The Cedar Mother (Mothers of Xsan)

Written by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson)
Illustrated by Natasha Donovan
HighWater Press
978-1-77492-158-6
32 pp.
Ages 9–12

February 2026

 

Eight years ago, Hetxw'ms Gyetxw, who is also known as Brett D. Huson, started his Mothers of Xsan graphic novel series to share his knowledge of the stories of the Gitxsan Nation of the Northwest Interior of BC. This series, now of eight books, has covered insects, fish, birds, amphibians, and mammals, and now I'm delighted to share his book about the cedar tree. Not only does The Cedar Mother speak to the life cycle of a cedar tree and its connection with other living things, but Hetxw'ms Gyetxw also shares his knowledge of the Gitxsan Nation and their Moons.

From The Cedar Mother, written by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw, illustrated by Natasha Donovan

This story of the western red cedar begins in April and the Spring Salmon's Returning Home Moon (Lasa ya'a). This tree, which has been around for over 300 years, now sits by a road that was "only a trail used by the Gitxsan, who had never seen a car, wagon, or horse." (pg. 2) Its growth from a tiny seed is helped by nutrients, rain, and sun. (Words that might be new to young readers, including nutrients, foliage, photosynthesis, and reverence, are defined in info boxes throughout the book.) 

 

But Hetxw'ms Gyetxw also explains how Nox Sim Gan (the cedar mother) is connected to other organisms in the ecosystem. She provides shelter and feeds animals with foliage and oxygen. She gives materials to the Gitxsan for clothing, for home-building, for medicines and, at the end of her life cycle, she will become a story pole. Because of her persistence and vitality, "she is a beacon of hope and a symbol of the enduring strength of the natural world. (pg. 15)

From The Cedar Mother, written by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw, illustrated by Natasha Donovan

Hetxw'ms Gyetxw writes with reverence for Nox Sim Gan in The Cedar Mother and for the role she plays in the environment and for the Gitxsan Nation. From birth through death, she provides. And, because of this, Hetxw'ms Gyetxw gently reminds us that attention must be paid, and our stewardship is required so that she may continue to share herself with the earth and its living things. Not a boring life cycle story, The Cedar Mother tells us how a western red cedar is a part of something far greater. It is part of a community.

From The Cedar Mother, written by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw, illustrated by Natasha Donovan

Natasha Donovan, who illustrated the earlier books in Mothers of Xsan series and Tasha Spillett's Surviving the City series, takes readers into the forests where Nox Sim Gan grows and flourishes, giving and sharing. Its majesty is evident from the scale at which she draws it, and the benevolence of its presence is clear in all illustrations as it interacts with other species. Natasha Donovan keeps the focus on Nox Sim Gan always, whether at the base of its trunk or buried in its foliage, preserving the natural elements in earthy colours of browns and greens. With Natasha Donovan's illustrations and Hetxw'ms Gyetxw's occasional contributions of formline art (see the spirit pole above), as well as his text, The Cedar Mother is a respectful acknowledgement of the connection between the natural world and the Gitxsan, and the reverence necessary to appreciate and to sustain its place.

 • • • • • • •

 

Mothers of Xsan series

The Sockeye Mother (2018)

The Grizzly Mother (2019)

The Eagle Mother (2020)

The Frog Mother (2021)

The Wolf Mother (2021)

The Raven Mother (2022)

The Bee Mother (2024) 

The Cedar Mother (2026) 

The First Christmas Tree: An Innu Tale

Written by Ovila Fontaine

Illustrated by Charlotte Parent

Translated by Ann Marie Boulanger 

Orca Book Publishers 

978-1-4598-4180-2 

56 pp.

Ages 6–8

October 2025 

 

Many of us are getting into the holiday spirit and putting up Christmas trees or thinking about getting one. Perhaps that's why I've put off reviewing this lovely new picture book until there's snow on the ground and a nip in the air. 

From The First Christmas Tree: An Innu Tale, story by Ovila Fontaine, illus. by Charlotte Parent

Ovila Fontaine, an Innu Elder from the First Nation of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River, won the 2024 Governor General award for his French-language edition, Le premier arbre de Noël. That lovely book has now been translated into English and more young people will have the opportunity to read a story of the Great Manitou choosing the fir tree to bring brightness during the cold, harsh winter.

The Great Manitou begins his search for the perfect tree. For each of the trees he approaches, he recognizes positive attributes, knowing how each tree is used by the Innu. There's the birch tree with its flexibility and strength, useful for snowshoes, bowls, harpoons, canoes, and drums. There's the larch (tamarack) tree with its hard wood and usefulness for bows and sleds, and more medicine made from its bark. The Great Manitou also visits the black spruce whose mossy branches provide firewood for the Innu and food for caribou. The only tree he disregards is the fir tree.

From The First Christmas Tree: An Innu Tale, story by Ovila Fontaine, illus. by Charlotte Parent

When the Great Manitou approaches the birch tree, the larch tree, and the black spruce, he asks them if they'd like to be the first Christmas tree and bring joy to Innu children. Each tree declines, only concerned for how it might affect them. Finally, with the fir being the only tree left to ask, the first Christmas tree is found, and the other trees are chastened by the Great Manitou and given attributes that characterize them to this day.

From The First Christmas Tree: An Innu Tale, story by Ovila Fontaine, illus. by Charlotte Parent

Though many of us will recognize the fir as the most popular Christmas tree, Ovila Fontaine's tale shows us that that recognition was hard-won. Like many things in life in which your potential is not seen or disregarded, timing can be everything. For the fir tree, it was being in the right place at the right time, and being open to an opportunity, something the other trees were too egotistical to embrace. More importantly, each tree that declined the honour of being the first Christmas had consequences thrust upon them by the Great Manitou, censured for their lack of generosity and humility. And though most of the trees showed pride and minimal grace, Montreal illustrator Charlotte Parent makes all the forest and its animals glorious. Using gouache, she creates these expansive scenes of woodland life, flora and fauna. The dark and cold of winter is expertly achieved with lavender blue and variations thereof and with brushstrokes for mounds of snow. The infrequent but bold pink of the animals—described in an illustrated glossary of English and Innu-aimum words—and persons indicates the rich presence of the spirit of the Great Manitou in the natural world and its omnipresence.

From The First Christmas Tree: An Innu Tale, story by Ovila Fontaine, illus. by Charlotte Parent

An enchanting book for the holiday season, The First Christmas Tree is a different kind of origin story. Not only do we learn the Innu tale of how the fir became known as a Christmas tree, but we also learn why the birch loses its leaves in the fall, why the larch sheds its needles, and why the black spruce never grows tall or wide and has prickly needles. With its quietly dazzling artwork, it's a picture book to be appreciated beyond the Christmas season.

 

• • • • • • • 

 

Le premier arbre de Noël

Ecrit par Ovila Fontaine

Illustré par Charlotte Parent

La Pastèque  

978-2-897771492 

2023 

 

 

The Old Oak Tree

Words by Hilary Briar

Music by Reid Briar

Art by Angela Doak

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77471-199-6

24 pp.

Ages 3-7

April 2024

 

With the spring, children will bear witness to many elements in nature undergoing change that will both delight and surprise. They will see robins busily at work, building their nests and then tending to their young. There will be oak trees and other deciduous trees leafing out. There will be animals born and growing. And they will all converge intermittently. In Hilary Briar's story and lyrics, that point of converge is The Old Oak Tree.

From The Old Oak Tree, words by Hilary Briar, music by Reid Briar, illustrated by Angela Doak

Based on their song, The Old Oak Tree, Hilary Briar and Reid Briar give us a story of the life cycle of an old oak tree as it changes through the seasons and the lives it impacts. Told in rhyming verse, the life of a robin and oak tree are intertwined, reflecting what each experiences. If the robin is happy, so is the oak. When the robin is tender, so is the oak. If there is sweetness in the robin's life, so is there for the oak.

In her nest so cozy

The robin dreamed so sweet

That she woke up every morning

Singing tweet tweet tweet

In the old oak tree

The strong oak tree

The sweetest old oak

That you ever did see

From The Old Oak Tree, words by Hilary Briar, music by Reid Briar, illustrated by Angela Doak

As the seasons change and the animals that use the oak tree come and go, from a fawn, a raccoon, a fox and birds like the woodpecker and blue jay, both the robin and the tree deal with weather until a lightning strike takes down the old oak tree. And though there is sadness for the robin "to say goodbye to a friend so dear," that old oak tree still has life to offer. 

From The Old Oak Tree, words by Hilary Briar, music by Reid Briar, illustrated by Angela Doak

It is never too early for children to learn about life cycles of plants and animals, especially as that learning will help them understand our own life cycle. Still, the loss of a tree is always a tragedy. For a life force that gives so much to others in its environment, from shelter and food to mitigating deficiencies in physical surroundings, trees are still, like other living things, ephemeral. Even so, Nova Scotia's Hilary Briar's rhyming verses, put to music (appended to the story) by partner Reid Briar, blends the appreciation and heartache with hope. Even after the tree is no longer standing, it serves a significant role, perhaps a little different but important just the same.

Halifax's Angela Doak gives The Old Oak Tree an organic feel to the art through her collage work that blends fabric and found objects to give texture and depth. Just as the robin integrates grass and twigs, roots and moss, to construct an effective nest, Angela Doak combines a variety of materials, all of a realistic and natural colour palette, to create outdoor seasons that are both uncluttered and sophisticated. (See the austere scene in which the tree is struck by lightning but look deep into the multi-layered sky that evokes menace and light.)

From The Old Oak Tree, words by Hilary Briar, music by Reid Briar, illustrated by Angela Doak

Like the old oak tree that can do it all, The Old Oak Tree story, with its rhyming verses, music, and art is a fine package of lessons about the circle of life and the interrelationships of living things. These are lessons that are broad and far-reaching but delicate when taken down to the level of one tree which will help children see beyond the forest and deeply into it.

Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak

Written by Danielle Daniel

Illustrated by Jackie Traverse

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-698-1

32 pp.

Ages 3+

April 2024

On Earth Day, I often like to review a book that speaks to me of the natural world and particularly our relationship with the environment. Too often, it's about our negative impact on the earth which, unfortunately, has had to take the brunt of poor choices with regards to overdevelopment, pollution, and burning of fossil fuels, just to name a few. With those choices have come deforestation and loss of habitat and species diversity, and global warming. We know all that, so today let's celebrate trees and what they mean to us by luxuriating in their diversity and their power. 

From Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak, written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Jackie Traverse

Danielle Daniel, author of Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox (2015) and Sometimes I Feel Like a River (2023), reminds us that we are not dissimilar to the living things outside of ourselves. Trees, like us, have life, reproduce, grow and heal, survive and support. They have their own personalities–should that be phytoalities?–that reflect everything from generosity to sensitivity, daring and resilience. With each tree highlighted, Danielle Daniel offers a poem about what a child feels and how it is expressed by each type of tree.

From Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak, written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Jackie Traverse

The first child feels like a maple, full and generous with the sap it shares. Still in winter, another child compares themselves to a birch with its peeling bark that brings hope. As we head into spring and then summer, there are cherry trees, cedars, aspens, spruce, and willows. Coming through all the seasons Danielle Daniel ends with the redwood, the ash, tamarack, oak, and pine. 

Sometimes I feel like a pine,

calm, still and gentle.

My branches cradle fresh-fallen snow,

filling me with peace.

From Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak, written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Jackie Traverse

Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak may be a contemplative picture book about making connections between trees and feelings, told through verse, but it feels like literary forest bathing. (Check out some online videos for examples of this practice.) Danielle Daniel reminds us that trees are living and show us the best ways we can live, by being courageous and peaceful, optimistic and strong. She speaks of her Algonquin ancestors who appreciated trees as "sentient beings with spirits who can feel things." For those who are empathetic to the feelings of non-human entities, Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak validates our connection with other living things, and perhaps even some non-living things, and Danielle Daniel shows us why we might be making those connections. (Personally, I have always felt a kinship with cedars and Danielle Daniel's poem helps me see why, especially as a child reads beneath the tree's limbs.)

 

Jackie Traverse, who is Ojibway from Lake St. Martin First Nation, uses her acrylic and gouache art to project the Indigenous backgrounds of both author and artist. There are dots that are reminiscent of beadwork, and swirls of lines hinting at a Woodland basis, but Jackie Traverse's illustrations are not wholly of any one style. Her art reflects her heritage, and that of Danielle Daniel, but it is also completely her own, blending realism with that heritage. Each tree is distinct in foliage and stature, bark and morphology, but Jackie Traverse gives us more with her children, the landscapes, and the spirit in the art.

From Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak, written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Jackie Traverse

On this Earth Day, let's celebrate our connections with the natural world, and particularly trees, with Danielle Daniel and Jackie Traverse's Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak. You'll feel better for having done so. 

Ary's Trees

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Illustrated by Sophia Choi

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-509-6

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

October 2023

 

On March 21, the world will recognize the United Nations-designated International Day of Forests. Sadly, no matter how long forests have been around, in their different forms around the world, there are still those who might take a lesson from Ary and her friends about the importance of forests and see beyond what they can do for us and what we should do to ensure their constancy.

 

From Ary's Trees, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrate by Sophia Choi

When their island home is longer viable, Ary's father goes searching for a new home, and finds it in a flourishing island. As they begin to prepare the island for their new community, Ary, who delights in the trees, begs him, "Please don't cut too many this time."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The air smelled green. Leaves swished overhead as the tree covered her with a blanket of cool shade. How she'd missed that sound!

Not surprising, with every "chop-chop of busy axes," Ary's heart aches. And though she is assured by her father that, "There are lots to spare," she sees that more and more are being cut, for building, and then for crops, and to construct boats, and then because everyone wants more, more, more.

From Ary's Trees, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Sophia Choi

Ary is bereft for and with the trees. As the palm trees are cut, brown tears rain down. And when the people can't be bothered cutting, they burn down the trees.

Ary is furious, and some of her friends join her in protest. Still, no one listens. They are but children and know not of what they speak, apparently. Ah, but an island without trees suffers. The land crumbles, the structures crack and splinter, and there is no relief from the sun. Ary's father and the other adults choose to find a new island. Ary and a handful of friends find a different solution, one borne of loyalty and regeneration.

Deborah Kerbel's story of environmental responsibility is still one that needs to be heard and empowered in all. Ary's Trees reminds us that it may be the children who will be the ones to change the attitude of their own generation and the subsequent ones, especially when their elders are not getting it. Ary sees the truth, that thinking that "a little bit more (cutting) won't make a difference" is flawed, that "The trees are here for our use" is selfish and short-sighted, and that the trees are their friends and worthy of consideration and charity.

Though I've reviewed many of Deborah Kerbel's books, from picture books like Snow Days and Before You Were Born (still my go-to book for expectant parents) to middle-grade novels like My Deal with the Universe to her YA (e.g., Under the Moon), this is my first opportunity to review a book illustrated by Toronto's Sophia Choi. Also a surface pattern designer, Sophia Choi creates art that speaks of bold colours and shapes, whether it be palm trees or flowers in the understories, or tree stumps and birds. There's a folk-art vibe to her art that speaks of a natural world that will mesmerize and delight, but that also will be missed when gone.

From Ary's Trees, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Sophia Choi

Whether you read Ary's Trees with your children or students for International Day of Forests, or save it for World Tree Day on June 28th, or for Earth Day on April 22, or to teach a science curriculum, Deborah Kerbel and Sophia Choi's picture book will demonstrate that trees are more than just a producer of materials for human consumption. Trees are living entities that can provide shade and soil stability, habitat, and food, and provide oxygen while absorbing carbon dioxide. As they live, so do we. Fortunately, the youngest inhabitants of the island, Ary and her friends, were able to realize that we humans have an interrelationship with trees, and all living things, and if we sustain them, then they will help sustain us. (Still a lesson too many developers and even politicians haven't learned.)

 

Outside, You Notice

Written by Erin Alladin

Illustrated by Andrea Blinick

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-193-9

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2021

How often do we notice things, especially things in the outdoors, that are right under our noses? Erin Alladin wants us to open our eyes, ears, noses and touch the world to know the wonders that our world holds outside, no matter what your outside looks like.

 

From Outside, You Notice by Erin Alladin, illus. by Andrea Blinick

As children and others participate in the world outside, whether it be a backyard, a park, a playground, a sidewalk or something else, there are so many things to check out, and Erin Alladin makes sure we see it all. Each double-spread asks the reader to notice one attribute of nature like the rain, the soil, leaves or colours, and then info boxes provide brief content related to that focus. For example, when asked to notice "How after the rain everything smells greener," we learn about leaves capturing rain, how a tree's canopy provides cover, why the rain can smell like it does, and why plants get the rain they need.

 

From Outside, You Notice by Erin Alladin, illus. by Andrea Blinick

We discover how animals make the outdoors their homes, how they live, and the sounds they make. We learn about life cycles of plants, from seeds and germination, to flowers and fruits. Above ground and below, along water ways and at farmers' markets, there is so much to see and learn.

From Outside, You Notice by Erin Alladin, illus. by Andrea Blinick

With Outside, You Notice, Erin Alladin has invited the reader to explore and make observations and grow themselves into sentient beings beyond the confines of our indoors. She may provide information tidbits that instruct and direct inquiry, so perfect for science lessons with little ones, but she also asks us to be mindful of our worlds. Outside, You Notice gives us the prompts to stop and smell and look and touch in the moment, wherever that moment may be. The experiences will be as diverse as the children who are doing the noticing, and the learning as fulfilling and filling as can be. With that, a calmness will envelop the reader, taking away the bustle and the tech, as the focus is on the world we too often take for granted.

Outside, you notice

The breath in your body

Your feet on the ground

Your self in the world

Toronto artist Andrea Blinick uses gouache, coloured pencils, collage and chalk pastel to create the diversity of textures, colours and shape that convey the sensory nature of the text and take us into the outdoors. The eyes that see, the dog that sprints, the dandelions being picked, the sweetness of a strawberry about to be eaten–Andrea Blinick takes us there, to appreciate and acknowledge the outdoors and its moments.

 

Whether a child of the city or the country, of a place of rain or sunshine, trees or fields or concrete, there is a world of wonder that is the landscape of our lives. With Outside, You Notice inviting us to explore and appreciate the sensations and marvels of the outdoors, young readers can only flourish.

From Outside, You Notice by Erin Alladin, illus. by Andrea Blinick

111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl (Citizen Kid)

Written by Rina Singh

Illustrated by Marianne Ferrer

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0120-9

36 pp.

Ages 5-8

October 2020

 

In a poignant preface, author Rina Singh introduces an Indian village's ancient custom of celebrating the birth of boys with boisterous noise and sweets, and the birth of girls with silence. 111 Trees is the story of how that tradition was changed.

From 111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl by Rina Singh, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

As a child growing up in his Indian village, Sundar loved his mother and relished his alone-time with her each day on the long walk to fetch water from the well. In a small mud house with a family of eleven and insufficient food, his mother weeps at night. When his mother dies from a poisonous snake bite, Sundar shares hugs with the trees to remember his mother.

When Sundar grows up and has daughters and a son of his own, he "guides them to embrace all forms of life." So, working in the local marble industry, Sundar tries to encourage the factory owners to replace trees on land devastated by the mining and processing of the marble. When they refuse, he leaves his job.

From 111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl by Rina Singh, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

But Sundar is determined to make a difference in his community and wins an election to be sarpanch, the village head. A year after, his eldest daughter dies and in his grief he plants some saplings, hopeful that they will grow "into magnificent trees that will live for hundreds of years. And with them will live the memory of his daughter." With that as catalyst, Sundar declares that every girl born into their village would be celebrated with the planting of 111 trees. Of course, the villagers think he is crazy and reject his idea. But Sundar is determined.

With time, he teaches them about treating the boys and girls equally, about the environmental impacts of the marble industry on their land, and how they might make a better world, with water, electricity, education and equality.

From 111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl by Rina Singh, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

111 Trees is a lovely story about a community that is able to benefit itself by helping others and the environment. With compassion and through education, and by placing trust in Sundar, girls are celebrated with mango, papaya, neem, sheesham and amia trees, which they honour annually with sacred threads to renew their bonds, and now go to school along with the boys. Moreover, there is enough water for everyone and no one goes hungry. Rina Singh not only shares the extraordinary transformation of the village of Piplantri in her expressive text but enlightens young readers in her notes about Sundar's story, about gender inequality and about how the forest was nourished and grew.

From 111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl by Rina Singh, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

But with Marianne Ferrer's watercolour, gouache and graphite illustrations, readers are taken to a community hurting with poverty, hunger and environmental devastation and able to witness its glorious transformation to one of life and greenery and water in which girls and women share importance for the first time.

 

🌏 🌏 🌏 🌏 🌏 

 

For more social justice books, check out all the Citizen Kid books.

Citizen Kid series

My Forest is Green

Written by Darren Lebeuf

Illustrated by Ashley Barron

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-930-3

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

April 2019

Earth Day will be upon us soon and the wonders of the natural world will call. For some it calls from an apartment balcony while for others it's from the ground beneath a canopy of deciduous or coniferous trees, and for one little boy, it's both.

From My Forest is Green by Darren Lebeuf, illus. by Ashley Barron

A little boy looks out from a high-rise balcony over a forest, perhaps park or ravine or woodland green space. But he also has an inside forest of artwork depicting that world.  He has seen the contrasts of height and textures, size and sound, and colour, through different seasons and weather. He sketches it, paints it, collages it, makes cut-paper art, sculpts snow, takes photos, and combines mixed media to capture the essence of the forest.

From My Forest is Green by Darren Lebeuf, illus. by Ashley Barron

This is BC author Darren Lebeuf's first picture book and he gives life to a child's appreciation of the forest as the child uses all his senses to gather information about it before depicting it in his artwork. It's evident how much the child enjoys exploring the forest of his neighbourhood, seeking out the wonders above and below, from milkweed pods to resourceful ants, making bark prints and using rocks and leaves to create his own forest of art. The child accepts the dynamics of a world rich with life, plant and animal, and appreciates that his impression of the forest will change with its evolution.

My forest is so many things...
I can't wait to see what my forest is tomorrow.

From My Forest is Green by Darren Lebeuf, illus. by Ashley Barron

The child's art is all the more lavish because it is the artwork of Ashley Barron. Her cut-paper collages have graced many a picture book including Up! How Families Around the World Carry Their Little Ones (Owlkids, 2017) and Kyle Goes Alone (Owlkids, 2015), but now she goes beyond that style to show how a child interprets the natural world through his art. From his leaves taped to paper, or his sponge-painted moss and Polaroids, Ashley Barron brings his perspective to us, from a child's eye to a reader's. It's detailed and colourful, like nature itself, and takes us all on a walk into a forest that is mostly green but much more.

From My Forest is Green by Darren Lebeuf, illus. by Ashley Barron

Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon

Written by Karen Autio

Illustrated by Loraine Kemp

Crwth Press

978-1-7753319-0-2

48 pp.

Ages 7-10

October 2018

For lovers of trees, history, horses and British Columbia, Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon will appeal to all.

Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon is about the history of Wild Horse Canyon, a hidden canyon in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, alongside the Okanagan River. The story, told as a series of dated vignettes in text and pictures, begins in 1780 with an Okanagan man communing with the natural world of the steep-walled canyon. Listening to the flora and fauna, he leaves behind a red-ochre and bear-grease paint pictograph.

Through the years, the Okanagan people find shelter and home in this valley, as do wild horses, alongside the growing ponderosa pines (also known as yellow pines) whose growth the reader observes in every illustration of this book. From seedling, as witness to the community of Okanagan people, and their taming of the horses for transport and carrying heavy loads, to saplings, the yellow pines and other flora give life and assistance to these first peoples. With the arrival of the first Europeans, the Okanagan people offer horses and temporary shelter and the Okanagan Brigade Trail becomes a route for fur traders, explorers and pack-trains.

From Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon by Karen Autio, illus. by Loraine Kemp

Like the seedlings and saplings of yellow pine growing into majestic trees, the canyon is evolving, specifically from a wholly natural element to one impacted by human development. Settlers move into the Okanagan Valley, displacing the Syilx/Okanagan people who are shamelessly shoved onto reserves. Trees are cut, a railway is built and more settlers establish themselves. But, with the onset of World War I, horses are being trapped for military purposes and still more rounded up to be trained, sold or killed because they compete with ranchers' animals. "Soon few wild horses are left in the Okanagan." (pg. 22) Forests are cut, land is cleared, and Wild Horse Canyon is being changed forever.

From Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon by Karen Autio, illus. by Loraine Kemp

Still the ponderosa pines grow and reproduce amidst Wild Horse Canyon.  As with any story in which humans begin to exert their will on the natural environment, Karen Autio recounts that critical time when development begins to be reined in, and the establishment of the Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park heralds the recovery of the area to its humblest beginnings. Even wildfires like the firestorm of 2003 that destroyed a 223-year-old ponderosa pine in Wild Horse Canyon is still a new beginning.

From Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon by Karen Autio, illus. by Loraine Kemp

Don't misinterpret the story of Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon from its title as I did. It is a historical account of a Canadian region unique in its heritage.  Karen Autio makes sure to tell the story of Wild Horse Canyon from all perspectives: First Nations, European settlers, and Mother Nature. By using a ponderosa pine as her focus for the unfolding of the canyon's history, both natural and human, Karen Autio keeps the story fundamental.  She could be critical of the canyon's evolution–I'm thinking of the treatment of the First Nations and wild horses–but she presents its history as simply a timeline of events, warts and all. That completeness of story is likewise achieved by Karen Autio's inclusion of additional details like maps, photos and notes about the Syilx People upon whose lands the story unfolds. With Okanagan Valley artist Loraine Kemp's accurate and appreciative paintings as illustrations for the story, Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon becomes a history book that young readers will welcome and enjoy for its realism and truthfulness.

The Log Driver's Waltz

Words by Wade Hemsworth

Illustrated by Jennifer Phelan

Simon & Schuster Canada

978-1-5011-6195-1

40 pp.

All ages

September 2018

Whether you know the song "The Log Driver's Waltz" from the National Film Board short (John Weldon, 1979) or the version by the group Mountain City Four (with vocals by Kate and Anna McGarrigle) that accompanied the Canada Vignettes animated film, The Log Driver's Waltz is a piece of Canadiana which all will recognize. Written by folk singer-songwriter Wade Hemsworth of the agile log drivers he observed while he worked as a surveyor in remote areas of Canada, The Log Driver's Waltz is an iconic folk song of work and play and love in a northern landscape of trees and water.

Wade Hemsworth's lyrics may take readers and music listeners to a time when log driving, the work of moving cut trees from the forest to the mills downstream via river, was common and economically critical, but The Log Drive's Waltz is really a song about dancing, as a girl dreams to dancing with a lively and sure-footed log driver.

When the drive's nearly over
I like to go down
And watch all the lads
as they work on the river
I know that come evening
they'll be in the town
And we all like to waltz with a log driver. 

From The Log Driver's Waltz by Wade Hemsworth, illus. by Jennifer Phelan

Reading The Log Driver's Waltz has me singing aloud a song that should be sung at campfires and school concerts to celebrate a Canada of our past. But it's Toronto artist Jennifer Phelan's updated artwork that brings the song and its story to the present, without making it a contemporary tale, which it is not. Log driving is very rare anywhere in the world now but Jennifer Phelan's illustrations seem almost timeless. Though the log driver's appearance could be from the 1920s or the 2010s–a bearded fellow in a plaid shirt and toque–the dress of others reflects a variety of times.  There are the long dresses of the 1900s or the flapper girl dresses and the spats of the 1920s and even top hats. In fact, our T-shirt-wearing girl puts on a simple frock and pumps that could be from anytime between 1920 and 2018.

While she makes The Log Driver's Waltz about the log driver and a girl who yearns to dance with him above all others, Jennifer Phelan also makes the story a detailed homage to the task of the log drivers. She creates movement, integral to the work and the dancing, with line and shape that reflects the original animation of the film with astounding success. It's an organic take on the log driver's story.

From The Log Driver's Waltz by Wade Hemsworth, illus. by Jennifer Phelan

Moreover she honours those folk who brought history to life through music and art. In one image, the girl prepping for the dance is seen wearing a McGarrigle Sisters'1979 concert tour T-shirt. The flyer distributed to all announces the Weldon Waltz, recognizing the director of the NFB film. Even the endpapers show a darkened theatre with a small lit screen. And a stone statue outside the dance hall where the Weldon Waltz is held depicts the songwriter himself, Wade Hemsworth. Moreover, this is a Canadian story, though log driving was done throughout the world. Here we see pine trees reflective of Group of Seven styles, beavers, moose and the folk art traditions of our country.

The Log Driver's Waltz is a celebration of music and art, retelling a story from the past and giving it new life in the present. And we're delighted to be reminded of those who go "birling down and down white water..." and renew the earworm experience of that vintage song.

Poetree

Written by Caroline Pignat

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Red Deer Press

978-0-889954922

32 pp.

All ages

June 2018 

When Caroline Pignat and François Thisdale, powerhouses in word and art, come together, you know that the result will be powerful and extraordinary and Poetree is.

From Poetree by Caroline Pignat, illus. by François Thisdale

From germinating seed to young shoot and sapling and then flowering and fruiting and more seeds, Caroline Pignat shares intimate glimpses of trees and their communities through the four seasons. For each season, a two-line verse introduces the life activity portrayed. Spring is introduced with...

A sleeping seed begins to grow
     shoots and roots in the ground below. (pg. 2)

Spring is thus announced and given life with acrostic poems about seeds germinating and the onset of roots and shoots, and leaves and flowers. Summer has us feeling the breeze and the rain, and witnessing the promise of a nest (beautifully described as "nature's nursery") and the activity of a variety of insects.  Fall takes us to the bounty of harvest, particularly apples, and the changing colours and falling of leaves. 

From Poetree by Caroline Pignat, illus. by François Thisdale

Though you might be forgiven for expecting the book to end with Winter, which is advanced with...

Beneath a blanket, frosty white,
     the old tree sleeps long winter's night. (pg. 22)

and poems about snow, bareness, exposed rings of fallen trees and snow, it is not the end of Poetree. Caroline Pignat, in her infinite wisdom and artist's eye, knows that ...

Somehow each ending is not the
End,
Even
Death
Scatters new beginnings.
(pg. 31)

I hope Caroline Pignat and François Thisdale will forgive my tardiness in reviewing their elegant book of verse and artistry but I think that Poetree shouldn't be lost in summer reviews when teachers are not necessarily purchasing books for classroom and school libraries. Poetree needs to be in all libraries for lessons on the seasons and acrostic poetry and life cycles in nature and for evoking the beauty of our enduring and fragile environment.

Caroline Pignat has the poet's sensibilities and command of words to convey content and feeling without the verbiage. I recommend any of her books, but particularly her Governor General award-winning YA novel in free verse and my favourite, The Gospel Truth (Red Deer Press, 2014), to relish further the finesse she demonstrates in Poetree. Pairing her verse with the art of award-winning François Thisdale is inspired.  François Thisdale, whose art illustrated picture books including The Stamp Collector (by Jennifer Lanthier, from Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2012) and Missing Nimâmâ (by Melanie Florence, from Clockwise Press, 2015), combines drawing and digital images to produce evocative scenes of fresh landscapes and micro views and underground perspectives. It's inspiriting to see how insignificant humans are–a lone man is occasionally seen in the background–to the unfolding of life in the natural world.

From Poetree by Caroline Pignat, illus. by François Thisdale

A masterful exploration of arboreal life from beginning to end and to new again through the four seasons, Poetree sustains the reader with verse and art as dramatically as the earth does our natural world.