The End of the Line

by Sharon E. McKay

Annick Press

978-1-55451-658-2

128 pp.

Ages 8-11

August, 2014

When the Germans occupied Amsterdam in May 1940, not everyone, and certainly not elderly brothers, Hans and Lars Gorter, were adversely affected immediately.  The two Dutch bachelors, both in their 60’s, continued to live in the home they had once shared with their mother in a quiet cul-de-sac across the road from her friend, Mrs. Vos, now 80.  They continued to work on a city tram, Hans driving it and Lars collecting tickets.  And they continued to keep to themselves and their routines, though they were becoming perplexed by the hatred being directed at the Jewish people and the Nazis insistence that suspicious behaviour of any sort be reported.

But in 1942 when a woman on the tram separates herself from the little girl accompanying her and is taken away by the Nazis, Lars claims the young girl as his niece and, with a quick release of the hand brake, Hans distracts the Nazi who leaves without the girl.  Hours later, the two men, befuddled as to what to do with the child, take her home.  That simple act, including taking her hands to walk her across the street, has Lars and Hans becoming unofficial uncles to little Beatrix.

To Lars it was as if the curl of a wave had come to rest in his palm To Hans it felt as if the gentlest creature on earth–a baby bird, perhaps–had nestled in his hand.  In that moment both felt the intense pride that comes with great responsibility as they guided the child safely across the street. (pg. 22-3) 

The brothers and Mrs. Vos raise her as Beatrix Gorter and have her schooled in Catholicism. Neighbours are encouraged into silence with polite threats of secrets to be revealed, and a new neighbour, the young Mrs. Lieve van der Meer, taking a special role in Beatrix’s education and upbringing.  And as Beatrix grows, and the persecution of the Jews escalates, and food shortages and strikes make life virtually impossible, the years pass, Beatrix ever hopeful that her mother will return.

This could have been another story of surviving the Holocaust but Sharon E. McKay doesn’t do the same as everyone.  It’s not about escaping or surviving.  It’s the story about naively opening one’s home and one’s heart to a stranger and finding both enriched in unexpected ways. The End of the Line is such a simple story about two unlikely and even reluctant heroes who jump in to help a little girl and find their lives changed forever.  What makes the story all the more poignant is the way in which Beatrix’s unofficial adoption creates a lovely new family of anomalous individuals.  And even with the horrors of Nazism and the persecution of the Jewish people and the Dutch under occupation, Sharon E. McKay is able still to provide moments of sweet tenderness and a reassuring ending that will fill one’s heart with gladness and one’s eyes with tears.  

Random Acts

Written by Valerie Sherrard

Puffin/Penguin Canada

978-0-14-319104-9

264 pp.

Ages 8-12

March, 2015

Doing random acts of kindness sounds like a noble endeavour, doesn't it? But, as we know, the best of intentions can often lead us astray, and for  Zoey, Jenna and Bean in Random Acts that’s just what happens, to hilarious results.

Of course, the reason things start to go awry is because popular Destiny Desotto decides to start a club called "Lend a Hand" but doesn’t invite Zoey and Jenna’s friend Bean because he “isn’t someone wh\e’d want in the group even if he did want in” (pg. 11) So they choose to start their own secret group called "The Random Acts".  But then hottie Dennis Fuller invites Zoey to join "Lend a Hand" and she’s convinced she can do it without the two clubs knowing about her involvement with the other.  Ultimately it’s all in aid of doing good deeds, so that’s OK, right? Not for Zoey, though.

She can’t help out her neighbours, the Kimuras, with their newspaper or their leaves without it escalating to a threat of charges being laid against her!  And Jenna’s good deed of donating old magazines to the student lounge has Zoey scrambling when a quiz she did as Destiny puts Destiny on the war path.  Even Jenna's cookies-for-the-teachers'-lounge good deed goes amok, resulting in detentions and the hospitalization of a teacher! And don’t even get me started on all the lying Zoey feels she has to do to cover her mistakes and to dampen the amorous intentions of Glenda, a client, to Zoey's dad, a psychologist.

In her efforts to contrive random acts of kindness—yes, that is an oxymoron—Zoey ends up being a liar, a stalker, a vandal, an eavesdropper, a gossip and a thief!  Some people just don’t know when you’re being kind. By making the kids’ random acts of kindness random, i.e., twisted, in both the funny sense and in the completely unpredictable way, Valerie Sherrard ensures hilarity without the malevolence that can come with manipulation.  Well played.  I always knew keeping secrets and misusing power—even if purportedly for good—were never good ideas. But they are funny ones, at least they are in Random Acts. 

Tuniit: Mysterious Folk of the Arctic

by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

Illustrated by Sean Bigham

Inhabit Media

978-1-927095-76-8

32 pp.

Ages 9-12

February 2015

Forget about references to the Dorset and Thule cultures that I once taught as part of the Grade 6 Heritage and  Citizenship curriculum.  (Of course, since then, that curriculum has changed from Aboriginal Peoples and European Explorers to First Nation Peoples and European Explorers and now Communities in Canada Past and Present.)  While I thought I was so enlightened ensuring that my students were made aware of pre-colonial Arctic cultures, my understanding was flawed.  Happily, this tome corrects any misconceptions I had and expands on the limitations in my knowledge by clarifying the veritable history of the people whom the Inuit encountered when they first arrived to the North American Arctic.

According to the stories passed by oral tradition and by archaeological evidence, Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley share the history of the Tuniit, a people who had been part of a migration coming out of Alaska and the people that the Inuit encountered upon their own migration into Canada’s Arctic.  Though the authors make it clear that what is told about the Tuniit is a blend of Inuit myth and fact, three attributes upon which all agree are that the Tuniit were short, strong, and shy.  They were not a nomadic people, like the Inuit,  instead establishing stone longhouses.  Their hunting, less reliant upon their flint-based tools, was based on their strength and speed, as well as use of inuksuit.  And, amidst the stories of their eccentricities and the Inuit predilection for kidnapping the beautiful Tuniit women, it was believed that the Tuniit were powerful shamans who could access the power trapped in the land.  But, as Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley offer,

We must remember the Tuniit as those who inspired myths, but who were real humans. (pg. 28)

Tuniit: Mysterious Folk of the Arctic is a reader-friendly and accessible history organized into 3 main discussions:  1) the differences between the Tuniit and the Inuit; 2) the unique features of the Tuniit; and 3) the science behind our understanding of the Tuniit.  But, beyond the information, told objectively but with the sensitivity needed when approaching discussions of a little understand peoples, the artwork of Sean Bigham provides visual interpretation of the Tuniit story and how they lived.  What a superb choice, using a concept artist such as Sean Bigham, who works in the video game industry, to generate illustrations of a people without visual representation.  In a neat package, Tuniit: Mysterious Folk of the Arctic presents readers, who should include all Canadian students, with a story that can and should be read, for history's sake. 

The Slippers' Keeper

by Ian Wallace

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-414-5

36 pp.

Ages 5-8

April 2015

I should have reviewed The Slippers’ Keeper in April when it first came out, as its inclusion on any list of picture books related to Earth Day and conservationism would have been more than appropriate.  The book cheers those like Joe Purdon, the subject of The Slippers’ Keeper, who against the odds continue to embrace nature as it is and should be, not as we can manipulate it to be.  And Ian Wallace’s retelling of Purdon’s story from childhood to his passing is an inspirational one for sharing the magnificence of nature and the propriety of saving it.

Born in 1914 into an Eastern Ontario farm family, Joe Purdon became enamoured by the natural world he trekked with his dog, Laddie.  The forests, the fens, the animals, birds, insects and plants were all integral to enriching his life.  Discovery of a small patch of eight Showy Lady’s Slipper plants, which he had just recently learned take 5-7 years to flower, has Joe at cross-purposes with his father who cannot see the value of nurturing that which isn’t a crop or food source. 

But, in his free time, Joe cares for the small population of plants, monitoring water levels, hand pollinating, clearing away hazards and predators, and thinning trees.  As he grows older, taking over the family farm, but turning to more word-working and maple-syrup production, Joe’s orchid population continues to multiply.  He passes that love of nature and the Showy Lady’s Slippers onto his youngest child, Rhodena.  Ultimately, that population which grows to thousands is entrusted to the local conservation authority to ensure its perpetuity.

The ethereal nature of Ian Wallace’s watercolour and pencil illustrations convey the earthly and wholesome spirit the natural world and Joe Purdon’s quest to conserve a small piece of heaven on earth.  Yet, the accurate details in the Showy Lady’s Slippers that adorn the fen’s groundcover are reminiscent of any botanical print of Redouté or Curtis.  Ian Wallace’s story of Joe Purdon’s heroic efforts at conservationism is in itself a splendid endeavour to enlighten, ecologically and aesthetically. 

Tilt Your Head, Rosie the Red

by Rosemary McCarney

Illustrated by Yvonne Cathcart

Second Story Press

978-1-927583-59-3

24 pp.

Ages 4-7

April, 2015

Rosemary McCarney whose Every Day is Malala Day (Second Story Press, 2014) was just awarded the 2015 Golden Oak readers' choice award of the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading has found her voice in bringing social justice issues to young readers.  In Tilt Your Head, Rosie the Red, the first in a series called A Rosie the Red Book, Rosemary McCarney introduces our heroine of compassion as she attempts to help a friend.

Rosie who likes to wear a red cape, because “It just feels right”(pg. 4) she tells her brother, is chagrined to see a classmate Fadimata bullied at school because she wears a headscarf.  As in most bullying situations, there are a few mean and hateful children but there are also those who are present but fearful and unable to act to help the young girl in the hijab.  But Rosie the Red is determined to find a solution, as she follows her protocol to help her think: Tilt your head, Rosie the Red. (pg. 9)

Not only does Rosie get Fadimata to help fashion a headscarf for her out of the red cape, she leads the way for other girls to support Fadimata in similar ways.  With the message that, “If we remember to look at things in new ways, everything is possible” (pg. 22), diversity in the school yard becomes acceptable as it should be.

Rosemary McCarney gets the right and light tone for her books, ensuring that she never preaches but always enlightens.  And the illustrations by Yvonne Cathcart, who has illustrated some favourites by Rachna Gilmore, Jo-Ellen Bogart and Shenaaz Nanji, are bright and bold and resonant with movement, adding to the story’s surge to justice and resolution.

I think this Rosie the Red series will be a welcome one for teachers and schools who are always looking for books to support important themes of diversity and social justice.  It continues to be evident that, with another new series, I’m a Great Little Kid, also being launched this spring, Second Story Press has strengthened its position as a Canadian publisher of worthwhile reads for young people.

A Book of Spirits and Thieves

by Morgan Rhodes

Razorbill

978-1-59514-759-2

358 pp.

Ages 12+

June 2015

For lovers of Morgan Rhodes’ high-fantasy series Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, 2012;  Rebel Spring, 2013; and Gathering Darkness, 2014) The Book of Spirits and Thieves will be especially welcome, melding the world of Mytica with contemporary Toronto and bringing together teen sisters and a book, a rich bad boy and a secret society, and a Mytican young man who wields death magic.  The Book of Spirits and Thieves is an intense multi-layered story that fuses the very best elements of fantasy and parallel worlds to make something even more enchanted and enchanting.

When seventeen-year-old Crys Hatcher opens a package from her vagabond aunt Jackie, her sister Becca touches the book within and falls into a coma.  Crys learns that the book had been stolen from Markus King,  and it was part of Jackie and Crys' mom’s payback plan for what he’d stolen from them, including Crys’ dad, Daniel.  Now Crys needs to learn all she can about that book and Markus King if she is to help her sister.  And that could mean reconnecting with her errant father.

Markus King, an enigmatic but powerful man, runs the secret club known as the Hawkspear Society that doles out murderous justice.  When nineteen-year-old Farrell Grayson whose seriously wealthy family belongs to the Society is recruited to Markus’ inner circle, he is tasked with becoming acquainted with Crys.  But society bad boy Farrell has other issues with which to deal, including his confused younger brother Adam and the suspicious suicide of his older brother Connor, a former inner cirle member.

Meanwhile in Year 15 of the Goddess Valoria’s Reign in Mytica, a young man named Maddox, gifted with the magic to communicate with spirits, is being exploited by his guardian/slave master Livius. They are both seized by Valoria who demands Maddox locate a specific young woman who possesses the magic the Goddess needs to retrieve a golden dagger stolen from her.  Though Maddox is unconvinced that he can control his magic abilities, a spirit named Becca (yes, Crys’ sister) assures him that he can do it, as well as help her get back home.

With Becca’s spiritual presence in Mytica and her physical body in a Toronto hospital, the contemporary world of Crys and Farrell is linked with the magical world of Maddox and Valoria.  How the two will converge is up to the skillful story-telling of high fantasy writer Morgan Rhodes.  In other words, there's a great story being revealed.  Within each world, young people are dealing with self-expression and understanding, trying to learn what strengths and weaknesses they possess, while navigating the treacherous waters of family and friendship and secrets.  It's pretty hard to develop complete understanding when secrets are being kept and deceit is the norm.  And questions about who has stolen what from whom abound!

Told in the voices of Crys, Farrell and Maddox, A Book of Spirits and Thieves provides no respite from action and complex plotting that are the trademark of Morgan Rhodes' writing.  There's a reason her books are repeatedly on New York Times best seller lists.  Look for this one there too.


*********************
BTW, a different cover of A Book of Spirits and Thieves is available in the U.S., if you see it and are confused by the difference.  Still beautiful, this second cover is more in keeping with the Falling Kingdoms covers, though I prefer the one that illustrates the melding of the contemporary world with that of ancient Mytica.

A Book of Spirits and Thieves: Book Launch (Toronto)

Join

 publisher

in presenting

New York Times bestselling author

Morgan Rhodes

author of the Falling Kingdoms series

as she launches

a new Falling Kingdoms spin-off series

with Book 1

A Book of Spirits and Thieves

by Morgan Rhodes

Razorbill

978-1-59514-759-2

358 pp.

Ages 12+

June 2015

on Tuesday, June 23, 2015

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

at 

Bakka Phoenix Books

84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON