grade novel by Deborah Kerbel about tolerance, diversity, individuality, friendship and the strength of family.

Blue Rider

 

Written and illustrated by Geraldo Valério

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-981-2

44 pp.

Ages 4-7

March 2018

At first glance, Blue Rider might appear to be a story about a blue horse and a child with a book. But Blue Rider, like the early 1900s art movement–Der Blaue Reiter–it honours, is more about a rejection of the norms and finding new worlds of expression, whether through art or story.

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

This is the story of one young child living in a sombrely coloured city, just one face in one room in one building in a city rife with buildings. 

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

Even when they leave the building, the child is but one among the throngs hurrying, talking, using cellphones, bustling, bustling, bustling. Then the child spots a book, a book with a blue horse on the cover, in an opening amidst the crowd.  They grab it and take it up to their room.

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

Opening that book and seeing that magnificent blue horse charging across the page similarly plunges the child into new worlds of colour and bold lines and shapes and new landscapes.  Page after page, the blue horse is transforming, its mane effervescing into comets of colour and audacious shape, morphing into its scenery, illuminating, animating and revitalizing all.  Finally the horse and the scene almost become one, a mix of brightness and bliss.  At that point, the child is seen mounted on the racing horse, while the dull room is transformed with new forms of colour.

Blue Rider is a wordless picture book, the story told solely through Geraldo Valério's illustrations.  What the reader takes from the plot of the book and its artwork is very personal.  Blue Rider may pay homage to Der Blaue Reiter, the avant-garde art movement that focused on distorted abstractions and gave intensity and movement through form and colour, but it’s also about the value of going outside of societal norms to embrace new opportunities and ways of seeing.  It gives the message that conformity may be soul stifling and that, when possibilities present, it is important to seize them as they provide chances to move into new worlds and enhance life. The book the child discovers takes them away temporarily but permanently enhances their world and consequently those of others to one of colour and vivacity. As all readers and art lovers know, art–written, visual and more–can give life and soul to those lost in mass existence, just as a book does for a child in Blue Rider.

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

I Love My Purse

Written by Belle DeMont

Illustrated by Sonja Wimmer

Annick Press

978-1-55451-954-5

36 pp.

Ages 5-8

September 2017

Children will be picking out their first-day-of-school clothes soon.  They'll be looking for clothes and accessories that make them feel good and look good but they'll also be thinking about how others will see them.  Charlie, the boy in I Love My Purse, is familiar with this process.  When he looks up at his sky-high (he stands on 4 chairs and 5 pillows and 4 books to reach the top) closet which is a colourful menagerie of clothes, footwear and more, he sees "nothing he liked.  Nothing except the bright red purse that his grandma had let him have." Until now, he'd only worn it viewing himself in the mirror.

From I Love My Purse 

by Belle DeMont 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

When his hipster dad sees him, he questions why his son is wearing a purse.  Honestly, Charlie tells him, "'Cause I want to." Of course his dad's initial response is to tell him that boys do not carry purses and that one can't always wear what they love, like him and his Hawaiian shirts, inappropriate for his suit and tie workplace.  At school, his classmate Charlotte questions him similarly, declaring that, although she loves face paint, she can't come to school wearing it.  Charlie replicates his response: "'Cause I want to" and "Because I love my purse."  He is polite enough, however, to offer that maybe he'd go along with their suggestions of a backpack the next day.

This continues when a group of older boys led by Sam approaches Charlie in the school cafeteria.  Sam's response is about wishing he could eat actual food rather than the slop served up at school but he can't very well march into the kitchen and start cooking. The crossing guard's feedback is perhaps the warmest.

"Well, I love it!" said the crossing guard.  "Have I ever told you about my favorite sparkly shoes?"

From I Love My Purse 

by Belle DeMont 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

The next day, everyone who'd questioned him the day before has relaxed their stance, showing a hint of their own preferences, though still somewhat shy.  It's not until the third day that his father is wearing his Hawaiian shirt, Charlotte has her face painted like a tiger, and Sam's cooking risotto.  And the crossing guard?  He's wearing his sparkly shoes that send Charlie on another foray into proclaiming his individuality.

From I Love My Purse 

by Belle DeMont 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

Nova Scotian writer Belle DeMont and German illustrator Sonja Wimmer (whose art you might recognize from Mahtab Narsimhan's Looking for Lord Ganesh, 2016) give a jazzy feel to the text and illustrations.  Perhaps it's the fluidity of the art and the prose, or maybe it's Charlie's "cool cat" attitude.  From the swinging purse to the pliable characters (both in body and disposition), Belle DeMont and Sonja Wimmer have given us a wonderful story about self-expression.

Charlie may love that bright red purse but I love Charlie for his refreshing and honest appreciation for  that tote that others question, ridicule and even condemn him for carrying.  For Charlie, carrying that purse is nothing abnormal, it's just something he does.  It's sweet, it's honest and it's Charlie.  And it should be all of us.  The message of I Love My Purse is about fulfilling a need for self-expression in dress or action and it's paramount.  Forget the stereotyping that tells us a boy carrying a purse is inappropriate. Haven't we gone beyond that narrow-minded thinking?  Charlie has.  Let's all embrace our inner Charlie and bear our purses proudly, regardless of gender.

Happy Dreamer

Written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Orchards Books/Scholastic

978-0-545-86501

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2017

Peter H. Reynolds’s earlier picture books (The Dot, Ish, Sky Color) have inspired children to be creative and be true to themselves while encouraging their parents and teachers to foster that creativity. Happy Dreamer takes that premise a step further by accepting the foundation that we are all dreamers in our own ways and should be allowed the freedom to dream.

The child in Happy Dreamer –girl, boy, does it matter?–acknowledges that they are a happy dreamer who is good at dreaming all kinds of dreams: daydreams, big and little dreams and creative dreams.  Though that dreaming isn’t always appreciated in schools and elsewhere, with the child being told to sit still or focus, they realize that their dreams “have a mind of their own.”  With that, this child speaks to their different dreamings, in terms of volume and colour and messiness. Profoundly they also acknowledge that there can be a loneliness involved in dreaming but that dreaming can also set you free, “plunging into amazing, delightful, happy dreams.”

From Happy Dreamer 

by Peter H. Reynolds

It’s all a question of being an individual and being allowed to be yourself.  And to that end, the dreamer who accepts themself as being okay, offers four glorious pages of illustrations of dreamers from which the readers might identify themselves.

From Happy Dreamer
by Peter H. Reynolds

Peter H. Reynolds, whose books repeatedly make the children’s book world stand up and pay attention, has done so again in Happy Dreamer. He states unequivocally on his website that he has a mission in his art and books:

“When I visit students in schools they ask me what my hobbies are. I say thinking, dreaming. If my art and stories can help inspire others to do the same, I'll feel my life had meaning.”

(Retrieved from http://www.peterhreynolds.com/mission2.html on April 4, 2017.)

His art of pen and ink with watercolour achieves that easily. There is an illuminating quality to Peter H. Reynolds’s drawings, even when emphasizing the ways in which we as teachers and parents attempt to subdue, even quell, that joie de vivre.  Still the overall message which Peter H. Reynolds upholds in text and art is that of accepting ourselves in terms of our dreams, whether they be wishes or desires or simply contemplations of what could be.  Peter H. Reynolds brings every young reader, and not so young reader, to a place of contentment for whom we are.

There’s only one question that needs to still be asked: What kind of a dreamer are you?

Ooko

by Esmé Shapiro

Tundra Books

978-1-101-918449

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

July 2016

Looks like foxes are the newest thing in children’s picture book characters and, though Esmé Shapiro has made Ooko a darling of a fox, he/she could be any creature, human or otherwise, who just wants a friend (though Ooko is incredibly lovable!)

In simple statements, Ooko takes stock of all he has: a stick, a leaf, a rock.  But he doesn’t have a friend with whom he can play.  So, Ooko goes looking: in a hole, in a tree, under a moose.  When he witnesses another four-legged creature playing with a furless, two-legged one called a Debbie, he comes to the revelation that he needs a Debbie too!  

But all the Debbies around seem to be enamoured with their own “foxes” and pay him no heed, even when he tries to emulate all the attributes he is convinced make them so lovable.  That is, until a Debbie who is missing her eyeglasses mistakenly grabs Ooko and “plays” with him as she would her true pet.  

From Ooko by Esmé Shapiro

Only when he meets a raccoon who wants to be his friend does Ooko accept himself as he is, not how he believes others want him to be.

Esmé Shapiro’s story is sweet and quirky with a positive message of self-acceptance and friendship but it’s her illustrations that make Ooko a truly special achievement.  From uniquely-shaped Ooko, with his rotund orange body highlighted by massive and bright eyes to the assorted dogs, bizarrely-coiffured humans and bold and leafy landscapes, Ooko is a fun and imaginative story that celebrates the individuality of friendships.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Check out these Ooko extras:

•  Esmé Shapiro's Ooko book trailer at https://vimeo.com/161983649 

• The Globe and Mail's video of Esmé Shapiro drawing her cute characters at http://fw.to/2bq9S5c

Bad Pirate

by Kari-Lynn Winters

Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Pajama Press

978-1-927485-71-2

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

May, 2015

Of course Augusta Garrick wants to be a good pirate.  Her father is Captain Barnacle Garrick and he was all the things a good pirate should be: saucy, bold and selfish.  In other words, he was bad.  He has no problems tying up traitorous crew and making them walk the plank (though Augusta rescues them in her rowboat below).  Or fighting off a giant octopus. Or yelling at the crew for helping an older member.

So one night she decides to do something saucy, bold and selfish: she tosses out the wooden peg leg of Scully, the one-eyed pit bull who never lets Augusta get away with any kindnesses.  But the next morning a brewing storm demands Scully's attention to the main sail, and he can't climb!  Will someone be "feedin' the fishes" for that snafu?  Will it be Scully, Augusta or the whole crew when the ship sinks?

You know Kari-Lynn Winters will spin a great yarn, which she has, and it’s a rollicking good one of life on the high seas, living with barnacle-hardened sea dogs (literally) and a father-daughter relationship like no other.  There’s learning about being oneself and accepting others' strengths as important, even if different. The text is salted with the voice of pirates–though nicely scrubbed for young ears and eyes–and the fluency of a sea shanty.  And Dean Griffiths makes sure that his bold illustrations transport the reader to the swaying decks of that pirate ship, embellished with detailed rigging, portholes, ratlines and masts.  And the crew of spaniels, chihuahuas, bulldogs and sheepdogs (this list is limited only by my own limited dog knowledge) is resplendent in their kerchief do-rags, breeches, buckle boots and gold earrings, the captain especially dapper in his frock coat and feathered musketeer hat.  And Augusta fits right in, truly looking like a pirate, even if Kari-Lynn Winters has to help her, and everyone else on the ship, see that when she was good, she really was a very Bad Pirate. Lucky for them.

Oddrey Joins the Team

by Dave Whamond

Owlkids
978-1-77147-061-2
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
August, 2014

First came Oddrey (Whamond, 2012), the winner of the 2014 Blue Spruce readers' choice award. Then came Oddrey and the New Kid (Whamond, 2013), a current nominee for the Forest of Spruce®'s Blue Spruce award.  Now here's Oddrey Joins the Team, a third adventure in this highly-acclaimed series by cartoonist and award-winning children's author and illustrator Dave Whamond to show children that being an individualist like Oddrey can make you an awesome team player too.

Oddrey is a star at accepting others and bringing out the best in them so it wouldn't be surprising that Maybelline, the new kid from Oddrey and the New Kid, would ask her new friend Oddrey to join the soccer team, the Piccadilla Bees.  Maybelline is a very good soccer player and all the kids on the team are eager to play and have fun by embedding their special talents, from karate kicks to cartwheeling to dance, into their skills training.  Unfortunately, these aren't the gifts that Maybelline is trying to coach into them and they're not the skills that win games, especially against the Quagville Crushers.  But, just as Oddrey has saved the day before, she does so here bringing all their special talents into play just as their team's namesakes successfully do to ensure a smooth running beehive.

I love Oddrey's joie de vivre and her natural ability to include everyone.  She may perform an awesome pirouette, both on the field and off, but she is no prima donna, recognizing the value of appreciating what everyone has to offer.  Luckily, even with those who lean towards taking control, like Maybelline, Oddrey can help them see the benefits of relying on a team approach while allowing everyone to stay true to themselves.

But, while I love the little girl, and the wordplay in the text, I appreciate Dave Whamond's illustrations even more.  There are so many quirky details in the children's faces and actions that, though the words may be read quickly, you'll need to stay on the pages longer to catch all the bold facets of Dave Whamond's cartoons:  from the immense eyes, voluminous smiles, crowned queen bees and playful extraordinariness of the ever-present pup.  Learning life lessons with a chuckle and a smile along with Oddrey and Dave Whamond continues to be a delight.

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress

by Christine Baldacchino

Illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant
Groundwood Books
978-1-55498-347-6
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
For release May 2014

It's not surprising that Morris Micklewhite loves the colour tangerine.  It reminds him of his mother's beautiful long hair, the brilliance of the sun, and the richness of a tiger's coat.  And, with the soul of an artist, he is drawn to painting, puzzles, singing, and imaginative play.  When he finds a tangerine dress in the dress-up center at school, Morris puts together an experience for all his creative senses.  A dress of warm tangerine, of swishes and crinkles, that he pairs with different shoes, but especially the ones that click, click, click.  But not everyone appreciates Morris' selection and, though he tries to ignore his peers' words, he is troubled by what he hears and how both the girls and boys exclude him.

Predictably, Morris wants to stay home.  Pretending he has a stomachache, Morris is hopeful of missing school, the place he likes to do so many things.  But,

"When he thought of all the kids in his class
and all the means things they did and said,
his tummy ached for real." (pg. 14)

Delighted to have the time to hang out with the cat, Moo, and read about elephants, Morris starts to feel better, even finding a way ultimately be accepted by the other children and still be true to himself.

Christine Baldacchino strikes the right tone for recognizing how one's differences may be appreciated or not.  She could have played up the gender issue, what boys do and what girls do, but it's much more about just being different and still being true to yourself.  Being different can be such a hardship for many children.  Without recognizing that we are all different, and should be proudly so, many of us just want to fit in, and fitting in often takes the path of conformity.  Morris Micklewhite is no different than other children but he finds a way to embrace his individuality and creativity and share it with others successfully.  There's a lovely fluidity to Isabelle Malenfant's illustrations, undoubtedly due to her responsive use of charcoal, watercolour and pastels, which has already garnered her the 2013 Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize.  With a very simple message dressed in hues of tangerine and the clap, clap, clap of applause, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress will serve to help those whose imaginations may be haltered or those who cannot accept anything beyond life's typical scenarios. 


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A book trailer uploaded recently by the House of Anansi is available on YouTube and at our book trailers' site here.