Bunny Loves Beans

Written by Jane Whittingham

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-301-8

24 pp.

Ages 2-5

April 2024

 

Concept books tend to be simple because they are trying to push learning of a new concept like the alphabet or numbers. But Jane Whittingham has taken concept books to a new level with Bunny Loves Beans, giving our young children a book about colours, foods, and animals. And it's all told with loads of bold and colourful photographs. Bunny Loves Beans, in Pajama Press's trademark padded hardcover with rounded corners and extra-heavy paper, will be a pleasure to read over and over and over again as those little ones learn new concepts and become encouraged to read for themselves.

From Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham

 In a series of double-page spreads of photographs of animals and children with foods, Jane Whittingham, whose earlier picture books include Wild One, Queenie Quail Can't Keep Up and A Good Day For Ducks, introduces a colour, always in bold font, and an animal, also in bold font, before connecting to the child, with the emphasis on the word "me." The pattern to the text, as well as the emphasis on only colours, the animal and the child will allow the young reader to pick up on the concepts being introduced so that they may ultimately connect words they hear with words they see. It's very clever and multilayered without the confusion that can arise with melding too many concepts together. Moreover, by using sensory words with which children will be familiar, like sweet, crunchy, squishy and drippy, the concept learning becomes even better embedded.

From Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham

The colours taught are orange, gold, white, black, pink, yellow, blue, red, and green, and the animals associated with the foods of those colours are the groundhog, bee, monkey, fox, puppy, parakeet, chipmunk, pony, and bunny. With an overlying message of healthy food being colourful and good for everyone, Jane Whittingham's Bunny Loves Beans teaches a lot.

Healthy colors,

vibrant colors,

Yummy in my tummy colors– 

Colors for the animals,

And colors for me!

From Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham

Bunny Loves Beans is a great introduction to colours and foods and to show children that they are connected to other animals who also partake in those healthy foods. Better yet, even if the child can't read yet, the learning can be reinforced independently by using the endpapers which depict various colours with foods, some in addition to those in the main text, to help them make those same connections. Bunny Love Beans will teach the concepts but also encourage little ones to start reading by making connections with words, colours, foods, and animals, and always relate it back to them. If they didn't like beans or carrots before, they might just want to eat them now.

The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning

Written by Afua Cooper

Design and illustration by Rebecca Bender 

Plumleaf Press

978-1-7782428-0-9

36 pp.

All ages

For release August 2023

 

On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. The Mont-Blanc was carrying munitions, and the Imo was carrying war supplies. When the two collided, the devastation was extraordinary. Almost 2000 individuals lost their lives, with approximately 9000 injured, and whole communities disappeared. Buildings collapsed, fires erupted, and a tsunami was created. Certain stories from the explosion are memorialized, like Vince Coleman's telegraph message that saved 300 train passengers from certain death. But there are so many stories, and the ones of African Nova Scotians who lived or died in the explosion need to be recognized. So, Dr. Afua Cooper has done just this in her free verse poem.

From The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning by Afua Cooper, design and illustration by Rebecca Bender

Her poem begins with naming the two ships and their purposes for being in Halifax Harbour. The text is differentiated with different coloured fonts, bolding of certain words and enlarged text for emphasis. Dr. Afua Cooper's words don't just tell, they emote. The explosion as a result of the collision in monumental.

The sound of

          terror

   The sound of death

Armageddon

The angel blowing the trumpet of destruction (pg. 10-11)

Its destruction is palpable in her words. 

And the City of Halifax gave one long

                           piercing scream

into the bowels of the Earth

           And the Earth moved furiously

                        Belched and vomited

                                         flames (pg. 12)

But then she speaks of the people, and specifically the Black people of Halifax. Some got to work like Clement Ligoure, a Black doctor from Trinidad, though his efforts were not dignified with the support he required. Some were lost and never returned, like Edward Hickey, a dock worker, and little Aldora Andrews. Some survived but with devastating injuries. And many others lived but had everything they'd worked their lives for taken away. Yet, they had greater fights ahead because "Old Jim Crow raised his nasty head". (pg. 19)

From The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning by Afua Cooper, design and illustration by Rebecca Bender

The Halifax Explosion was a tragedy. And it was all the more crushing for the racism African Nova Scotians were still subjected to in its aftermath. With The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning, Halifax's seventh poet laureate, Dr. Afua Cooper, goes beyond the event and instead goes with the people. She does give the basic facts, including in the "Historical Note" at the end, but her poem does more than just recount the tragedy. With powerful and weighty words, she makes us see and feel for the disaster and how African Nova Scotians were impacted. Her words come from a place beyond the archives. Unlike most picture books in which the illustrations carry much of a story's weight, The Halifax Explosion rests squarely on Dr. Afua Cooper's words. (The poem in its entirety is posted at the conclusion of the book.) Perhaps that's why there is much austerity in the cover and the artwork. The impact of the devastation is well-documented, and key photographs were used to support the details. However, by blending historical photographs with only occasional illustrations by Rebecca Bender, the book goes beyond the reality and extends to the humanity, even if that benevolence was sadly lacking towards African Nova Scotians at the time.
 

There is power in Dr. Afua Cooper's poem of African Nova Scotians whose stories are little known and perhaps less remembered. However, remembered they should be. There are those whose legacies are solid in Canadian history beyond the Halifax explosion, such as Viola Desmond and Dr. Clement Ligoure, but then there are those whose deaths are perhaps not even recorded, or their injuries and losses disavowed. Dr. Afua Cooper tells us their names and about their families. She acknowledges them. The last words of her poem are "Does Halifax remember?" With her poem, they are less lost and truly commemorated.

From The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning by Afua Cooper, design and illustration by Rebecca Bender

Ruby's Hope: A Story of the Girl in the Most Famous Photograph of the Depression

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Sarah Dvojack

Page Street Kids

978-1-62414-818-7

40 pp.

Ages 6-10

September 2019

In 1936, photographer Dorothea Lange would take a picture at a pea-pickers' camp in California and capture a time, an existence, a struggle that would become the iconic "Migrant Mother" piece of art. Though it would be decades later that Florence Owens Thompson and her children would become known as the subjects of that photograph, Monica Kulling brings us a fictionalized account of the background of those captured forever as the face of the Great Depression.

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

Ruby's Hope begins with the little girl's family leaving Oklahoma after the economic tragedies of the late 1920s and early 1930s. With the stock market crash in 1929, followed by the drought that brought dust storms and the ruin of farms, seven-year-old Ruby's parents decide that, unlike the thistle that persevered in the field, they needed to move on, hopeful of a better life in California.

It sometimes seemed to Ruby that Ma pushed hope to its limits.

First the family–Ma, Pa, older siblings Leroy and Viola and babies Katherine and Norma–took to the lettuce fields. But when they head to the pea fields for the next round of picking, they run out of gas and a frost kills the crop, leaving the family desolate in a camp of migrant workers similarly unsettled. Pa and Leroy head to town to earn any kind of money, while

Days passed and food dwindled.

Ruby's hope dwindled too.

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

When a lady photographer comes to the camp to take images of the migrant farm workers for the government, Ruby brings her to see her mother. Though reluctant–"I don't see what good they'll do. We need gas to leave this place. We need food, not photographs"–Ma agrees, swayed that perhaps they might convey to others how hard the migrant workers' lives are. 

Though the story of Florence Owens Thompson and her family may not be as Monica Kulling envisions it–her Author's Note and discussion of How the "Migrant Mother" Came to Be provide more details about the facts as known–it accurately depicts a family on the move for work, eking out a living wherever possible and carrying on through drought, dust storms, frost and more. I like that Monica Kulling gives the story to Ruby who, while quite young, knows the hardship of leaving the only home she'd known and the worries of her parents and still keeps hope in her heart. Though her words are heavy with worry, hunger and poverty, I suspect the story would have been far harsher if written from the perspective of Ma, Pa or an older sibling. 

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

Still, the tragedy in the family's story is pervasive in Ruby's Hope. It's like the dust clouds that spread across prairies and plains: oppressive, stifling out air and sun, and crushing.  American artist Sarah Dvojack's pencil drawings coloured digitally extend that feel of hardship. The earthiness of the family's circumstances, environmental and economic, are conveyed in her lines and colours. From the actions of her characters, in the slump of their shoulders, of the dirt of their clothes and bodies, and the landscapes of their situation, Sarah Dvojack embeds the art with the burdens of the time and place.

Ruby's Hope: A Story of the Girl in the Most Famous Photograph of the Depression may be a fictionalized account of that image but its accuracy comes from the awareness of how people like Ruby's family laboured through horrific circumstances and how change can be be inspired with the right attention.

Migrant Mother, Photograph by Dorothea Lange (Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/50989)

A Friend Like Iggy

Written by Kathryn Cole

Photographs by Ian Richards

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-084-1

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

April 2019

For children, new experiences would seem to be the norm. Meeting new kids, the first day of school, doctors' visits and such can cause anxiety and fear but children often become acclimatized to such events. But there are some experiences which children should never have to face but do. Such would be the turmoil of dealing with abuse and all its psychological and legal ramifications. Thankfully there are facilitator dogs such as Iggy.

A friend who helps small people feel bigger and big worries feel smaller. (pg. 6)

From A Friend Like Iggy by Kathryn Cole, photographs by Ian Richards

From an initial visit to meet Iggy and his handler, Maggie, a child is able to be comforted by the big dog, a cross between a Labrador and Bernese Mountain Dog, while going through the arduous process of investigation, trauma assessment, therapy and court preparation. If the child is being questioned by police and doctors or receiving support from other relevant personnel, Iggy is there too.

Iggy always listened and let me know he was my friend–no matter what. (pg. 16)

From A Friend Like Iggy by Kathryn Cole, photographs by Ian Richards

But, most significantly, Iggy is there in court when the child has to face "the person I didn't want to see or talk in front of." (pg. 19) Iggy's comforting demeanour and proximity can make all the difference in enduring difficult circumstances. Even after the formal process of investigation is officially completed, the child can still connect with Iggy with a keepsake photo and following him on social media.

From A Friend Like Iggy by Kathryn Cole, photographs by Ian Richards

Iggy is an accredited facility dog working for the BARK Program of Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre. Both programs provide innovative and worthwhile support to children dealing with abuse investigations. In an integrated approach, Iggy and another dog, Jersey, in the Boost Accredited Reliable K9s (BARK) Program, provide invaluable support as detailed by Kathryn Cole's straightforward text in A Friend Like Iggy. She takes the perspective of a child–Boost services children ages 3 through 17–and does not discuss the abuse, only what the child experiences with Iggy. It's what children feel and know and is appropriately told in Comic Sans font. Ian Richards's uncomplicated but informative photographs document all aspects of a child's interactions with Iggy, placing emphasis on the relationship rather than the circumstances which brought them together. 

A Friend Like Iggy, like the dog himself, will reassure and support and should be in all school libraries, hospitals, police stations, and medical offices. It might prompt a child to reveal truths they have been reluctant to speak while reassure them that there is support once they have.

Check out the BARK program at Boost at https://boostforkids.org/for-families/intervention-programs/bark-program/

Where Will I Live?

Written by Rosemary McCarney

Second Story Press 

978-1-77260-028-5

24 pp.

Ages 5-9

April 2017

The loveliness of this young girl's face masks the concern for her fate.  As with all refugees, the question of Where Will I Live? is a monumental one, though based on the simple human necessity for shelter and safety.  Shamefully, while many of us are striving for bigger and better in our homes, there are many who just want someplace they might find lodging and sanctuary.  This is the story that Rosemary McCarney tells in her empathetic text below the powerful images of photographs taken for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Photograph UNHCR/Mark Henley 

from Where Will I Live? 

by Rosemary McCarney

From terrifying scenes of fleeing in the darkness or facing armed soldiers, these families set to their journeys by various means–on foot, in trucks, by boat–over all manner of terrain and water, in all kinds of weather, looking for some place to rest and inhabit.  It might be under stairs or in a city of tents or in the middle of the street.  It might be alone or amongst countless others.  Photographs of children show them watching, waiting, enduring, hoping for someone to say, "Welcome home." Few words are needed to tell the plight of those in Jordan, Rwanda, Lebanon and elsewhere when the photographs, taken by Sebastian Rich, Mark Henley, Andrew McConnell, Shawn Baldwin, Ivor Prickett, and more, expose the desperation of the refugees in all the rawness of their circumstances.

Photograph UNHCR/Andrew McConnell

from Where Will I Live? 

by Rosemary McCarney

Rosemary McCarney, formerly of Plan International Canada and currently Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the Conference on Disarmament, has penned numerous books for children that emphasize social justice themes (e.g., Every Day is Malala Day; Being Me; Tilt Your Head, Rosie the Red; Because I am a Girl I Can Change the World).  Where Will I Live? supports that same theme by focusing on the plight of many who are ripped from their homes by war and terror and seeking refuge, supported by the photographic evidence of their struggles to find home.  Yet from beginning to end, Rosemary McCarney offers a message about the resiliency of children to endure their struggles and make temporary abodes wherever and whenever necessary until they can find a forever home, thus making Where Will I Live?  a telling story that goes beyond loss and into the realm of hope.

Photograph UNHCR/Shawn Baldwin

from Where Will I Live? 

by Rosemary McCarney

As a Boy

by Plan International

Second Story Press

98-1-77260-016-2

24 pp.

Ages 5-9

September 2016

I don’t know why we always seem to set up competitions between boys and girls, or separate them into teams that are boys versus girls.  There may be pockets (sometimes very large ones) around the world that feel the need to treat boys and girls differently and separately, justifying that attitude with archaic ideas from religion or culture.  But As a Boy, which launches today, demonstrates that boys can be just as supportive of girls’ rights as girls have needed to be and the book does so in a superbly photographed fashion with simple but prophetic statements of encouragement and defense.

Beginning with a cheerful spread of a dozen photos of babies whose gender is impossible to discern, As a Boy recognizes that being a boy or a girl is simply a matter of chance.  For the boys, choices will be both presumed and provided as opportunities.  While there are opportunities that boys are very fortunate to have, like education, it’s not all glory as there are expectations to being a man.  However, the boys in these photographs from across the globe, photos of boys with other boys, with girls, as fathers, as brothers and sons, recognize that all children need “to be free to choose what they want to be” (pg. 17) and that “As boys, we can stand up for everyone” (pg. 23). What a powerful message of advocacy for the rights of all to choose.

Perhaps a companion book to Plan International’s earlier Because I am a Girl: I Can Change the World (Second Story Press, 2014) or Every Day is Malala Day (Second Story Press, 2014), As a Boy has its own lesson of advocacy to share.  The message is dominant but it wouldn’t have the impact it does if not for the diversity of photographs taken of babies, boys, girls, and families from around the world.  Every child is here, as they should be, given the opportunity to shine with life and chances and choices.  As a Boy lets the world know that this is the way it should be.