What Happened to Serenity?

by PJ Sarah Collins
Red Deer Press
978-0-889954-53-3
222 pp.
Ages 12-15
2011

Nominated for the 2012 Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy, the first year this book prize is being presented, What Happened to Serenity? by PJ Sarah Collins could have been nominated for the Mystery Award as its title suggests.  But that brilliant title alludes to more than the disappearance of Serenity, the younger sister of our protagonist's best friend.  Serenity also seems to be missing from the Community in which fifteen-year-old Katherine and her family live, under the administration of Father.  And one of the key reasons for the distress in Katherine's life is the strict rule, according to the Manifesto, that only Father is allowed to ask questions.  For all other Brothers and Sisters in the Community, it is considered rude to question - anything.  But Katherine, who has great difficulty rephrasing her questions into statements, wants to know, "What Happened to Serenity?"

After the Ecological Revolution of 1979, Father had brought one hundred abandoned babies and fifty Aunts and Uncles to the safety of Community.  Beyond the borders, the environment is poor and unstable, the water irradiated, the air poison. Now in 2021, the Community adheres to the strict dictates for attaining a perfect society.  Since colour is reflective of selfish individualism, Community is Brown, everywhere.  Life Roles are distributed based on compliance and performance.  And no questioning is allowed.  A sense of peacefulness and calm is only a click away on the Remote.

But Katherine cannot reconcile what she is told and what she observes, especially after discovering a note with "the words that changed my life." (pg. 70)

Everything is not as it seems. 
I've seen the outside come  
Through the sky.      (pg. 7)

When her snooping reveals documents with her family's "Retinal Scan Weekly Diagnostic Informational Scores", notes about a recent medical visit, and a shipments and inventory schedule, Katherine is determined to break the rules to ensure the safety of her family and to see beyond the Community.

The reader will not be prepared for the about-face that What Happened to Serenity? takes.  And though I thought that the ease with which Katherine gets support from Paul seemed somewhat contrived, PJ Sarah Collins ensures that Katherine's interactions with the outsiders are not all promising; in fact, too soon Katherine will be questioning her actions.

"I have let the bear into their home and it will destroy everything in its wide-angle view." (pg. 211)

What Happened to Serenity? is a title I will add promptly to my #CanLitChoices alternatives for The Giver.  It is a perfect youngCanLit example of a dystopian story in which the themes of courage, responsibility, oppression and intolerance, authority and power, and community are interwoven into a powerful plot embedded with real characters who all believe that what they are doing is right.  It's unfortunate that those with the power over others do not realize that they alone have doomed their utopia to become what it is - dysfunctional.  What Happened to Serenity? is a cautionary tale worthy of reading as well as heeding.

Binky Takes Charge

Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Kids Can Press

978-1-55453-703-7

64 pp.

Ages 7-10

2012

When last we heard about Binky the Space Cat (Kids Can Press, 2009), he was Binky Under Pressure (Kids Can Press, 2011), dealing with a new feline. But Binky seems to be under even more pressure in Ashley Spires' latest Binky Adventure, Binky Takes Charge, as he has risen in rank to lieutenant and in charge of training a new recruit to F.U.R.S.T.  Actually F.U.R.S.T (Felines of the Universe Ready for Space Travel) has now become P.U.R.S.T., for all pets, and Binky's new cadet is a dog!

Gordon, a.k.a. that Puddle of Fuzz, Carpet-Wetter and that Stinky Furball according to Binky, seems almost untrainable, though Binky tries. But when Binky is convinced that Gordon is a spy and a traitor, Gracie (from Binky Under Pressure) and Binky put the puppy under surveillance to learn his methodology and ultimately his motives and technological skills.

Courtesy of award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Spires, the cherubic and determined Binky continues to entertain young readers with his clever but random misinterpretations.  His first impressions of situations and characters may be skewed but Binky is ready to defer to the evidence and admit when he is wrong, always making the best of a seemingly difficult situation.  Personally, I would love a human-Binky as a colleague in the workplace.  His heart is always in the right place and, even with his mistakes (which we all make), he is an asset to the team, here P.U.R.S.T.  When Binky Takes Charge, as an instructor and evaluator of new cadets, Binky is sure to build a great team of cadets while continuing to capture and amass a throng of young fans.

Read about Ashley Spires at Kids Can Press here or check out the cover story by Cheri Hanson in Quill & Quire's March 2012 magazine.

Becoming Holmes: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Final Case

by Shane Peacock

Tundra Books

978-1-770-492325

245 pp.

Ages 10-14

October 2012

It was just a year ago when I reviewed the fifth book in Shane Peacock's The Boy Sherlock Holmes series, The Dragon Turn (Tundra, 2011) and bemoaned the announcement that the sixth book would conclude the series.  And here it is, The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Final Case, with the incongruous title of Becoming Holmes, suggesting more of a beginning than an end.  But, Shane Peacock effectively concludes his series by setting up the key pieces of Sherlock Holmes' life as laid out by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In 1870, Sherlock, now sixteen years of age, is overwhelmed by melancholy: Charles Dickens has just died; Sherlock's father has passed from a stroke; Sigerson Bell, Sherlock's mentor, is very ill and worsening; Irene Doyle, his love interest, is in the United States; Beatrice Leakie, a dear friend, is seeing someone else; and Prime Minister Disraeli, a half-Jew like Sherlock, has been defeated.  The only solace for Sherlock is his reconnection with his older brother, Mycroft, an employee at the Treasury.  When visiting his brother at the Treasury, Sherlock discovers that Grimsby, one of Malefactor's lieutenants, has somehow secured a key position there, under the alias of Ronald Loveland.

Although threatened by his nemesis, Malefactor, to desist from pursuing enquiries which might involve him, Sherlock discovers that Malefactor, who is also known as Moriarty, contrived a blackmail scheme to position himself for greater power.  When Malefactor's henchman, Grimsby, becomes greedy, leading to an accidental death and then murder, Sherlock is determined to fight evil by any means possible.

So, Shane Peacock's Sherlock Holmes proclaims that he is

"at the service of anyone who is wronged, whether they be rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, Englishman or otherwise" (pg. 101)

while also declaring that he would work towards

"the complete destruction of Malefactor, his lieutenants, and all his future schemes, his entire career." (pg. 102)

He even recognizes that in the future he would need

"an upstairs flat of my own, with a companion and a housekeeper." (pg. 113)

The Boy Sherlock Holmes is becoming the famous Sherlock Holmes, just as Shane Peacock's title announces.  And the intricate plot of Becoming Holmes is just as involved as the crimes that the mature Holmes solves.  There are villains, victims, innocents, allies, loves and mentors.  There are obvious motives, false leads, guilty secrets and cryptic feelings. There is compassion, confusion, affection and justice.  While I had some difficulties in discriminating between various unidentified characters in the first chapter before their stories begin to converge and revolve around Sherlock, the storyline did not suffer for this, as clarification and illumination were forthcoming, as they always are in good mysteries. 

Becoming Holmes may reveal much about how the boy becomes the famous detective but at its core it is a rich mystery that needs solving so that evil may be punished and the righteous protected.  Fortunately Sherlock Holmes capably solves the mystery,  equipping him well to re-emerge in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Red (1877).

The book trailer for Becoming Holmes, produced by Aaron Peacock and uploaded to YouTube on October 12, 2012 can be viewed here on my Book Trailers page or directly on The Boy Sherlock Holmes webpage.

"Under the Moon" Contest: What Keeps You Up at Night?

Under the Moon

by Deborah Kerbel
Dancing Cat Books (Cormorant Books)
978-1-77086-090-2
194 pp.
Ages 12-15
2012

 

In April, I enjoyed reviewing Deborah Kerbel's Under the Moon, currently nominated for the 2012 Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature (Text).  Now, Dancing Cat Books, its publisher, has launched a writing contest based on a key theme of Under the Moon.  Here are the contest details:

TASK:  In 500 words, answer the question, "What keeps you up at night?"

 

PARTICIPANTS:  For students in grades 7, 8 and 9

 

DEADLINE: December 14, 2012

 

PRIZES:  There are prizes for the three top entries (including a Kobo Touch for the 1st place entry) as well as a selection of Cormorant/Dancing Cat books for the school libraries of all three winners.

 

CONTACT:  Teachers and librarians can get details and entry forms at underthemoon@dancingcatbooks.com  and see the official contest information site at http://www.cormorantbooks.com/blog/?p=951

    *   *   *   *   

Not With a Bang

by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Magpie Books
978-1-926794-12-9
118 pp.
Ages 14+
September 2012

While reading Not With a Bang, I felt as if I was holding a cousin of Elizabeth Smart's By Grand Central Station I Sat and Wept (1945) - a novella of such intensity and poetic intelligence that it does not spend the time drawing readers towards a climax but simply catapults us to it and keeps us there for the entire book.  Although the title of Gail Sidonie Sobat's newest book is derived from a line in the final stanza of T. S. Eliot's poem, The Hollow Men, 

"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper" 

suggesting an ending of indifference, Not With a Bang harbours no such apathy, but rather presents its beginning, middle and end with zeal for living.

After he is charged and convicted of a crime, seventeen-year-old Jan is instructed to stay away from Snake, the drug dealer with whom he'd been associating, and given community service at the Glamorrah Seniors' Hospice.  Although his community service seems tortuous at first, Jan finds himself curious about his charge, seventy-two-year-old Al Coxworth, a man who seems to know a lot about music, poetry and life in general.  More importantly, Al is the man "who bothered to listen to him." (pg. 56)  Without even noticing, Jan begins to appreciate and recognize the validity and value of Al's comments and opinions, taking Jan from an angry, self-absorbed teen (still dealing with his father's infidelity and his parents' subsequent and acrimonious divorce) to a compassionate, open-minded young man.  It's not surprising that with his growing attachment to Al and the guidance he provides that Jan is determined to help Al when he asks for assistance. 

While Not With a Bang has a commanding plot and one that I choose not to give away in this review, it's the characters that drew me to embrace its story.  Jan is hard-edged in his vocabulary, his actions, and his relationships and is probably more similar to a typical teen than not.  Al sees him as "a kid who coulda." (pg. 8) On the other hand, Al is a man with a poet's heart who lived through the "make love, not war" 1960's but still seems a mix of contradictions.  As different as the two are, the emotional guidance and unconditional support that Al provides brings Jan to provide the same for his new confidant.

Gail Sidonie Sobat is an expert in addressing critical issues for teens in uncharacteristic story lines.  Her teens are always real (though not always likeable) with authentic voices, likely taken from her vast experiences as a teacher and writing mentor for YouthWrite, a camp for young writers.  She eloquently tackled homosexuality and homophobia in Chance to Dance for You (Great Plains, 2011) and anorexia and mental illness in Gravity Journal (Great Plains, 2008) and now suggests readers think about drug use and euthanasia as embedded issues.  Without forcing her own ideas on her readers, Gail Sidonie Sobat allows glimpses into worlds that some readers may never experience, thereby increasing awareness, or that some have experienced, thereby providing validation for their realities.  Not With a Bang is neither far-fetched nor commonplace but insightful, challenging to views usually long-held, and sublimely powerful.  I've learned never to expect less from Gail Sidonie Sobat; I've never been disappointed.

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.