The Fabulous World of Mr. Fred

by Lili Chartrand

Illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-346-4

32 pp.

Ages 5+

September 2014

The award-winning Monde fabuleux de Monsieur Fred (Dominique et Compagnie, 2012) has finally been translated into English, introducing new readers to the beautifully illustrated story of friendship, imagination and stories.

Pierrot is a daydreamer, a young boy who loves stories and using his imagination.  Coming across an older man sitting on a park bench and reading an invisible book, the boy introduces himself and joins the man, Mr. Fred.  Instead of treating the man as crazy, Pierrot encourages Mr. Fred to share the stories in his book.  Invited back, Pierrot enjoys Mr. Fred's magical stories, delighting in their mesmeric quality and the joy the story-teller derives.  Finally Mr. Fred feels comfortable to disclose his own story, revealing a tragedy that leads him to meeting Pierrot.  And, though Pierrot tries to excite other children about Mr. Fred and his book, they laugh at him.  That is, all but one little girl, Lila.  Sadly Lila never meets Mr. Fred.  But his friendship and stories become the catalyst for Pierrot and Lila's friendship and future.

Lili Chartrand's lovely story about the healing nature of friendship and the gift of imagination is enhanced with Gabrielle Grimard's expressive illustrations. Her use of watercolours gives the images an ethereal fluidity, though the intense gouache and definition with pencil help ground the story in bright reality.  The Fabulous World of Mr. Fred easily melds intensity and lightness of text and pictures to share a story of similar depth and tenderness.

The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing

by C. K. Kelly Martin

Dancing Cat Books

978-1-770864115

256 pp.

Ages 13+

September, 2014

The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing, as a title, suggests the lightness of song and joy. But those moments are few and far between in the actual story. That's because The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing is a story of secrets, confusion, anger, and grief, with only a few bars of a sweet song that may be heard in the background, leaving you hoping the song will make its way to the forefront and be sung loud and clear and passionately.

When Serena LeBlanc's older brother, Devin, trades a life of Mensa brilliance at university for drugs and life on the street, she could never have foreseen the impact it would have on her and her family.  Having endured Devin's plunge into drugs, theft and erratic behaviour, culminating with his disappearance, Serena's parents seem to have disassociated themselves from any life without Devin.  Mom is constantly on eBay purchasing new Swarovski figurines and Dad just seems to go through the motions of life. Her eldest brother Morgan, a celebrity VJ at MuchMusic, lives with his partner Jimmy in Toronto, but still tries to offer the support they all need to remain an intact family.  Serena, not yet sixteen, loses almost thirty pounds and begins dating Jacob Westermark, leaving behind her old friendships, and enjoying a new popularity.

But recognizing an incident at a party as an attempt at sexual exploitation, Serena swears off Jacob and guys in general, finding new friends in girls Nicole and Genevieve who have been humiliated by their boyfriends too.  Bonding with the girls over their disappointment in boys provides Serena some refuge from her parents' detachment, as does a part-time job as a cashier at Total Drug Mart.  But two events change everything for Serena.

A young man who regularly drops into Total Drug Mart begins to show an interest in Serena.  But Serena is torn between being loyal to her friends and their boyfriend-less status and becoming involved with a really nice guy, Gage Cochrane.  Worse still, Serena doesn't know how to be herself around Gage.  She still sees herself as the chubby girl who would need to throw herself at a guy to keep him interested.  Gage, on the other hand, seems fairly well-adjusted and is not impressed with Serena's sexual antics.

Then, while attending one of Jimmy's art shows in Toronto, Serena spots Devin on the street.  But when he flees from her, catching a streetcar, Serena is left with more questions about who her brother has become and whether he wants to come home ever.

It's painful to read Serena's attempts to understand and find her brother, especially as she examines her relationship with him and how she sees herself.

...I can see with absolute clarity how the tangled mess of my former blubber, personal insecurities, and stupid need for some kind of male appraisal have shaped me into a person I don't want to be. (pg. 114) 

As she did in My Beating Teenage Heart, Yesterday and Tomorrow, C. K. Kelly Martin expertly weaves a story based on the typical confusion of the teen years but with an atypical, devastating situation that impacts that confusion all the more.  In The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing, she imbues the story with a grittiness and harshness about young relationships, especially in the shadow of social media exploitation, and a young man's severance from his family, and creates a series of scenarios you hope you'll never have to experience.  You won't necessarily like Serena (or at least I didn't, at the beginning) but you'll understand how she has become the person she has.  Her life is messy but it's not until she takes some responsibility for that mess and faces that she can't force things to turn out the way she wants that life begins to feel better.  She can't make Devin come home.  She can't make her parents change.  She can't make Gage act like she thinks he should.  Serena cannot make her life all sweet and lovely but she can control herself and her choices and that makes things all the sweeter.  C. K. Kelly Martin gets that very right and, without making Serena's life a Broadway musical, she allows her to find a song that is sure to become sweeter. 

Kissing Frogs: Book Launch (Toronto)

Join 

and 

debut author 

Alisha Sevigny 

for the launch 

of her young adult book

Kissing Frogs

978-1-927746-66-0

231 pp.

Ages 12+

Reviewed here

Interview with Alisha Sevigny 

on

Sunday, November 23, 2014

7 - 9 p.m.

at

College Street Bar

574 College Street

Toronto, ON

Alisha Sevigny will be reading from Kissing Frogs, 

and signing copies of her book which will be available for purchase (cash only).

Jon Klassen: Author/Illustrator Event (Toronto)

Jon Klassen,

author and illustrator of


award-winning picture books

I Want My Hat Back 

This is Not My Hat

and 

illustrator of

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole

will give a short presentation about his work as well as sign his books

on

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 

5pm – 7pm 

at

Little Island Comics 

742 Bathurst Street

Toronto, ON

Kissing Frogs: Interview with author Alisha Sevigny

Yesterday, I reviewed Kissing Frogs, a new YA novel by Alisha Sevigny and today the author has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about her book and her writing for CanLit for LittleCanadians. Thanks to Colleen McKie at Fierce Ink Press for arranging for this author extra.

Author Alisha Sevigny

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

HK:  There is a strong environmental theme to Kissing Frogs.  Would you consider this the most important message you wanted to convey when you were writing the book or was it just one of several you wanted to focus on?

AS:  When I started writing the book this was definitely the main message I wanted to convey. However, as the story and characters evolved it was interesting to see different layers emerge. Themes of self-acceptance and self-definition came up, as well as being open to different people, places and experiences. The book even addresses bullying, which was never an intention but sometimes your characters get ideas of their own!


HK:  So, let’s talk about frogs.  Do you have a background in biology or zoology, or did your interest in these little guys come from another experience?  And, why frogs?

AS:  I don’t have an extensive background in biology but have always enjoyed it and been interested in animal conservation. The reason why frogs figure so prominently in the books is that I wrote it while traveling through Panama, where I learned about what’s happening with frogs there and all over the world. And the scary truth is they’re rapidly going extinct, mainly in part to a fungus called Chytrid. Panama’s national symbol, the golden frog, is one of the species that is believed to now exist only in these mini-arks that house some of the last survivors of their kind.


HK:  Kissing Frogs speaks a lot about self-acceptance, with Jess not sure how she prefers to be seen: as a brainiac or as uber-popular.  Which of these two were you most like in high school and would you have preferred to be otherwise?

AS:  I definitely leaned more towards the scholastic side of things, though I did love drama and acting in the school plays. I was a bit of a mish-mash I suppose; it’s hard to see your younger self objectively! I don’t think I would’ve preferred to be anything other than what I was because all those experiences made me who I am today.


HK:  This is your debut book.  Did you foresee it coming together easily or with difficulty, and how would you describe the actual experience of writing a book from conception to conclusion, through edits and finally publication?

AS:  The original story idea hit me as soon as I arrived in Panama, but it was definitely a process. I wrote the book in about 5 months and then there was a lot of going back and forth with edits with my agent and her intern at the time. And then more edits. And then more. Then we submitted it and ended up getting a deal with the US publisher, Swoon Romance, first, then the Canadian publisher, Fierce Ink Press. And then there were more edits. And then some more. Did I mention there were edits?


HK:  One of my favourite questions to ask authors is the following: Would you rather produce one book of extraordinary importance that becomes a classic but one to which all your writing is forever compared, or would you prefer to author many different books for different audiences and which could not be compared to each other?

AS:  Oooh, that’s a tough one. Maybe the second? I feel like there would be so much pressure with the first one. And I do have lots of ideas bubbling in me for different books and genres!


HK:  What other writing projects do you currently have in the works, and do you see yourself sticking with YA writing?

AS:  I definitely have ideas for other projects (and a couple unfinished manuscripts ;) that lean more towards the new adult/women’s commercial side of things but for now I’m focusing on YA; I love the genre and writing for kids and teens. Getting them involved in reading has always been a passion of mine. I was the BIGGEST bookworm when I was younger. My mom used to get so annoyed with me for reading ALL the time that she’d hide my books. No lie.

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

Many thanks to Alisha Sevigny 

for answering my questions and 

allowing us to post them here for everyone's reading pleasure. 

CanLit for LittleCanadians wishes her all the best 

with the publication of her debut novel.

Kissing Frogs: Blog Tour

by Alisha Sevigny
Fierce Ink Press
978-1-927746-66-0
231 pp.
Ages 12+
For release November 18, 2014

According to a myriad of fairy tales, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, though Kissing Frogs protagonist Jessica seems to be convinced she's already met him in gorgeous Miles. Sadly it explains why she's failing Grade 12 biology, having missed a lot of those classes to spend time with him. Guess it was worth it to claw her "way up out of Geeksville and into the realm of the Socially Acceptable" (pg. 20) Except now she has to give up on a trip to South Beach with Miles and her other uber-popular friends, and instead join her biology teacher, Mr. A., and the conservation group on a trip to Panama to help some endangered frogs and complete a make-up research project.

It's evident to her trip mates that Jess would rather be elsewhere and, as they had needed to fundraise to take part in this amazing learning opportunity, there's some animosity towards her as a last-minute addition, especially from two snarky girls, Chrissy and Kiki. Moreover, she's surprised (shocked?) to learn that a former middle-school friend, Travis Henley, who'd teased her relentlessly, calling her Messy Jessie or Princess, is also on the trip, though he'd known her as the brainiac she was before she'd reinvented herself.  Other kids rounding out the group are a quiet girl Harp; Juan, a short funny guy who is friends with Travis; and Steven a.k.a. Shaggy.

While Jess vacillates between her new popular self (and desperately tries to connect with Miles and her friends) and the smart girl who'd dreamed of going to Berkley (and desperately wants the others to know she's neither mean nor an idiot), she draws the attention of Enrique, the very handsome son of the villas' owners, while Travis insists on taking her on non-dates to prove he's not the same annoying guy she'd known.

Photo by Brian Gratwicke. Retrieved from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atelopus_zeteki1.jpg

The emphasis for the school group may be the conservation of those species whose very existence is endangered, if not already extirpated, but Jess herself recognizes that the potential loss of her true self is not dissimilar to the plight of the golden frog.  She is willing to give up on university in favour of her new friends and popularity, not unlike the choices Panama has made in favour of growth and westernization: on the surface, very attractive, but the repercussions may be unpredictable, disastrous, and permanent.  Should she maintain her status as the popular girl, who has a gorgeous boyfriend and friends and doesn't care about university, or rejuvenate her smart self, who works hard and shows compassion and understanding for others, frogs and humans alike? Strangely, her mother prefers the former while her academician father would prefer her to be true to herself.

"You should just make sure that the people you give up your dreams for are worth it," he said finally, looking back at the computer screen. "We shouldn't have to compromise who we are for others." (pg. 71)

Alisha Sevigny has written a light and breezy YA novel whose only angst is that which the teens experience as they try to navigate through the treacherous dating roads of not knowing how to act around those they may be interested in.  Getting a first boyfriend or girlfriend, or perhaps the first one that really matters, is scary, especially if you're not sure who you are yourself.  Jess may have reinvented herself but it's clear that, without her supporting cast, the role doesn't quite fit her.  Alisha Sevigny certainly gets that right, demonstrating that it's easier to just be yourself.  So you trip a little bit and skin your knees here and there.  In the end, you're able to pick yourself up and know which way the role is taking you without becoming a farce or a tragedy. At the trip's onset, Jess' attitude indicated that she thought she was going to be stuck with a bunch of unattractive frogs in Panama, leaving her true prince, Miles, behind.  Thankfully, with sufficient time and a fresh perspective, it's amazing how cute those frogs can turn out to be.  Spoiler alert: happy ending!

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

Check back tomorrow for my interview with Kissing Frogs author Alisha Sevigny.

Wallace Edwards: Book Launch, and Art Exhibition and Sale (Toronto)

Join author and artist

Wallace Edwards 

for the book launch and signings 

of his newest picture book

Unnatural Selections

Written and illustrated by Wallace Edwards

Orca Book Publishers

9781459805552 

32 pp.

Ages 4+

October 2014

on

December 6, 2014

from 2 - 4 p.m.

at

Ingram Gallery

49 Avenue Road

Toronto, ON

Unnatural Selections is described on Orca's website as follows:

A fantastical collection of unnatural selections!
Beloved illustrator Wallace Edwards invites us into the world of Professor I.B. Doodling, a traveling artist who takes suggestions from schoolchildren in order to create fantastical hybrid animals. The result of these visits is Unnatural Selections, a collection of magnificent beasts, from the stately Whalephant to the talented Lizabouboon. Sure to inspire the imagination, Wallace Edwards’s intricate illustrations invite you to pore over them again and again. A supplementary index lists additional creatures to spot throughout the book’s pages, encouraging readers to go back for a second, and a third, look.

Retrieved from http://www.orcabook.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2014 on November 8, 2014.

Plus

there will be an 

 Art Exhibition 

and Sale of Original Artwork

by Wallace Edwards

from

December 6 -16, 2014

Images retrieved from 

http://www.ingramgallery.com/artists/wallace_edwards/index.html on November 8, 2014.