The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen

by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books
978-1-77049-372-8
243 pp.
Ages 11-14
2012

If you're looking for another book of irreverent humour similar to Susin Nielsen's Word Nerd (Tundra, 2008) or Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom (Tundra, 2010), the reader may be somewhat disappointed with The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen.  While Susin Nielsen's characteristic humour is still there, especially in her characterizations of Henry's Reach for the Top team mates and details about the Global Wrestling Federation's fighters, it takes a backseat to overwhelming despair.

The story begins seven and a half months after "it" happened.  "It" revolves around our protagonist's older brother, Jesse, 15, and the bullying he tragically endured.  The family has moved from Vancouver Island after Dad lost his business, Mom lost her job, and they could not remain.  Mom has been staying with her parents in Ontario, seeing a psychiatrist, while Henry and his father have moved into an apartment in Vancouver. Henry, thirteen, is gaining weight, uses a robot voice when stressed, and reluctantly visits Cecil, his psychologist.  Dad just tries to make ends meet by working.  Luckily, the family's shared interest in the Global Wrestling Federation's Saturday Night Smash-Up provides some connection for the distressed family.

At his new school, the only kid who befriends Henry is geeky Farley Wong, who drags trivia-knowledgeable Henry to join the school Reach for the Top team.  Except for Alberta, the funky but rude girl with whom Henry is smitten, the team consists of geeky kids who probably are all victims of some bullying.  In fact, Henry is sadly reminded of his brother's experiences and continues to suffer guilt and shame when he sees Farley being victimized regularly at school by Troy Vasic. 

While feeling like his family is falling apart,

"I'm the only one who's trying to fight for this family.  And I'm beginning to think we may not be worth the fight" (pg. 181)

Henry is also trying to resolve the nature of his friendship with Alberta, his dad's relationship with their neighbour Karen, the blame he feels from his mother, and his reluctance to reflect on his possible role in his brother's tragedy.  Ultimately it is through his interactions with the new people in his life that Henry finds the means and strength to deal with the issues of his past.

Susin Nielsen always addresses important issues in her books, though they are often flavoured with much comedy.  In Word Nerd, Ambrose deals with his mother's overprotectiveness, isolation and bullying.  In Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, Violet endures the repercussions of her parents' divorce: her mother's repeated disasters with loser boyfriends and her dad's excessive attention for his new family. But there is little humour in The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen.  And maybe it's best that, while the story is infused with the quirkiness of Henry and the other teens, the emphasis should be on the overwhelming anguish experienced by those left behind after unnatural death.  Nothing could or should remedy that agony except time, acceptance, and maybe forgiveness of oneself and others. Susin Nielsen shares the complicated nature of grief and grieving while helping the reader see the far-reaching and unpredictable consequences of bullying.

Vicki Grant's "Being 18" video

Motivated by the experience of saying good-bye to her 17-year-old son when he went to university several years back, author Vicki Grant created the accompanying video as a personal project.   

Vicki Grant, author of youngCanLit including  The Puppet Wrangler (Orca, 2004), Quid Pro Quo (Orca, 2005), Not Suitable for Family Viewing (HarperCollins, 2009), Betsy Wickwire's Dirty Secret (HarperTrophy Canada, 2011) and Hold the Pickles (Orca, 2012), is well-known for her quirky storylines and wonderful sense of humour.  So I was surprised and delighted by the video but curious about the provenance of its concept.  It seems that when her son went off to university, Vicki Grant could not stop crying when leaving him.  She was astonished to realize that her grandmother would have been saying good-bye to her seventeen-year-old son, Vicki's father, at that same age but he would have been heading off to war.

Vicki Grant shared that she met the female veteran who appears at the conclusion of the video while doing research for an upcoming mystery set in World War II Halifax, and that her daughter and nephew participated in the making of the video.  Even without these personal connections, the video Being 18 is poignant, sharing the message of differences between teens of different eras and most important that we should always "Remember Them". Enjoy the video and remember.

Being 18

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by Vicki Grant to YouTube

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

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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.