Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There

Written by Judith Henderson

Illustrated by Sara Sarhangpour

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0842-0

40 pp.

Ages 5–7

June 2024

 

Willa is an ostrich and Wade is a penguin, and though they are both birds, neither can really fly though they would really love to. So, they ponder "the distance between the here and the there." (p. 6) And since they seem to have a good grasp of basic science of flight, they consider what it would take to set themselves aloft.

From Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There, written by Judith Henderson, illustrated by Sara Sarhangpour

First, Willa considers the concept of lift, while Wade wonders about velocity. How to get lift? How to ensure speed? They try ballet because ballet makes you light on your toes. No luck with flight. Then they try pogo sticks but it wasn't until sliding downhill that the two experienced a brief lift off the ground.

From Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There, written by Judith Henderson, illustrated by Sara Sarhangpour

Next, they consider liftoff. That requires them to jump off a cliff. Of course, they become airborne, but it is, of course, temporary. It's not until they apply some scientific principles to their problem solving and engineer something that the two feel the magnificence of the way-up-there.

From Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There, written by Judith Henderson, illustrated by Sara Sarhangpour

Judith Henderson, who has given us stories including the Big Words Small Stories series and This is a Dog Book!, knows how to give us the subtle humour with understated plots. Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There is sweet and playful and emphasizes determination and camaraderie without flagrant slapstick humour or irreverence. Instead, Judith Henderson tells a story that invites early readers to think outside the box when problem solving. With digital illustrations by Toronto's Sara Sarhangpour, Willa and Wade and the Way-Up-There keeps its light tone and the focus on the two friends. Because everything is so understated, from the text, the art, and the messaging, young readers will just be entertained, pleased with their ability to read a book that is a step up from picture books–in their estimation, anyway–and still be given the opportunity to think about how they approach a dilemma or question that doesn't have an obvious answer. And it might also make them think about flight and concepts like lift and speed.

The way-up-there that Willa and Wade aspire to enjoy is not unlike the many ambitions we all have and, if two flightless birds can find a way to fly, then we can do our best to aim high and find solutions too.

 

Luna's Green Pet

Written by Kirsten Pendreigh

Illustrated by Carmen Mok

Sleeping Bear Press

978-1-534111615

40 pp.

Ages 5-8

August 2022

 

What is Luna's green pet? Is it a turtle? A parrot? A fish? A frog? It's none of those because Luna's apartment does not allow pets.  Though her friends suggest a rock or a pet-a-guchi, Luna can't seem to connect with them. But, one day, she rescues the perfect pet for her.

From Luna's Green Pet by Kirsten Pendreigh, illus. by Carmen Mok

In a trash bin outside her apartment, she discovers a small plant. It even had its name on a marker: Stephanotis floribunda. Because it's quite a mouthful, Luna calls her Stephanie. And Luna is the best pet caregiver. She transfers Stephanie to a new and bigger pot, gives her new soil, and waters her. She reads stories to Stephanie and even takes her for walks in the park.

From Luna's Green Pet by Kirsten Pendreigh, illus. by Carmen Mok

Luna's friends may not be impressed with Stephanie's personality, but Luna loves her new pet and Stephanie is thriving. In fact, Stephanie grows so much that Luna must shape her long stems into an animal form. But then one day, Stephanie exhibits strange growths and Luna is concerned, ready to take her pet to a botanist for examination, until she learns it's just the natural cycle of life blossoming in Stephanie.

Not every child is fortunate to live in a household where they can have a pet, whether because of building restrictions or familiar limitations with respect to health or finances. But having a pet is a

privilege and one that Luna takes seriously. Her pet may be a plant, but Stephanie gives Luna companionship, offers the child opportunities for responsibility and learning, and nurtures Luna's empathy and self-confidence. By having Luna think outside the box about what a pet can be, BC's Kirsten Pendreigh offers kids an exemplar in problem solving. Luna has a problem i.e., no pets in her building and needs to find a solution i.e., a pet that will be allowed. She finds both a solution and a pet in Stephanie. Even better, hers is a rescue that needed a home and some loving care to become the star Stephanie would become. (I suspect that Stephanie would've been much loved regardless of becoming a winner at the pet parade.) And, if all that goodness wasn't enough, through the miracle of a life cycle, Stephanie's seeds are to be spread further afield to bring joy to others.

From Luna's Green Pet by Kirsten Pendreigh, illus. by Carmen Mok

As a picture book, Luna's Green Pet uses illustrations to help convey the story and bring it to life. Carmen Mok, who has illustrated a number of fabulous books including When I Listen to Silence, Viola Shrink and Tough Like Mum uses a variety of media including gouache, India ink, dry pastel and colour pencil to create her refreshing artwork. Green is a star in Luna's Green Pet, highlighting the importance of flora in the natural world, but Carmen Mok makes sure to use a full palette and soft lines and shapes to draw young readers into Luna's world. Kids may identify themselves in Kirsten Pendreigh's story, but they'll see their lives in the artwork Carmen Mok has created for Luna's world of home, school, and outdoors.

It may be raining or snowing outside right now here in Canada–in fact, where I live it's doing both!–but what better a time to talk to children about growing plants, whether it be as a school project to learn about a plant's life cycle, or in preparation for a spring planting, or as a pet to be loved. With a story to bolster any of that learning and some guidance from Kirsten Pendreigh–she appends her story with some background into Stephanie and growing plants–as well as the brightness of Carmen Mok's illustrations, Luna's Green Pet will get kids clamouring to develop their green thumbs and perhaps look at plants as the engaging living things they are.

From Luna's Green Pet by Kirsten Pendreigh, illus. by Carmen Mok

This House is Home

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Illustrated by Yong Ling Kang

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-380-4

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

March 2021

The concept of home has always been an important focus in literature: finding it, establishing it, cultivating it, holding onto it, and sadly even losing it. For some, it's ephemeral, fleeting in its nature, and for others it is the bedrock of life. For the families in This House is Home, it is both.

From This House is Home by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Lily and her rabbit family live in a home that her grandmother says is "old and steady as mountains." But when a pair of suited foxes with clipboards approach Grandma about buying the house, she politely declines.

This house is home, and we'll live here for the rest of forever.

From This House is Home by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Problem is that everyone else around them sells to the developers, and there is much upheaval as friends pack up and goodbyes are shared. And then the diggers arrive, flattening houses and trees, and constructing a road that like a "long gray tongue snaked toward our house, closer and closer, until it had pushed right up to our door. It didn't bother knocking."

From This House is Home by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

The construction workers might have placed pylons around their house but their house is now situated in the middle of a wide road of noisy, smelly vehicles racing past their windows. The impact on their garden was evident but also clear was the impact within their home: dirt, noise, irritability, and distress.

From This House is Home by Deborah Kerbel, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

But a solution to their problem comes to Lily, the artist, in a dream in which, "The road had melted into a sea. The cars had shrunken to fish. My house had grown sails." Their house would remain their home, just in a different location.

Having a development threaten your house, your home is a nerve-racking prospect. Undoubtedly it's a frustration of many whose abodes stand in the way of planning projects that look at the big picture and not the individual lives affected. The menace of the foxes' repeated efforts to get Grandma to sell are tangible, though she is always polite and gracious, but Deborah Kerbel's words focus on the calm and love inside the home and leaves the destruction and disquiet outside. Sadly, there comes a time when the outside encroaches on the inner sanctum of home. Still Grandma's strength of conviction that their house would remain steadfastly their home and Lily's problem-solving ensure that home will endure as such.

Illustrator Yong Ling Kang, who illustrated Tanna's Owl (2020), continues to charm with her watercolour art that adds the whimsy of a bunny family living in their home, having picnics, playing, knitting, and growing. She brightens those pages with all colours, saving the greys and browns for the mayhem of the construction, and gives fluidity to the story, indicative of the transitional nature of the house, with her brushstrokes and lines. As such, Yong Ling Kang's art echoes the joys and frustrations of Deborah Kerbel's characters from comfort through distress and back to buoyant.

This House is Home reminds us that home is more than a structure. It has roots that are grown of family, and, though it can change, as necessary, it carries the promise of steadfastness, even if in transition.

Raj's Rule (For the Bathroom at School)

Written by Lana Button

Illustrated by Hatem Aly

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-340-8

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

August 2020

Rules are often put in place to keep us safe. Some are imposed by others and adopted by everyone, and some are very personal and created to meet our own needs and preferences. The latter is the case for Raj whose reluctance to use the bathrooms at school compels him to adhere to some very strict and strange rules. But, some rules are doomed to be broken.

From Raj's Rule (For the Bathroom at School) by Lana Button, illus. by Hatem Aly

Not unlike a lot of people, Raj is reluctant to use any bathroom other than the one at home. In order to abide by this rule, Raj offers some charming and very practical tips to prevent the need for school bathroom breaks. He avoids drinking at school, not from the water fountain or from juice boxes. He may wash his hands at the sink but quickly and he avoids the water table. 

From Raj's Rule (For the Bathroom at School) by Lana Button, illus. by Hatem Aly

He definitely stays away from the very funny Kyle and avoids distractions and movements that might keep him from sitting still, often squeezing his knees together. But, when a sneeze necessitates a visit to the school bathroom, all his rules are for naught and Raj learns that the outcome is better than he thought.

From Raj's Rule (For the Bathroom at School) by Lana Button, illus. by Hatem Aly

You have to wonder how many people deny themselves the opportunities for happiness because of the fear of the "what ifs." Raj is obviously afraid of something associated with using a public washroom–and nowadays with COVID19, who isn't?–but the distress on his poor little body as he attempts to keep it from its natural functions is apparent. (Doctors would probably advise against this as well.) But Lana Button's gentle text doesn't poke fun at Raj and his predilection. She offers a compassionate, even rational, perspective and allows Raj the opportunity to problem solve his own solutions, both how not to use the bathroom and how to manage when he must use it.  As she has unequivocally accomplished in her earlier books like Willow Finds a Way (2013), My Teacher's Not Here! (2018) and What If Bunny's Not a Bully? (2020), Lana Button is respectful of how young children think, emphasizing their very legitimate struggles with bullies, friends, routines, and change but still giving them the vehicle to find their own solutions. And, as all teachers and parents should know, by allowing children the opportunity to problem solve their own answers, they are encouraging them to accept them.

 

New Brunswick illustrator Hatem Aly, who also created the art for The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family (2019), is no stranger to blending lightness with the important messages of authors. He never makes Raj look silly or insignificant, instead making Raj just one of the kids whose issue just happens to be not wanting to use the bathroom at school. It could have been never eating the crusts on bread, or wearing his favourite red socks every day, or carrying a stuffie everywhere. But Hatem Aly has made the adorable Raj, the boy with a bounty of dark wavy hair, big eyes and wish to avoid a public bathroom, just another kid in diverse class of kids of different sizes, colours and abilities. They're boisterous and quiet, impetuous and cautious, and Raj is just one of them.

From Raj's Rule (For the Bathroom at School) by Lana Button, illus. by Hatem Aly

At a time when being vigilant in public is the norm, little Raj is wise to consider how to avoid potential problems by strategizing ways to bypass his school bathrooms. But, more importantly, Raj can still find a way to ease his worries while becoming happier at school, both physically and emotionally, by simply tweaking his rules so they work with his new reality.