Friends Find a Way!

Written by Heather M. O'Connor

Illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9386-3

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2023

 

When Suze first joined Tyson's class in Heather M. O'Connor's Fast Friends (2020), there was some nervousness about a non-verbal child in a wheelchair becoming friends with a boy who couldn't slow down. But, the two children did become friends, and fast friends at that, with Suze enjoying the speed in her wheelchair as much as Tyson loved helping her race about. Now the class is heading to the zoo for a field trip and both Tyson and Suze are excited to see the cheetah, an animal known for speed.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

At the zoo, the class are buddied up–Tyson with Suze–and told to stay together. As they focus on visiting different animals, the kids help direct the class, using the map. Of course, when it's time to see the cheetah, Tyson and Suze know just where to go. But as Tyson remains enthralled with the cheetahs, the class moves on, and suddenly Tyson and Suze are on their own. Tyson hadn't been paying attention, but Suze had, and though she can't express herself verbally, she knows how to tell Tyson where the class has gone.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

While some readers may see Suze's disability as the focus of Friends Find a Way!, author Heather M. O'Connor spends less time on Suze's limitations and more on the connection that Suze and Tyson have. That friendship may have been based initially on their appreciation for speed, but it has evolved into one of camaraderie, similar interests, and cooperation. There is no judgment about who can do or can't do something but instead shows them working together to get what they both need and want. It's that working together to navigate the rambling paths of the zoo to the missing class and to get there as quickly as possible that is how this friendship works. And a story about friends finding a way, whether to rejoining their class or to making their lives fuller and better, is the way to go.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

Claudia Dávila, who illustrated Fast Friends as well as Friends Find a Way!, keeps her digital art colourful, upbeat and dynamic, just like Suze and Tyson. And her illustrations are as inclusive as Heather M. O'Connor's story. Claudia Dávila shows us people of all ages, abilities, cultures and more and makes them all part of the community. And with a delightful assortment of animals, from the sloth and red panda, Komodo dragon and kangaroos, she also takes us on a visit to the zoo alongside Suze and Tyson's class.

Friends do find a way to make things work and Tyson and Suze have found a friendship that works for them, whether at school or at the zoo. They are truly fast friends, both in the speed of their mobility and in the security of the connection, with new experiences strengthening that bond even more.

• • • • • • • 

 

Fast Friends (2020)

Friends Find a Way (2023)

Dear Elsa

Written by Marco Fraticelli

Red Deer Press

978-0-889956865

240 pp.

Ages 8-12

May/July 2023

 

looking out the window

in his new school

the sad student (pg. 32)

 

As part of a school assignment, 10-year-olds Elsa of Boston and Leo newly of Toronto must write emails to each other as pen pals. Neither is initially keen, and Leo is especially so when he learns his pen pal is a girl. But, through revealing messages from September through the following August, the two go from strangers to something deeper.

At the outset, the differences between the two middle-graders are pronounced. Leo, who has newly moved from Montreal to Toronto for his parents' jobs as teachers, complains about everything, from not having any friends, his teacher, following rules, sending emails to Elsa of at least 250 words, and schoolwork writing poetry. Elsa, on the other hand, loves rules, has divorced parents, and, though Leo suggests she must be one of the popular kids based on the advice she gives him, calls herself an in-between kid who has a few good friends and is relatively quiet. But as she allows him to vent while still offering him a different perspective, Leo discovers some things about himself, like that he really likes writing poetry, especially haiku, which he often shares with her. Elsa is slower to reveal herself, probably because Leo is so busy complaining, but she too begins to divulge what her life is like, rather than just giving Leo the opportunity to share. Readers, and Leo, learn of her parents' relationship, her trip to Cancun, her aspirations, her prowess as an archer, and eventually her wheelchair. While Leo broadcasts about everything, Elsa holds back much about her own situation, and is delighted to be treated like she isn't someone with a disability.

Dear Elsa may be author Marco Fraticelli's first children's book but his decades of experience as a Grade 5 teacher as well as an award-winning poet have given him a strong foundation for an irresistible story of two children exploring their differences and finding common ground to be the friend the other needs at that time. Their writing relationship may continue past their Grade 5 year–that is not revealed at the book's conclusion–but it's almost irrelevant as the two derived safety, perspective, opportunity, and solicitude from their relationship.

In 2015, I prepared a post titled, Dearest readers...: A Letters in youngCanLit book list, which provided a list of books that featured characters writing letters or emails or texts as the vehicle for the plot. I will definitely be adding Dear Elsa to that list now to ensure that middle-grade readers (and perhaps their teachers) have an opportunity to visit with Leo and Elsa and witness how a friendship can develop from afar and with seemingly different individuals. All it takes is opening oneself up the opportunity, as Leo learns both in emails and at school, and perhaps some heartfelt poetry.

Caterpillars Can't Swim

Written by Liane Shaw
Second Story Press
978-1-77260-053-7
256 pp.
Ages 13-18
September 2017

Though sixteen-year-old Ryan Malloy is often treated differently in his small town due to his use of a wheelchair, everything is right with the world when he is swimming.  Because he’s up early even on days when he hasn’t got swim team practice, Ryan witnesses someone disappearing beneath the surface of their local river.  Throwing himself off the bridge, ultimately injuring his shoulder, Ryan saves a school mate, Jack Pedersen, from drowning.  But did Ryan really help Jack out?  When small-town gossip and rumours about Jack’s sexuality and the bullying he endures because of it brings Ryan to Jack’s defense and side repeatedly, the two develop a tenuous friendship.

Not that I'm saying everyone here is like that.  They aren't.  It's just that it seems like this town is frozen in time and a lot of attitudes around here are stuck in the ice.  My mother says she spends a lot of her time at school working on thawing out the attitudes of the kids so that someday things will be different.
   I don't think it's working yet. (pg. 10)

Although Ryan’s best friend Cody is somewhat awkward about Jack and about Ryan’s new relationship with him, the three boys’ embark on a summer trip to a local ComicCon.  During those two days, much is revealed about the teens’ fears, attitudes and confusion about each other but also exposed are the hurts, judgments and burdens they all carry, regardless of the limitations or strengths others perceive them to have.  Whether their relationships, new and old, are enough to make a positive difference in their lives is only evident after a stunning climax of rejection, desperation, and intervention.

Liane Shaw, a former educator including special education resource teacher, has never shied away from tough topics like foster care (Fostergirls, Second Story, 2011), physical or emotional limitations (The Color of Silence, Second Story, 2013) and ASD (Don’t Tell, Don’t Tell, Don’t Tell, Second Story, 2016). As in her earlier young adult books, she tackles the prejudices people assert on those who are different, whether perceived or real, and turns them into understanding and acceptance for those differences.  Whether caterpillars can or can’t swim is irrelevant.  What’s important is knowing that metamorphosis is foreseeable and all butterflies and moths are to be appreciated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(A version of this review was originally written for and published in Quill & Quire, as noted in the citation below.)

Kubiw, H. (2017, September). [Review of the book Caterpillars Can't Swim, by Liane Shaw]. Quill & Quire, 83 (7): 39.