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.

Ballewiena

Written and illustrated by Rebecca Bender

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-137-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

June 2022

Let's get some joy in our lives. Dance, dogs, and fulfillment will do just the trick with Rebecca Bender's Ballewiena.

From Ballewiena by Rebecca Bender

Dotty dreamed of being a ballet dancer. She knew how to plié, assemblé and pirouette. She could chassé, glissé and do a pas de chat (even though she was a dog). But Ms. Austere did not appreciate Dotty's moves and, while she trained Dotty's poodle sibs Jazzebelle and Miffy for the upcoming Golden Bow Talent Show, she took the dachshund to the Canine School of Obedience. 

From Ballewiena by Rebecca Bender

But obedience school was not for Dotty who "tried, she really did, but something inside her made her spring up into an elegant entrechat." Despondent, Dotty runs into the park after class and meets Louis-Pierre, a squirrel and an acrobat. Louis-Pierre invites Dotty, whom he calls Pitou, to work out with him and teaches her, by some unusual pedagogical means, the value of practice in gaining skills.  

From Ballewiena by Rebecca Bender

Still, when the Golden Bow Talent Show comes around, Dotty is expected only to watch from the audience. But, Louis-Pierre has other ideas and liberates Dotty to show off her skills and reveal her true ballerina self.

Young readers will know Rebecca Bender's storytelling from her award-winning Giraffe and Bird series (e.g., Giraffe Meets Bird; Giraffe and Bird Together Again; Don't Laugh at Giraffe) but she does as well by dogs as she does with giraffes, birds, hedgehogs and ducklings (e.g., How Do You Feel?) and more. She makes us care about her characters who are all expressive and one-of-a-kind, whether they are pets or wild. That's because her stories are those lived by children. Dotty may be a dog but she could be any child who feels her dream is being stifled and who wants to express herself through dance. I suspect that Rebecca Bender is a herself ballet parent, one who has learned much from attending classes with little ones. In fact, I myself learned much about ballet through the text of Ballewiena but also in her incredible endpapers that depict a variety of ballet movements and their phonetic pronunciations. Yes, Ballewiena is about ballet, and would make a great gift for any child who enjoys dance classes, but it has important messages about following your aspirations and being true to yourself while ensuring that you put the work in so it becomes a goal and not a pipe-dream.  

Rebecca Bender's illustrations, created with gouache, watercolour, pen and ink, as well as digital media, carry those messages through worlds of colour, shape and attitude. Her assortment of canine and other characters conveys a depth of personality beyond the dance. (I was especially taken with Louis-Pierre who, with his sweatband and drawstring workout pants, has a je ne sais quoi quality that is adorable, even as he coaches Dotty through rigorous training.)

Whether you're a dancer, an appreciative fan or neither, Ballewiena reminds us to follow our passions and dance fully in our lives.

My Puppy Patch

Written by Theo Heras

Illustrated by Alice Carter

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-080-2

24 pp.

Ages 3-6

June 2019

Getting a new pet is a great responsibility and I am delighted that this bright child takes that responsibility seriously now that Patch has joined their household.  Patch, obviously so named for her intriguing dark spot around her left eye, is a clever puppy who has already learned the commands to sit, stay down, come, roll over and stay. But she is young and occasionally distracted.  Still the little girl knows it's a big day because today Patch will be taken outside the fence for a walk.

From My Puppy Patch, illustrations by Alice Carter, text by Theo Heras

The two friends go for a walk and, though Patch explores and plays with Benny's puppy Smallfry, she always comes when called. It becomes evident that the puppy has learned a lot, just as her girl has, knowing to be cautious of other dogs, giving the puppy love, water, a bed, treats and all the things that are right for a young dog.

From My Puppy Patch, illustrations by Alice Carter, text by Theo Heras

For families getting a new dog, Theo Heras gives some excellent advice about canine care, and this little girl is doing it all right, understanding that Patch has basic needs for health and well-being but also for learning and emotional care. Their relationship is certainly one of friendship but the learning goes both ways as the child shows flexibility in her expectations and as Patch's skills in following commands are reinforced.

From My Puppy Patch, illustrations by Alice Carter, text by Theo Heras

Ottawa artist Alice Carter preserves the lightness of Theo Heras's message about the interrelationship between child and puppy by keeping her illustrations bright and colourful and her characters effusive in their expressions. There's play in the artwork and it reflects the affection and enjoyment the two have for each other and in their outing. 

From My Puppy Patch, illustrations by Alice Carter, text by Theo Heras

For children taking on the responsibility of a puppy, My Puppy Patch emphasizes the joys and only occasional but natural missteps as part of the process of learning to cultivate a solid relationship between child and dog. It may be work, like any education, but it's worth it.

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

by E. K. Johnston
CarolrhodaLab
978-1-4677-105504
306 pp.
Ages 12+
2014

Once upon a time there was a sixteen-year-old boy named Owen Thorskard, who was the son of two dragon slayers and nephew of one of the most famous dragon slayers of the late 1980s, Lottie Thorskard.  Though this is Owen's story, it could not have happened if: 1) his parents, who had experienced horrific experiences fighting dragons in the oil-rich Middle East, had not separated, his mom returning to Venezuela; 2) his aunt Lottie and her wife Hannah, a smith who forges all their swords and weaponry, hadn't offered to help raise Owen; and 3) Lottie hadn't been badly injured fighting a dragon off the Burlington Skyway, cutting short her urban career and compelling her to choose to live in the rural community of Trondheim, bringing Owen's dad Aodhan, Hannah and Owen with her.  Oh, of course, also if Owen hadn't met Siobhan McQuaid, musician and composer extraordinaire and his math tutor, and asked her to become his bard.  Without teen Siobhan to tell his story, there would never be The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim.

Pg. 303 The Story of Owen Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

While Siobhan becomes acquainted with Owen and his family and is introduced to the mechanics of dragon fighting, she tells of her experiences, both honestly to the reader and in true story-teller fashion to the media, elevating the cause for the need for dragon slayers in less urban communities. (Most dragon slayers, after they complete their mandatory service for the Oil Watch, end up getting lucrative contracts with large corporations or join the Royal Canadian Mounted Dragon Slayers rather than serving small centres without big budgets.)  When Siobhan and Owen are approached by a conspiracy theorist named Archie Carmichael in adjacent Saltrock, the two start to look into the possibility of a dragon hatching ground on Manitoulin Island which would explain the increase of attacks. With the help of Archie's daughter, Emily, and Owen's family, they establish a Guard at school to train teens in dragon fighting/slaying (though dragon slayers are typically legacy positions) to assist the few dragon slayers around and to devise a plan to locate and destroy this potential source of dragons.

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim is a history of dragons and dragon slayers wrapped up in the story of a boy who would follow in his father's, mother's and aunt's footsteps and become a dragon slayer extraordinaire.  But it’s also the story of Siobhan finding her musical voice to compose a symphonic story for Owen’s actions.

This was it, I realized.  This was what I had to make other people feel, even if they didn’t get to see it like I had.  I could already hear the first whispers, the line of brass and the faltering drums of the dragon’s dying hearts. This was something I could do. (pg. 144)

Through Siobhan’s eyes and ultimately through her music–I wonder if E. K. Johnston has any plans for sharing the music composed to accompany Owen’s story–readers will be taken into an alternate history and a world in which dragons must be slain and carbon, fire and smoke draw the creatures to attack.   There is so much in The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim that it defies my inclusion of all in this simple review.  But all readers, particularly those participating in the Ontario Library Association’s White Pine reading program in which The Story of Owen is a nominee, will be grabbed by the completely unique premise for the book, E. K. Johnston’s exceptional characters, and an ending that is hardly formulaic and definitely startling.  And I’m sure that they will be as primed to read E. K. Johnston’s follow-up book, Prairie Fire, released earlier this year, as I am.