The Blue Canoe

Written by Sheryl McFarlane

Illustrated by Laurel Aylesworth

Familius

978-1641709156

32 pp.

Ages 3-5

July 2024

 

For any child fortunate enough to spend time on a lake, The Blue Canoe will speak to them about the joy of being out on the water, watching wildlife, and contemplating life's many questions. But for this child, there are the special elements of being with her mother in their blue canoe, a ritual that only the two share, and of anticipating coming-soon baby's arrival. Will everything change? Will their special mother-daughter time be lost? What will coming-soon baby do to the family dynamic? And what about all the wonderful things big sister can introduce to coming-soon baby?

From The Blue Canoe, written by Sheryl McFarlane, illustrated by Laurel Aylesworth

From a small cabin on a lake, a mother and child, and diapered teddy bear, head out in their blue canoe as they often do. 

Every cabin day is a paddle-on-the-lake day.

 As they weave their way through the water, they enjoy the aquatic plants and animals that they observe. There are dragonflies and lily pads, pond skaters and mallards. There is a heron and trout, kingfisher and river otters, and more. And as their paddles dip and pull, the child wonders about their coming-soon baby, speculating on what they may be doing soon and what it will be like having a baby around.

"What if our coming-soon baby doesn't like canoeing?"

Mom has wise answers that reassure. She speaks to the possibility that the baby may be different than her daughter and that's okay. The baby will like somethings they do and not other things, just like Dad who doesn't like to canoe.

From The Blue Canoe, written by Sheryl McFarlane, illustrated by Laurel Aylesworth

Still as the child ponders and questions, the pair glide through gorgeous landscapes abundant with life, enjoying the natural wonders and their connection with each other and their endeavours.

From The Blue Canoe, written by Sheryl McFarlane, illustrated by Laurel Aylesworth

The introduction of a new baby can be challenging for families with young children. There can be much positive anticipation but also questions and concerns that cannot be alleviated until the baby has arrived and the children see how things may change but not necessarily mean there will be losses. BC writer Sheryl McFarlane has taken from her own experiences canoeing with her children to give life to The Blue Canoe. There are so many stories within The Blue Canoe: the mother-daughter connection, the activity of canoeing, the wildlife they see, and the discussions about the coming-soon baby. Readers will get a rich and multi-layered story in The Blue Canoe that can be enjoyed for any of those points of discussion, while enjoying Rhode Island's Laurel Aylesworth's serene scenes of time on the water. There is a calmness and uncluttered nature to her illustrations, ensuring that what we feel is the same tranquility that comes with canoeing on a calm lake. 

 

For me, The Blue Canoe was like forest-bathing: calming,  contemplative, and promoting consciousness of our natural environment. For a young family, it will also be a wonderful discussion starter about a coming-soon baby. If a discussion has to be had about an upcoming birth, there's a great way to initiate it with a virtual canoe trip of appreciation and familial connection as in The Blue Canoe.

Water Water

Written and illustrated by Jessica Bromley Bartram

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-556-7

32 pp.

Ages 5+

March 2021

Water Water is truly a summer book. It's about being on a lake, above and below, observing, feeling and imagining. It's about the known and the unreal, the contemporary and the old. And it's all from one young girl's perspective.

From Water Water by Jessica Bromley Bartram

As the child slips into the summer lake water, she experiences the slants of sunlight, the clouds of minnows and the striped rocks that contour the lake bottom. There's bass and crayfish below and swallows, loons and gulls above. Even as the day progresses into the night and sleep, the lake is her source of contemplation.

From Water Water by Jessica Bromley Bartram

She imagines the shoals as animals, whether an elephant or a pod of whales or even the Loch Ness monster. Moreover, though she cannot dive to the bottom of the deep lake, she pictures ancient sturgeon and musky among the ruins of steamships sunk by past storms. She is sure that she hears their whisperings.

Their words weave through every trough and crest until the lake is filled with stories that whisper around me into the night, telling of lighthouses and monster waves, ghost ships and black water.

Though the weather changes and the lake with it, she revels in its transformations, acknowledging them and those of its elements as part of the natural world around her.

From Water Water by Jessica Bromley Bartram

Water Water is a summertime tribute to the nature of a lake and a young girl's connection with it and its many elements, biological and physical and even imaginary. Like summer, it is leisurely, moving at a pace appropriate for warm weather. Even when the weather turns darker, cold and tumultuous, it's energetic but relaxed, as it cannot be changed and only be accepted. 

 

Though I've reviewed  Jessica Bromley Bartram's work previously as the illustrator of  Summer North Coming by Dorothy Bentley (2019), I think the Ottawa artist has enhanced her impression by connecting her artwork with her own words and personal experiences. (Her dedication includes a reference to "Georgian Bay, my heart's home.") There's an organic feel to her artwork, which appears to be primarily gouache and watercolour, and is perfectly in keeping with Water Water's raw nature. The water feels warm, the algae on the rocks is slimy and the wildlife skitter along above and below. 

For children who are fortunate enough to spend any time this summer on a lake, and for those who reminisce about the times they did, Jessica Bromley Bartram delivers us to that place for a sensory dip and a visit that is both hers and all our own.