Room for More

Written by Michelle Kadarusman

Illustrated by Maggie Zeng

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-252-3

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

June 2022

With fire season upon us, Room for More reminds us of the fragility of habitats and the vulnerability of animals to destruction too often wrought by humans, whether by carelessness or climate change. Fortunately, animal species such as the Australian ones Michelle Kadarusman has highlighted here do better than we do at showing compassion, generosity, flexibility and reciprocity.

From Room for More by Michelle Kadarusman, illus. by Maggie Zeng

Two wombats, Dig and Scratch, know that when they smell the smoke of a bushfire that they will be safe in their deep burrows. But when they hear other animals scurrying for safety outside, Dig offers them shelter, though Scratch keeps reiterating that, "There is no room." Still, Dig tells a wallaby with a joey in her pouch who was already succumbing to the smoke that, "We have plenty of room."

From Room for More by Michelle Kadarusman, illus. by Maggie Zeng

When Dig spots a koala clinging to a tree, he again helps a stranded animal, against Scratch's grumblings of limited space. When a tiger snake is spotted, there is much trepidation about a venomous snake that might bite but Dig is convinced the snake will behave.

From Room for More by Michelle Kadarusman, illus. by Maggie Zeng

Though very snug in the wombats' burrow, the motley group of animals survive until a rain comes and puts out the bushfire. But, with that rain, comes a new worry for the wombats whose home is in danger of flooding. However, their new friends find a way to reciprocate the relief provided, showing a generosity of spirit all around.

 

Australian-born author Michelle Kadarusman's "Author's Note" reveals that Room for More is based on the science that animals other than wombats would find safety in their deep burrows during the horrific bushfires of 2019-2020. Perhaps there weren't discussions between wombats about helping out or animals uniting to engineer an embankment, but Michelle Kadarusman reminds us that all animals, even unlikely allies, can cooperate for greater good and without compulsion for mutual benefit, though in this case that is exactly what happens.  Though the consequences of bushfires are often devastating, Michelle Kadarusman has emphasized a gentler story, that of animals surviving and by unusual means. And that's the good story. But Michelle Kadarusman also gives us the science of Room for More, providing a glossary of the species involved in the story as well as explaining important issues like climate change, environmental disasters and Australian Indigenous land practices.

From Room for More by Michelle Kadarusman, illus. by Maggie Zeng

That gentle touch to what is a heartbreaking and devastating circumstance is emulated in artist Maggie Zeng's digital illustrations. While there is an orange hue of fires and a pall of grey haze to the landscape, Maggie Zeng does not overwhelm the art with angry flames or blackened scenes of destruction. Instead, she takes us to a dry and warm setting that is softened with the kindness of benevolence. In her colours and shapes, Maggie Zeng offers generosity and compassion.

I know teachers will love to share this story with their students whether for STEM lessons regarding habitat, characteristics of living things, different world biomes or climate change or for character education centered on empathy and goodwill but at its heart it is a sweet story that goes beyond teaching by captivating readers and transporting them to other worlds. It would seem there's always room for another fabulous picture book on the youngCanLit shelves.

Missing Mike

Written by Shari Green

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-045-1

248 pp.

Ages 8-12

May 2018

With high summer temperatures and low precipitation predicted for the western provinces this year, there could be record wildfires again like the ones that imposed extensive evacuations on Fort McMurray in 2016. The circumstances of those forced evacuations and the tragedies and stories embedded within cannot be easily told or read but Shari Green has the voice, the words, and the heart to tell it in her newest middle grade novel Missing Mike.

It's summer in Pine Grove and, because of the weather, lightning strikes and human carelessness, the community is on alert to evacuate. Like everyone, ten-year-old Cara has been instructed to pack up a change of clothes "and a few treasures" (pg. 12), though what she treasures most is Mike, her one-eyed, rust-coloured dog whom they'd adopted two years earlier. But when the orders come out to evacuate, Mike is gone from the yard. Cara tries to go in search of him, sure he's headed to the nearby creek, but her father prevents her, telling Cara there is no time and they must leave.  

After a harrowing highway drive to shelter at a community centre in a neighbouring community, Cara, her older sister Sloane and their parents are billeted with Jasmeet and Bill Bains and their thirteen-year-old foster daughter, Jewel. But it's not home.

A truth zooms through me
squeezes my insides
settles
heavy as a brick:
this place
these strangers
this makeshift home that is anything
but home...
we're meant to stay here. (pg. 50)

Everything seems to be changing and that just adds to Cara's persistent worry about Mike.  She learns her best friend Heather and her family may not return to Pine Grove, as her dad might not have a job to which he should return. Sloane, who used to be Cara's protector, is spending lots of time with a young man evacuated with his baby daughter. Worse, the news coming out of Pine Grove is not good and worries about their home being destroyed are very real. It's all too much for Cara and, reassured by Jewel, she is determined to do all she can to find Mike.

"He got lost," she says again,
"which means he can get
found." (pg. 65)

I'm not going to tell you how Missing Mike ends but (spoiler alert!) I can reassure you that Mike does not die. That may have been my biggest concern but Missing Mike was still a heartbreaking story to read. Cara's love for Mike is so deep that her anguish at being separated from him is palpable. She envisions a multitude of scenarios that Mike might be enduring or anticipates where he might be, alternating that distress with reflections on the things she and he did together. But more than the story about a missing dog, Missing Mike is about home and the different configurations it might take. Cara who spends some time working on crosswords, realizes that the synonyms for home are not always structures. They can be feelings and people and more.

Shari Green, who has impressed all readers with her exceptional novels in verse (Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles, Pajama Press, 2016; Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess, Pajama Press,  2017) does not disappoint with this latest middle grade novel in free verse. The genre is a tough one to write but Shari Green has perfected it. She gets the voices dead on with a limited vocabulary and still tells an honest story about a family's response to disaster and specifically a young girl's determination to be reunited with the dog she loves and finding home whatever and wherever it may be.

I bet if you asked one hundred people
you'd probably find
there are one hundred words for home.
Turns out 
home isn't always with family
but often it is.
It isn't always a place
but sometimes it is.
It isn't always within your grasp
but when you find it
you know to
hold on. (pg. 230)

Missing Mike: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Author 

Shari Green

is launching her newest middle grade novel

Missing Mike

 

Written by Shari Green

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-045-1

244 pp.

Ages 8-12

May 2018

on

 Wednesday, May 16, 2018

4:00 - 5:30 pm

at

Queen Books

914 Queen St. E.

Toronto, ON 

From Pajama Press's website at http://pajamapress.ca/book/missing_mike/:

From the acclaimed author of Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess, a timely middle-grade story about the devastation of wildfires and the resilience of the human spirit.

He’s a rescue, a mutt. Maybe there’s a little golden retriever in him, although he’s not exactly pretty. He’s had a run-in with coyotes and he’s missing an eye. But Mike is eleven-year-old Caera Donovan’s dog, and they love each other absolutely. Usually her pet follows Caera everywhere, but on the day the family first smells smoke in the air, Mike becomes anxious. Pine Grove is in the path of a wildfire, and the family is ordered to evacuate. In the ensuing chaos, Mike runs off. And then the unthinkable happens; there is no time to search for Mike. They are forced to leave him behind.

Shocked and devastated, Caera watches helplessly as the family drives through a nightmare, with burning debris falling from the sky and wild animals fleeing for their lives. Once in the city far from the burn zone, the Donovans are housed with a volunteer host family. Jewel, the hosts’ daughter, is nice, but Caera can only think about what she may have lost. What will happen if nothing is left? But as she reflects on what “home” means to her, Caera knows only one thing. She is not going to lose Mike. She will do what it takes to find him, even if it means going back to Pine Grove on her own.

With her signature style combining simplicity and lyricism, Shari Green, the author of Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles and Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess tells an uplifting story of love and loss. And she shows how one girl’s stressful journey eventually leads her to an unexpected place, and a new definition of home.

Retrieved on May 2, 2018 from http://pajamapress.ca/book/missing_mike/.