Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World

by Susan Hughes

Owlkids Books

978-1-926-8-18863

64 pp.

Ages 8-13

2011

I don't often review non-fiction. It's not that I don't enjoy it but I find that it's very hard to find non-fiction that is fresh in its topic, presentation, organization and writing. Sometimes I wonder if a publisher (none of the ones I list on this blog) just dashes something off on a topic they know is on the curriculum and could get a few school sales. Having been on non-fiction selection committees in the past, I know the dearth of exceptional children's non-fiction that is published annually. That said, several Canadian publishers, Owlkids, Kids Can Press and Annick most notably, have an extensive line of exemplary non-fiction for younger readers. And one of the authors who is making a name for herself via her non-fiction is Susan Hughes.

Two of her most highly lauded books are Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked By Modern Science (Kids Can Press, 2010) which won the 2011 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-fiction and No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure (Kids Can Press, 2008). Currently nominated for the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction, the Diamond Willow Award, the Red Cedar Information Book Award and the Hackmatack English Non-fiction Book Award, Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World also seems destined to garner worthwhile attention and prizes.

The empowering message of Off to Class is that, though every child has a right to an education, not everyone has access or opportunity to go to school, and there are people working doggedly to ensure that all children, no matter their circumstances, are given that chance. So, no matter how remote or harsh the environment, or how poor the family or how small the community, or what prejudices and circumstances exclude some from an education, there is someone willing to help provide a school. It may not be a traditional North American school, but it is a place of learning and it works for these children.

Brimming with colourful photographs of children, classrooms, schools and the environs, Off to Class provides a comprehensive look at learning places in three chapters: Working with the Environment, No School? No Way! and One Size Doesn't Fit All. Classrooms from Bangladesh, India, Cambodia and Nepal, to Brazil, Haiti, and Uganda, Burkina Faso and Kenya are featured, and those integral in making these schools come into being are featured. For me, the most compelling of stories relate to schools that grew from only a vision and a lot of heart. By working with the communities and their needs and circumstances, rather than imposing their own attitudes and ideas, people have performed miracles, creating schools where only rubble or emptiness may have been.

Susan Hughes' writing is inviting and forthcoming, the information never lost in cumbersome text. With features of non-fiction text like indices, fact boxes (e.g., More than 20 million children worldwide have lost their parents to AIDS. Almost a million of these kids live in Uganda. pg. 35), captioned photographs, bios and photos of key people, and a map with schools' locations, Off to Class is a fascinating look at the different configurations schools have taken, offering hope to children, communities and the environment that might never have been imagined.

I've posted a very sweet book trailer of Off to Class as told by young people on CanLit for LittleCanadians Book Trailers page here.

Governor General Literary Awards 2012 Winners announced

Yesterday, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the winners of the prestigious Governor General Literary Awards for 2012  including those in the two (English) Children's categories.

Congratulations to all the award winners and nominees for being recognized for their contributions to enriching our collection of phenomenal youngCanLit.

This year's winners in the two (English) Children's categories are: 

For Children’s Text:

Susin Nielsen
for  
The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
 

 

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

Reviewed here on CanLit for LittleCanadians just days ago!

For Children’s Illustration:

Isabelle Arsenault
for

Virginia Wolf

 Text by Kyo Maclear

Kids Can Press
978-1-55453-649-8
32 pp.
Ages 5-10
2012

Reviewed here on CanLit for LittleCanadians on March 13, 2012. 

I'm Bored

Written by Michael Ian Black

Illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

978-1-4424-1403-7

40 pp.

Ages 3-8

2012

Without Canadian illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi to bring American comic Michael Black's text to life, I'm Bored would be so lifeless.  Really.  The illustrations take the simple text, of a little girl complaining about being bored and then trying to prove to a potato that kids aren't boring, from the stark to the sublime.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi's drawings may be created from few pen strokes but what expression in those strokes!  With a mere six details (two eyes, two brows, one nose, and one mouth), the illustrator can take the young child in I'm Bored from despondency to frustration, surprise, delight, determination, exaltation and indignation, all in the cause of convincing the equally-expressionistic spud that kids are amazing.  The little brown tuber may have few lines, "Boring" being repeated 19 times, but he does pay attention, almost hopeful that the girl may prove worthy of his company.

And her imaginative play of being a famous ballerina, or a lion tamer, princess, pirate and monster, just to name a few roles, takes her bold and colourful self into imagined settings of rock concerts, rolling oceans, science labs, outer space, and mountain tops.  If that brown (and isn't that a boring colour?) potato can't see the wonder of a kid who can marvel at the antics she can put her body through in creative play, then he deserves to be bored.

Luckily, just as the 2011 Blue Spruce Award winner, My Think-A-Ma-Jink by Dave Whamond (Owlkids, 2009), reminds us that a child's imagination can take him or her anywhere, anytime, to do anything, with anyone, I'm Bored lets a little girl recollect that the cure for boredom is all within.  What does a spud know anyways?


If this book isn't enough, Debbie Ohi offers activities and print-ready templates of cards, posters, book plates, etc. based on the "I'm Bored" theme at http://debbieohi.com/  There are even a few snarky ones courtesy of the little potato.

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.