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.

Watching Traffic

by Jane Ozkowski

Groundwood Books

978-1-55409-843-3

186 pp.

Ages 14-18

August 2016

Reviewed from ebook

“There are so many directions you can go, and no matter what you choose it’s going to have an effect on everything else.” (pg. 151)

It’s the end of summer after finishing high school and eighteen-year-old Emily Robinson is anticipating the departure of best friends, Lincoln and Melissa, for new adventures and locales, Australia for travel and Halifax for school, respectively.  And what of Emily, the girl whom everyone, and I mean everyone, in their small town of Cavanaugh only thinks of as the three-year-old girl whose mother committed suicide in her presence and has had to overcome so much?

Though they’ve been friends since Grade 7 when they both were attending weekly counselling sessions, one to deal with her mother’s suicide and the other with anger issues, Melissa and Emily seem to be at odds this summer.  Emily thinks it’s because of Melissa’s relationship with boyfriend Dan but Emily, burdened by her lack of direction, just doesn’t have the time or make the effort to deal with her messed-up friend, though she’s encouraged by Lincoln and Melissa’s older brother Robert to make an effort.

But meeting Tyler, a new guy whom she meets at the pawn shop where she goes to sell the gold teeth her grandmother has gifted her–Grandma is a wonderful story in herself!–gives Emily the chance to take her life in a different direction, one where she has divorced parents and is someone she wants to be seen as.

Watching traffic from the three overpasses that cross the highway that divides Cavanaugh in two parts is a common past-time for Emily and her friends, but it’s a metaphor for divisions and acceptance, and the movement of people into, through and out of our lives.  Emily’s life may seem tenous to her, not knowing where she’s going, but it’s not unlike her friends who, though they have direction, are apprehensive about moving on, and Jane Ozkowski gets the tone right for these young people who want to move on but only know that from which they come.  Their words of wisdom are both an anathema and a propellant.

"There’s a highway cutting through the whole town, and they think if they follow it they’ll find somewhere better.  Nothing’s better, though.  You can be unhappy here or you can be unhappy somewhere else.  Being happy is more about how you see things.” (pg. 50)

Watching Traffic is Jane Ozkowski’s debut novel but her skill in giving voice to Emily, Melissa, Lincoln, Tyler and others in their perplexity and discomfiture about going forward in life demonstrates a raw understanding and proficiency at telling their stories.  Less about plot and more about characters and their development, Watching Traffic suggests that Jane Ozkowski is the one to watch and continue to read.  I look forward to see and read what’s coming round the bend from Jane Ozkowski.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I’m delighted to announce that author Jane Ozkowski is a last-minute addition to the impressive contingent of young adult authors reading at this weekend’s Eden Mills Writers’ Festival.  Come for the words!

The Pact

by Amanda West Lewis

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-544-8

352 pp.

Ages 10-15

September 2016

Remember there are always two sides to the same coin. (pg. 15)

The two-sides-to-the-same coin is a game ten-year-old Peter Gruber plays with his mother in order to see any set of circumstances from different perspectives but the reader would be well advised to heed this advice as well.  It’s very easy to sit back in the comfort of our lives today, wherever they may be, in the hindsight of World War II as a global entity.  It’s even easier to judge those involved in the war when we have countless sources of information about how it played out.  But we shouldn’t do so when reading The Pact by Amanda West Lewis because Peter Gruber’s story offers an opportunity to witness the then and there, starting in Hamburg Germany in 1939, when information was filtered and limited and reality was what you faced daily.

Although Peter is without a father and adept at black market trading of goods he scavenges at the port of Hamburg, he is probably a typical ten-year-old.  He goes to school (or he did until an accident that has him falling in the water leads to a case of diptheria and an extended hospital stay); he has his friends, Gunter and Eugene, who attend Hort, the youth organization, together; he has some family, notably his Tante Elsa and cousin Gerta who live in the country at Eutin; and he has hobbies like black-market trading and reading–his favourite is the western The Treasure of Nugget Mountain, though he gets into the Russian classics of Tolstoy, Chekhov and others after his hospital stay.  But Germany’s economy is in ruins after World War I and most Germans are happy to follow Chancellor Hitler’s directives to be dutiful and responsible to make Germany strong again.

In the fall of 1939, Peter begins Gymnasium, the elite school for privileged boys such as Hermann Weber, Peter’s trading nemesis and a bully, with friends Gunter Schmidt and Otto  Brandt, and participating in Jungvolk, the youth organization for boys of ages 10-14 that is all about training to fight.  But conflict with Poland and Great Britain’s declaration of war on Germany ramps up fears and patriotism, affecting work, food, education, and spirit.  Amidst lessons of ethnology of the German people and daily reminders that the boys are the future of Germany as well as celebrating the surrender of countries such as Denmark, Norway and Belgium, Peter is sometimes perplexed by what he previously thought or read in light of new and propagandist information (though he does not know it to be so).

With frequent air raids and bombings through 1940, Peter and his Gymnasium cohorts are evacuated as part of the Kinderlandverschickung south to Neumarkt where they are schooled and trained in all things Nazi, made to feel pride for the Party’s accomplishments, and reassured that the war would soon be over.

But the war is not soon over and Peter and his friends hear little news except that Britain is close to surrendering and on the brink of defeat. After returning to Hamburg in 1941, Peter is whisked away to his aunt’s for the summer.  Troops marching by share news of work camps where prisoners ("He wasn't sure where all of the prisoner were coming from, though."; pg. 136-7) work to support Germany’s economy and hears news of the conflict with the Soviet Union. Upon his return to Hamburg, though, pamphlets encouraging Germans to overthrow Hitler begin to surface and the BBC radio broadcasts his mother enjoys, illegally, have Peter revisiting what he hears and knows and fears.

Peter knew the British were lying.  But the broadcasts gave him this odd sense of huge events taking place somewhere else, things he wasn’t supposed to know about.  He tried not to think about it. (pg. 138)

The Pact is an involved and complex story, not unlike the war itself, and Peter’s experiences from 1939 through 1945 are no less so.  As a student of Gymnasium and a part of Jungvolk and then Hitlerjugend when he turns 14, Peter is shunted between home to safer evacuation locations in Neumarkt, Germany and Bistriz, Hungary and back to a demolished Hamburg, with forays to his aunt’s country home.  He begins to see that all he has lived through and experienced is “a life he now knew he didn’t want any part of.” (pg. 210)

“…we’re going to lose this damn war, and then it will be just like the last time, only worse.  They’ll take away our land; they’ll take away our food.  And this time, we’ll deserve it.  We’ll deserve to be punished.”  (pg. 218)

And even though he knows this, Peter is compelled to report to the Hitlerjugend office to avoid being deemed a deserter and begins apprenticing at an airplane engine factory in Klockner.  Still he is not free, ultimately commanded to attend a training camp in Denmark in November of 1944, a camp where the hundreds of young men are guarded by armed soldiers with dogs and forced to pledge allegiance to the Führer.  There is so much story to tell–hence my lengthy review–and yet Amanda West Lewis grips the reader with each scene, discussion, piece of propaganda, excursion, lesson, danger and thought that Peter faces and endures.  The Pact, which is based on a true story (the author's note and interview at the conclusion of the book reveal everything), will transfix readers with the story of war from a rare perspective, that of a child growing up in Germany, for whom home is everything, even if not everything is as it seems or should be.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Take advantage of upcoming book launches for The Pact in Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa and Amanda West Lewis' reading at this weekend's Eden Mills Writers' Festival to hear from the author herself about this extraordinary, extraordinary story of historical fiction that will both enlighten and engross.

Peach Girl

by Raymond Nakamura

Illustrated by Rebecca Bender

Pajama Press

978-1-927-485-58-3

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

May 2014

Here is the story that will bring a smile to every reader's face and teach the value of seeking the truth rather than paying attention to rumours.  It's a sweet story about a brave little girl named Momoko who bursts forth from a peach deposited at the door of a childless farming couple, determined to make the world a better place.

Momoko waits only long enough for her new mother to make clothes for her from the peach skin, for her father to construct a helmet and shield from the peach pit, and for peach dumplings to be made to stave off hunger on her journey.  

"Peachy," said Momoko. "Now I'm ready to go."

Her first goal in making the world a better place is to locate an ogre purported to eat small children.  Along the way, Momoko encounters Monkey, then Dog and finally Pheasant, all who tell her where they believe the ogre lives and the horrors of his size, his teeth and his eyes.  Though each is nervous, the promise of dumplings that the animals can see and smell convince them to join her.

Working together to reach the ogre's island castle, the bravado each exhibits dissipates quickly, except for Momoko, whose sureness of purpose and diplomatic inquiries welcome the truth of the ogre.

Based on a traditional Japanese folktale about a peach boy named Momotaro who fights demons, Raymond Nakamura updates the story with a strong female protagonist as an activist, rather than a warrior.  Her no-nonsense attitude and tact are the armaments of her endeavour, ones she embodies rather than carries. 

However, I have to say that her outfit and accessories are rather peachy, and her face inspiring, all courtesy of illustrator Rebecca Bender, art director at Pajama Press.  The realism of Rebecca Bender's artwork is not weighed down with excessive detail, though it is sufficient to engage the readers in a storytelling that could be real, until the ogre shows up, of course.  

Momoko's disregard for rumours and the directness of her engagement with everyone, from her parents to the animals and the ogre, can certainly teach us all a lesson or two.  With fortitude and respect (she never negates the animals' stories of the ogre), and a healthy dose of trust, Momoko is able to make a start on creating a better world.

The Fall

Written by Colleen Nelson

Great Plains Teen Fiction

978-1-926531-65-6

192 pp.

Ages 13+

2013

I know that many misquote the proverb about pride going before the fall* but I believe a more apt saying should note that there are a few trips before that fall.  And that during those trips, you could catch and right yourself before that ultimate, consequential fall.  Most people know this, even Ben Olniuk, Colleen Nelson's 15-year-old protagonist in The Fall.  In fact, Ben makes note of this several times, after being faced with small decisions that result in him tripping.  Sadly, he doesn't heed any of these subtle warnings and he's not even the one who has the fall.

Ben's life is pretty simple. He lives with his mom and rarely sees his negligent and self-absorbed dad. His best friend is Tessa and he lives for skateboarding, which he does very well.  A seemingly inconsequential interaction in which Ben conceals a bag of pot dropped by another student brings him to the attention of Cory Anderson and Taz and Luke Dumont, a trio that rules the school through bullying and intimidation.

Although Ben initially rejects invitations to join Cory, Taz and Luke in partying, Luke seems to like hanging with Ben.  With an abusive father, weak mother and twisted older brother, Luke must see Ben's simple life as ideal, and Ben can't seem to stop himself from continuing to interact with Luke, Cory and Taz.  This is Ben's emotional tripping.  Sadly, one of the trio really trips and falls, leaving him dead and Ben is rumoured to be the cause.

Even though Ben realizes that "If you lie with dogs, you get fleas" (pg. 34), he can't seem to stop himself from making choices that lead to disastrous ends.  But author Colleen Nelson takes the reader beyond Ben and his choices to reveal that everyone is capable of making poor choices regardless of their motivations.  Anger, fear, jealousy, grief and guilt, as well as love, respect, and appreciation, can prompt a wide variety of responses, good and bad, and it's only the nature of our experiences, supports and personalities that will steer those decisions.  Still, Colleen Nelson demonstrates that, except in the case of death, there are opportunities to catch oneself and make things right.  While that may sound like The Fall ties up all loose ends, it's not that pat.  Just as we may not always know what we'd do under certain circumstances, such as witnessing a death, the boys and other characters seem surprised by how they handle circumstances.  Some are true to form, while others reach beyond themselves and out to others.  It's the breadth of her characters and their ability to transform or evolve that takes The Fall from an intriguing plot to a psychological page-turner.


*From the Book of Proverbs 16:18, the quote is "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Creeps

by Darren Hynes

Razorbill/Penguin Canada

978-0-14-318714-1

309 pp.

Age 13 +

August, 2013

Just to be clear:  Creeps is not a creepy book.  It may be unsettling for some readers by the horror of the protagonist's reality but it is neither supernatural nor blood-curdling.  In fact, Creeps is the descriptor that 15-year-old Marjorie Pope uses for herself and the protagonist of the story, Wayne Pumphrey, also 15.  And perhaps being a little different in Canning, Labrador is all it takes to feel like a creep there.

There's obviously something about Wayne that makes him the target of Pete "The Meat" Avery and his posse–Kenny, Bobby and Harvey–who relentlessly abuse him physically and verbally.  In the written but unsent letters he records in a journal, Wayne gives voice to the questions, fears, confusion that he refuses to express to Pete, his parents, his older sister Wanda, and others.  In fact, that's how Wayne becomes better acquainted with Marjorie Pope, a girl who wears her poverty without shame and ignores the sexual rumours Pete doles out about her.  When she witnesses one of Pete's attacks on Wayne, she distracts The Meat with comments about his biological father and early childhood with which he has issues.

In Wayne's efforts to belong to something, anything to help get through high school, he auditions for the school's production.  Although he doesn't earn a role, Mr. Rollie, the drama teacher, sees some leadership potential and asks him to be his assistant director.  Dealing with his dad's alcoholism, his mother's constant threat to leave because of her husband's drinking, and Pete The Meat's abuse, Wayne recognizes that

"...I'll take the job anyway because it's good to have somewhere to go and something to do and someone other than the wall to look at and say stuff to." (pg. 59)

Marjorie, on the other hand, wins the lead role in the play, mesmerizing everyone with the emotional depth of her performance.  However, she's probably just as happy to have someplace else to go, away from her mother whose husband's death has unhinged her, even believing that Marjorie feels no grief over her father's passing.

The threat of leaving Canning for elsewhere, anywhere, is a common theme amongst Creeps characters, and often distracts Wayne from his worries of Pete The Meat but not always.  This is especially true after Dad insists on confronting Pete's parents about their son's abuse of Wayne and causes the assaults to escalate.

While Wayne may believe that his reluctance to stand up for himself is because

"...sometimes I don't feel like I'm worth very much..." (pg. 226)

he is the only one who doesn't seem to consider running away.  There's Dad who leaves the daily grind of working in the mine by indulging in drink.  His mother wants to run away in reaction to his drinking.  Wanda is planning on taking off for Toronto with a friend.  Marjorie often thinks of escaping her mother's bizarre behaviour and reactions.  But, even with the psychological and physical degradation that Wayne experiences, he is more likely to contemplate the why's and how's rather than react, ultimately helping him to understand others better.

I truly hope that the anguishing circumstances that Darren Hynes so evocatively portrays in Creeps are not the norm of small towns in more remote areas such as Labrador and not the high school years that the author experienced.  No one, young or old, creep or not, should ever endure the humiliation too easily sketched by Darren Hynes' harsh word choice and graphic imagery.  Creeps may adhere to the old adage that "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger"–as happens for Wayne and Marjorie, thankfully–but be prepared for the wretchedness of anticipating the worst for the characters while still knowing that some degree of deliverance is forthcoming.