Spic-and-Span!: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by David Parkins

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-380-3

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

August, 2014

I join young readers regularly in the pleasure of reading the Great Idea Series, illustrated biographies of little-known but vastly-important innovators from history.  Monica Kulling's newest edition in the series focuses on American Lillian Gilbreth who was at the leading edge of workplace and household efficiency. 

Though she came from a wealthy California family, Lillian looked beyond an easy life, choosing first to attend university and then working as an industrial engineer and psychologist with her husband (whom she married in 1904).  Their company, Gilbreth Inc., used motion picture technology to assess the efficiency of workers at different tasks with the aim of increasing productivity and reducing worker fatigue.  With eleven children at home, the "Gilbreth System" helped keep the household running well and the children's tasks and progress charted.

But the unexpected death of her husband and partner in 1924 thrust new challenges upon Lillian, not the least of which was caring for her children.  Her eleven children.  But, because she was a woman, her vast experience meant little to those hiring industrial engineers, until Macy's department store hired her to improve their cash-room operations.   And the same principles that she applied there to save space and steps were implemented successfully into kitchen design. (We have Lillian Gilbreth to thank for the circular design of counters, appliances and sinks in most of our kitchens today.) By always examining how work could become more efficient, Lillian Gilbreth continued to innovate, even designing the first electric mixer.

Monica Kulling has again shared a fascinating individual, here Lillian Gilbreth, whose contribution to our world has been far-reaching and yet largely unrecognized.  And the wealth of that contribution is even more remarkable as it flourished at the turn of the twentieth century when women had fewer opportunities to extend themselves beyond work in homes and factories.  The busyness of the technologically advancing times and Lillian Gilbreth's large household are effectively depicted in David Parkins' illustrations, which are historically detailed, from the clothing, shoes and hairstyles to the kitchen appliances and flooring, and to the architecture at the time.  With Monica Kulling's illuminating text and David Parkins' comprehensive drawings, Spic-and-Span is a wonder in itself!  Lillian Gilbreth would be pleased with their collaborative efficacy in telling her story.

Push: The Game, Book 2

by Eve Silver

Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins

978-0-06219221-9(hc)

978-0-06219218-9 (ebook) 

978-1-46767679-3 (audio)

352 pp.

Ages 13-17

June, 2014

Reviewed from Harper Audio edition

When Miki Jones last saw her new boyfriend Jackson Tate, they'd been pulled from their high school reality to fight the alien Drau yet again, and she'd witnessed Jackson's death.  Upon her return, with no time evidently passing, Jackson does not respawn with her, suggesting he is truly gone. Strangely he has not been wiped from anyone's memory, and his car and keys are still at the pizza place, which should not happen if he'd died.

Luka, who is also part of the Game, (see my review of Rush for an explanation about how teens are pulled into it), suggests that Jackson may not be dead but being dealt with by the Committee for breaking one of their many rules. Regardless, she is now the team leader and making decisions for Luka, Tyrone, Kendra and Lien when they get pulled next to fight the Drau. This fight with the Drau reveals even more questions for Miki, beyond where Jackson is.  Why are Kendra's scores so high for a player who is so terrified and hangs back? Why are there so many similarities between video games they play and the Game? And is the girl with the green eyes who saves Miki's life really Jackson's dead sister Lizzie or a Drau shell in Lizzie's image?

When Miki respawns, uninjured, to meet with the Committee, she learns that they have Jackson and are attempting to "discipline" him for inappropriate actions.  Even though Miki is in love with Jackson, she is very honest about his actions and she debates with the Committee about their own recklessness and leadership responsibilities.  They may respect her arguments but when given a choice, Miki can do nothing else but remain in the Game.

Though Jackson and Miki are reunited shortly thereafter, their relationship continues to be strained with new circumstances, including the Drau breaking into Miki and Jackson's living world at a school Halloween dance, with the suspicious attention two girls at school begin to have in Miki and Jackson, and their choices about revealing certain truths and not others.  Yep, a completely natural teen relationship with some alien-fighting game to add more tension.

I realized how annoyed I was getting at Miki for her continuous flip-flopping about trusting Jackson: Is he really into her?  Is he telling her the truth about everything? Can she trust him with her secrets? Will he put her in jeopardy with his choices? Should she tell him about his sister?  One minute she is defending him to the death, thrilled to be in his arms, and then she's condemning him for not telling her everything which must indicate how he feels about her.  But, I realized that Miki who admittedly has anxiety issues is reacting as a person who has experienced trauma: her mother died from lung cancer, her father is now drinking excessively and denying his addiction, and Miki is part of a game that requires that she annihilate scary and powerful Drau who want to take over her world. Her irritability and mood swings are actually the least of her problems, especially when she really doesn't have anyone she can talk to about all of it.

Sadly, for Miki, Eve Silver takes her even closer to the edge by the end of Push, although this is fortunate for readers of The Game.  The heart-stopping action of the Game itself will have readers expecting the Drau to appear at any moment, even more so after they push into the teens' reality and civilians such as Miki's best friend Carly can end up in the Game without being pulled by the Committee.  The changing rules make everyone a little more jittery and defensive.  It's hard to be on the offensive when you don't know what the rules are anymore.  And by creating a self-righteous, all-knowing committee to oversee the Game, Push becomes part of an allegory about war and power. Eve Silver takes Rush and Push beyond the video game-scenario and into a global sphere in which humans are simply pawns and terror can be used to control them. Thankfully Miki and Jackson's romance is the one bright light that suggests that love may triumph over all. But we will need to wait until 2015 when Crash, the third book in The Game series comes out to see whether this is ultimately true.

A Brush Full of Colour: The World of Ted Harrison

by Margriet Ruurs and Katherine Gibson

An Ann Featherstone Book, Pajama Press

978-1-927485-63-7

40 pp.

All ages

For release September, 2014

I hope that the above reproduction of the book cover of A Brush Full of Colour adequately represents the brilliance of the book's images and the story of artist Ted Harrison, as told by award-winning children's author Margriet Ruurs and biographer Katherine Gibson. If I could have posted a larger graphic of the book here, I would have, because this book is virtually larger than life.

Within a scant 40 pages, the authors share Ted Harrison's progression from the coal-mining County Durham in England, to art school and military service post-WWII, teaching, immigration to Canada, and full-time artistry.  Art was nurtured from a young Harrison by his father and by his own love of reading, and thrived when living in India, Africa, Malaysia, and New Zealand, using ink and watercolours, oils, and acrylics, learning to depict only positive images, as

"There's enough sadness and misery in the world without hanging it on our walls." (pg. 14)

But it's Ted Harrison's move with his wife and son to northern Alberta and the Yukon that compelled him to break free of his early art styles which could not evoke the life and grandeur of the northern land and sky.  Incorporating the colours and techniques he'd seen in his travels, Ted Harrison explored using wild and bold colours and outlining in black, ultimately creating his effusive trademark style.

Northern Education, 1989 by Ted Harrison; Reproduced
on back cover of A Brush Full of Colour

Biographies for young readers can be difficult to write and organize successfully.  Too often, the story and details are lost in dense text, frequently with few graphics, especially when dealing with historical figures.  But A Brush Full of Colour is an exemplary youngCanLit biography having: informative text, organized well under headings such as Childhood, Travelling the World, Life in the North, and A Full-Time Artist; an assortment of visuals, including photographs and samples of Ted Harrison's artwork throughout his career; quotes from the artist; and key features of non-fiction texts such as a table of contents, index and resources section.

The artwork is rich and spirited, the artist thoughtful and A Brush Full of Colour's portrayal honours both.

The Seven Sequels: They're coming!

The Countdown Begins!

On October 1, 2014, The Seven Sequels, the seven sequels to The Seven Series, will be launching officially.  

When The Seven Series hit the shelves in October of 2012, no one could have anticipated its popularity with young readers.  I saw boys at school who rarely pick up a library book waiting for the return of a particular volume.  I had an intermediate teacher reading an advanced reading copy I had of Ink Me (Richard Scrimger, 2012) and then students relentlessly pestering me about the ETA of the books.  And last year, three of the ten nominees for the Red Maple award of the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading were volumes in The Seven Series!

The Seven Sequels will bring seven new titles from the same seven authors who brought us The Seven Series, with the seven grandsons of adventurer David McLean, newly passed, undertaking new adventures that will take them from Cambridge to Uruguay.

The books are:

• Sleeper by Eric Walters
• Broken Arrow by John Wilson
• Coda by Ted Staunton
• The Wolf and Me by Richard Scrimger
• From the Dead by Norah McClintock
• Tin Soldier by Sigmund Brouwer
• Double You by Shane Peacock

For more about The Seven Sequels, visit www.thesevensequels.com

But listen to this!

Here's something else for readers to get excited about: not only will there be digital editions with the classic paper copies, Orca Book Publishers is offering the unabridged audiobooks (i.e., the entire book is read) of the series! (In fact, it's possible to pre-order the complete Seven Series or Seven Sequels as an audiobook collection.) For audiovisual learners, audiobooks are an amazing way for students who learn best by listening to get into books. Personally, I prefer audiobooks as an alternative to the radio while I drive.

Freebies!

To help promote the upcoming series and the audiobooks, Orca Book Publishers is giving away free audio samples from The Seven Sequels--one each week until October 1, 2014. The first audio sample is Chapter 1 of Eric Walters' Sleeper and can be downloaded here.  New samples can be downloaded at http://www.thesevensequels.com/audio.php each week until the books are out.

Let the anticipation begin!

Look for reviews of the books in The Seven Sequels in the upcoming weeks here at CanLit for LittleCanadians.

Song of the Sword

by Edward Willett

Coteau Books

978-1550505801

224 pp.

Ages 12+

May, 2014

While fifteen-year-old Ariane Forsythe's life is definitely soaked in the reality of a mother who disappeared from a psych ward, an aunt battling cancer, and the torment of mean girls Shania McHenry and Felicia Knight at her new school, Edward Willet has bathed Song of the Sword in an ethereal quality that may or may not allow Ariane to ride out her burdens.  Readers will certainly hope she can, though I'm not too sure Ariane has the imagination to believe this, yet.

When suspended from school for fighting, Ariane heads to Wascana Lake to hide out from her Aunt Phyllis. An eerie singing draws Ariane to the water, allowing her to almost walk on it and then descending an aqueous stairway into the lake.  Wally Knight, fourteen-year-old younger brother and whipping bag of witchy Felicia, is also finding some refuge at Wascana Lake when he happens to witness Ariane's water-walking, and follows her.  A woman of rippling water, calling herself the Lady of the Lake, informs Ariane that, as her heir, she must prevent Merlin from restructuring the shards of the famed Excalibur sword which would allow him to unite the Faerie and human worlds.  Seems Ariane's mother was first offered this task several years ago, just before she disappeared, but had refused.  Bestowed with the Lady's power with water,

"Let the waters live within you, and you within the waters.  The power be yours" (pg. 37)

Ariane realizes that she may be able to find her mother. Although he knows that it will infuriate his sister, Wally insists on helping Ariane, as the Lady recommends. Crushing on Ariane probably has something to do with it too.

"The more he learned about Ariane, the more he liked her.  The fact that he and she had a magical quest to complete was just gravy."(pg. 53)

Enjoying having someone with whom to share, Ariane is pleased that Wally becomes a fast friend and the two work together to learn more about Merlin.  After being followed repeatedly by a man in a Ford Focus decaled with an ECS logo and some scary computer activity, they suspect that Merlin is the incredibly wealthy Rex Major, the head of Excalibur Computer Systems. And when Rex Major is reported to be heading to the Northwest Territories to check out a diamond mine, Ariane is sure that the first shard of Excalibur will be found there.  Learning how to use the Lady's water magic and about some family secrets, Ariane and Wally accept the challenge to get to the Northwest Territories and recover that shard before Rex Major does.

Because Edward Willett ensures that there is a lot of action in Song of the Sword as well as emotional issues of family and trust, it's a fantasy that will grip teens of both genders.  I'll bet that Ariane's travels by water magic–moving between any interconnected conduits and sources of fresh water–will provide some intriguing imagery, and quite a few laughs, especially when she has Wally in tow.  And Edward Willett blends the humour with the ethereal fantasy of Song of the Sword so easily.  As Ariane realizes, it can all seem so silly (life, that is, not the story).

"It's just – it's all so silly.  We're on a quest to find a mystical sword and save the planet from the most powerful sorcerer of all time – but we can't get to it right now because we have to clean our rooms!" (pg. 65)

Readers will be right in there, cheering for Ariane and Wally, worried with every obstacle that jumps into their path, hopeful that the bad guy won't prevail.  Luckily, Edward Willet has only just begun The Shards of Excalibur series.  There are five books set for the series, with Book 2, Twist of the Blade, set for release in September.

If you're fortunate to be in Regina, the setting for the series, on September 25, 2014 (7 p.m.), consider attending the book launch for the series and Twist of the Blade at the Assiniboia Gallery on Smith Street.  And I'll get onto Twist of the Blade as soon as I can to share whether the two major ripples at the end of Song of the Sword become typhoons, heaving against and between our young heroes.  Let's hope not.

Totem: Book Launch (Burlington, ON)

Join

Jennifer Maruno

author of

Warbird (Napoleon, 2010)
When the Cherry Blossoms Fell (Dundurn, 2009)
Cherry Blossom Winter (Dundurn, 2012)
Kid Soldier (Dundurn, 2013)

for the book launch of her newest historical fiction title

Totem

by Jennifer Maruno
Dundurn

978-1-459719347

136 pp.

Ages 9-12

July, 2014

on

Sunday September 7, 2014

2 p.m.

at

A Different Drummer Books

513 Locust St. 

Burlington, ON
905-639-0925

Here's the blurb that the publisher Dundurn has posted on their website about Totem.  You can read more at Jennifer Maruno's website here.

As an orphaned white boy in a school full of Native students, fourteen-year-old Jonny Joe isn't like any of the others at the island Redemption Residential School off the west coast. When the advances of Father Gregory disturb Jonny, he joins another boy in an escape to a mountain cave. But when they leave the cave, the world as they knew it no longer exists. 

The boys travel to a native village in a sheltered bay, where Jonny becomes skilled in the art of carving. When a steamship enters the cove, the party of sightseers brings a disease that annihilates most of the people in the village. Meanwhile, Jonny has learned the secret of his past and when he returns to the present, Jonny carves a totem pole to honour the members of the village.

Retrieved from 

http://www.dundurn.com/books/totem 

on August 13, 2014.

The Elevator Ghost

by Glen Huser

Illustrations by Stacy Innerst

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-426-8

168 pp.

Ages 7-12

August 2014

I do believe that this will be the year of scary stories, as I'm seeing a lot of anthologies of ghost stories, scary picture books and, here, scary stories embedded in a middle grade novel.  While some may like to keep these youngCanLit books for occasions at which getting scared is part of the experience e.g., at Halloween or camp fires, some readers love frightening themselves at least a little (and sometimes a lot!) in everything they read.  Hey, we all have favourite genres.  So, for those who enjoy a bit of a fright now and then, without going for all out horror, The Elevator Ghost by award-winning author Glen Huser will appease that hunger for trepidation.

As an assortment of children from the apparently haunted Blatchford Arms go trick or treating within the apartments' two towers, Carolina Giddle is driving there in her trinket-covered VW bug, with her pet tarantula, Chiquita, to become its newest resident.  Though Carolina doesn't know any of its living residents, she soon becomes a welcome addition, especially since her card lists her as "Experienced babysitter, mah-jong instructor and vegetarian caterer.  Will do light housekeeping and séances upon request." (pg. 29)

Carolina is first snatched up to babysit the Fergus twins, Dwayne and Dwight, whose pranking has lost them all prior babysitters in the building.  Though the boys try to pull a variety of pranks on her, Carolina barely acknowledges them, finally setting down to tell them a ghost story while they munch on bone rattlers in the light-less living room. Mesmerized by the story of a skeleton's foot and a couple of jokesters, the boys lose focus on their own antics.

She's similarly successful with other children in the building, including taming the night frights from the Croop children, the painting mischief out of one of the Lubinitsky girls and the tantrums from Angelo Bellini, 5. With her spine-chilling stories about ghosts, aliens and monsters and her miscellany of treats and props, Carolina wins over all the children, one family at a time.

However, Carolina has a few secrets she's not quite ready to share, though if anyone had been invited to join her for tea in the building's sunroom each evening, they'd have their own story to tell.  But the Halloween party she has for all the residents finally brings Carolina's own story to life, in a manner of speaking.

For the requisite fright that Halloween demands, The Elevator Ghost will fulfil the purpose eloquently, without terrifying younger readers.  Glen Huser has the dry wit that imbues the text with humour, thereby minimizing its scariness, but without turning the book into one that could only be classified as a funny read.  He has a light touch when it comes to spicing the story with evocative details, knowing when to add a touch of ridiculous imagery, or eerie characters, or wry dialogue.  Not surprising he's won the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature (for his book Stitches from Groundwood, 2003).  Glen Huser obviously knows what children like to read (he was a teacher and school-librarian) and what does and doesn't work, because he has all the right stuff to engage his young readers.  The trick for adults will be to wait until Halloween to share The Elevator Ghost so you won't need any other treats. Good luck with that one.