An Unbalanced Force

Written by Valerie Sherrard

DCB 

978-1-77086-764-2

200 pp.

Ages 12+

November 2024

 

When your family gives you everything, from a comfortable lifestyle and money to support and love, it's not unusual to feel beholding to them, even if they don't make you feel like it's a transactional relationship. (Sadly, there are families that do this.) But imagine if you owe your life to a dad who saved you when you'd snuck into an abandoned house and were bleeding out from an injury? Would you feel indebted forever? Or would there be a point where doing the right thing would feel like the wrong thing?

Seventeen-year-old Ethan Granger has a pretty nice life. He and his parents live in a gated community in Ottawa near enough to the Gatineau that he can take his trail bike there regularly. He just got a new bike, and his parents are talking about taking him to do the Inca Trail in Peru. His dad who became rich with his company, The Granger Group, is generous with his cash, especially whenever he goes on a business trip, which is frequently. Part of Ethan's circle include his best friend, Owen, who enjoys getting away from his alcoholic mother by hanging at Ethan's, and Ethan's girlfriend Nora with whom he often has an on-again-off-again relationship.

When he sees his dad in a parking lot near a strip mall in town when he's supposed to be on a trip, Ethan has questions, even more so when he texts his dad and his dad claims he's just getting off his flight. Recalling an earlier incident in which Mom claims to have seen someone driving Dad's car when he was out of town, Ethan decides to hire a private investigator to check things out. Ethan knows his dad is a smooth talker and a great storyteller but is he really a liar? Ms. Abboud, the investigator, reminds Ethan that, "It's important to realize that whatever you find out, it's going to be something you'll carry for the rest of your days." (p. 36)

 

Working with Ms. Abboud and his friends, Ethan discovers where Dad is spending time during his supposed business trips, and what Ethan learns puts him in an uncomfortable position. Does he stand by his father, a man who'd saved his life, or does he go to the police? Does he jeopardize all he and his family have or consider the needs of others?

Being a teen is often a balancing act of following the rules of the adults in your life–parents, teachers, coaches, guardians–and your own inclinations, whether for interests, friends, ambitions or just independence. And even though Ethan is fortunate that he comes from a wealthy family in which his wants are rarely limited, Valerie Sherrard gives us a typical teen who looks for support in his peer group, and who wants to have a good relationship with his family and girlfriend. He's also honest with himself, seeing things he doesn't like, whether in the way Nora treats him, in his father's lies, or in his own responses to disappointment and confusion. He's a teen and he's an insightful one.

Valerie Sherrard, who was recently named the 2024 Literary Arts Laureate of the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts, is an accomplished writer of all genres, from picture books and middle grade novels to YA and non-fiction. (See a few of my reviews of some of her books, including A Bend in the Breeze, Counting Back from Nine, Standing on Neptune, Driftwood, Random Acts, and Rain Shadow, to see the range of her writing.) While she can write everything from funny to angsty, novels in free verse to information texts, I think Valerie Sherrard excels at realistic YA in which young people are challenged by ordinary feelings in perhaps uncommon circumstances. In An Unbalanced Force, Ethan is challenged with doing what's right which may be at odds with what his family might want. His choice could also impact others around him. Perhaps the circumstances are exceptional but his reactions, from confusion to disappointment and even rage, are all legit, as are the means by which he decides upon his response.

With the overload of decisions which young people must make before reaching adulthood, with respect to their careers, their relationships, and even the risks they take, it's reassuring to know that, even when given circumstances beyond their control, like Owen's alcoholic mother and Ethan's deceitful father, they can see different perspectives and make good choices for themselves. Best of all, they can remain open to possibilities and stay confident in their choices, regardless of what others may toss at them.

The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion (The Inside Scouts #1)

Written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths

Illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

Acorn (Scholastic)

978-1-338-89498-1

64 pp.

Ages 4–7

RL 1.0

February 2024 

 

Sanjay and Viv are the Inside Scouts, and they have the superpower to shrink super small and go inside animals to make them feel better. In this first book in this illustrated early reader (RL 1.0) series, the kids must help a lion who is not feeling his best.

Inside Scouts!

Always on call!

To fix big things,

we get super small! (p. 20)

 

From The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

Ruslan  is a lion who wants to run and play with his cubs, but he is feeling far too tired to do so.  Using some very cool tech, the kids show Ruslan a leak in his heart. Gearing up, the two go in through his nose–though they must be careful not to tickle the sensitive lion–and follow a vein to the heart.

From The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

The Inside Scouts show young readers how the heart is made up of four rooms, with doors called valves that allow movement of the blood. Though the story is appended with "Fun Facts about the Heart" that describes the pumping of the heart and uses terms like circulates, arteries, veins and chambers, the illustrations are done at such large scale that the anatomical features of the heart are not readily discernible so even the squeamishest of children will have no problems with the artwork. But they will have a sweet introduction to how our hearts work and how those with poorly-functioning ones might feel.

From The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

Not only will the Inside Scouts help young children understand their bodies, but the series will also make them think about illness and how our behaviours may be impacted by health issues. Whether it's a lion that cannot play with his cubs because of a leaky heart, or a giraffe with an upset tummy or a cheetah with a leg cramp (Books 2 and 3 are out later this year), the Inside Scouts teach and encourage empathy for those who may be suffering.

From The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

The tale of the kindly lion with a big heart, albeit a leaky one, will delight young readers with its mixture of humour–such as the kids getting sneezed out of the lion's nose with slime–learning and story. Mitali Banerjee Ruths, who also writes The Party Diaries series for the Branches early chapter book imprint of Scholastic, has written a text that is perfect for the earliest readers but challenges them with more sophisticated words in the "Fun Facts about the Heart" section. There is also an activity (Draw Your Own "I Am Kind" Badge) and encouragement to write a story about being kind. With artwork by Filipino-American Francesca Mahaney, who has done a fabulous job of illustrating what could have been a perplexing topic for young children, The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion becomes an accessible but bold adventure of colour, shape, and story, and one that will be a hit with readers, teachers and parents.

 

• • • • • • •

The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion (February 2024)

The Inside Scouts Help the Brave Giraffe (June 2024)

The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah (October 2024)

Jon's Tricky Journey: A story for Inuit children with cancer and their families

Written by Patricia McCarthy

Illustrated by Hwei Lim

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-145-4

70 pp.

All ages

July 2017

The fact that Patricia McCarthy, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, wrote this book is a sad reminder that there are many children, including Inuit children, who must endure treatment for cancer. Their childhoods should be filled by play and learning and friends and family and not the medical traumas involved in being diagnosed with and then treated for cancer.  Jon's Tricky Journey, which is both picture book story and resource guide, takes the reader on that journey and provides a compendium of supportive resources for navigating pediatric cancer treatment in the North.

Jon is an Inuit boy who lives with his parents (anaana and ataata) and two siblings and their husky dog Nanuq in Nunavut.  He loves camping, watching the northern lights and hearing stories about his ancestors.

From Jon's Tricky Journey 

by Patricia McCarthy

illus. by Hwei Lim

When Jon starts to feel pains, a visit to the nursing station ends up sending him to the hospital far away south.  Only his anaana goes with him to a land of trees and noise and busyness that made him fearful.  A social worker helps him and his anaana adjust, including finding them a place to stay, while he visits with the oncologist Dr. Lewis who tells him that he has a lump called cancer inside his body.  An operation is needed to remove it and then he'll have to take special medicines.

From Jon's Tricky Journey 

by Patricia McCarthy 

illus. by Hwei Lim

From the nurses and child-life specialists, pharmacists and special visitors, Jon is helped through what he calls his "tricky days," those days when pain, fatigue and homesickness overwhelm him.  (The above art illustrates Jon's trick of thinking happy thoughts, such as camping, to get through episodes of pain.) As he deals with his chemotherapy (a word not used in the story) and becomes more familiar with the routines and the hospital and meeting other children with cancer, Jon begins to appreciate that he is showing strength and resilience, just like his Inuit ancestors.

Patricia McCarthy's intent for this book is to "serve as a source of comfort and useful information for families who find themselves far from home, facing a cancer diagnosis in a strange and sometimes frightening environment." (pg. 37)  Jon's Tricky Journey, the story, is a reassuring depiction of what a child might need to go through when being treated for cancer but that story only takes 34 pages.  The remainder of the picture book lists children's hospitals and cancer treatment facilities and a map of flight paths from Arctic locations to these facilities; navigation and coordination services by region; descriptions of all medical team members; answers to FAQs; the northern pain scale, most appropriate for Inuit children; a glossary; an art project; and additional resources.  Jon's Tricky Journey, brilliantly translated into Inuktitut so that it can be read by all family members, should be available at every treatment centre accommodating Inuit children and their families as well as the nursing stations of their home communities.  By depicting Jon's Inuit life and his oncology journey with simplicity and realism, Malaysian illustrator Hwei Lim ensures that any child of the North dealing with cancer will see himself or herself within the pages. This is as it should be.  Sadly, Jon's Tricky Journey could be the journey of far too many children but, within the pages of this book, there is some solace that it's a journey that is not taken alone.

Remember

by Eileen Cook

Simon Pulse

978-1-4814-1696-2

320 pp.

Ages 12+

February 2015

People need to ball up.  Life isn't all sunshine and unicorns.  Now they're selling it to people our age?  What, because not getting into the college of our choice is crushing?  No date for prom causing premature PTSD?  It's not trauma; it's real life.  Life is hard sometimes.  It doesn't mean you don't face it. (pg. 12)

That's best friend Win's assessment of the Memtex treatment that teen Harper Bryne's father's company NeuroTech is now offering, with FDA approval, for the "softening" of painful memories that get in the way of living.  But when Harper's beloved horse, Harry, dies unexpectedly of colic, she is devastated and weeks later still unable to sleep or eat.  Though her parents refuse to allow her to receive treatment, Harper easily convinces her boyfriend, Josh, an part-time intern at NeuroTech–and a protegé of her father's– to sneak her in.  In recovery, Harper is thrilled to know she can still visualize Harry but without the devastating sadness and guilt, feeling like herself again.

That is, until she blacks out over memories of a woman falling and the smell of burning meat, and begins dreams of this woman.  Josh is convinced they are just false memories (he is so pro-NeuroTech).  But, having witnessed her blackout, Neil O’Malley, a college student involved in protests objecting to Memtex’s use, approaches her about the possible side effects of the treatment that he is convinced had a role in his older brother’s suicide.

Now Harper is delving into her past, doing some sleuthing around anomalous information about her horse and her mother, and getting Neil to help her with this research, while her relationship with Josh is put on hold and her friendship with Win takes a tailspin.  And then there’s her dad whom she’d always trusted to do everything and anything for her and now whom she is convinced is harbouring secrets and acting only in the best interests of his company.

Remember is a romance with a cautionary spin on the hazards of expecting lives filled only with lightness and good memories, devoid of the painful ones that help sculpt us into the persons we are.  Win is always remarking about Harper’s Mary Poppins’ positive attitude and is disappointed, almost angry, when Harper begins to be less so.  This is surprising considering she acknowledges that life isn’t all “sunshine and unicorns” (pg. 12). But, Win is not atypical, recognizing that sometimes life sucks while still preferring effusive busyness and happy demeanours at all costs.  Not surprising a lot of work related to PTSD and depression is done quietly and discreetly on the side.

Eileen Cook writes captivating realistic fiction with a hint of romance so well, ensuring some sweetness is always enmeshed in the conflict of keeping secrets and telling of lies.  Unraveling Isobel (SimonPulse, 2012)  and The Almost Truth (SimonPulse, 2012) are two more examples of her gripping YA that I’ve been pleased to review here on CanLit for LittleCanadians.  I know my young readers are as enthusiastic by Eileen Cook’s writing as I am, gripped by complex plotlines beyond their own lives and by romantic, friend and family relationships that reassure them that they are normal.  And Remember is one more YACanLit to add to that collection, albeit with a nuance of science fiction that makes us remember that the speculative may not always been that fantastic after all.