Sunny

Written and illustrated by Celia Krampien

Roaring Brook Press

978-1-250-31660-8

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

February 2020

It may be raining outside but, with Sunny around, it's never dull and gloomy.

As all the children trudge to school in the rain "while the wind crawls up your sleeves and puddles soak your boats, making your footsteps squish and squash," Sunny sees the positive: she gets to use her big yellow umbrella.

From Sunny by Celia Krampien

Others might think it scary to be picked up by a huge gust of wind and carried high above the town but Sunny, with her joyful disposition, enjoys the feeling of flying like a bird.  And when she's flung above the sea, she enjoys watching the waves before she is dropped into a boat. Then when she's catapulted by a big wave onto a rock, she "thought things weren't that bad because at least she wasn't alone."

From Sunny by Celia Krampien

But, when her gull companion leaves her alone, it's the one moment when she almost loses that sunny attitude. Fortunately, he returns with some friends and rope and they carry her and the boat safely to the school yard.

From Sunny by Celia Krampien

Now, most people would say that being late for school was a bad kind of situation.
But not Sunny.

From Sunny by Celia Krampien

Sunny may be the story of a little girl who goes on an amazing adventure that causes her to be late for school but it's really a story about attitude. Debut author-illustrator Celia Krampien contrasts the glass half-empty and glass half-full attitudes for each scenario which Sunny finds herself in. Most of us would see rain while she sees the opportunity to use her umbrella. We might see only distress but she sees joy in what she is doing and with whom she is spending time. Celia Krampien's signature colour scheme (see her website at http://www.celiakrampien.com/) highlights that contrast of attitudes of most versus Sunny. Sunny's yellow umbrella, rain jacket and boots stand out from the teals and turquoises, sometimes darker and sometimes lighter, of the rainy day and tumultuous sea. The balance of light and dark keeps the story grounded, never too cheery or dismal, and the right blend of imagination with reality.

In our troubling times when many are worried and upset about everything from illness to the changes in their routines and way of doing things, seeing the world as Sunny does would make it a whole lot easier to weather. She still gets to school in the end, just as we'll get through this too. It may be a different way than we had planned but, with an optimism like Sunny's, it may be more manageable.

Rosie's Glasses

Written and illustrated by Dave Whamond

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-991-4

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2018

Many of us know that feeling of waking up with a black cloud hanging over our heads. You've woken up late, it's raining outside and everything is grey.  Life has no colour. If anything can go wrong, it does. How does a child pick themselves up to see beyond the noise and strife and bad luck and gloom that pervades everything at home, on the street and at school?

From Rosie's Glasses by Dave Whamond

If you're little Rosie, you're fortunate to spot a colourful butterfly which leads you straight to a pair of round pink glasses that offer you a rosier perspective on your world. The blasé street scene now reveals flowers and bees and families with ice cream and singing birds and multi-coloured balloons. The park is filled with friendly chatter and play and joyful wildlife. At home, there's a new puppy.  

From Rosie's Glasses by Dave Whamond

Now waking up is vibrant and enthusiastic and Rosie, the darling with the rabbit-eared pigtails, sees rainbows and music and colour everywhere.  But, Rosie's new perspective may be in jeopardy when she loses her new glasses. Or is it?

From Rosie's Glasses by Dave Whamond

Rosie's Glasses may play on the premise that rose-coloured glasses tend to make life look better than it really is but Dave Whamond would not give Rosie the perspective of optimism without a bit of reality.  Her day really does start out poorly and things are dreary and unfortunate. Her pigtails even droop! But the magic that comes from those glasses is extraordinary, helping Rosie see the goodness in her reality, not just the bad.  Even when she has lost the glasses, Rosie has been infused with a dose of encouragement–the new puppy helps too–that will help her see the good and the bad, even on inevitable grey days of her future.

I know I always go on and on about Dave Whamond's illustrations from his picture books like Oddrey (Owlkids, 2012) and My Think-a-Ma-Jink (Owlkids, 2009), his first graphic novel Nick the Sidekick (Kids Can Press, 2018) and, of course, his syndicated cartoon Reality Check (see samples at his website at http://davewhamond.com/reality-check/) but the art is fabulous! It draws the eye everywhere to reveal details in faces and in buildings, in scenes and in actions. With Rosie's Glasses being a wordless picture book, readers, children and adults alike, will be able to linger on illustrations and find more and more to discuss and contemplate. 

Rosie's Glasses is a story that offers encouragement on observing life from different perspectives and it's a buffet of colour and activity.  Teachers and parents will undoubtedly, as they should, take advantage of the book's value in teaching visual literacy but there's much more to the story and the art. So, be sure to smell the roses along that pedagogical path because there's much more here than a lesson. There's life: the good, the bad and the rosy.

From Rosie's Glasses by Dave Whamond

Optimists Die First

Written by Susin Nielsen

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-782-5

240 pp.

Ages 12+

February 2017

Reviewed from audiobook

Read by Julia Whelan

Listening Library

B01N6PZ3Q3

4 hr 58 min

Apparently optimists do die first.  By ten years.  Pessimists, it seems, are more realistic because they see eventualities the oblivious optimists ignore.  No wonder Petula De Wilde, 16, is obsessed with all the circumstances that can take and have taken peoples’ lives before expected.  Her obsession about all things dangerous has her keeping a scrapbook of news stories of deaths from falling debris at construction sites, a faulty roller coaster or elevator, and even deadly paper cuts, leaving her fearful of everything from double-dipping eaters, public washrooms, biological warfare, and airplanes.  This since the death of her baby sister Maxine two years earlier, a death for which Petula blames herself.  Now she can’t keep herself safe enough.

In lieu of counselling, Petula attends YART, Youth Art Therapy, along with recently out-of-the-closet Alonzo, alcoholic Koula, angry, grief-stricken Ivan and new guy Jacob Cohen, the guy with the bionic arm.  Under the instruction of therapist Betty, the group undertakes a series of juvenile projects.  But, after Petula and the aspiring film director Jacob prepare a cat adaptation of Wuthering Heights (to rave reviews, except from their English teacher), the group convinces Betty to let them organize their own projects, more relevant to their needs and issues.

Amidst their YART sessions, Petula’s phobic life style, overwhelming guilt, regrets over falling out with former BFF and crafting buddy Rachel, and a disintegrating family, Petula and Jacob fall in love.  But Jacob only reveals a few scenes from his life, and apparently a lot of it is fiction, jeopardizing his relationship with Petula and the other members of YART.  Whether they can find a way to heal their own guilts and allow another into their worlds is only up to Susin Nielsen, director of fine stories and creator of characters more real than those we encounter every day.

If you’re familiar with Susin Nielsen’s earlier works (Word Nerd; Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom; The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen; and We Are All Made of Molecules)–and if you’re not, go out right now, rush, get them and read them–you’ll know the power of her writing to blend stories of families in transition with heavy issues like death, divorce and homophobia, while still leaving room for humour and romantic love.  Optimists Die First is a package of inspiritment (even from the tragedies) that serves to entertain because of Susin Nielsen’s diverse characters, human and cat, subplots of secrets and shames, and reassurance of a close that’s more a beginning than an end.

“But that’s life, I guess. We know we can’t do a rewrite.  We can’t undo what’s been done, or control what’s coming next.   

All we can do is hope for the best.”

Just stick to the bright side (away from falling construction debris) and you’ll be just fine.  I’m positive.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Author Susin Nielsen speaks about Optimists Die First in a brief video on YouTube and is accompanied by her cat who is not named Moominmamma, Anne of Green Gables, Ferdinand, Stuart Little, Stanley, Alice or Pippi.

Susin Nielsen talks all things 'Optimists Die First' avec cat

Uploaded by Maximum Pop! Books on March 13, 2017 to YouTube.