Vanish: Book Launch Invitation (Edmonton)

Join

author Karen Spafford-Fitz

with Orca Book Publishers

on

Sunday, April 14, 2013

at

2:00 pm 

Audrey's Books

10702 Jasper Ave NW, Edmonton, Alberta

for the launch of her newest middle-grade novel, 

part of the Orca Currents series

Vanish

written by Karen Spafford-Fitz

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-45980-349-7 (pbk)

131 pp.

Ages 10-14

March, 2013

A story about an important friendship between a teen at a new high school and a kindergartener with secrets in her background.

 

ENJOY

• a brief author discussion
• readings from Vanish
• a book signing, and 
• refreshments

The official invitation (below) is posted on Karen Spafford-Fitz's FaceBook page.

Mäko

by Julien Béziat

Translated by Evan Jones

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-275-7

36 pp.

Ages 5+

January, 2013

Don't let anyone tell you differently but art is sustenance.  Without art, there is no life.  Perhaps that seems like an over-the-top statement but in Julien Béziat's Mäko, translated by Fitzhenry & Whiteside editor Evan Jones, we learn that this is a reality.

Mäko is a walrus who, like most animals, spends much of his time searching for his food.  But after fishing, Mäko returns to the giant ice floe on which he and other animals live and uses his tusks to carve amazing ice sculptures.  

His sculptures are more than just a joyful hobby for Mäko - they provide key information to the locations of the fish that the animals need to survive.  When the giant ice floe breaks apart and all his ice maps are destroyed, so too do the fish disappear.  It's up to Mäko to find a way to help everyone survive.  But how?

The simplicity of Julien Béziat's story, whose integrity is maintained by Evan Jones' thoughtful translation, speaks of art, appreciation, global warming, responsibility and logic.  Why does the ice floe break apart?  Where have the fish gone?  Why does Mäko bother sculpting ice?  Do the other animals appreciate Mäko's efforts and artistry?  What sculpture could result in the reappearance of enough fish to feed everyone? Most important, the question that is answered so simply but eloquently is: what is the value of art?

The text is sparse, the illustrations are pen and ink with watercolour, and the story is succinct.  For any age, Mäko teaches that art is integral to life.

A Taste of Heaven

by Meg Tilly
Puffin / Penguin Canada
978-0-14-318249-8
258 pp.
Ages 8-12
2013

With the recent presentation of the inaugural Canadian Screen Awards, more Canadians will know the name of actress Meg Tilly, who won Best Actress in a Drama Series for her work in Bomb Girls, Global TV's original series about women working in a 1940's munitions factory.  Some may even recall her noteworthy performances in the highly-acclaimed movies The Big Chill (1983) and Agnes of God (1985).

But, readers of youngCanLit have had Meg Tilly on their radar more recently with the short-listing of her middle-grade novel Porcupine (Tundra, 2007) for the 2008 Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children Award.  Now Meg Tilly has come back to the youngCanLit stage with her newest book, A Taste of Heaven.

For some, A Taste of Heaven may be chocolates and candies, as the cover suggests, but everyone has their own vision of what constitutes heaven. In this "the-grass-is-always-greener" story, the town of Rosedale is delighted with the news that a TV series starring Hollywood actors Jessica Ashton and Grant Palmer will be filming there. The book's protagonist, Madison Stokes, is thrilled at the prospect, even if her five-year-old sister Gina can't appreciate it, and her mom is just too busy going to her bank job while her dad keeps looking for more than a part-time job.  A lot of the kids at school are also hyped about the filming, especially snooty Olivia who is convinced she'll get a part, since her mother runs modelling and tap classes.  But when a new girl arrives the second week of school, Olivia finds Alyssa Hawkins to be a snob, though Madison is happy to befriend her.  

In fact, Madison and Alyssa become fast friends, with Alyssa spending a lot of time at Madison's house, playing in the room she shares with Gina and enjoying helping with chores and eating with the family.  When Madison asks about visiting Alyssa at her house, Alyssa is reluctant but welcomes her new friend to the massive house with its flawlessly decorated rooms, elaborate menus and staff, including a housekeeper and driver.  Alyssa may feel imperfect in her own home but her art studio where she paints allows her the freedom to be herself.  When Madison learns that Alyssa's mom is the actor Jessica Ashton, she promises to keep her secret, even if Madison then feels more embarrassed about her own family.  Understandably so, especially after a very funny scene in which little Gina is sitting on the toilet using her sister's baseball mitt to catch her poop!

But the friendship falters when Madison becomes uncomfortable with the lies she must tell her family in order to keep her promise to Alyssa.  So, though she has been discretely helping Alyssa to learn the identity of her father, Madison is accused of wanting to tell the tabloids and of revealing Alyssa's secret to her classmates.

Having moved regularly because of her mother's profession, Alyssa is new to having and being a friend. As such, she purports to trust Madison but she is too ready to accept that Madison would deceive her to the paparazzi and the tabloids. Similarly, Alyssa has not given her own mother a chance to do the right thing with regards to sharing the identify of Alyssa's father. Given the opportunity to share or defend Alyssa, both Madison and Jessica Ashton are respectful and accommodating. But, like many young people, having taken few opportunities to develop friendships or engage her mother, Alyssa doesn't know what to expect and consequently she is most comfortable expecting disappointment. There are more than a few lessons to learn about friendship here.

But the message, that we often wish for that which another has, is explicitly depicted in A Taste of Heaven.  While Alyssa truly believes what Madison has is A Taste of Heaven, Madison revels in the wealth, celebrity and independence of Alyssa's existence.

"My crazy family ... and especially since yours is so fancy, I wanted everything to be perfect when you stayed overnight." 
...
"Coming here," Alyssa continued, "for me, it's like a taste of heaven." (pg. 102)

Meg Tilly shows that, while the worries of these middle-grade girls may not be life-threatening but rather anticipated stresses based in perception and humiliation, they are very real.  Madison and Alyssa each worry about others' perceptions of their wealth or lack thereof, their appearances, their acceptance by others, and their privacy.  Essentially they are concerned with possible emotional bullying that comes with rejection and dejection from those about whom they care and even those they don't. Luckily they both learn a little bit more about appreciating what they have rather than what they don't, a valuable lesson for anyone to learn or at least of which to be reminded.

Modo: Ember's End

Be part
of an extraordinary
youngCanLit experience!

Author Arthur Slade and illustrator Christopher Steininger are collaborating to bring readers one extra story of Modo, the steampunk hero of The Hunchback Assignments series. Though the series ended with a fourth volume, Island of Doom (reviewed here on July 16, 2012), Arthur Slade and Christopher Steininger are bringing Modo and fellow agent Octavia back in a graphic novel called Modo: Ember's End.


Modo: Ember's End is the basis of an indiegogo campaign to raise $15,000 for the production of this 72-page graphic novel.  The campaign, only on until April 11, 2013, allows donors to contribute and choose from a variety of perks, including a digital copy of the book, a collector's edition, signed copies, limited edition prints of the artwork or an original page of art.  And if you can afford to put out the big bucks, you'll even get a "steampunk portrait of you or your dog or subject of your choice."

Details about the book, the campaign, and perks for your contribution can be found at http://igg.me/at/modo.

Just to get your interest up (if the promise of a limited edition copy of an extra story about Modo isn't enough), check out this video uploaded by Arthur Slade about Modo: Ember's End.

Uploaded by Arthur Slade on March 2, 2013 to YouTube.

And this is the book trailer posted.

Uploaded by Arthur Slade on March 5, 2013 to YouTube.

Remember - it's only on until April 11, 2013, so don't miss this extraordinary opportunity.

Arrow

Written by R. J. Anderson

Orchard Books

978-1-40831-262-9

357 pp.

Ages 11-15

2011

Every once in a while I decide to review a book that was published a few years ago just to bring attention to a worthwhile read that I may have missed.  In fact, I have enjoyed the first two books of R. J. Anderson's Faery Rebels series, Spell Hunter (HarperCollins Canada, 2009) and Wayfarer (HarperCollins Canada, 2010), reading them when they were published, and had looked forward to a third book in the series.

However, the third book was never published in Canada, only in the United Kingdom, and its name follows the alternate titles for the books published in Great Britain.  Arrow is the title of this third book, following Knife (Orchard Books, 2009) and Rebel (Orchard Books, 2010).

So, now that I've tried to clarify that there were only two books in the series prior to Arrow, but with different titles depending on where they were published, I insist that you read them before this third book just because you'll not want to miss out on the superb story-telling and strong characterizations of the very different faeries and how they all come together in Arrow.  And in case you're convinced that faeries are for little girls, I might remind you of a mermaid prejudice I had that was completely unfounded. These faery books are not for little girls.  There is romance and treachery and bullying.  In Spell Hunter, there is talk of stealing children, a suicide attempt and a man using laudanum as a pain-killer.  Not your typical faery book.  What is typical of each of R. J. Anderson's books is the flavourful and robust language (e.g., "Great Gardener" is the faery expletive) and the intricate plots and subplots, chock full of connections and relationships, and secrets and revelations.  And I haven't even mentioned the humour.

Just for a little background, in Knife (a.k.a. Spell Hunter), a world of faeries live in the Oak, rarely leaving, for fear of death or losing their powers, except as dictated by their queen. Knife has become the Queen's hunter and freely leaves the Oak, reacquainting herself with a human young man, Paul. Together they learn the truth of the Sunderling, an event that cost the faeries their magic.

With the last vestiges of magic, fifteen-year-old faery, Linden, leaves the Oak in Rebel (a.k.a. Wayfarer), and with a human ally, Timothy, attempts to find other faeries and help the Oakenfolk recover their magic as well as ensure the people don't die off.  Together they bring back the Stone of Naming from the Green Isles, home of the Children of Rhys, to help protect them from the Empress, a self-appointed ruler who learns the true names of faeries to bind them to her forever.

Now the Oakenfolk, all female faeries under Queen Valerian, with Rob and the rebel faeries who escaped the Empress' control, and Garan and other Children of Rhys, who'd taken the Stone of Naming and left the Green Isles without permission, are preparing for an attack by the Empress. 

Back on the Green Isles, the Elders of the Children of Rhys are convinced that they have been cursed by the removal of the Stone of Naming, but are assured that they are not threatened by the Empress.  Rhosmari, formerly betrothed to Garan, is determined to retrieve the Stone of Naming.  Leaving the Green Isles through its secret portal, Rhosmari heads to the mainland and meets Martin, a faery who is trying to evade the Empress and her "enforcers", the Blackwings.  Having heard that the Empress has already attacked the Oak and burned it to the ground, Martin offers to work with Rhosmari to find Garan.

R. J. Anderson's newest faery rebel book plays on several keys themes, including trust vs. deceit, and freedom vs. bondage. While the power and control that the Empress seeks, at all costs, is the obvious example of bondage, Martin recognizes that the Children of Rhys have their own bondage.  Moreover the subjugation to which Rhosmari and others subconsciously relinquish control goes beyond these extraordinary constraints, often including the much more typical ones of guilt, remorse, survival, and love. The extent to which the individual chooses to accept or reject these restraints or even see them as such depends on the individual.  And the submission of one's trust to another, for their affections, or their loyalty or their admiration.

But if you're not looking for understanding or clarification with regards to these themes, and would still enjoy a fantastical romp, Arrow (after Knife and Rebel) provides an inviting portal into the faery realm.  But be forewarned:  Arrow's world of faeries has little in common with those in which faeries scatter sparkly dust and flit around granting wishes.  This one is immersed in politics, love, and allegiances - all the issues sure to cause heated discussions among humans and faeries alike.

Every Never After: Book Launch Party (Toronto)

_________________________________________________

Penguin Canada

invites you to join

YA author

Lesley Livingston

and celebrate the launch of her newest book

Every Never After

the sequel to Once Every Never

Friday March 22, 2013

7:30 p.m.

The Dominion on Queen

500 Queen Street East

Toronto Ontario

(corner of Queen and Sumach, 

between Parliament and DVP)

RSVP by March 15 to

youngreaders@ca.penguingroup.com

_________________________________________________

Shadow Girl

by Patricia Morrison
Tundra Books
978-1-77049-290-5
217 pp.
Ages 9-13
2013

A recurring theme in many books I've read in the past year and a half has been the abandonment of children, whether by choice, by accident, or by misfortune.  There was Fostergirls by Liane Shaw (Second Story Press, 2011); The Tiffin by Mahtab Narsimhan (Dancing Cat Books, 2011);  No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis (Groundwood Books, 2011); Middle of Nowhere by Caroline Adderson (Groundwood Books, 2012); I'll Be Home Soon by Luanne Armstrong (Ronsdale, 2012); and  A Tinfoil Sky by Cyndi Sand-Eveland (Tundra, 2012). Yet as predominant as this theme may be, each of these books, as does Shadow Girl by Patricia Morrison, takes a unique perspective on being without one's parents.

In December of 1963, Jules is only eleven years old but has become very self-sufficient living without a mom (who left when she was 4) and with a dad who has a serious drinking problem.  Though Jules will not acknowledge that her dad is an alcoholic until much later in the book, she believes that she knows how to keep things relaxed so he won't drink and what to expect when he does.  She makes most of her meals herself (when there's food in the house) and tries to keep things clean and tidy to prevent her dad from getting angry because he is a mean drunk.  But, calling her a "bloody stinking leech" (pg. 30) for being hungry and asking for more food isn't half as bad as him throwing food and dishes and pulling out the phone or staying away overnight.  Luckily Jules finds refuge in her bedroom where she likes to make blanket forts that help her feel secure.  And she loves to visit the local Zeller's toy department where she sits and reads or plays and now knows the two employees, Mrs. Adamson and Francis.  

But when dad doesn't come home for days, and she's left alone to fend for herself, Jules vacillates between anger and frustration aimed at anyone or anything ("I hate you, house, as much as you hate me! Stupid walls.  Stupid brown carpet.  Smelly, old kitchen.  I hate you!"; pg. 58), guilt and making resolutions (e.g., "Oh, dad, I'm sorry.  I won't do it again.  I won't ask for anything.  I'll leave you alone.  Just come back.  Please!"; pg. 59) to disqualifying herself, feeling worthless, non-existent, or crazy (e.g., "How can a stranger be like this to me? To Jules, the stinking weirdo?"; pg. 66)  But even with Jules trying to hide her dad's absence, Mrs. Adamson picks up on her sadness and learns some of the story, calling in the Catholic Children's Aid.

So, just days before Christmas, Jules enters temporary foster care while the Catholic Children's Aid attempts to find her father.  When he contacts them, Jules finds herself facing even greater challenges, negotiating between the inequitable treatment at her foster family's house, and her dad and his uncertain role in her life.

While there are some moments of surprising delight for Jules, her story is not a happy one, but it certainly is not a unique one.  She is a child who has had to grow up too fast and become responsible for herself, albeit without the maturity and financial support needed to be successful.  While everyone purports to want to help her, most of them have placed some limitations on that help, whether it be because of constraints dealing with time, money, or emotional engagement.  For all she has endured, Jules is still a young girl who must imagine happiness and unconditional love but even that is becoming more and more difficult.

How am I going to get through all the years of being a kid and getting pushed around?  How am I going to make it?  (pg. 182)

Patricia Morrison is able to get inside Jules' head and provide her with the confusing thoughts of a child in turmoil and at risk.  Jules' self-talk shows her confusion in finding the right voice that would keep her safe and worthy of love.  She's a multiple personality (probably like most of us), trying to decide which one personality will be the most successful: the brash girl who willingly skips school and hangs out at Zeller's; the girl who hides in her blanket fort and lacks the substance to be more than a shadow; or just a young girl who can enjoy childish pursuits, like skating and playing with dolls, as well as accept the affection of others.  As I said, Jules' story in Shadow Girl does not necessarily end on a happy note, but Patricia Morrison does allow Jules to come out from her vague Shadow Girl status and gather the substance and texture to become a daughter, a sister and a friend, and completely real.