Super-Duper Monster Viewer

by Kevin Sylvester

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-829-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2016

If it’s from Neil Flambé creator and illustrator extraordinaire Kevin Sylvester, you know that Super-Duper Monster Viewer is going to be super-duper fun and funny. It is.  (All the cover accolades–including a New Scary Honor Book, The Scalding Hot Medal, a recommendation from the Monster Safety Council and a 4-scars rating from the Beast Best Bets–clearly attest to it too.)

Set up like a technological device with a screen and familiar buttons, the Super-Duper Monster Viewer allows the user to "see the monsters that are all around you! All the time! Anywhere!  In fact, there are TWO monsters standing in front of you RIGHT NOW!" Yes, readers, by following the simple rules for using the Super-Duper Monster Viewer, you will be able to see Kevin Sylvester's colourful creatures, one small and green and ornery and the other large and purple and hairy.  Eventually.  Getting accustomed to the viewer is an art in itself but the monsters humourously encourage the reader to manipulate the device, ever hopeful of getting the full picture.

From Super-Duper Monster Viewer by Kevin Sylvester

Seemingly interactive, Super-Duper Monster Viewer will have children feeling like they are the ones in control of the device when it's all courtesy of Kevin Sylvester's wacky imagination and quirky illustrations.  Enjoy whatever glimpses you can get of the two creatures before, as sadly happens with too many toys, the Super-Duper Monster Viewer becomes damaged.  How that happens is as dreadfully good fun as the rest of the story of Super-Duper Monster Viewer.

A Change of Heart

Written by Alice Walsh

Illustrated by Erin Bennett Banks

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77108-371-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-10

April 2016

A Change of Heart is a profound story of racism, resilience, and redemption and will be an important book to add to all booklists for social justice, Black History month and character education. 

From A Change of Heart 

written by Alice Walsh, illustrated by Erin Bennett Banks

Based on the life of Lanier Phillips, A Change of Heart depicts the young African American’s early life in Georgia, enduring the terror of the Klan and the racism of its laws and his growing resentment of this injustice.  Joining the navy in 1941, hopeful of escaping that racism, Lanier was chagrined to learn the same attitudes and bigotry prevailed on board the USS Truxton.

But a new series of terrors arise when a storm hits off the coast of Newfoundland and the crew must escape the sinking Truxton.  While Calvin, a fellow African American sailor chooses to stay on the ship rather than risk the potential horrors of prejudice on shore, Lanier took a chance.

The raft bounced and twirled, the wild sea tossing the men about.  Facing the fierce winds and driving sleet, Lanier knew there was a chance he wouldn’t make it to land.  But that wasn’t his biggest fear.  He recalled Calvin’s words.  Would the people ashore accept him?  In many ports, a Black man was not welcome.  That thought frightened Lanier as much as the treacherous waters that swirled beneath him. (pg. 19)

From A Change of Heart 

written by Alice Walsh, illustrated by Erin Bennett Banks

Rescued by a Newfoundlander named Abe and taken to his house in St. Lawrence to be tended to by women who’d never seen a Black man before, Lanier experiences the compassion and respect needed to help “all his fear, bitterness, and anger melt away.” (pg. 28)

The note “About Lanier Phillips” at the conclusion of A Change of Heart details the seaman’s achievements, including becoming the first African American to graduate from the US Navy’s sonar school and recipient of the prestigious Lone Sailor Award, and he gives credit to the people of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland for providing him with a “lesson in humanity.” (pg. 32)  Alice Walsh gets to the heart of Lanier Phillips’ story by recognizing the seeds of resentment that grew out of a threatening society of discrimination that were squashed with the compassion of good people who saw beyond the colour of Lanier Phillips’ skin and offered assistance regardless.  The story is a gripping one and well illustrated by the distinctive angularity of Erin Bennett Banks’ evocative art.  From childhood scenes of the Klan on horseback to the ship in the storm and Lanier Phillips’ rescue, the simple scenes share the physical nature of a hard reality against a backdrop of a potential buoyancy nestled in an atmosphere of goodness.  It’s this contrasting balance of harsh and calm that tells Lanier Phillips’ story so gracefully in A Change of Heart.

Small Displays of Chaos

by Breanna Fischer

Coteau Books

978-1-55050-661-7

102 pp.

Ages 13+

May 2016

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.  Everything in her life was supposed to be better when she was thinner. (pg. 50)

For Saskatoon teen Rayanne Timko, her eating disorder began with a Phys Ed class fitness goal of healthy eating and improved exercise regime to get a good grade to match those of her academic subjects.  But the recording of all foods and monitoring her physical appearance became a ritual she couldn’t let go, ever hopeful of finding “the person who she wanted to be…hiding somewhere underneath.” (pg.  9).

Now a high school senior, Ray’s life is a complex existence of school counselling sessions, community service at a dog shelter, crushing on Josh Reid who’d witnessed her purging at a party, and convoluted family dynamics with a twin sister, an angry father, a conflicted mother and an impending family wedding that requires her dreading her participation as a bridesmaid.  And I haven’t even mentioned the voice of her judgemental thinner self Edie for whom Rayanne never seems to be good enough.

But even with a referral to an eating disorder specialist, Ray doesn’t know what she needs and finds it hard to ask for help.  It’s not until the family wedding that the desperate teen realizes that she’s been in the “final stage of a grand Disappearing Act” (pg. 74) from which she wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone and could finally just give up.

With all the positive affirmations about body image and awareness campaigns about eating disorders and mental illness, Small Displays of Chaos is still a timely and relevant story that needs to be told and heeded.  Breanna Fischer has based Small Displays of Chaos on her own experience being diagnosed with anorexia with bulimic behaviours and convincingly shares her skewed thinking and dangerous pursuits with candor and insight.  Luckily both Rayanne and Breanna Fischer are able to survive their crises and find the words to astutely convey the depth of those crises to provide valuable lessons. 

Scam

by Lesley Choyce

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-1174-4

113 pp.

Ages 12+

RL 3.2

April 2016

At 15 short chapters and a mere 113 pages, and a story plotted by Lesley Choyce (see my reviews of Jeremy Stone and Into the Wasteland from Red Deer Press, 2013 and 2014 respectively), Scam is a valuable addition to Orca Book Publishers' Orca Soundings series of hi-lo books for teens with a story that explores the resiliency of youth.

Scam begins with sixteen-year-old narrator Josh Haslett dealing with the death of his mother.  Josh has always thought of himself as a “good cover-up artist”  (pg. 3) as he had taken care of the household after his dad left and mom had continued to party and do drugs and he had kept social workers oblivious to their situation.  But on the way to his mom’s funeral, as arranged by social work, Josh is scammed of his paltry wallet by a beautiful teen named Lindsey.  Frantic, he chases after her and gets his wallet back but she insists on going to the funeral with him.

As Josh is taken into a group home with other male teens, he continues to meet up with Lindsey who involves Josh in a number of scams, including the theft of wedding gifts, while insisting that she can teach him how to take his own efforts of working the system to the next level.  But Josh knows the difference between survival and cheating others, and he is as uncomfortable with her scamming as much as he is drawn to her.  After helping out at a camp for disadvantaged kids and providing Lindsey with the emotional support she needs after a death in her own family, Josh realizes that somethings that seem very tenous can be very real, even if fleeting.

Lesley Choyce capably gets into the heads of young people, whether they be dealing with dysfunctional families, drugs, mental health or just growing up.  In Scam, Lesley Choyce takes on the issues of grief and trust, and demonstrates that we all need a little help sometimes and that the help can come from the unlikeliest of sources, even those in which we don’t always have confidence.

Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Qin Leng
Groundwood Books
978-1-55498-8204
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
April 2016

Happy birthday to Happy Birthday, Alice Babette, the new picture book from Monica Kulling and Qin Leng and their first collaboration.  While a fictionalized account of an April birthday of Alice B. Toklas which her friend and life partner Gertrude Stein seems to have forgotten, Happy Birthday, Alice Babette provides a enchanting glimpse into the Parisian life of the two women and their fondness for eachother and life in general.

While Alice spends the day walking the streets of Paris, enjoying a carousel ride, a puppet show and thwarting a would-be jewel thief, Gertrude secretly prepares a meal and a birthday poem for her dear friend.  But Gertrude is not familiar with cooking or the stove and oven, and she is distracted by her writing of the birthday poem.

Gertrude worked on Alice’s poem.  She wanted it to be as beautiful as a rose. Meanwhile, the pots on the stove bubbled and boiled.  Smoke rose from the oven. (pg. 26)

From Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Qin Leng

When Alice returns home after “a day of marvels”, she resumes her role of cleaning and cooking and supporting her writer friend, unaware that the real surprise for her birthday is still to come. 

Monica Kulling persuasively portrays the companionable, caring, and supportive relationship between these two iconic women of the early twentieth-century as they wrote and nurtured writing by creating a scenario in which their personalities are perfectly complementary.  Gertrude may fail at cooking and baking, unlike Alice Toklas who ultimately wrote a cookbook, but her genius at writing is clear.  And the two women together make for any extraordinary couple.  

From Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling, illus. by Qin Leng

I have used the term “lightness” for Qin Leng’s illustrations and in Happy Birthday, Alice Babette, the artist displays that same subtlely with every line and shape and colour.  Her depictions of the two women are remarkable, but it’s the elegance of her illustrations that bring forth the beauty and refinement of the time and place and characters.  

Help Gertrude celebrate Alice’s birthday (139 years ago on April 30, 1877) with Happy Birthday, Alice Babette and get a snapshot into what life must have been like for these two memorable literary figures of the early 20th century.

Flickers by Arthur Slade: Out today!

The long-awaited, new book from 

Arthur Slade

#youngCanLit author of 

The Hunchback Assignments series

Modo: Ember's End

Jolted: Newton Starker's Rules for Survival

Megiddo's Shadow

Tribes

Dust

and many more

is here!

Flickers

by Arthur Slade

HarperCollins Canada

978-1443416658

256 pp.

Ages 8-12

April 26, 2016

 * * * 

Described by the author himself:

The Great Gatsby meets The Twilight Zone in this chilling 1920's Hollywood page-turner...

From http://www.arthurslade.com/books/

A movie scream so chilling and powerful, it will open up another dimension ...

Orphaned twins Isabelle and Beatrice Thorn are living a glamorous 1920s Hollywood life as wards of Mr. Cecil, a mysterious and influential director. Isabelle is a silent film starlet, destined for greatness in the very first "talkie"--a horror flick. Beatrice spends her days hidden away on the Cecil estate with her books and her insect collection, scarves covering her birthmarks and baldness. But Beatrice’s curiosity about the death of her parents and the unsettling fate of a reporter is getting the better of her and she’s starting to realize Mr. Cecil has truly dark designs for this movie. 

From http://www.arthurslade.com/flickers

 * * * 

And reviewed by author/illustrator Debbie Ohi as:

So I was just going to read the first few pages of Arthur Slade's new middle grade novel FLICKERS this morning to get a taste of what the book was like but then I COULDN'T STOP READING AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. Finished it just now.

Wow. Such a good read.

SoOOoooOOoooOOooo deliciously creepy and dark (I'm a fan of horror MG). Love how the mystery gradually unfolds, and the plot twists along the way. Love the relationship between the sisters. I just loveloveLOVED this book.

If I have nightmares tonight, I am SO going to blame Arthur Slade. :-) I'm also looking forward to rereading the book when it officially comes out this April!

---Debbie Ohi, Author and Illustrator

 * * * 

If you haven't gotten the impression that Flickers is a delightfully scary read, watch the book trailer here.

Flickers by Arthur Slade

Uploaded by HarperCollins Canada to YouTube on April 25, 2016.

2016 Canadian Authors for Indies Day: April 30

Celebrate independent bookstores in Canada

on Saturday, April 30, 2016

with your favourite children's and YA authors 

who will be there volunteering!

Across Canada on Saturday, April 30th, many authors will be volunteering their time to promote independent bookstores.   I know I’m going to miss some of your favourites but here’s a generous smattering of independent bookstores who will be hosting an assortment of authors (children’s, YA and adult) and even providing treats and prizes, if you’re lucky!

As I'm only including the names of authors of children's and young adult books here, PLEASE check with the Authors for Indies website for the complete listing of authors and individual bookstores participating.  Also check the timing of events and schedule for author appearances. As you’ll note, authors may be at several venues during the day and I would hate for you to miss them because of a lack of clarity or detail in my listings.

British Columbia

32 Books and Gallery, North Vancouver

David J. Smith (11 a.m. -1 p.m.)

Albany Books, Delta

Ashley Spires (1-3 p.m.)

Armchair Books, Whistler

Sara Leach (3-5 p.m.)
Alex Van Tol (11 a.m.-1 p.m.)

Banyen Books & Sound, Vancouver

Julie Flett (2-5 p.m.)

Black Bond Books (Trenant Park Square), Ladner

Darren Groth (10 -11 a.m.)

Ashley Spires (10 a.m.-12 p.m.)

Tanya Lloyd Kyi (10 a.m.-12 p.m.)

Black Bond Books, Maple Ridge

Jason Chabot (2-4 p.m.)
Kallie George (2-4 p.m.)

Black Bond Books (Central City), Surrey

Rachel Hartman (12-2 p.m.)

Black Bonds Books Warehouse, Surrey

Gina McMurchy-Barber (11a.m.-1p.m.)
Ben Nuttall-Smith (1-2:30 p.m.)
Cristy Watson (2:30-4 p.m.)

Black Bond Books (White Rock), Surrey

Ben Nuttall-Smith (10:30-12 p.m.)
Cristy Watson (11-1 p.m.)

Book Warehouse on Broadway, Vancouver

Jeremy Tankard

Hager Books, Vancouver

Sarah Ellis (2-3 p.m.)

Laughing Oyster Bookstore, Courtenay

Lyn Hancock(10 a.m.-12 p.m.)
Shari Green (12-3 p.m.)

Misty River Books, Terrace

Kathleen Cherry (1-3 p.m.)

Mosaic Books, Kelowna

Michelle Barker
Nikki Tate
Rie Charles

Munro's Books, Victoria

Susan Juby (12-2 p.m.)

Jordan Stratford (12-2 p.m.)

Caroline Adderson (12-2 p.m.)

Russell Books, Victoria

Julie Lawson (9-11 a.m.)

ALBERTA

Audrey’s Books, Edmonton

Richard Van Camp (12-1 p.m.)

Alison Hughes (2-3 p.m.)

Owl’s Nest Books, Calgary

Lisa Bowes  (11 a.m.)
Janet Gurtler  (11 a.m.)
David Poulsen (1 p.m.)

SASKATCHEWAN

SK Books & Collectibles Inc., Regina

Alison Lohans (10 a.m.-12 p.m.)

McNally Robinson Booksellers, Saskatoon

Alice Kuipers (12-3 p.m.)

ONTARIO

Another Story Bookshop, Toronto

Suzanne Sutherland (3-5 p.m.)

Kenneth Oppel (2-3 p.m.)

Jael Richardson (3-5 p.m.)

Vivek Shraya (1-3 p.m.)

Blue Heron Books, Uxbridge

Rebecca Bender

Suzanne Del Rizzo

Jan Dolby

Eugenie Fernandes

Linda Granfield

Heather O'Connor

Book City (Bloor West Village), Toronto

Julie Hartley (10:30-11:30 a.m.)

E. K. Johnston (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

Suzanne Sutherland (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

Sharon Jennings (12-1 p.m.)

Vikki VanSickle (11:30 a.m.-12:30 a.m.)

Kenneth Oppel (12-1 p.m.)

Kevin Sylvester (11 a.m. -12 p.m.)

Book City (Danforth), Toronto

Paul Yee (11 a.m.-12 p.m.)

Debbie Ohi (11 a.m.-12 p.m.)

Patricia Storm (12-1 p.m.)

Book City in the Beach, Toronto

Joyce Grant (1-2 p.m.)

Angela Misri (1-2 p.m.)

Lesley Livingston (3-4 p.m.)

Book City (Yonge at St. Clair), Toronto

Joyce Grant (10:30-11:30 a.m.)

Angela Misri (10:30-11:30 a.m.)

BookLore, Orangeville

Jael Richardson

The Bookshelf, Guelph

Thomas King (12-2 p.m.)

Bryan Prince Bookseller, Hamilton

Gillian Chan

Curiosity House, Creemore

Tish Cohen

R. J. Anderson (1-2:30 p.m.)

A Different Drummer Bookstore, Burlington

Gisela Sherman

Jennifer Maruno

Sylvia McNicoll

Ella Minnow Children’s Bookstore, Toronto

Kate Blair

Lena Coakley

Caroline Fernandez

Sangeeta Bhadra

Barbara Reid

Epic Books, Hamilton

Nicola Stanley

Furby House Books, Port Hope

Michael Redhill

Jessica's Book Nook, Thornbury

Judith Plaxton (10 a.m. -12 p.m.)

Kaleidoscope Kids’ Books, Ottawa

Kate Jaimet (12:15 -12:45 p.m.)

Tim Wynne-Jones (12:15-12:45 p.m.)

Kelley Powell (1-3 p.m.)

Amanda Lewis (1-3 p.m.)

Eleanor Creasey (1-3 p.m.)

Lucy D. Briand (1-3 p.m.)

Lighthouse Books, Brighton

Michael Redhill (3:30-5 p.m.)

Rene Schmidt (1-3 p.m.)

Peggy Dymond Leavey (12-2 p.m.)

Mill Street Books, Almonte

Liane Shaw (3-5 p.m.)

Oxford Book Shop, London

Welwyn Wilton Katz

R&B Novel-Teas, Niagara Falls

Lynne Kositsky (2:30-4 p.m.)

Eve Silver (11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.)

Jennifer Maruno (11 a.m.-1 p.m.)

Type Books, Toronto

Vikki VanSickle (10-11 a.m.)

Kyo Maclear (11 a.m.-12 p.m.)

Sydney Smith (12-1 p.m.)

Frank Viva (12-1 p.m.)

Mariko Tamaki (3-4 p.m.)

QUEBEC

Librairie Bertrand, Montreal

Monique Polak (2-4 p.m.)

Librairie Clio, Point Claire

Lori Weber (10 a.m.-12 p.m.)

Livres Babar, Point-Claire

Monique Polak (10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

Lori Weber (1-3 p.m.)

Bonnie Farmer (1-4 p.m.)

Marie-Louise Gay (2-4 p.m.)

Marie Lafrance (2-4 p.m.)

NOVA SCOTIA

The Box of Delights Bookshop, Wolfville

Tom Ryan

Jan L. Coates

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Bookmark, Charlottetown

Dave Atkinson

Sharon E. McKay

Check out the Authors for Indies website for the plethora of adult authors I didn't even try to mention, and authors and illustrators whose names I don't even know, yet!

Any errors or omissions are completely my own. Please leave a comment if I've made any horrific impossible-to-ignore mistakes that I can resolve promptly.  Thanks.