Visions From the Fire (Dreams, Book 2)

Written by Wanda John-Kehewin

Illustrated by nicole marie burton

Colour by Rhael McGregor 

Lettering by Kielamel Sibal

HighWater Press (Portage & Main)

978-1-77492-065-7

80 pp.

Ages 12+

Releases February 24, 2026 

 

Visions From the Fire starts with a bang. Damon and his classmates are preparing to graduate from high school. And Damon, his mom, and his friend Journey are then heading out to his mom's reserve, which she hasn't visited for fifteen years, for a powwow. And Damon's classmate and bully, Marcus, who'd taunted the teen relentlessly about his Indigenous heritage, has recently learned this his own mother is Cree, part of the Sixties Scoop, though she shrugs it off as "not a big deal." (pg. 2) If that isn't enough happening in Damon's life, then there is the gifting of a bear claw necklace made by his mom that gives him visions of her abandonment on the reserve. He asks her but she doesn't want to talk about it.

What's there to talk about? When stuff hurts, Indians try to forget about it. They bury it deep inside 'til it stops hurting. Counsellors call it suppression. I call it survival. Still not ready, son. (pg. 13)

From Visions From the Fire, written by Wanda John-Kehewin, illustrated by nicole marie burton

Unfortunately, they do have a blow up when Damon's mom inadvertently learns her son has contacted his dad and intends to meet up with him at the powwow. She's angry at him for not trusting her enough to tell her, and he's angry at her for her reaction and trying to control him. It's not a good way to arrive at the reserve. 

 

Soon after, Damon's mom takes off in his car, and he worries she might be drinking and driving. He goes for a walk and meets an older man who seems almost otherworldly, turning rain off and on, making fire of wet wood, and knowing more than Damon thinks he should. 

From Visions From the Fire, written by Wanda John-Kehewin, illustrated by nicole marie burton

But this man is wise, and he has some choice words for Damon about listening instead of talking, about sitting on the fence, and more. When the man is gone, Damon finds the bear claw necklace in his pocket and is transported by vision to see what his mother experienced, what Journey experienced, and even what his ancestors discussed when faced with starvation or signing a treaty.  

When you don't know who you are, life becomes a tough journey. Same for your mother and your father. (46) 

Still, it's what happens afterwards, meeting family he'd never known but who know him and his gifts, attending a sweat lodge, and learning that he has been chosen, that leads Damon into his next story.

From Visions From the Fire, written by Wanda John-Kehewin, illustrated by nicole marie burton

Road trips are often transformative. They give opportunities for discussions either previously avoided or finally deemed necessary. A little thing, like Damon asking his mother why she hated being called, "Ma," opens up a lot about her mother, about Damon's dad and about his mom's relationship with him and with drink. Unfortunately, with the arrogance of youth, Damon goes after his mother, accusing her of trying to control him, never recognizing she knows more than he does about her situation. But this journey is but one step in Damon's exploration of self: where he comes from, and perhaps where he is going. Wanda John-Kehewin, who introduced Damon and Journey and others in Visions of the Crow is taking Damon slowly to where he needs to find himself. And while he sees himself through his experiences and through those of his mother, of Journey, and of others who interact with him, his visions of what has happened to them and his ancestors give him insight into his own actions and needs. This richness of self is embedded in Damon's Cree heritage, especially once he arrives at the reserve in Saskatchewan. From the language—kindly translated as needed—to the cultural traditions like the sweat and the offering of tobacco, Wanda John-Kehewin lets us know that being Cree is part of Damon, though there is still much for him to learn.

From Visions From the Fire, written by Wanda John-Kehewin, illustrated by nicole marie burton

nicole marie burton, who also illustrated Book 1 in the Dreams series (Visions of the Crow, 2023), blends realism with the intangible. Damon is a contemporary teen who listens to his music, goes to school, argues with his mom, and deals with life. But, he sees into the past and into the lives of others, experiencing surreal episodes that nicole marie burton makes believable. They use darkness and textured iridescence to transport the reader to different places and times, convincing us that Damon's vision has shifted. There are hints in the clothing and the scenery, as well as in Wanda John-Kehewin's words, but nicole marie burton shows us without telling us that Damon is going through something cathartic.

 

There is still story to be told, including Damon meeting his father, Damon and Journey's relationship, and Marcus's identification as Cree. But I know that, like Damon's journey, it will happen in due course, with help from those past and present, and be revealed as necessary. Wanda John-Kehewin cares enough to ensure the story is told in its time, making sure that Damon's self-actualization is real, personal, and complete.

 

• • • • • • •

 

Dreams 

 

Visions of the Crow (2023)

Visions From the Fire (2026)

 

Apartment 713

Written by Kevin Sylvester

HarperCollins

978-1-4434-6094-1

240 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2022

 

That's what buildings do, Jake. They are like us, constrained by an arc. By time. They–and we–age and decay. They–and we–die. But how do we live while we live? That's the important question. (pg. 122) 

When Jake Simmons and his mom move into the Regency, it's because they've hit rock bottom. Mom has split from her partner Janice and lost her job as a legal secretary. To get back on their feet, the two move into the Regency, which Jake sees as a dump with its peeling paint, curling wallpaper, dust, grimy windows and worse. But, when he becomes acquainted with the original Regency, he recognizes that it is a true home.

Exploring the shambles that is the Regency, Jake makes the acquaintance of Danny, the superintendent, who knows all the residents and what they need. He introduces Jake to the elderly Lily in Apartment 405 whose cats are fed by Danny. Then there's the brilliant Professor who is so focused on her work that Danny cleans up her garbage and the elusive, baseball-loving Gus who won't leave his home. Danny is good about delivering and picking up Gus's mail as well as that of others like the piano-playing Theo in 501 and the enigmatic Delaney who lives somewhere on the seventh floor. These are just some of the odd assortment of residents of the Regency and Jake is happy to agree to be Danny's assistant and help with all his clients' needs. But then Danny gets a letter from a lawyer indicating that the long-term lease between the Regency and the city is set to expire and the residents will need to find another place to live. 

 

Soon after, the purportedly-broken call light for Apartment 713 goes off and Jake heads to the apartment he'd been told was off limits. Sure that someone inside is calling for help, Jake plunges into the apartment and into another world, one in which the Regency is in its infancy, hosting musicians, artists and other famous people while being a home to others. Believing that he was sent back to the 1920s to help save the Regency, Jake and his new-found friend, Beth, explore the mysteries that are hidden in the exclusive building, revealing more about its secrets, its history, and even its future.

Kevin Sylvester can illustrate (e.g., Super-Duper Monster Viewer), tell us sports stories (e.g., Hockey Super Six), entice us with food (e.g., Neil Flambé series) and inform with non-fiction (e.g., Gold Medal for Weird and Follow Your Money with Michael Hlinka) so it's no wonder that he can also write speculative fiction with a time-slip element.  Still Kevin Sylvester includes all those elements in Apartment 713. His artwork peppers the story and there are elements of baseball, food, and history that build on the basic premise of a child dealing with upheaval and trying to find home where it would appear there is none. While there is a very cool time-slip element to Apartment 713, the story is really about looking a little deeper: into a new place, into new friends, and into one's self. It's finding the wonders within and recognizing them for what they are. It's being the solution rather than complaining about the problem. It's finding home by making a home.

While Kevin Sylvester will always give us a good story, well-written and illustrated, often with humour and a light touch, there will always be more. He gently manifests important issues like LGBTQ (e.g., The Fabulous Zed Watson co-authored with Basil Sylvester) and resource monopolization (e.g., Minrs) and, with Apartment 713, there's a message about superficiality.  Hopefully young readers will see beyond the obvious, that old buildings may look like dumps and eccentric people appear to be odd but both are built on histories that make them unique and enrich lives with their presence.

Road Allowance Era (A Girl Called Echo, Vol. 4)

Written by Katherena Vermette

Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson

Colour by Donovan Yaciuk

HighWater Press

978-1-55379-930-6

48 pp.

Ages 10-14

April 2021

 

In the aftermath of the Northwest Resistance, the focus of the third book in Katherena Vermette's A Girl Called Echo graphic novel series, the accidental time traveller Echo returns to 1855 to join her ancestors and other Métis and witness the execution of Louis Riel and the sustained persecution and discrimination of her people.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Though Louis Riel had advocated for the Métis' rights to land granted to them, most scrips entitling them to land in the Red River area have not been honoured. So Echo joins them in returning to Manitoba, hopeful that the agents now set up would ensure that land deeds would be issued to them.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

But the discrimination that they have faced all along continues, with their scrips only exchanged for a few dollars and provisions. So the Métis head to Ste. Madeleine where they hope they might rebuild their community.

Time slipping back to the present, Echo's teacher speaks of the unsettling of the Métis and their need to squat on unused Crown lands called road allowance land. Later, though they'd lived there for decades, they are often driven off with violence. Echo's anger at the injustice is palpable though her friend Micah sees the fortitude of their people who were able to withstand so much and still survive.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Still she witnesses much destruction and sadness as the Métis are displaced and then refused the opportunity to buy the land on which they had built lives. 

We are the free people, mon amie. We built this place and we will always be here. No matter what they have done to us, we're still here. We know we will survive. (pg. 38)

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Her existence reminds them of that survival, with her ancestors pointing out that they are always within her as there is "blood memory, bone memory" (pg. 29) of their sorrows and their strengths. "Go home and be the future" (pg. 40) is what she is told.

The story of the Métis is heartbreaking, as Echo has learned from her time slips into the past. History class and homework rile her, as they should for anyone with a sense of justice. But Katherena Vermette doesn't just let Echo wallow in anger or distress. She helps her accept that anger as valid but see the strength of her people and the change that has happened for each generation. 

 

Scott B. Henderson's illustrations take us smoothly between past and present, clearly depicting a contemporary Echo and her immediate family and friends versus her ancestors in their settings of prairie scenes of wagons and tipis, and dismal government buildings like courts and land offices. There is an authenticity in his characters that acknowledge the hardships but allude to the joys and colour of Métis culture. Coloured by Donovan Yaciuk, there is a sense of brightness at the edges of the past and the present that lay bare much about what was and is.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

This is the way to learn history, from those who lived it and those who came from them. Though the horrors of the past might offer extraordinary teachable moments, they also point forward, to a future that offers more hope with each generation. The present may still be troubled with discrimination as land claims continue to be challenged but, as Scott B. Henderson's final illustrations shows us, Echo has her family, past and present, behind her.

• • • • • • •

The whole series A Girl Called Echo offers unique opportunities to teach and learn about Métis history. I encourage teachers to examine the whole series.

Pemmican Wars (2017)

Red River Resistance (2018)

Northwest Resistance (2020)

Road Allowance Era (2021)

Red River Resistance (A Girl Called Echo Vol. 2)

Written by Katherena Vermette

Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson

Colour by Donovan Yaciuk

HighWater Press

978-1-55379-747-0

49 pp.

Ages 10-14

November 2018

Echo Desjardins's story began in Pemmican Wars (HighWater Press, 2017), the first  volume of Katherena Vermette's A Girl Called Echo graphic novel series. Echo is a thirteen-year-old Métis girl placed in foster care, dealing with her new circumstances when she repeatedly time slips onto the prairies of the early 19th c. Métis as they hunt bison and are thrust into the Pemmican Wars.  Red River Resistance continues Echo's story, this time plunging the teen into the famous altercation of 1869-1870.

From Red River Resistance by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, col. by Donovan Yaciuk

As their teacher, Mx. Francois, begins their lesson on the selling of seven million acres by the Hudson Bay Company to Canada, Echo is transported to the Red River colony in 1869 where she witnesses land surveyors, on behalf of the Crown and Dominion of Canada, confronted by Louis Riel and others for trespassing on Métis land. Though Echo returns to the present day to sign up for the Indigenous Student Leadership group and continue with her daily activities, she is transported multiple times to the Red River settlement where the Métis resistance progresses from the taking of Upper Fort Garry through the organizing of a provisional government and the attacks after the trial and execution of Thomas Scott.

From Red River Resistance by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, col. by Donovan Yaciuk

Though the history of the Red River Resistance of 1869-1870 is well documented in the timeline provided at the conclusion of the book, along with a map and the 1870 Métis Bill of Rights, telling the basics of that conflict in a graphic novel format, emphasizing the illustrations with limited dialogue, is clever as it leaves room for discussion and enquiry.  Moreover, because Katherena Vermette embeds Echo's own life of struggles in the basics of the resistance, Red River Resistance becomes more an echo of fitting in amidst conflict than simply teaching history. With Scott B. Henderson's illustrations, coloured by Donovan Yasiuk, the story is fuller. It is realistic but goes beyond an illustrated encyclopedic entry. It reveals an inclusivity of people and story and takes the perspective away from the history textbooks and into that of the people who endured the injustices and strife thrust upon them.

From Red River Resistance by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, col. by Donovan Yaciuk

••••••••••••••••••••••
Volume 3 in the series, Northwest Resistance, is set for a November 2019 release.

The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane

Written by Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor

Illustrated by Kim Smith

HarperCollins Canada

978-1-44345-231-1

167 pp.

Ages 7-10

September 2018

Many readers grew up reading Roy MacGregor's extraordinarily successful Screech Owls series of middle grade novels about the peewee hockey team. For adventure and mystery and, of course, hockey, these were the go-to books for kids. Now, for a slightly younger set–let's say early middle-grader–Roy MacGregor has teamed up with his daughter Kerry MacGregor to take their minor hockey team, the Ice Chips, on the road but through time and history too. And, in The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane, the kids meet a hockey hero and a few ghosts as well.

Lucas Finnigan a.k.a. Top Shelf and his friends and teammates Swift, Edge and Crunch decide to recreate their initial magical experience of time slip that had them meeting Gordie Howe. They know that after Scratch, the magical Zamboni, resurfaces the rink with its magical flood and they skate across the centre line, they will be transported ... somewhere, sometime. But, as the Ice Chips are again matched up against their ice nemeses, the well-equipped and moneyed Stars, they know they are at a significant disadvantage, especially having lost valuable time waiting for the Riverton Community Arena to reopen. So Lucas, Swift and Edge, this time prepared with walkie-talkies, a camera, boots–they can't walk around in their skates everywhere–and other tools, and Crunch staying behind as tether with a walkie-talkie, jump back in time and into their newest adventure.

Strangely, the kids find themselves on a boat in the middle of a storm and it's two other Ice Chips, Bond and Mouth Guard, who unknowingly followed the trio of time-travellers to Nova Scotia, who meet a young hockey player and introduce him to the others when they're finally reunited. Though the kids don't connect the dots about this young star from Cole Harbour until near the end of the book, they're still impressed by his determination and drive, especially after taking them through some intense and very worthwhile hockey drills at the Citadel in Halifax. There's also a few encounters with ghosts including a sea captain from the Halifax Explosion, making The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane a bona fide story of the Maritimes.

But, as in the first book in the series, The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink, Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor's new book promotes lessons about getting the kids to work together, seeing beyond their weaknesses and looking towards empowerment with strategies to make their playing and their lives better while still immersing young readers in the hockey culture of today and then. Moreover, with the diversity of kids on the team–boys and girls of different ethnicities and physical and intellectual abilities including Swift who has a prosthetic leg–all children will see themselves in the Ice Chips. (I love that most of the teammates call each other by their nicknames and the gender of the player is rarely discussed.)

Hockey fans will definitely love the scrimmages on the ice, well told by Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Roy MacGregor and journalist Kerry MacGregor, but they'll be grabbed by the story of kids finding themselves in new circumstances, getting guidance from hockey greats and working together to find their way home. With Calgarian Kim Smith's illustrations to give the story some graphic spice, The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane will be taking home a win. Though it will still be a few more months until The Ice Chips and the Invisible Puck comes out in April of 2019, I'm pretty sure that authors Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor, who plan to make Swift's idol, one of Canada's most decorated Olympians, the focus of that story, will be able to keep up their stickhandling magic.

From The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane by Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor, illus. by Kim Smith

Family of Spies: Blog Tour

Today I'm reviewing Jodi Carmichael's newest middle grade novel Family of Spies as part of the book's blog tour.  Please check out the others stops on the tour as listed at Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours and Promotions and enter to win a free copy of Family of Spies here.

Written by Jodi Carmichael

Yellow Dog (an imprint of Great Plains Publications)

978-1-927855-94-2

288 pp.

Ages 8-13

April 24, 2018

Most people who delve into their family histories are hoping for the unusual like connections to royalty, a hint of scandal or extraordinary accomplishment.  But for most, the exercise of discovering family history details is more likely to be a slog and end in disappointment, since  most people in the past lived lives of work and family with few opportunities for the exotic or the mysterious.  Not so for the great-grandfather of thirteen-year-old cousins Ford MacKenzie and Ellie Whitaker and Ford’s older brother Gavin.  Great-Granddad’s story would be the stuff of legends, if it didn’t have to be sealed.

The MacKenzie and Whitaker families, from Canada and the US respectively, are meeting in Paris for a European vacation. Soon after their arrival, Ford begins to experience moments of déjà vu that seem to time-slip him into Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II.  These episodes are especially emphatic when he touches any of the personal effects–letters, photos, postcards, bookmarks, etc.– in his great-grandfather’s briefcase. A visit to a psychic confirms Ford to be a clairvoyant who is able to connect to the past. 

Using a letter his mother received denying them access to Edward Crawford’s service records,  Ford connects to that military office and sees his great-grandfather’s file identifying him as part of  Special Operations Executive, a top-secret spy agency in operation during the war. But the three teens’ search at the military library alerts other forces to their interest in E. H. Crawford and soon Ford’s “visions” are not the only worries they have.

Assessing the various materials in his great-grandfather’s briefcase, Ford determines that he can connect with Great-Granddad and would be able to envision what he was doing during the war by (re)visiting a café/restaurant, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and several more stops.  With each visit, Ford reveals more about his great-grandfather’s covert activities, as well as his fears and guilt for a mission gone awry.

The story is very loosely based on Jodi Carmichael’s own grandfather whose military records remain sealed.  By weaving family history with Ford’s supernatural ability to divine the past, Jodi Carmichael has created a multi-layered mystery that honours her family and entertains readers with intrigue, adventure, a bit of the fantastic and a history lesson like no other. Family of Spies also reveals much about family dynamics and reminds us that, like Great-Granddad’s records of spy activity, nothing is ever final, even in relationships modified by guilt or jealousy because forgiveness can unravel much.

For young readers who enjoy an action-adventure story with a bit of history and the supernatural, Family of Spies will completely captivate and satisfy, and leave them anticipating Ford, Gavin and Ellie’s next adventures (fingers crossed) as the family continues their travels to London and Cairo.

🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆

Jodi Carmichael’s dreams of becoming an author began to come true when she attended her first SCBWI conference in Los Angeles in 2007 and was nominated for the Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award. A champion for the underdog and kids who think differently, she wrote Spaghetti is NOT a Finger Food (and Other Life Lessons) (2013) which won numerous awards including a Gold Mom’s Choice and a Silver Moonbeam in 2013. In 2016 her novel about relationship abuse, Forever Julia (2016), won the Manitoba Book Award, the McNally Robinson Books for Young People Award - Older Category and received a Bronze Moonbeam Award for Young Adult Fiction - Mature Issues.

When not channeling characters from her books, she can be found strolling Manitoba beaches with her husband, two daughters, and exceedingly scruffy Border Terrier named Zoe. 

Two Times a Traitor

Written by Karen Bass

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-031-4

240 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2017 (Canada), August 2017 (US)

Selected as a Junior Library Guild Selection, Two Times a Traitor may seem a departure for award-winning author of historical fiction, Karen Bass, who won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for her books Graffiti Knight (Pajama Press, 2013) and Uncertain Soldier (Pajama Press, 2015) in consecutive years.  But, Karen Bass knows how to seamlessly weave a bit of the unexpected into her fiction, as she did in her suspenseful The Hill (Pajama Press, 2016), and as she does in Two Times a Traitor which blends a contemporary setting with Canada's past in Louisbourg 1745 through the use of time slip.

Twelve-year-old Lazare Berenger is still angry with his father who moved the family from Ottawa to Boston while Laz was visiting his Grandmère's farm in New Brunswick the previous summer.  And now, when he'd been saving up for a parkour camp for spring break, Laz is with his parents and younger sister Emeline visiting Halifax.  With every new suggestion of his father, Lazare is reeling with anger so, while visiting the Citadel, Laz takes off on his own.

The air seemed to push against Laz, as if it didn't want him to return down the tunnel.  Something strange was happening, but he didn't know if it was this chamber, the whole tunnel, or if he'd had too much bacon for lunch.  He took a deep breath and his lungs refused to fill. (pg. 19)

When he knocks himself out, he awakens in an unfamiliar landscape of pirate-looking men at bonfires on shore, old-time sailing ships moored in the bay and a man with a sword taking him to Captain Hawkins on the ship called the Constance.  Believing it's all a role play as boot camp punishment from his father, he spouts off about 2017 and more, leading the captain to believe he is pretending madness to distract them from recognizing him as an Acadian in league with the French at Louisbourg.  His clothes, which might conceal weapons, are taken away, as is his grandmother's St. Christopher medal ("Papist witchery"; pg. 38) and he is put in fetters.  Ben, a young boy who has been apprenticed to the Constance, befriends him and Laz learns that it truly is 1745 and they are transporting militia to Canso to fight King George's War against the French.

With a militiaman named Cooper seeking retribution on "Master Berenger" and Commander Pepperell, the commander of the expedition, ready to hang Laz for treason, the boy is put to work alongside the militia and then blackmailed–he is convinced his medal is the means to getting back to the future– into going into Louisbourg as a spy to seed doubt and do mischief.  Under the guise of a farm boy warning the French of an incoming barrage of British ships, Laz is welcomed into Louisbourg, becoming the messenger of Port Commander Pierre Morpain, a man who treats Laz as the boy wishes his own father would.  As Laz builds a new family amongst the residents of Louisbourg, he is haunted by his need to fulfill his obligation to the British if he is ever to return to his true family and life in 2017.

Privileged Laz may think his life with his father is impossible but, after facing treason charges twice, once by the British and later with the French after he sabotages their gun powder, he realizes how easy life has been.  Still he wonders about remaining in the past, one in which Morpain keeps him safe and shows him deep affection and respect and Laz has a purposeful life which, though dangerous and unpredictable, feels like home.

While taking the reader into both sides of the 1745 siege of Louisbourg, Karen Bass makes sure that Two Times a Traitor is about Laz recognizing what home is to him.  He may have been angry with the move to Boston but he soon realizes that what matters are the people.  It's evident he adores his sister and is determined to get home for her but he has some qualms when Louisbourg starts to feel like home too.  But before he can make the decision about where he belongs, he has to stay alive. With both sides believing him to be a traitor and an angry militiaman out to kill him, not to speak of the cannon balls, mortar and muskets and bayonets, safety is a commodity in short supply. Readers will adore the action adventure story of  Two Times a Traitor but its story of historical events is extraordinary and not to be relegated to second place. Karen Bass does comprehensive research, providing astounding detail to setting and characters, plunging readers into the fray that was war.  By allowing Laz to be part of both sides and emphasizing his confusion about which side to favour, Karen Bass allows readers to see the conflict from different perspectives and takes history away from the one-sidedness of most textbooks. Moreover, she allows us to see that conflict, whether personal or historical, always has two sides that need to be seen.  Resolution may be amicable or there may be victors and those defeated, but how it plays out is all about point of view.

The Journal

by Lois Donovan
Ronsdale Press
978-1-55380-350-8
204 pp.
Ages 10+
February, 2015

In October, 2004, almost thirteen-year-old Kami is uprooted from Vancouver to Edmonton where the girl has inherited her grandfather’s home–or she will if she lives there until her 18th birthday–and where her mother has secured a “career opportunity” as an urban designer. But The Journal is not just a coming-of-age story of new experiences and adventures.  It’s a story about power, compassion, courage and family.  The control imposed on others purportedly for their own good, whether it be adults upon children, the authorities to those whom they serve, or men onto women, will give readers much upon which to reflect.  And I mean lots.

Kami is definitely thrust into a situation in which she has no control and there is no one to whom she can turn for support: her mom who accepted the position in Edmonton before talking to Kami about it is always too busy; Kami hasn’t seen her father in years; her mom’s parents remain in Vancouver; her father’s mother has passed and the grandfather who has left her his home in Edmonton has moved to PEI to live with his daughter; and her friends are as distant as all her plans for playing soccer and a joint 13th birthday party with friend Becca.  Not surprising that Kami is left alone to investigate her new home, discovering some memorabilia including photos and an old journal in the attic where she intends to make her loft bedroom.

But the journal of thirteen-year-old Helen Mitchell slips Kami into January 1929–though she remains in the same house–where she overhears talk of pilot Captain “Wot” May's plan to fly an anti-toxin up to Little Red River Settlement in northern Alberta where a diphtheria outbreak has occurred.  Though Kami returns promptly to her own time, a visit to the library and reading a newspaper clipping in the journal about the “Mission of Mercy” transports her back in time again, this time making the acquaintance of Helen Mitchell and her family as they head to the airfield to see pilots May and Horner off. But Kami cannot find the means to be transported back to 2004, and must deal with the repercussions of being a girl of Japanese heritage, seemingly without family, in a time when cowering to those in authority is deemed respectful and showing gratitude.

Kami does return to her own time, and back to 1929 again as well, but no matter what time period she is in, she must find ways to deal with issues of inequality–racial, gender and age–and learn from those who have charted pathways to making things right.

Lois Donovan does a commendable job of intertwining historical events such as the Mission of Mercy and the actions of the Famous Five with Kami’s life in 2004 Canada, and having Kami see her own dilemmas in relation to those of much more difficult times.  But I could not stop myself from despising Kami’s mother, and this probably prevented me from experiencing the fullness of the plot of The Journal.  In a book in which ordinary individuals show extraordinary courage and compassion to deliver medicine to a remote community, Kami’s mother shines as a self-absorbed parent who repeatedly fails to see how her decisions are solely beneficial for herself and disrespectful of her daughter.  The Journal's ending, however, is proof of Kami’s ability to forgive and her youthful resilience, because the theory of karma suggests that Mom should be the one tripping over herself to make things right.

I suspect that younger readers will not overemphasize Kami’s mom’s flaws as I have and instead will recognize the plotting as an opportunity to see into a different time and the bounty of their own lives relative to 1929.  By making Kami into a young teen whose strife-filled life is still manageable, Lois Donovan has provided hope for all and any, even those with me-first mothers.

Beautiful Goodbye: Book Launch (Paris, ON)

Join 

author 

Nancy Runstedler

for the launch of her first book

Beautiful Goodbye

Dundurn Press

978-1459705531

152 pp.

Ages 9-12

on

August 10, 2013

2 - 4 p.m.

at

Green Heron Books

47 Grand River Street

Paris, ON

Although I have not read Beautiful Goodbye yet, 

reviews in Quill & Quire and Resource Links  

mention the use of an Ouija board that transports 

a trio of kids to 1915, when the spirit who they contact lived.  

(I was always warned against playing with Ouija boards!)

Namesake

by Sue MacLeod

Pajama Press

978-1927485293

232 pp.

Ages 12+

May 1, 2013

In current-day Halifax, teen Jane Grey and fellow classmates in her Advanced Placement History are embarking on their research projects and it would seem obvious that she would focus on her Namesake, Lady Jane Grey.

Just a bit of a history lesson for those unfamiliar with the Nine Days Queen.  In 1553, due to the machinations of her parents and the Duke of Northumberland, Lady Jane Grey was made heir to the King of England, Edward VI.  She had already wed the son of the Duke of Northumberland, so when Edward VI passed, the Duke declared Lady Jane to be Queen of England, sure that he could control the throne through her.   However, according to succession, Lady Jane's cousin Mary, King Edward VI's half-sister and King Henry VIII's daughter, would be next Queen.  Imprisoned until the arrival of soon-to-be Queen Mary I, Lady Jane was hopeful of a pardon because becoming Queen had never been her intention.  However, with her parents and the Duke playing the odds with her against Mary, and because her strong belief in her Protestant faith conflicted with Mary's Catholicism, a pardon was not granted and Lady Jane was executed.

In the twenty-first century, Jane discovers a small book called Booke of Prayre while unpacking her backpack of library books.  Reading aloud from it, Jane is transported mysteriously to the environs of the Tower of London, eavesdropping on two women, Mistress Tilney and Mistress Ellen gossiping about "our lady." Repeated visits to 1553 has Jane making the acquaintance of Lady Jane Grey and learning of her fate, her hopes, her regrets and her position on her faith.  Knowing what historically happened to Lady Jane, Jane wonders about her purpose in being sent back.  Was she to help the Lady convert to Catholicism?  Was she to help Lady Grey escape? Or was she there simply to provide her with companionship?

Dealing with her own tenuous situation at home, Jane is sympathetic to Lady Jane's dilemma, recognizing the similarity in the extent of their dire circumstances and inability to change them.  Since the death of her father, Jane has come to recognize that her mother Analise works in one of three modes: Mode One is Single Mother as Hero; Mode Two is the Nothing mode; and Mode Three is Hell.  Though a competent English professor, Analise harbours much anger related to her husband's death, and deals with it using alcohol which just exacerbates her mood swings and colours her interactions with Jane.  Not surprising that Jane has concerns when her history group must meet at eachother's homes for study and editing sessions.  And with best friend Megan hanging out with the tactless Crisco and wrapped up in a boyfriend situation, Jane is feeling more and more isolated and unable to find support.  For Jane, slipping back into 1553 gives her an opportunity to exert some control.

While Namesake may be initially seen as a standard time-slip novel, with a contemporary character going back in time to learn something which she could apply to her own life, the book goes beyond this by Jane trying to take an active role in Lady Jane's situation, even to the point of altering history if need be.  Jane educates Lady Jane on the vernacular and popular culture of her Halifax and Canada.  And while Lady Jane does begin to try out some of her new vocabulary, she uses it as a foreign language, not dropping the occasional work into her own speech.  Sue MacLeod has given Lady Jane a voice so authentic that her use of newly-acquired vocabulary provides for some much-needed humour.  Her voice is true and melodic, never wavering from that of a sixteenth-century young woman.

I am especially pleased by the direction the author takes Jane's time slip, allowing for the two young women, just sixteen, to share their lives and their stories, and Jane anticipating bringing Lady Jane back with her.  But, when Lady Jane does slip into Jane's time, it spurs a new relationship between Jane and her neighbour, the elderly woman she has nicknamed Mrs. Lynde (à la Green Gables), who surprisingly becomes her salvation.

The history is true, the twists unique and the touches of humour and romance are heart-warming. And Namesake still delivers an open ending that takes the reader to a more hopeful situation than Lady Jane's true horrific ending.