Way Off Track (A Nansi Graphic Novel)

Written by Carl Brundtland

Illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1004-1

152 pp.

Ages 8-12

May 2025 

 

Nansi has always been a runner and she's good at running. She even dreams of being known as the fastest person alive. But just because she's good at running doesn't make her a generous winner or even a smart competitor.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Not surprising that Nansi's overconfidence in her running leads her to make some poor choices. After all, what can it hurt to overeat or stay up late when she's got natural talent, or so Nansi thinks. But when she loses a preliminary race to her rich classmate Tania, Nansi is dazed. Convinced Tania's win is due to her new shoes, Endorphics Beta Fly 4.7U, Nansi is determined to get a pair. Problem is that the shoes are over $300. 

 

Though she comes up with some impossible schemes, getting a job seems like her best option, and her Jamaican Granny sets her up with her friend known as Auntie Berry to work in her salon. With a month to go before the all-school track meet, Nansi is committed to her part-time job, though her friends Ayesha and Angela just think Nansi needs to train better. 

When an opportunity to attend a training event pops up, Nansi has to figure out a way to be in two places at the same time. With a little blackmail and some clever disguising, Nansi pulls it off, or so she thinks. But, she has a lot of learning to do, and not just with respect to her running, if she is to succeed and focus on what's really important.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

This is Carl Brundtland's debut graphic novel and he packs a lot into it. First and foremost is a child with a skill for running but who still needs to learn to see beyond herself. Nansi gets into a lot of trouble because she thinks she is a better runner than everyone else and doesn't need to work for it. Even after she loses a race, she never takes any responsibility for that loss, attributing that loss to a pair of shoes. (Later she dreams of an interaction with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who reminds her that, "No shoes make the runner."; p. 132) Instead of focusing on training and learning skills to help her improve her running, she schemes to take advantage of her brother's relationship with a girlfriend he's not supposed to have.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Carl Brundtland also brings us into a family that is rich in affection and Jamaican culture. (I might recommend that you read Granny's and Auntie Berry's speeches aloud to get the full nuance of their Jamaican patois, suffused with wisdom and affection.) From the food to the sibling relationships and the kids' relationship with Granny, Way Off Track brings us into both the familiar and the uncommon, for some of us. So middle-grade readers will know a Nansi and a Tania and Nansi's brothers and grandmother and will understand why Nansi wants to excel, though maybe not her attitude about her skills. But, like them, she learns when she's mistaken about something and finds the way to make things right for herself and others. (Of course, guilt plays a big role in compelling her to do better.) By giving us Nansi' story both on and off the track, Carl Brundtland makes her a whole person, with whom the readers can identify.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Artist Claudia Dávila has illustrated a number of graphic novels (e.g., Child Soldier, ThunderBoom) as well as  picture books (e.g., Fast Friends, Friends Find a Way!) and non-fiction books (e.g., The Canadian Kids' Guide to Outdoor Fun) and, with each project, she achieves the right attitude of gravitas, information, social justice or humour that is required. In Way Off Track, Claudia Dávila's artwork, which has been digitally created, keeps the boldness of youth and of the talented while making it a true middle-grade story of kids who want to fit in and do well. I'm most impressed with how Claudia Dávila suffuses Nansi with her attitude and ego but also her agitation when things don't go to plan. Especially charming are Nansi's imaginings and dreams of her and her friends as Powerpuff-like girls.

 

It looks like Carl Brundtland is poised to write more Nansi graphic novels–the spine is labelled with a large "1"–so whether the Grade 7 girl has more lessons to learn at home or school or whether her friends, distinct in their own passions and skills, become the stars of their own stories, it is too soon to tell. Regardless Carl Brundtland, along with Claudia Dávila, has given us a fresh new character from which readers can learn as they laugh. And I bet that Granny will always have something good cooking on the stove.

Meet Tom Longboat (Scholastic Canada Biography)

Written by Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Scholastic Canada
978-1-4431-6391-0
32 pp.
Ages 6-10
January 2019

Tom Longboat will always be known as a world-famous runner, winner of the Boston Marathon in 1907 and Olympian in 1908 but his story is more of endurance and determination than just achievement.

Even from his humble beginnings, born in 1866 in Ohsweken on the Six Nations Reserve, Tom Longboat was a child who liked to have fun chasing cows and running around the reserve with his cousin. Even with the death of his father when Tom was just five years old, after which the family became very poor, Tom was often seen running. When placed in a residential school at age twelve, Tom ran away several times, finally hiding out at his uncle's home and never returning.

From Meet Tom Longboat by Elizabeth MacLeod, illus. by Mike Deas

It wasn't until his first race in 1905 that Tom realized how much he wanted to win and the need to strategize to ensure a win. In his 1906 Around the Bay Road Race in Hamilton, Ontario, he surprised all by winning in record time. His unorthodox running training, which included lacrosse and walking stints, along with his unusual stride of keeping his feet close to the ground flummoxed observers and other competitors but seemed to work for Tom Longboat, especially at the 1907 Boston Marathon. At that point he was declared the world's top marathon runner and the toast of Toronto and Canada. Though he did not place in 1908 Olympics, a disastrous event for countless runners who succumbed to the heat wave prevailing in London, Tom continued to run in a series of running matches at Madison Square Gardens, earning himself the title of World Professional Marathon Champion.

From Meet Tom Longboat by Elizabeth MacLeod, illus. by Mike Deas

When World War I hit, Tom enlisted and used his running skills to entertain and courier messages, thankful to return safely to Toronto after the war.  Though he never ran professionally again, choosing to make a home for himself and his family by working as a street cleaner and garbage collector, his legacy upon his death in 1949 was significant.  There was the creation of the Tom Longboat Award for Indigenous athletes, his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the establishment of the Tom Longboat Run on the Six Nations Reserve and the Tom Longboat Day in Ontario, as well as a striking statue called Challenge and Triumph which features Tom running.

In this latest biography in the new Scholastic Canada Biography series, Elizabeth MacLeod doesn't just shine a light on the achievements of Tom Longboat. She shows his beginnings, his love for running, and the challenges which he experienced throughout his life. From the poverty his family faced upon his father's death, to the torment of the residential school system and the discrimination faced there and elsewhere, as well as surviving World War I, Tom Longboat persisted, achieving greatness. Mike Deas's cartoon illustrations, with speech bubbles to maintain the message of Elizabeth MacLeod's text, never makes the story silly or irreverent, as comics may do. His work is reflective of Tom Longboat's varied experiences as seen from Tom's perspective as well as those around him. The illustrations elevate the text to make Tom Longboat's reality accessible.

Elizabeth MacLeod and Mike Deas ensure that we meet the real Tom Longboat, a boy who ran, and a man who won, both races and at life, and who, beyond obstacles placed in his way, chose for himself the direction his running and life would take.

From Meet Tom Longboat by Elizabeth MacLeod, illus. by Mike Deas

The Theory of Hummingbirds

Written by Michelle Kadarusman

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-027-7

160 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2017

Middle-grader Alba has always been defined by Cleo.  Cleo is her left foot, the foot with talipes equinovarus, a deformity formerly known as club foot.  She has endured multiple treatments and restrictions on what she can and cannot do but, with her most recent surgery, Alba is convinced the normalcy she has always craved is almost upon her.  She is sure that, once her cast is removed, she will be able to shed her timekeeper role and run in the year-end cross-country race.

The idea of being NORMAL hovered ahead of me like a glittering, shining new world–a place that I had never been allowed into.  Somehow I knew that if I could just run in the race like everyone else, it would prove that I deserved to be there–in magical Normal Land. (pg. 48)

Alba is adamant that she will run and so, when best friend Levi isn't an enthusiastic supporter of her plans–he's wrapped up in proving there's a wormhole in the librarian's office–she lashes out, calling him weird and his ideas stupid.  Even Coach and her doctor caution her about making plans before they see how the foot has healed and how the physiotherapy works.  Sadly, in her efforts to get that normal life, she twists the truth, manipulates her mother and almost loses a friend. She may see herself as fierce but, like the hummingbird of the title, she can be vicious. Alba's story may not turn out as she plans, in a blaze of running glory with new friends, but it's closer than you think, resolving  itself appropriately and ultimately better for Alba, Cleo, Levi and others than expected.  

Alba is like the hummingbirds of the title.  Most people would see them as delicate creatures, perhaps fragile and vulnerable. But Alba and Levi, hummingbird aficionados, know that the little birds are not always what they seen.  They can be intense, even ferocious, not unlike Alba herself.  While the birds' behaviour is driven by survival, Alba's may be the same, or as she feels it to be so, especially when she doesn't get the reactions she wants or the outcomes she desires.  Fortunately, she gets some valuable guidance from friends and family about appreciating herself and being the best person she can be, regardless of things which might hold her back.

The Theory of Hummingbirds is Michelle Kadarusman's first middle-grade novel (Her first book, Out of It (Lorimer, 2014), was written for young adults.) and she's made it reader friendly in more than just vocabulary and content.  Her characters are both sensitive and gritty, as the need requires, and neither goody-goody nor reprehensible.  In other words, they are real children with strengths and challenges.  Because she underwent a series of surgical procedures to correct her own congenital talipes equinovarus, Michelle Kadarusman writes from experience.  Hence Alba's determination and drive for normalcy is written with authenticity and reads the same.  If  there's a lesson to learn, it's that seeing the hummingbirds and Alba and Levi and others only one way does a disservice to them and anyone.  We are all far more than our greatest challenge or weakness or even strength.  For that, on this day, we should all be ever thankful.

Girl on the Run

by B. R. Myers

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77108-352-2

332 pp.

Ages 12+

September 2015

I’m sorry I didn’t review this book sooner but I should have recalled how much I’d been impressed with B. R. Myers’ debut novel, Butterflies Don’t Lie (Nimbus, 2014).  But, here I am again, reviewing in winter a book that takes place during summer. Let’s look at it this way, though:  it’s that time of year when high school students are thinking about summer jobs and parents are anticipating signing up their children for summer camps.  So, it’s still all good: both Girl on the Run and reviewing Girl on the Run now.

Seventeen-year-old Jesse Collins used to be a runner and a very good one.  But that all changed four months ago when her father died suddenly.

I used to care about provincial records, and even the Olympics, but not anymore.  Those were things I no longer had, and no longer deserved.  I put my hand on my stomach, on the heaviness that was always there.  A reminder of what I’d done and what I’d lost. (pg. 49)

Now it’s all she can do to push forward through her days, convince her mother that she’s not depressed and give in to her BFF’s attempts to get her dating and meeting the right guy.  Jesse needs a fresh start and two months at Kamp Krystal Lake as a counsellor is what she plans to do.  What she doesn’t plan on is there being a mix-up with the camp thinking she was a male and entrusting her with Cabin 4A, a small makeshift cabin, and four twelve-year-old boys: the camp owner’s terror of a son, Spencer; twins Liam and Duff; and the kindest of all, Scotty.

While Jesse tries to make the best of things, which isn’t always easy, she does meet new people who don’t know about her past and she’s so good with that.  There’s Devin, another counsellor (or so she thinks) that is making the moves on her; Lewis, recent grad and part of the kitchen staff; Alicia, a friendly lifeguard; Lacey, the perfect counsellor to a cabin of pink cupettes, as Jesse calls them; and Kirk, the head counsellor who always seems to catch her at her worst but whose milk chocolate eyes consistently attract her notice.

But the pranks pulled by the boys, including a fake drowning that costs Jesse a special necklace from her parents, commemorating her first provincial running record, brings her to the attention of the camp director, Susan, who wonders, along with Kirk and Lacey, whether they should be looking for another counsellor for the boys.  And, though the camp is eager to have Jesse run for them in the annual lake triathlon against other camps, Jesse is adamant that she will not.

Still, guilt-ridden about her dad’s death, Jesse perseveres, through humiliation and misunderstandings and misplaced crushings and some kissing, to find that she has a lot more gumption than she first thought and is able to make Kamp Krystal Lake a positive experience for more than just herself.

B. R. Myers embeds a lot of constructive messages in this sweet volume of teen chicklit. Not only do readers get to share in a summer fling with Jesse and go through the full camp experience of  outdoor activities, dances, dining hall shenanigans and food, they will learn a lot about Jesse’s namesake, runner Jesse Owens, about working through guilt and grief, and about resiliency.  Lessons well learned and even enjoyed by Jesse herself, the Girl on the Run.

Running Scared

by Beverley Terrell-Deutsch

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-503-5

176 pp.

Ages 9-12

October, 2013

How far would you go out of your way to avoid walking past  a point that held traumatic memories?  Twice as far?  Three times as far? Grade six student Gregory is willing to take a route between school and home that is four times longer than the direct route past the Jiffy Mart to avoid where his father was killed in a car accident last winter.  He might have to deal with the big yellow dog that barks at him when he runs (to save some time) but it's his choice to take this route, a secret he only shares with his best friend, Matt.  But everything is set to change.  It has been announced that their school will be closing January 1st and the bus that Gregory and others will be taking to their new school will be picking them up in front of the Jiffy Mart. 

So what are Gregory's options?  He has tried, with and without Matt's help, to overcome this fear and continues to try, now with the help of new student Teisha too.  But, he's convinced that they must stop the school from closing, joining the Save Our School campaign.  The only saving grace in his school life (especially since his grades have definitely been slipping in the past year) is participating in the Math Club.  Gregory loves numbers and patterns, as does Teisha, and Gregory doesn't find it difficult to concentrate on the problems the club works on. 

Ultimately, the big yellow dog becomes an important focal point by which Gregory helps Teisha (who has her own issues), by which Gregory helps the dog, its owner and an elderly woman who also cares for the dog, and perhaps sets the scene for making things better for Gregory and his mother.  By helping others, Gregory is ready to find the means (or the math) to help himself. 

Running Scared may seem to follow a straightforward storyline.  You know: boy has fear/dilemma, boy conquers fear/dilemma.  But the inclusion of Teisha who has her own issues with which to deal, Sam Briggs, whose bravado only masks her own needs, and Miss Sunny Marshall who searches for the means to stay independent and successfully navigate her way to and from the Jiffy Mart suggest that everyone needs some help some time and is not always willing to ask for it.  Beverley Terrell-Deutsch creates an assortment of characters who become a community of allies, helping and taking help as given, all without looking fragile or debilitated.  Problem-solving, whether with numbers or issues, is the means why which fear can be alleviated or at least by-passed. Gregory had the right idea all along.  He just forgot that, as in math, reciprocity can lead to balance and progress.

Ultra

by David Carroll

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-1918-4

192 pp.

Ages 11-14

September, 2013

It's highly appropriate that Ultra is one of the nominees for the Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch Fiction Award: it's a runaway success.  Personally, I tend to avoid reading sports-based novels.  (This sadly explains my original reluctance to read Ultra.  Don't be like me.) Too often, these books are immersed in the specific culture and jargon that are only familiar to those who participate in or watch that sport regularly.  It's very possible to be overwhelmed or bored by details of how a sport is played, the politics of sports organizations, and team dynamics.  Of course, those who do participate in or watch that sport have a very different perspective than those unfamiliar with it.  Authors should never assume that readers have prior knowledge about any sport, even one as socially embedded as hockey, for example.  But, regardless of running's integral role in Ultra, David Carroll caters neither to the novice nor the aficionado, and has no problems grabbing every reader's attention.  Kudos, David Carroll.  

The story of 13-year-old Quinn Scheurmann is interwoven through three strands: his present running of a 100-mile ultra-marathon; his reminiscences which often revolve around running and his dad; and the transcript of his interview with talk-show host Sydney Watson Walters.  These three lines of thought introduce the reader to Quinn, his family, best-friend Kneecap, and Quinn's running career.

At age 8, Quinn's dad challenges him to join him for a run, and Quinn learns how easy he finds it, due to his larger heart and reduced production of lactic acid, and how much running relaxes his brain.  Now, Quinn is the youngest participant in the Shin-Kicker 100, an ultra-marathon his dad has registered him in. 

It's a harrowing race for all competitors, all of whom are older than Quinn.  In fact, one who Quinn dubs "Dirt Eater" tells Quinn that he's too young and not cut out for the race. While Quitnn knows that he'll be running for almost 24 hours with only 2 official stops and has been well-trained by his dad about the "trail demons" (thoughts that get into your head and work against you), he's fortunate that Kneecap has given him her cell phone and that his little brother, Ozzie, agrees to be his pacer and encourage him by phone as he's running.  Even knowing how to avoid bears and how to run in the dark and how to keep hydrated, Quinn must face more surprises than he expects, especially in regards to what he learns about himself.

With every step, observation and revelation that Quinn makes, the reader pounds along with him.  Sometimes the trek is straightforward and swift and companionable; other times Quinn is navigating treacherous paths, both real and hallucinatory, and wondering if he should just give up.  As an ultra-marathoner himself, David Carroll knows that of which he writes, clearly evident from his first-hand descriptions of Quinn's trains of thought and the physical and emotional strains of the run. (Visit David Carroll's site at http://writerunrepeat.com/ to read his comparison of the pain of running versus writing.  You'll be surprised by his answer.) 

But don't be surprised when you get to reading Ultra and recognize it as an allegory for the approaches we can take to life.  You can go forth with some hesitancy.  You could plunge on, with hope and little trepidation.  Or you could stand by the sidelines and wonder about your choices. Or you could find a way to cheat. Whatever way we choose, we all end up at the finish line some time. Quinn's dad lets his son know about the approach he favours.

"Don't let anything stop you.  Nothing is impossible.  You'll be amazed what you're capable of." (pg. 41)

Regardless, Ultra is sure to take you along for an amazing run.