CanLit for LittleCanadians

May 28, 2016

Good Pirate

by Kari-Lynn Winters

Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Pajama Press

978-1-927485-80-4

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

May 2016

Kari-Lynn Winters and Dean Griffiths’ Bad Pirate (Pajama Press, 2015), winner of the 2016 Rainforest of Reading Award, is back and Augusta Garrick is still trying to fit in with the pirates of her father’s crew. In Bad Pirate, she had difficulties emulating the sauciness, boldness and selfishness of the sea dogs her father, Captain Barnacle Garrick, revered, and now it seems she’s just too fancy!

From Good Pirate by Kari-Lynn Winters,

illus. by Dean Griffiths

As much as she appreciates tidiness, cleaniness and fancy baubles, she’s considered a liability when the pirates go off on a raid. But when the crew is caught by Captain Fishmonger and his feline Tuna Lubbers, it’s the finely-scented Augusta who saves the day and proves that she’s as rotten, sneaky and brainy as necessary to be a Good Pirate.

The text is saucy and spicy and flavoured with pirate-speak, as befits a hearty swashbuckling yarn, but it’s all in good fun and brimming with joviality. Still amidst all that merriment, so much like Kari-Lynn Winters herself, is an important message about being true to oneself and appreciating differences as strengths. And, again, Dean Griffiths illustrates with richly detailed pirate ship sets and characters which are dogs and cats of all variety. Kids will delight in identifying the different breeds and who’s wearing what and trying out the “pirate talk” and “nautical talk” which peppers the story and is defined in the endpapers. Arr, Good Pirate is a good time with a hearty–both deep and enthusiastic–message packaged in the fanciest scurvyiest of art.

From Good Pirate by Kari-Lynn Winters,

illus. by Dean Griffiths

May 27, 2016

The Stone Thrower

Written by Jael Ealey Richardson

Illustrated by Matt James

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-752-8

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

For release May 2016

Though The Stone Thrower only came out this month, this picture book that honours Jael Ealey Richardson's father, Chuck Ealey, a famous African American football player who was undefeated in his home country but made a name for himself in the CFL, will surely become earmarked for booklists of significant youngCanLit for February, Black History Month.

Thoughtfully illustrated by Governor General award-winning artist Matt James, The Stone Thrower is “a story about a kid who lived in hard times, a kid who had a big dream that seemed almost impossible.”(pg. 2) It’s the story of Chuck Ealey, beginning with his birth to a poor, hard-working mother in 1950 Portsmouth, Ohio where segregation and racism would seem to be the norm. Though her own education was minimal, his mother ensured that her son understood that, like the trains that ran through their neighbourhood, he shouldn’t stop until he got where he was going, and that was out of the North End and completing his education.

These same trains became a source of victorious inspiration to him as he regularly tossed stones at the cars, aiming for the large letter N on the side, practising over and over again until he could always hit his target. Applying this same determination, focus, and practice at school and at football, Chuck was able to see beyond the hardships he and other African American youth faced at the time and was able to achieve great things, including winning every game as quarterback for his high school.

Jael Ealey Richardson may tell more about her father’s story in the note at the conclusion of the picture book, as she does in her adult book The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lessons, A Father’s Life (Thomas Allen, 2012), but The Stone Thrower focuses on but a snippet of Chuck Ealey’s successes in meeting the challenges of being a black youth. By setting a goal and aiming for it repeatedly, even when faced with cruelty and disrespect, Chuck Ealey achieved much.

From The Stone Thrower by Jael Ealey Richardson,

illus. by Matt James

Matt James, whose artwork has enhanced his own Northwest Passage (Groundwood, 2013) and I Know Here and From There to Here by Laurel Croza (Groundwood, 2010 and 2014, respectively), sets a gritty tone to The Stone Thrower, with his roughened outlines and coarse watercolours. There’s nothing saccharine about this story or the art and that’s the way it should be. Both emphasize the hardship and the courage, strength and perseverance, and the achievement. The Stone Thrower is a story of grit, visual and inspirational, in its truest form.

May 26, 2016

Door into Faerie: Book launch (Regina, SK)

Author Edward Willett

concludes his YA fantasy series

The Shards of Excalibur

Song of the Sword (Book 1)

Twist of the Blade (Book 2)

The Lake in the Clouds (Book 3)

Cave Beneath the Sea (Book 4)

with Book 5

Door Into Faerie

Coteau Books

978-1-550506549

208 pp.

Ages 13+

May 2016

which launches

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

7 p.m. (CST)

Artful Dodger Cafe & Music Emporium

1631-11th Avenue

Regina, Saskatchewan

From https://www.facebook.com/events/1711092289146493/

In the climactic fifth book of The Shards of Excalibur series, Ariane, Wally, Flish and Rex Major are on a collision course, converging on the resting place of the final piece of the sword: the hilt, long ago removed from its original hiding place by the descendants of King Arthur. When Wally uncovers its surprising location, far closer to hand than they’d ever guessed, it seems all Ariane and Wally have to do is claim it and reforge the sword to defeat Merlin forever.

Except...how, exactly, do you reforge a magical sword? Especially, how do you do it when the richest man in the world is on your trail and pouring all of his enormous resources into stopping you?

When the pieces of the sword are at last reunited, the results aren’t at all what Ariane and Wally imagined. With Excalibur whole again, the long-closed door into Faerie swings open wide. Who — and what — emerges from it may destroy everything and everyone Wally and Ariane have fought so hard to save — and allow Rex Major to snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat.

Fighting side by side, Ariane and Wally must draw on all their strength, courage, magic and love to save the world…and there’s no guarantee it will be enough.

May 25, 2016

Cave Beneath the Sea: The Shards of Excalibur, Book 4

by Edward Willett

Coteau Books

978-1-550-506396

213 pp.

Ages 13+

November 2015

Merlin incarnate, Rex Major, CEO of Excalibur Computer Systems, is ever hopeful of acquiring the four shards and the hilt of Excalibur so that he might open the door to Faerie and launch an attack. During the course of Song of the Sword (Coteau, 2014), Twist of the Blade (Coteau, 2014) and The Lake in the Clouds (Coteau, 2015), three shards have been located but Rex Major is only in possession of one. Our fifteen-year-old modern-day Lady of the Lake, Ariane Forsythe, and her burgeoning boyfriend Wally Knight, heir of King Arthur, possess the other two shards and are determined to keep Rex Major from getting his magical hands on any more.

But, just weeks before Christmas, Wally and Ariane’s search for the fourth shard has become more complicated because of Ariane’s missing mother and Wally’s sister Felicia a.k.a. Flish. Travelling far and wide via magical water transport just to access the internet without tipping off Rex Major to their location (currently in Saskatchewan), Wally discovers photos of Emily Forsythe tagged at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in B.C. While they pursue that lead, they are painfully aware that Flish, also an heir of Arthur, would be helping Rex Major to pull in the magic and locate the remaining shards. Fortunately, that is also a blessing as it reveals to the two teens that Merlin and Flish are headed to Cacibajagua Island in the Caribbean, home of a saltwater cave fed by a freshwater waterfall, and undoubtedly the location of the fourth shard. And it’s a dangerous race to find the shard and liberate it from its watery hiding spot.

In Cave Beneath the Sea, Edward Willett has created as exciting a read as the earlier books in the series, continuing to develop his characters and their relationships while the action-filled plot carries the reader to intriguing national and international locales. Both Ariane and Wally feel the power of the sword, drawing them to its shards but also compelling their anger in those who have hurt them: parents, siblings, bullies, enemies. And while they struggle with those yearnings, they are finding their way to a hitherto-unknown girlfriend-boyfriend relationship that provides them the family they both crave. It’s hard for me to decide which is the stronger foundation for the story, the characters or the plot, as both are substantial and intricate. Regardless, Cave Beneath the Sea takes The Shards of Excalibur a fast-moving step closer to the Door to Faerie, the magical entity and Book 5 in the series.

Check this blog tomorrow for details about Edward Willett’s book launch of Door to Faerie early next month to be held in, you guessed it, Regina, Saskatchewan.

May 23, 2016

Two picture books to launch from Owlkids: SKUNK ON A STRING and MAYA (Toronto)

It's twice the fun
because there are two books being launched!

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Join author-illustrator Thao Lam for the launch of

Skunk on a String

Owlkids Books
978-1-77147-131-2
40 pp.
Ages 4-7
March 2016

A wordless picture book about a skunk who sees the world from a new perspective
Reviewed here

and

debut author Mahak Jain

and award-winning illustrator Elly McKay

for the launch of their picture book

Maya

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-100-8

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2016

The story of a young girl who uses her imagination and the legend of a banyan tree to assuage her fears and grief

Saturday, June 4, 2016

2-3:30 p.m.

Toronto Public Library

Lillian H. Smith branch

There will be:

swag bags for the first 30 kids (and treats for adults too)
storytime
crafts and activities
refreshments
book signing
books on sale courtesy of Another Story Bookshop

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May 22, 2016

Who Broke the Teapot?!: Book launch (Millbrook, ON)

Join
Bill Slavin

author-illustrator of the Elephants Never Forget series

and

illustrator of Linda Bailey's Stanley books

and many more volumes of youngCanLit

for the launch of his newest picture book

Who Broke the Teapot?!

Tundra Books

978-1770498334
32 pp.
Ages 3-8
April 26, 2016

Saturday, June 4, 2016

2 - 4 p.m.

at

Bear Essentials

12 King Street East
Millbrook, ON L0A 1G0

705-932-2850

On its website at http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/247726/who-broke-teapot, Tundra Books describes the book as follows:

Mom is very angry. Her very favorite teapot is broken, and no one is 'fessing up. Was it Dad, sitting in his underwear reading the paper? Was it Cat, who was all tangled up in a ball of yarn? Was it Baby perched in his highchair? Or is there a surprising twist to this mystery that teaches Mom a little lesson in anger management? Bill Slavin takes a sly poke at parents in their less-than-finer moments in this funny and energetic story.

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I think this one is going to be great fun! So, if you can, take in the book launch for the book, or at least pick a copy up at your favourite book store. I know I will!

May 21, 2016

Forest of Reading 2016 winners announced this week!

The Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading's book awards have been an important part of my school library program and my personal volunteer experiences for many years, so I am always proud to post the results of this wonderful reading program.

It's impossible to congratulate all those who made this reading program and the Festival of Trees such a success but here are some of the amazing people who play important roles in its success:

• the readers;
• the selection committees who read so many books to choose the best for the shortlists;
• the steering committees that organize and put on the fabulous Festival of Trees;
• the OLA staff, with Meredith Tutching at the helm;
• the authors and illustrators who create the wonderful youngCanLit;
• the publishers who publish youngCanLit and promote it; and
• the winners and honourees in each reading program.