Izzy Wong's Nose for News

Written by Marty Chan

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-3937-3

208 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2024

 

Twelve-year-old Izzy Wong may have a nose for news, but she has to make sure she's not putting her nose where it doesn't belong or sniffing out a story that isn't there. She may aspire to be the next Sarah Koenig and make her journalist/news-anchor mom proud of her, but Izzy Wong still has a lot of learning to do. After all, she is only in Grade 6.

 

Izzy may not be popular, but she loves reporting news from the school and interviewing her classmates about tests and other school happenings for her podcast. They might not like being questioned but Izzy doesn't let that deter her. But when she learns that the third-floor girls' bathroom flooded over the weekend and has caused much damage to classrooms and the library, Izzy thinks she's got a fabulous podcast story in solving the mystery of how it happened. 

But Izzy is still a novice at interviewing and pursuing a story. She gets useful advice from her mom how to keep herself from starting rumours and making herself part of the story, but she doesn't always follow the advice or heed the warnings of her teachers or principal. Instead, she begins speculating that Doyle McTaggert, a sixth-grade prankster, may have been behind stuffing paper towels in the toilets. With that leading her, Izzy begins seeing things that make Doyle look guilty and, without intending to do so, she starts gossip about her classmates. How is she going to get to the bottom of this mystery without making everyone hate her or clouding her investigation with rumours?

While a flooding in a school bathroom may not be the mystery of the century, it is a big deal in an elementary school where bathrooms are places of chatter and refuge. And when classrooms and staff are impacted–from the massive clean-up and ruined school equipment and furniture–it is a very big deal and mystery that the authorities want solved, although perhaps not how Izzy goes about it. But author Marty Chan makes Izzy a believable character who is determined to do something, although her passion is not always embedded in common sense or the sound judgement of her elders. She's eager but impetuous and she takes missteps that she sometimes should walk back but doesn't. In other words, she's a kid who is learning from her mistakes and by doing her best, even if it isn't always right. Fortunately, Marty Chan lets Izzy grow into her journalistic skills and herself, learning some sensitivity from her missteps and some wisdom from her peers and elders about the consequences of her actions. At least she learns. And she solves a mystery that wouldn't have been uncovered without her diligence in pursuing a story. Izzy may have been distracted by the whiff of stories of romance and revenge but, in the end, she got to the heart of the matter and matured as an investigative reporter.

Do You Wonder?

Written and illustrated by Wallace Edwards

North Winds Press (Imprint of Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-8276-8

32 pp.

Ages 3-8

September 2022

We all wonder and ask questions. Sometimes it's about the small things like what we'll have for dinner that night or sometimes it's about bigger things like whether we're making the right decisions. And occasionally some of us ask the really monumental questions about the universe. Regardless, they are all important because these questions make us mindful of what we and others are experiencing which can only lead to greater compassion, understanding and creativity. Award-winning author and illustrator Wallace Edwards guides us through some important questions to reveal what it is we may be wondering about.

From Do You Wonder? by Wallace Edwards

In a series of single-page and double-page spreads, Wallace Edwards tells young readers some of the things he has wondered about. 

Sometimes I wonder about the mysteries of the sky. 

Sometimes I wonder why some songs make me happy.  

Sometimes I wonder how to join the conversation.

These ponderings are all ones that we have. But then Wallace Edwards takes on bigger inquiries.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm in the right puppet show. 

Sometimes I wonder who was here before me.  

Sometimes I wonder if I really see what I think I see.

The depth and breadth of his meditations run the gamut from the playful (e.g., Sometimes I wonder where the banana went) to those of self-awareness (e.g., Sometimes I wonder if I can finish what I've started) or global awareness (e.g., Sometimes I wonder who decides what is important). His thoughtfulness is profound and I stopped on many pages to ponder the answers. I often had none but the wondering was sufficient. It required a focus to the question and a mindfulness of all that it encompassed. The answer was not necessary; what was important was the curiosity and the inquiry.

From Do You Wonder? by Wallace Edwards

Ah, but this is Wallace Edwards, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Illustrations and numerous other picture book awards, so the text is married to extraordinary artwork, rendered here in pencil, watercolour and gouache. Even without the text, the art would be sublime, detailed in its depictions of animals that range from a barn owl, alligators, a rhino and elephants to a variety of bird species, as well as in the scenes filled with balloon animals, ice cream, vegetation and ornate furniture. There is so much to look at and to delve into. (Check out the faces in the forest on the cover of Do You Wonder? for a sampling.) But it's not "just" the art. It's the way Wallace Edwards's words are interpreted in his art. For example, the text "Sometimes I wonder why some things seem so difficult" is paired with a porcupine struggling to create balloon animals, having popped numerous balloons that hang off of his quills. Readers can think about challenges in their own lives, whether a struggle with school or with friends and family or even with health. But the artwork asks young readers to look beyond themselves and recognize that others too have challenges that may not be obvious until they are exposed. Of course a porcupine would struggle with balloons! But until I saw that illustration, it never occurred to me.

From Do You Wonder? by Wallace Edwards

Thank you, Wallace Edwards, for helping us see ourselves and others and beyond ourselves. Thank you for inviting us into your considerations and encouraging us to do the same. And thank you for reminding us that there are somethings, like love, that never need to be questioned.

Forever Truffle

Three Stories by Fanny Britt

Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

Translated by Susan Ouriou

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-070-5

114 pp.

Ages 7-10

August 2022

 

In three stories, Fanny Britt introduces young readers to Truffle, a young red-haired wonder who adores music, falls in love and learns about figures of speech, and contemplates life in a very big and beautiful way. He is Forever Truffle, and occasionally Truffleletto.

From Forever Truffle by Fanny Britt, illus. by Isabelle Arsenault

In the first story, Truffle The Rock Star, Truffle explores his love of music. From childhood and listening to everything from Verdi to Joan Jett, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, it's obvious that Truffle is a lover of music, especially rock, and he's thrilled when he gets a biker jacket for a birthday gift. Determined to be a rocker, Truffle gets together with best friends Flo and Riad to conceptualize their own rock band.

From Forever Truffle by Fanny Britt, illus. by Isabelle Arsenault

In the second story, Truffle Loves Nina, Truffle has fallen for little Nina. However, ever since he's asked her to be his girlfriend, he can't speak to her. When his father suggests he let his heart do the talking, Truffle tries to understand that figure of speech and many others so that he might express his love to Nina. 

From Forever Truffle by Fanny Britt, illus. by Isabelle Arsenault

The final story, Truffle Tackles Existence, has Truffle asking big questions when attending the funeral of his great-grandma Sybile. The visit brings up Truffle's thoughts on his parents' divorce, including his hope for reconciliation; on his love of dogs and missing their pup Rocket; and about growing old and dying. He's thoughtful and observant, kind and forever Truffle. 

Montreal's Fanny Britt does not do frivolous or cute but she does do real and that's what and who Truffle is. He's a real child who dreams and wishes and imagines, as well as loves, hopes and reflects. And he's got lots to think about, from his divorced parents, to his older brother, his loves and his good friends, to his aspirations and his life. His naiveté is authentic, not silly, and allows his inquisitive nature to learn lessons that all children will learn some time in their lives, some earlier, some later. 

Artist Isabelle Arsenault complements Fanny Britt's text, so expertly translated by Calgary's Susan Ouriou, with illustrations that emulate that sensibility of the story.  The artwork, rendered in pencil, ink and collage, are low key, tempered in doleful tones with splashes of yellow and orange and turquoise. After all, life is not all bright colours, bold in spirit and brash in tones. It's often just a plodding along of trying to understand and manage and find some brightness whenever and wherever possible. 

From Forever Truffle by Fanny Britt, illus. by Isabelle Arsenault

The collaboration between Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault, as in Louis Undercover and Jane, the Fox and Me, has always been a powerful but subtle one of compelling stories of authenticity, told in words and pictures that depict children as they live. The complexity of their lives and their understandings are evident though not belaboured. Forever Truffle will forever be such a story.

A Kid is a Kid is a Kid

Written by Sara O'Leary

Illustrated by Qin Leng

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-250-1

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

August 2021

 

Every child may be different but every child is also the same, especially when they're asked insensitive or withering questions about their differences. They just want to be, to feel safe and cared for and to enjoy life. When they are questioned about their family or their gender, their preferences or abilities, or have their "imperfections" pointed out, they do not feel good. Then they are all the same, as are we all.

From A Kid is a Kid is a Kid by Sara O'Leary, illus. by Qin Leng

From the onset, A Kid is a Kid is a Kid reminds us that being a kid is not easy. Starting with a child who's taunted with a question about whether they're a boy or a girl, multiple kids step up to assert what tactless questions have been asked of them. From why one child always has her nose in a book, or why another is small, to where they come from, why they wear the same shirt, or why they don't have any friends. (One boy steps up to negate that question by declaring himself their friend.) There's a child with a prosthetic leg and one with a baby sister in an incubator and twins who always get asked about being twins. (Tiresome, I'm sure.)

From A Kid is a Kid is a Kid by Sara O'Leary, illus. by Qin Leng

But rather than focusing on the differences that the inquisitors see, kids want to be asked about their strengths, what they love and that of which they're proud. And there's one important question that every child likes to be asked.

From A Kid is a Kid is a Kid by Sara O'Leary, illus. by Qin Leng

As Sara O'Leary and Qin Leng reminded us in their earlier book, A Family is a Family is a Family (Groundwood, 2016), there is no one way to be a family, and the same goes for being a kid. Kids come in different shapes, sizes, colours and abilities. Their essences and their histories make them unique. But getting to know kids is not focusing on their vulnerabilities. That's teasing and bullying and says more about the one asking the question than the one answering. Sara O'Leary understands that all people, kids and adults, may say or ask something rude but her emphasis in A Kid is a Kid is a Kid is that the diversity of individual kids is what makes a school, a playground, or a community great. Qin Leng's illustrations of ink and watercolour with pastel give us that diversity while reminding us that children are young and small and must be overwhelmed by being so in a big world. But, what's important is being yourself among others and not being ashamed of what you are. By first focusing on those differences before culminating their story with a universally welcome activity for kids, Sara O'Leary and Qin Leng bring young readers into their story and remind them that being a kid can mean different things and they're all just fine.

The Playgrounds of Babel

Written by JonArno Lawson

Illustrated by Piet Grobler

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-036-1

32 pp.

Ages 5-10

August 2019

From JonArno Lawson, the author of the award-winning Sidewalk Flowers (illustrated by Sydney Smith, Groundwood, 2015), comes another important story about differences and communication that demonstrates we are far less disparate than appearances may suggest.

From The Playgrounds of Babel by JonArno Lawson, illus. by Piet Grobler

The story begins with a kerchief-clad woman telling a story to a group of children. Her language, in the hand-drawn speech bubbles, is a series of lines, dots, and shapes. One boy translates for his friend, who clearly does not understand the woman, and so begins an updated version of the Tower of Babel biblical story. The dark-haired translator shares how at one time everyone spoke the same language until they attempted to build a tower to reach God. In response, God sent a dragon to destroy the tower and confounded their speech into many different languages. The boy's fair-haired friend interjects about not believing in God and knowing there's no dragon in the story but his friend persists. He focuses his story, or rather the woman's story, on two girls who suddenly cannot speak to one another.

From The Playgrounds of Babel by JonArno Lawson, illus. by Piet Grobler

Amidst their crying at this turn of events, the girls hug and realize that the songs they'd sung before could be the commonality they need. Though the words are different, they now "had a way to translate, because they knew they were singing exactly the same thing in two different languages."

From The Playgrounds of Babel by JonArno Lawson, illus. by Piet Grobler

Author JonArno Lawson explains the origins of his story in his Author's Note and, while it has a personal foundation from his own childhood and from the inquisitiveness of his own daughter, The Playgrounds of Babel extends far beyond these sparks. It speaks to the opportunities our differences provide to make our world richer not weaker. Throughout the story, a variety of languages are "spoken" from the birds who speak in terms of berries or caterpillars and snakes who speak in Ss as well as backward Ss. Everyone has a language that may be different from another but still allows them to communicate. Even in the world from which the boys and storyteller speak, there is more than just the words. There is imagination and the need to suspend disbelief and to see that God could whistle for a dragon to return to the heavens.

South African artist Piet Grobler provides the illustrations that blend harshness with wonder in a story within a story. I like that the contemporary setting from which the boys and the storyteller speak is dark and stark, until the end, and the world of the two girls is colourful and diverse. It reminds us that the storyteller brings the richness of colour to a story, even if it's one based in conflict or difficulty. Using watercolour and ink (including the dip pen to produce lines of varying thickness), Piet Grobler contrasts the two worlds and changes the reader's perspective repeatedly.

The Playgrounds of Babel has a powerful message about communication and differences but it's also about telling stories and realizing that anything can be real if we believe.

The Little Book of Big What-Ifs

Written and illustrated by Renata Liwska

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-1-32876-701-1

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2019

I like to think of Renata Liwska's new picture book as a consequential book of big ideas and hopeful opportunities. It's an opening to look at the world from different perspectives. In a world rife with dissension, isolation and fear-mongering, The Little Book of Big What-Ifs provides an opportunity for little ones to see the possibilities for turning that world inside out in a positive way.

Renata Liwska sees common worries that might plague children like What if you slept through your birthday? or What if you make a mistake? and turns them around into What if you're surprised? and What if we all work together? It would seem that, for every uncertainty, there is a possibility for goodness and hope and community.

From The Little Book of Big What-Ifs by Renata Liwska

Sometimes Renata Liwska presents the different perspectives in a double spread as in the example below in which What if you can't think of anything? could also be What if your imagination runs wild? Other times she addresses the two disparate perspectives separately, starting the book with more of the worries but ending it with the positives of What if everyone shared? and What if it spreads? before deviating from the questions and asserting What a difference it would make!

From The Little Book of Big What-Ifs by Renata Liwska

These big ideas, though, come through subtly and intimately, never preachy nor scarily. Renata Liwska's words pack meaning and consideration but at the right level for her audience. Similarly, her illustrations are profound in their quiet resolution of feeling. Perhaps it's because her pencil drawings, coloured via Photoshop, seem touchably soft, like pages of stuffies that include bears, lynx, elephant and mouse. Perhaps it's the emotion with which she infuses her characters, through expression and action. The reassurance the lynx feels from another after spilling milk, or the pleasure of the elephant sharing a radish sandwich with a mouse. Every illustration gives depth of feeling and sensitivity to children's unease about their world and daily events.  Fortunately, Renata Liwska's The Little Book of Big What-Ifs reassures, soothes and uplifts while still acknowledging those qualms as familiar and honest.

From The Little Book of Big What-Ifs by Renata Liwska

36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You

Written by Vicki Grant

Running Press Teens

978-0-7624-6318-3

288 pp.

Ages 13+

October 2017

This is a love story.  It's the story of eighteen-year-old Hildy meeting nineteen-year-old Paul–though they're supposed to refer to themselves as generic Betty and Bob–as participants in a university research project to determine whether the asking of 36 questions could facilitate personal closeness that might result in a relationship.  Although the two teens come into the study from different perspectives, where they end up is heart-warming with a final scene right out of a Hollywood romantic comedy. (Yes, the book would make a GREAT film.)

Hildy is a bit of a mess.  She seems to be a little clumsy and does a whole lot of babbling though it's clear she is bright and astute and interesting.  But she describes herself at the onset of the study as someone who has

"...a lot of stuff happening in my life right now.  My own fault, of course.  Big mouth.  Tunnel vision.  Faulty social radar." (pg. 14)

That statement is very telling.  Without revealing all there is about her situation, Hildy suggests a crisis in her family, for which she is willing to take blame, but what is going on with younger brother Gabe, ER doctor mom Amy, and school principal and drama coach dad Greg, is only revealed in dribs and drabs through the context of Hildy's get-togethers with friends as well as in her meetings with Paul a.k.a. Bob Somebody both in person and online. (They have to extend their session beyond the original hour needed after she reacts to some comments he makes and she throws a puffer fish at him.)

Paul/Bob is more of a closed book.  When he's supposed tell the details of his life in four minutes (that's Question 11), Hildy assesses his answer as,

"That was a ten-second cover-up of a thirty-six-part docudrama.  What you didn't say was way more interesting than what you actually said." (pg. 62)

He gives very little away about himself and blankets most of his answers with an attitude Hildy doesn't appreciate. He does reveal his drawing ability in his endless doodling–mostly of a hand, Kong the puffer fish whom he adopts temporarily, and Hildy–and a love of drumming.  But Paul/Bob just wants to get this over with and collect his $40.

As the questions become more intimate and revealing, Hildy and Paul share more about themselves and seesaw between anger, frustration, appreciation and affection.  But when Hildy stands Paul up and can't locate him to try to make things right, it looks like the project and their budding friendship might all be in jeopardy.

Readers are going to fall in love with Hildy and Paul. They are so not perfect, separately and together.   They are masses of weaknesses and missteps especially when dealing with others and it's a wonder they ever got to the place where they'd want to do the psych study.  But, along with their weaknesses, they are strong and courageous and compassionate.  And yet, the two are infinitely different.  Still, Vicki Grant doesn't let that stand in the way of a great love story, one in which the complicated Hildy and the casual Paul can see beyond their frailties and foibles and expose themselves to possible happiness that no questions could have predicted. It is impossible not to laugh with them and laugh at them when you read their dialogue i.e., discussions based on the 36 scripted questions.

Question 10

Paul: If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

Hildy: I wish I hadn't been kept in the dark so much.

Paul: Explains why you're so pale.        (pg. 53)

I know this may be a spoiler but I don't want readers to worry that Hildy and Paul might never get together.  Rest assured that Vicki Grant, with her trademark humour, will bring the two teens to completing their psych study obligation and, better yet, to undertaking a new, more personal, venture on their own, with or without Kong in tow. And it only took 36 questions.

🐟

What is Peace?

Text and illustrations by Wallace Edwards

North Winds Press/Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-4843-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-10

November 2016

If you’re seeing the red felt poppy pins on coats, you’ll be starting to think about Remembrance Day and war and peace.  The concept of peace is a prodigious one.  Imagine attemping to encompass all aspects of peace in a single book, especially a picture book?  Fortunately, with Wallace Edwards at the helm of that undertaking, and the use of his glorious illustrations and a multitude of questions to guide this reflective discussion of peace, enlightenment is on the horizon.

Each double spread has one page of text–a series of questions, culminating with a final line “What is peace?”–and a full page illustration.  From a bird on a cherry blossom branch with accompanying questions on the temporal and spatial nature of peace–old, new, near, far– there follows a range of quiet and evocative illustrations and questions about peace’s inclusivity, its study, its sensory nature, as well as expressions and attributes of peace.  Wallace Edwards covers all nature of peace without ever defining what it is, relating to this in the appending text titled “What Do You See?” (pg. 30), in which he admits that there are no right or wrong answers.

From What is Peace? by Wallace Edwards

In the preface to the book, Wallace Edwards discusses how, after being asked to do a series of paintings on the theme of peace, he found it himself meditating on the question that is the title.  And after recognizing how big a question it is, Wallace Edwards hopes that the book “inspires you to think and talk and maybe draw or write or sing about what peace means to you and the other creatures who share this world.” (pg. 3) Ever thoughtful, Wallace Edwards inspires with his words and artwork of all nature of creature and substance: mandrill, luna moth, zebra, crumbling wall, rhinos, and the ubiquitous white bird evident on every illustration.

By recognizing the distinctiveness of peace and a commonality to it as well, Wallace Edwards has shown us the way that is peace without actually driving his own definition of it onto the reader.  What is Peace? is an eloquent discussion starter and contemplative tome for a month of remembrance and loss and hope.

From What is Peace? by Wallace Edwards

Look for my post tomorrow about the book launch for What is Peace? in Toronto this weekend.

Gabby, Wonder Girl

Written by Joyce Grant

Illustrated by Jan Dolby

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-384-6

32 pp.

Ages 5-7

September 2016

Joyce Grant and Jan Dolby’s little Gabby, of earlier books Gabby (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013) and Gabby, Drama Queen (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013), is taking on the world again, this time to solve a mystery of a photograph through questioning.

When Gabby’s friend Roy becomes engulfed in a pile of question marks that he’s released from her magic book–the one that usually just releases a multitude of letters–the two characters become super sleuths, Wonder Girl and Super Roy, on the trail of the person in the black-and-white photograph Gabby discovers in her backyard.  Using letters from the book and the question marks, Gabby creates the wonder-ful “Who?” that helps them realize the girl in the photo is Mrs. Oldham, her neighbour.  But the two can’t find her and have to amalgamate a “w” (wafting in the wind), “h” (half-hidden in a hammock), “e” (in the electric car), “r” (resting on a race track), and another “e” (on Roy’s elbow) with one of the ubiquitous question marks to locate the older woman in the apple tree!  With some reorganization of letters and a slithery snake, the question of “how?” they can get her out of the tree and free her to make a proffered apple pie is solved!

From Gabby, Wonder Girl 

by Joyce Grant, illus. by Jan Dolby

Joyce Grant’s cutie pie shows off her inquisitiveness and invention with gusto and creativity.  Who knew learning to use questions could be so much fun?  With a simple story, Joyce Grant offers very young readers an introduction to letters of the alphabet while manipulating them into words that provide the basis for questions and simple words.  Those of us more proficient in reading know of the versatility of letters to create new words and worlds but, for the very young, Gabby, Wonder Girl will be a revelation in learning housed in an unassuming but entertaining format.  No need to learn about letters from a standard A-B-C book when you have Gabby.  And Jan Dolby makes sure that Gabby, Wonder Girl (as she did in the earlier Gabby books) is a fun read of bright colours and squiggly lines and quirky details like a garden gnome, hedgehogs, butterflies and yards of letters.  Gabby really is a red-haired wonder girl in both language and action, and Roy plays superbly as her masked sidekick.  

From Gabby, Wonder Girl 

by Joyce Grant, illus. by Jan Dolby

Chidlren will love Gabby Wonder Girl, as they have Gabby and Gabby, Drama Queen, but parents and teachers will enjoy helping them experience Gabby’s learning opportunities in the fun word activites and games as well as drawing lesson that Joyce Grant and Jan Dolby provide at the end of the book.  There’s even a Gabby teachers’ guide that can be accessed online at http://joycegrantauthor.com/free-teachers-guide-gabby.  Gabby, Wonder Girl is a big package of learning in a small but bright little marvel of a book.

Author Event: Deborah Ellis (online)

On Friday, September 19, 2014

at 1 p.m. EST

youngCanLit author 

Deborah Ellis 

will be hosting an 

Ask Me Anything (AMA)

thread on

To participate

set up an account at reddit.com (it's free)

Then, at the designated time and date, 

go to

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA 

You can:

• ask questions

• upvote favourite questions that you see

• read answers

With over 20 outstanding books of fiction and non-fiction for young readers, including

The Cat at the Wall 

(Groundwood, 2014)

Moon At Nine

 (Pajama Press, 2014)

Looks Like Daylight: Voices of Indigenous Kids

(Groundwood, 2013)

No Ordinary Day

(Groundwood, 2011)

The Breadwinner

(Groundwood, 2000)

Deborah Ellis will certainly inspire great discussions about her writing and important social justice issues.

Don't miss this great opportunity to speak to one of Canada's award-winning authors for young people!

What Happened to Serenity?

by PJ Sarah Collins
Red Deer Press
978-0-889954-53-3
222 pp.
Ages 12-15
2011

Nominated for the 2012 Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy, the first year this book prize is being presented, What Happened to Serenity? by PJ Sarah Collins could have been nominated for the Mystery Award as its title suggests.  But that brilliant title alludes to more than the disappearance of Serenity, the younger sister of our protagonist's best friend.  Serenity also seems to be missing from the Community in which fifteen-year-old Katherine and her family live, under the administration of Father.  And one of the key reasons for the distress in Katherine's life is the strict rule, according to the Manifesto, that only Father is allowed to ask questions.  For all other Brothers and Sisters in the Community, it is considered rude to question - anything.  But Katherine, who has great difficulty rephrasing her questions into statements, wants to know, "What Happened to Serenity?"

After the Ecological Revolution of 1979, Father had brought one hundred abandoned babies and fifty Aunts and Uncles to the safety of Community.  Beyond the borders, the environment is poor and unstable, the water irradiated, the air poison. Now in 2021, the Community adheres to the strict dictates for attaining a perfect society.  Since colour is reflective of selfish individualism, Community is Brown, everywhere.  Life Roles are distributed based on compliance and performance.  And no questioning is allowed.  A sense of peacefulness and calm is only a click away on the Remote.

But Katherine cannot reconcile what she is told and what she observes, especially after discovering a note with "the words that changed my life." (pg. 70)

Everything is not as it seems. 
I've seen the outside come  
Through the sky.      (pg. 7)

When her snooping reveals documents with her family's "Retinal Scan Weekly Diagnostic Informational Scores", notes about a recent medical visit, and a shipments and inventory schedule, Katherine is determined to break the rules to ensure the safety of her family and to see beyond the Community.

The reader will not be prepared for the about-face that What Happened to Serenity? takes.  And though I thought that the ease with which Katherine gets support from Paul seemed somewhat contrived, PJ Sarah Collins ensures that Katherine's interactions with the outsiders are not all promising; in fact, too soon Katherine will be questioning her actions.

"I have let the bear into their home and it will destroy everything in its wide-angle view." (pg. 211)

What Happened to Serenity? is a title I will add promptly to my #CanLitChoices alternatives for The Giver.  It is a perfect youngCanLit example of a dystopian story in which the themes of courage, responsibility, oppression and intolerance, authority and power, and community are interwoven into a powerful plot embedded with real characters who all believe that what they are doing is right.  It's unfortunate that those with the power over others do not realize that they alone have doomed their utopia to become what it is - dysfunctional.  What Happened to Serenity? is a cautionary tale worthy of reading as well as heeding.