What Happened in July

Written by Margaret J. McMaster
Mansbridge Dunn Publishers
978-0-981-052540
57 pp.
Ages 7-9
2012


What Happened in July, the fourth book in Margaret J. McMaster's Babysitter Out of Control! early reader series, has our young narrator, Stewart, again in the care of his babysitter, the elderly Mrs. Chairbottom, while his detective parents are working.

Behind one of the kitchen cupboards which Mrs. Chairbottom is having replaced, they find an old newspaper from July 1932. The cover page of the newspaper has four different words circled in red with several combinations of numbers and letters written beside them.  With the help of Mrs. Chairbottom's friend, Colonel Alfred Peabody, they discover the secret code that ultimately leads them to an old mystery of stolen diamonds.

Reminiscent of the Horrible Harry (by Suzy Kline) and Nate the Great (by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat) series of mysteries for young readers, What Happened in July presents a simple mystery that gives readers a chance to try out some new skills, here code-breaking.  While the nature of early readers generally precludes multi-layered plotting and characterizations, What Happened in July provides more than just a linear mystery plot i.e., discovering a mystery and directly finding the solution.  Because of the addition of the code-breaking and help needed to discover information not readily accessible, young readers will experience the more complicated plotting of a true mystery.

Books for early readers are at a severe disadvantage compared to picture books, longer fiction and nonfiction.  While picture books can use incredible graphics to support and add meaning to the sparse text, as can non-fiction, and middle-grade and YA literature has the opportunity and word count to extend all elements of the story to enhance its telling, early readers must rely on simple plots and easy vocabulary, perhaps with the occasional graphic, to convey a complete story.  For that reason, I feel that reading the first three books in the series would have enhanced my understanding of the characters' relationships and the history of Mrs. Chairbottom's babysitting of Stewart.  It must be difficult for authors such as Margaret J. McMaster to restrain themselves from elaborating on their plots and setting and characters to ensure that they don't lose their readership.  And too much of anything in an early chapter book is sure to turn off a new reader.  So, kudos to those authors such as Margaret J. McMaster who accept the challenge of penning a story for the youngest readers and can still tell a good solid story.

You can check out Margaret J. McMaster's blog here http://margaretmcmaster.blogspot.ca/ to see the other volumes in her Babysitter Out of Control series and her other children's book, Carried Away on Licorice Days (Mansbridge Dunn, 2008).

The Town That Drowned

Written by Riel Nason

Goose Lane Editions

978-0-864-926401

273 pp.

Ages 12+

2011

Although drowning is typically associated with water, it is also used to indicate being overwhelmed by work, debt, sorrow - all stimuli that can defeat. While the cover of Riel Nason's The Town That Drowned suggests that water is the force that engulfs the young girl, other powers are at work in this book.  Thankfully, as her vivid blue eyes looking upward suggest, there is also the brightness of hope in The Town That Drowned.

In Haventon, New Brunswick, the Saint John River is a defining feature of the community, especially for the narrator, fourteen-year-old Ruby.  For the past several years, Ruby has accompanied her nine-year-old brother Percy to his weekly message-in-a-bottle launch from the Hackshaw Bridge.  The whole family works hard to accommodate Percy's unusual needs and behaviours but Ruby plays a significant role especially in protecting her hypersensitive brother from the taunts of other children.  Unfortunately, ever since last winter when Ruby fell through the ice at a skating party and experienced a vision of the town underwater, Ruby herself has become a victim of teasing. 

When survey stakes start showing up in the community and the premier of the province announces the building of a new hydroelectric dam, the people of Haventon become enmeshed in discussions and speculation about the plans to expropriate lands and flood Haventon.  Eventually a map is posted marking lands to be flooded, homes to be moved, and the location of the new town.

Everyone is deeply affected, but especially those around Ruby.  Mr. Cole, the elderly man for whom Ruby does occasional housekeeping, seems to spend much time reminiscing and gifting Ruby and her family with his late wife's jewelry and books while still welcoming his lazy and disreputable great nephew, Tommy, into his large home.  Ruby's father, a civil servant in Fredericton, is accused by Tommy and the local drunkard, Alton Crouse, of prior knowledge of the dam project, especially after it is determined that Ruby's home may be saved.  Her mother stops painting, Percy stops talking and her mother's best friend, Miss Stairs, visits almost daily for emotional support and gossip.  Finally, Ruby's life takes a new direction with the attentions of Troy Rutherford, the son of an antique dealer from Ontario who comes looking to purchase items being sold by moving residents.  As Ruby's mother suggests,

"Unexpected problems bring unexpected results. " (pg. 223)

Within the pool of hardships and changes experienced by the people in The Town That Drowned, there is a coming-of-age story.  While Ruby may have seen herself as vulnerable to the ridicule of her peers, Riel Nason has created a strong and wise young teen who watches and analyzes her life and those of people around her with great clarity and depth.  But, the announcement about the building of the dam and the subsequent events bring new lens through which Ruby can see everyone, including herself, with a new distinctness.

"I think I'm fine and it's just the people in this place that distort me, like a reflection in the river, altering my image." (pg. 237)

Winner of the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for Europe and the Americas and the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Atlantic Book Awards), and nominated for the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book of the Year and the 2013 Red Maple Award of the Ontario Library Association, The Town that Drowned has been recognized nationally and internationally as a compelling read about much more than just a town.  Riel Nason has created a community of young and old, wise and irresponsible, and honest and secretive that could be the essence of any Canadian small town.  It was a privilege to visit this one.

Jacqueline Guest: Indspire 2012 Arts Award Recipient

Yesterday, Indspire (formerly the National Indigenous Achievement Foundation) announced the recipients of its annual awards which recognize outstanding contributions by Indigenous people in Canada.  Ten of the fourteen awards are dedicated to career achievements, and this year, the recipient of the Indspire Award in the field of the Arts is Canadian children's author, Jacqueline Guest.

Jacqueline Guest has penned an impressive collection of seventeen books of historical, young adult and sports fiction.

Her most recent book, Outcast of River Falls (Coteau, 2012) is the sequel to her highly successful historical novel, Belle of Batoche (Orca, 2004).  Both books focus on the Métis and the discrimination and wrongs perpetrated against them within the context of the late 1800's.

Her book, Ghost Messages (Coteau, 2011) won a Moonbeam Gold Medal for Pre-teen Historical Fiction, and was nominated for a Silver Birch award.

Two of Jacqueline Guest's sports novels, Triple Threat (Lorimer, 2011) and Free Throw (Lorimer, 2011) were awarded two of the four 2012 American Indian Youth Literature Awards from the American Indian Library Association of the American Library Association.

The accolades for Jacqueline Guest and her contribution to children's literature and promotion of First Nations, Métis and Inuit history and culture are well warranted. Check out her website at http://www.jacquelineguest.com/ for complete details about her books, presentations, and events.

Congratulations, Jacqueline Guest!

A Call to Battle: The War of 1812, Alexander MacKay, Upper Canada, 1812

by Gillian Chan
Scholastic Canada
978-1-4431-0006-9
195 pp.
Ages 8-12
September, 2012

When the War of 1812 began, Alexander "Sandy" MacKay was only 13 years old, and helping on the family farm near Ancaster.  As clearly as he hears A Call To Battle, determined to join his father and older brother, Angus, in the militia, Sandy is instructed to stay behind with his mother, three younger siblings and two older sisters.  So begins Sandy's recount as he looks back on the events that have lead him to his current journey to Pennsylvania in 1820.

While 1812 progresses from the president's declaration of war in June through to the victory at Queenston, the loss of General Brock and the Yankees' fear of Tecumseh, Sandy knows little of battle experiences except as recounted to him by those returning home.  When his father is stricken with a debilitating case of gaol's fever, as is Angus but less severely, Sandy is disappointed to hear few details about heroic deeds and the glory of war.  He sees shame in the retreat of the British when the Americans capture York in the spring of 1813 and cowardice in his new brother-in-law, Eric, who does not go to war.  Regardless how his father urges him not to be so quick to judge and to look for vain glory, Sandy pursues opportunities to engage in the War.

As the War of 1812 moves into 1814, Sandy finds himself on the outskirts and then in the midst of battles, and sees the reality of war.  His enlightenment is slow but sure, seeing the death toll and drudgery of moving and burying the dead, and then the horror of death in both the British and American ranks.  He may finally experience the reality of war as he craves but Sandy can see beyond his initial expectations and ...

"cried for shattered dreams of glory and adventure that had ended with a bloody, broken boy in a wood. I cried for oblivion ..." (pg. 152)

A Call to Battle is an exceptional edition in Scholastic Canada's I am Canada series.  In any novel of historical fiction, there is the danger of emphasizing the historically-accurate events and characters rather than the story elements, particularly plot.  Gillian Chan's research and poignant emphasis on Sandy MacKay's perspective of the War of 1812, not the detailed events documented in the history textbooks, takes the book from a dry read of a military action to a compassionate look at how boys and young men may see the glory of war, that is, until experienced first-hand.  By allowing Sandy to experience war by dealing first with the dead and injured, then running errands and finally pressed into assisting the surgeon in amputating limbs, rather than just engaging in combat, Gillian Chan has made the War of 1812 in A Call to Battle more of the setting rather than the plot, enabling the reader to see the commonality of young men seeking glory from all manner of military action, be it war, battle, skirmish or attack, defense or offense.  Alexander MacKay's story could be set during World War I, the Boer War, the Seven Years' War or the War of 1812 because the lessons he learns and incorporates are universal.  Sadly, the lessons learned always seem to come after exposure to the conflict, rather than before it.  I can only hope that there are some young people who, after reading A Call to Battle, are moved to rethink their attitudes about war and weaponry and power, hopefully before first-hand experiences destroy more than just their false impressions.

Forest of Reading ® 2013 Nominees Announced!

Today, the Ontario Library Association announced the nominated titles for the 2013 Forest of Reading® readers' choice awards. This popular literacy program is designed to cultivate a love of reading for people of all ages, from JK to adult.  For those of us who love reading, it's a great opportunity to focus on new Canadian literature.  For those of us who teach, we know that...

...a print-rich environment leads to more reading and free voluntary reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and grammatical ability and writing style  (Michele Lonsdale, Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: A Review of the Research: Report for the Australian School Libraries Association, 2003)

The Forest of Reading® already connects over 250,000 readers across Ontario and beyond.  Ask your school library or public library about the Forest of Reading®.  If they're registered, great!  If they're not, ask them, "Why not?"  Registration for these programs through your school or public library is accessible at the OLA website.

With 110 nominated titles, I have presented the nominees in multiple posts.  See the lists below for nominees for the different programs.

Blue Spruce and Silver Birch Nominees

Red Maple, White Pine and Golden Oak Nominees

Le Prix Tamarac and Le Prix Peuplier Nominees

International Day of the Girl: BookList 5

To support today's International Day of the Girl, as designated by the United Nations, this fifth and final book list focuses on series put out by several Canadian publishers that focus on girls being. . .

  Fierce    Fearless   Free  

From http://litworld.org/standupforgirls on October 3, 2012.

Series

Dear Canada
from Scholastic Canada  

http://www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada/

Personal diaries of girls experiencing different events in Canada's history, from rebellions and epidemics to disasters and economic hardships.

Girls with Grit

from Groundwood Books

canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.ca/2012/01/girls-with-grit-series.html

Exemplary stories depict the courage and tenacity of girls and young women who endure and even overcome challenges that include poverty, homelessness, abuse, war, leprosy and conflicts of all manner. 

Our Canadian Girl

from Penguin Canada

http://www.ourcanadiangirl.ca/ 

Series of historical fiction for girls about girls who lived during different times in Canada's history.

Women's Hall of Fame

from Second Story Press

http://secondstorypress.ca/list/women-s-hall-of-fame-series

Collective biographies of women from around the world who are leaders in their chosen fields.
 

   *   *   *   *   *  

See the other four book lists for International Day of the Girl at the following links:

• Picture Books

• Fiction

• Young Adult Fiction

• Non-fiction

   *   *   *   *   *  

Please support literacy for all and help all children understand the inequities and hardships experienced by many girls solely because of their gender. 

Read youngCanLit that advocates for girls to be 

 Fierce    Fearless   Free 

International Day of the Girl: BookList 4

Salute, applaud and stand up for girls with LitWorld's Stand Up for Girls campaign.

Let us stand together to champion the right of all girls to be Fierce, Fearless and Free.

Retrieved from http://litworld.org/standupforgirls 

on October 3, 2012. 

In aid of the United Nation's International Day of the Girl, October 11, support the goal of literacy for girls world-wide with these non-fiction titles that advocates for girls to be...

   Fierce       Fearless      Free   

Non-Fiction

Bite of the Mango
by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McLelland
Annick Press
216 pp.
Ages 14+
2008
This is the true story of Mariatu Kamara of civil war-torn Sierra Leone whose village is attacked by boy-rebel soldiers and who has both her hands cut off. 

Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Illustrated by Tom Bagley
Walrus/Whitecap Books
120 pp.
Ages 9-12
2009
Thirty-four women in various fields are showcased for their amazing accomplishments.

Factory Girl
by Barbara Greenwood
Kids Can Press
136 pp.
Ages 9-14
2007
A fictionalized story of twelve-year-old Emily, interwoven with historical accounts, of work in a factory at the early 20th century.

Fearless Female Journalists
by Joy Crysdale
Second Story Press
118 pp.
Ages 9-13
2010
Ten female journalists, including Canadians, defied racism, sexism, personal illness and other obstacles to ensure they got the story.

Hana's Suitcase Anniversary Album

by Karen Levine

Second Story Press

176 pp.

Ages 9-13

2012 

Fumiko Ishioka, director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Centre, discovers an old suitcase and unravels the poignant story of Czechoslovakian-born Jew, Hana Brady, during the Holocaust. 

Nerves Out Loud: Critical Moments in the Lives of Seven Teen Girls
Edited by Susan Musgrave
Annick Press
112 pp.
Ages 14+
2001
Seven authors, including the editor, share details of personal events that shaped their lives.

No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure
by Susan Hughes and Willow Dawson
Kids Can Press
80 pp.
Ages 9-12
2008
The stories of seven females who disguised themselves as males in order to circumvent gender-based prejudice.

Scribbling Women: True Tales from Astonishing Lives
by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books
208 pp.
Ages 10-13
2012
A collection of literary biographies from across time, revealing cultures, stories, histories, and tragedies.

Shannen and the Dream for a School

by Janet Wilson
Second Story Press
978-1-926920-30-6 
206 pp.
Ages 8+
2011
Thirteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin fought to rid her Cree community in Attawapiskat of its contaminated, temporary school and have a new one built. 

 

A Stranger at Home: A True Story
by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
Illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes
Annick Press
120 pp.
Ages 8-13
2011
Margaret Pokiak returns to her Inuit community after two years at residential school and finds herself feeling like an outsider.

 

   Help girls be   

    Fierce       Fearless      Free    

Three previous lists for International Day of the Girl can be accessed here:
• Picture Books
• Fiction (middle grade novels)
• Young Adult fiction