Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles

Written and illustrated by Barbara Reid

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-7559-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

December 2019

This one may have been released just after Christmas but any picture book by Barbara Reid, the grande dame of plasticine art, could not be overlooked, especially one that will be a valuable teaching tool for young biologists.

From Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles by Barbara Reid

For four species, Barbara Reid illustrates their complete life cycles in three double-page spreads each. There is the monarch butterfly which transforms from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and butterfly. There is the sunflower which grows from the recognizable hard-shelled seed through germination with root and stem and two cotyledons, to leaves and finally flower and seed again.

From Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles by Barbara Reid

The third species is the green frog which lays many eggs from which tadpoles hatch, and then develop into organisms with back legs and then front legs. The final species is the white oak growing from an acorn which will take root, produce a seedling which grows into a sapling and finally a mature tree. To summarize the cycles, Barbara Reid provides a one-page illustration of each at the end of her book.

From Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles by Barbara Reid

This may be the content of Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles and it is important content for teachers who will be helping young children investigate the relationships between different stages of the same organism.  But Watch It Grow is more than a child's picture book as teaching tool, and that's because the art is that of Barbara Reid.  Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles becomes a celebration of life and the seasons, as plant and animals grow and develop through their life stages. Into each life cycle's story, Barbara Reid brings in a landscape of pond or backyard, woods or meadow, all with the textural and accurately-coloured richness of her plasticine art. Young children will be reaching out, as they always do with Barbara Reid's art, to touch the leaves or the caterpillar or a flower, certain that its softness or fuzziness or crispiness will be palpable and maybe even sonorous.

I know teachers and parents will want to have this book in their library for the teaching of life cycles, which Watch It Grow: Backyard Life Cycles will do flawlessly, but don't ignore the artistry of its illustrations. Young readers will certainly be enamoured with Barbara Reid's art and this will only cultivate further learning.

Picture the Sky: Art show and sale (Toronto, ON)

Last August, 

author/illustrator Barbara Reid

the Queen of plasticine art

launched her newest picture book

Picture the Sky

Written and illustrated by Barbara Reid

Scholastic Canada

9781443163026

32 pp.

Ages 3-8

2017

Now youngCanLit readers and art enthusiasts can enjoy

  Picture the Sky

through Barbara Reid's amazing art 

in an Art Show and Sale

which runs from

  Saturday, March 3, 2018 - Thursday, April 12, 2018

with 

special events 

on the official launch day

Sunday, March 4, 2018

1 p.m.:  Launch of the Art Show and Sale

2 p.m.:  Story time

at

The Young Welcome Centre

Evergreen Brick Works

550 Bayview Avenue

Toronto, ON

Sky Pig

Written by Jan L. Coates

Illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Pajama Press

978-1-927485-98-9

32 pp.

Ages 4–7

April 2016

Ollie is a little pig with a big dream and, though he doesn’t speak (he is after all a pig and pigs can’t talk), his friend, Jack, a boy with a big heart and a bigger imagination, tries to help Ollie achieve his dream.

Ollie from Sky Pig by Jan L. Coates,

 illus. by Suzanne Del Rizzo

First Jack fastens leafy branches onto Ollie’s back and they climb to the top of a very high hill. Even though a fast run and a jump has Ollie believing that he’s flying, an “Oooooomph!” and a “Plop!” make it evident he did not.  Having Jack create a kite with some garden stakes, twine, a feed sack and scraps of fabric is Ollie’s next plan to become airborne.  A couple of oinks and another “Oooooomph!” and “Plop!” again foretell the futility of their endeavour. Finally, taking their cues from the geese, chickens and other birds, Jack fashions a set of wings for Ollie. Made from an assortment of papers, including maps and wrapping paper featuring airborne creatures, and miscellaneous gears and leather, Ollie takes to the sky like a kind of steampunk flyer.  Alas, that flight ends similarly.  Even a Mary Poppins-like contraption of umbrellas is unsuccessful.

It’s only when the two make use of an already-tried-and-true flying machine that Ollie is able to stay aloft and experience the joys of floating in the sky, even if only for a short time and at a cost of $5.

Dreamers can dream but, with a friend like Jack, Ollie’s dream that a pig could fly comes true.  It takes a little determination, a lot of imagination and being in the right place at the right time but Ollie’s dream, courtesy of Jack’s friendship and piggy bank, becomes a reality.  Jan L. Coates’ story is uplifting like much of her previous work including A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk (Red Deer Press, 2010), The Power of Harmony (Red Deer Press, 2013), and The King of Keji (Nimbus, 2015), and even more so with Suzanne Del Rizzo’s spectacular art, previously enjoyed in Skink on the Brink (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013) and Gerbil, Uncurled (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2015).  The doughy art (plasticine with polymer clay) with mixed media collage features adds the textures and colour to elevate the story even higher.  Beyond the cuteness of Ollie and Jack is a rich landscape of green pastures and trees, chickens and groundhogs, and flowers and dandelion fluff and sweet details of a chicken protecting her egg in a life-vest or basket and thwarting a mouse that tries to get too close.   There’s so much more to Sky Pig than making a pig fly and young readers will love going along for the ride.

From Sky Pig by Jan L. Coates, illus. by Suzanne Del Rizzo

_________________________________________

There will be two great opportunities to check out Sky Pig with author or illustrator.

Illustrator Suzanne Del Rizzo will be participating in the I Art Books Exhibit and Sale of Children's Book Illustration on April 30, 2016 at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, ON. Details here.

Author Jan L. Coates will be launching Sky Pig on May 7, 2016 at The Box of Delights Bookshop in Wolfville, NS. Details here.

Sing a Song of Bedtime

Written by Barbara Reid

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-4684-5

32 pp.

Ages 0–6

October 2015

The Grande Dame (without the elderly factor) of plasticine art is our Canadian treasure, Barbara Reid, winner of some of the biggest national and international awards for children’s books and illustration and she’s back with her delightful take on bedtime rhymes and lullabies.  Adults and children alike will recognize the familiar rhymes but Barbara Reid’s illustrations show the reader a wholly unique and delightful perspective on some old favourites.

We know the words of the thirteen rhymes:  “Are You Sleeping/Frère Jacques”, “Little Boy Blue”, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”,  “Sleep, Baby, Sleep”, “There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe”, “Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John”,  “Wee Willie Winkie”, “Jack Be Nimble”,  “The Man in the Moon”, “Star Light, Star Bright”, “A Wise Old Owl”, “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” and “Hush, Little Baby.” And the text is large and bold, perfect for night time reading when the lights are low and adult readers may be becoming more visually-challenged.  But it’s always Barbara Reid’s artwork that will draw new readers and art lovers.

Her illustrations include a variety of characters, from children of colour, languidly-boating frogs, cherubic babies, a pajamaed raccoon, and a family of teddy bears, with gorgeous backgrounds of oceans, blue fields under moon-shine, cornfields, cherry blossoms, and wisteria branches.  And I haven’t even mentioned the detailed textiles, like comforters, blankets (look at the images in the baby blanket above), and rugs, and softness a plenty.  Sing a Song of Bedtime is a visual celebration of textures and colours that will serenade every and any child into fulfilling slumber and sweet dreams.

Skink on the Brink

by Lisa Dalrymple

Illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-231-3

32 pp.

Ages 4+

June 2013

This Saturday, Lisa Dalrymple and Suzanne Del Rizzo will be holding a launch for their picture book, Skink on the Brink, and I implore you all to go, pick up your own copy and share in the experience that is Stewie the Skink.

Lisa Dalrymple's text follows Stewie from his early days as a blue-tailed skink whose contentment with his name, appearance, unique defense feature, and his forest habitat adjacent to a pond is evident in the clever little songs he makes up.  Judging by Suzanne Del Rizzo's rich plasticine illustrations of various animals and vegetation in the area, Stewie has many reasons to be happy. 

But, as with all living things, Stewie will grow and mature, and he does, but into a less colourful skink of grey about which he can't find much to sing.  Hopeful for inspiration in a new habitat, Stewie sets out, finding a new pond that has its own set of attributes.  Instead of seeing what he does have, Stewie focuses on what he has lost.  That is, until a wise woodpecker shares with Stewie the nature of his endangered status and that his original habitat was best for keeping him safe.

Skink on the Brink shares the need for self-acceptance and seeing beyond the superficial.  Stewie is so enamoured with his blue tail that he cannot see anything as wonderful once it's gone.  Luckily a woodpecker with great rhythm brings out the song in Stewie and, surprisingly, mating throughout the forest and pond! But, as the title suggests, Skink on the Brink goes beyond the individual and introduces young readers to the concept of species endangerment and the importance of habitat in ensuring the survival of species such as Stewie.  To enhance a young reader's understanding of these concepts, Lisa Dalrymple provides comprehensive notes about endangerment and habitat protection, as well as the life cycle, classification, and defense mechanism of skinks.  And for a little fun, there are the rules for a game of Skink-Tail Tag and Suzanne Del Rizzo's instructions on making Stewie from plasticine.

Though a welcome addition to any primary/junior teacher's collection of science picture books, Skink on the Brink is for young readers who enjoy the texture-rich illustrations of plasticine art done well and learning about the natural world, with encouragement to involve themselves beyond the book.  As such, Skink on the Brink is the best of children's non-fiction in a visually-enhanced fictional context. Be sure to save this one.

Book Launch: Skink on the Brink (Toronto)

Join

author Lisa Dalrymple and illustrator Suzanne Del Rizzo

to launch Stewie the Skink 

and

Skink on the Brink 

 

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1554552313

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

on

July 6, 2013

1 - 3 p.m.

at

Story Planet and Intergalactic Travel Authority

1165 Bloor Street West

Toronto

The author and illustrator promise
plasticine fun for children, 

allergy-aware treats, 

books to buy 

and 

lots of FUN!