This is a Tiny Fragile Snake

Written by Nicholas Ruddock

Illustrated by Ashley Barron

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-784-1

36 pp.

Ages 3+

February 2024

 

This is a Tiny Fragile Snake is a nature walk, a stroll through different habitats to see a variety of animals but observed through human eyes and through our interactions with them. Nicholas Ruddock, Guelph writer and physician, gives us the perspective of children as they take in a snake, a bear, a hummingbird, a caterpillar, and more as their worlds intersect with ours. In rhyming verse, Nicholas Ruddock lets us see something different along with these children.

From This is a Tiny Fragile Snake, written by Nicholas Ruddock, illustrated by Ashley Barron

The first poem is "Snake" which, while it mentions what the snake eats, is more about the children protecting the snake from being trampled by moving it to a safer place via a coffee cup. Children being benevolent is a theme that also shows up in the poem about the hummingbird that has its beak stuck in a window screen, and a caterpillar saved from a lawnmower, as well as a chipmunk being stalked by a tuxedo cat.

I plucked it from its blade of grass

and placed it on a tree,

and a week ago a butterfly

came by and danced for me. ("Caterpillar")

From This is a Tiny Fragile Snake, written by Nicholas Ruddock, illustrated by Ashley Barron

Some poems reflect how we feel about the animals highlighted, whether disgusted, scared, impressed or something completely different. "Ants" speaks to dissuading ants from ruining a picnic by offering some sugary treats some distance away. "Skunk" suggests to children that, while we might see a skunk as a stinky animal, perhaps the skunk sees us with disdain too. Whether it be hornets, a moose, herons, a red squirrel, or a finch, wasp, worms, or loon, Nicholas Ruddock reminds us that people have a relationship with other animals. This might be because we have imposed ourselves on their habitats, or because they have encroached on ours, but there is an interrelationship as our dynamic worlds merge and separate.

From This is a Tiny Fragile Snake, written by Nicholas Ruddock, illustrated by Ashley Barron

By showing young readers how our actions can impact other species, Nicholas Ruddock demonstrates how we can ensure that those actions are always positive or at least harmless. There is wisdom in getting a raccoon out of house or how to free a loon trapped in ice which is delivered with a gentle awe of these animals and how they behave. There is a respect for them that is both explicit and implicit.

It turned out we were helpless,

there was nothing we could do,

for there seemed a steady stream of them,

and we were only two. ("Hornets")

I've admired Ashley Barron's cut-paper collage illustrations in earlier books that she's illustrated for others (e.g., Up! How Families Around the World Carry Their Little Ones, Chaiwala!, and Granny Left Me a Rocket Ship) and I believe that the texturing that comes with her technique lends itself well to outdoor settings. Like leaves that layer and feathers and fur, scales and petals of texture, Ashley Barron's art is rich in depth and colour, giving a three-dimensionality to the landscapes and their animals.

While This is a Tiny Fragile Snake will entice readers, young and old, to find the poetry in nature and how we interact with it, the poems within also remind us how, when our worlds merge, we can ensure those interactions remain copacetic.

So we gave up, threw up our hands,

defeated by a pest,

and for the rest of summer

she was treated as a guest. ("Squirrel")

Boobies

Written and illustrated by Nancy Vo

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-692-9

40 pp.

Ages 3-6

August 2022

You will be forgiven if you think Boobies is about the marine bird known as the blue-footed booby. It is, after all, on the cover of Nancy Vo's latest picture book. Ah, but look a little closer at the bird and the placement of the double o's in the title and you'll realize the real story behind Boobies.

From Boobies by Nancy Vo

While Nancy Vo introduces the blue-footed booby ever so briefly, she makes it clear that this bird species has no boobies because it is not a mammal. And with that, she opens up a discussion about mammals with boobies, from a dog and a cat to an opossum, and clarifies which do not, like fish.

From Boobies by Nancy Vo

The variety of human boobies and their functionality for feeding young is explained cheekily but accurately–hence, the essential inclusion of Boobies in STEM book lists covering the human body–as is some natural and art history depictions of these organs.

From Boobies by Nancy Vo

Though this picture book won't be released until the end of August, World Breastfeeding Week is August 1st to August 7th so reviewing it on CanLit for LittleCanadians now seems highly appropriate. While Boobies isn't really a "story" with a beginning, a middle and an end, it is a unique and charming approach to the science behind breasts and will educate as well as engage. Kids may go home and start checking every living thing for boobies but they'll have learned a little bit more about animal classification (mammal vs. non-mammal), about links between morphology and function, and how breasts have been recognized in culture.

Vancouver's Nancy Vo never becomes coy about sharing valuable information about breasts but she does adjust it for younger children for whom lessons regarding their bodies would be relatively new. But, using stencil art with matte acrylics and pen on paper, Nancy Vo takes a convivial approach to an educational topic which some adults may be reluctant to broach, presuming incorrectly that it could be emotionally awkward or insensitive. It is neither. It is science and will give children a better way to communicate about their bodies and to care for them more completely.

I suspect that Boobies may be the first book in a series of non-fiction picture books about various body parts, judging by the book's conclusion when Nancy Vo tells us, "Butt, that's another book." I can't think of a better way to educate and enthrall than through Nancy Vo's art and humour whether it be about boobies, butts or some other body part.

Canada Animals

Written and illustrated by Paul Covello

HarperCollins Canada

978-1-44345-383-7

30 pp.

Ages 0-5

September 2018

I don't review a lot of concept books because too many are mediocre. So many people think that doing a book based on the alphabet or numbers 1 through 10 or colours would be an easy write. It's not. The premise is firmly established but putting a book together to be meaningful while different and original is very difficult.  Fortunately, author-illustrator Paul Covello excels at concept books. Having already reviewed Canada 123 (2017) and Everyday ABC (2018), I know that he goes far beyond just teaching the concept of numbers or letters or, here, animals. He lodges that concept in a rich landscape that teaches and provides context beyond the foundation.

From Canada Animals by Paul Covello

Canada Animals introduces little ones to 43 animals found in Canada.  Some are common to many regions, like the deer, moose and robin, but others have more limited distributions like the beluga whale, muskox and spirit bear. Still Paul Covello includes a variety of animals from across the country, from west coast to east coast and far north waters and land. There are mammals like the pine marten, bison and porcupine; amphibians like the wood frog;  birds including the chickadee and puffin; fish like salmon; and the lobster as crustacean. Young children will recognize some and learn about new ones, and learn they will because Paul Covello embeds the natural history of the animals in his illustrations. For example, the illustration with the snowy owl shows the landscape of its Arctic habitat, that its nest is on the ground and that the juveniles have black feathers.

From Canada Animals by Paul Covello

Similarly, the page about the bighorn sheep shows the physical differences between the male and female, the light-coloured young, a pair of rams fighting and their mountainous and rocky habitat.

From Canada Animals by Paul Covello

There is much to learn about habitat, feeding, young and behaviour of many of the animals included in Paul Covello's Canada Animals, but it's most important to note that he's honouring those found here in Canada. In his realistic yet stylized artwork with its bold colours and crisp lines, Paul Covello makes Canada Animals an animal guide for our youngest set who will love getting to know the animals around them and search out others if and when fortunate to travel our country.

From Canada Animals by Paul Covello