My Teacher's Not Here!: Book launch (Burlington, ON) RESCHEDULED

Note this book launch, originally scheduled for April 15, 2018 
has been moved to April 28, 2018 due to poor weather conditions.  

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Author

Lana Button

would love you to join her for story time, crafts and snacks 

to celebrate her new picture book

My Teacher's Not Here!

Written by Lana Button

Illustrated by Christine Battuz

Kids Can Press

978-1771383561

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

April 2018

on

Saturday April 28, 2018

1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

at

A Different Drummer Books
 513 Locust St. 

Burlington, ON

From publisher Kids Can Press's website:

As soon as she arrives at school, Kitty knows there's trouble. “Smiling Miss Seabrooke should be here to meet me. But my teacher is missing and NOT here to greet me.” With no Miss Seabrooke, everyone should be sent home, right? But no! Kitty and her classmates line up as usual and walk into the school building. Kitty's worries build as she wonders how she will get through the day without her teacher. What will she do when her Thermos gets stuck or her jacket won't zip? Miss Seabrooke is the only one who can fix these things. Or is she?

Author Lana Button perfectly captures the fears and uncertainties of a kindergartner dealing with her first substitute teacher. She also models a way to cope, as Kitty steps up to help the substitute --- a “ginormously tall” giraffe named Mr. Omar --- and discovers that sometimes change can be good. Button's playful and lively cadenced rhyming text, together with Christine Battuz's friendly illustrations of a full cast of animal characters at school, make this a terrific picture book for story time. It provides an excellent lead-in to prepare a class for their first substitute, or for a discussion about how it feels when life doesn't go as expected. A celebration of self-discovery and personal development, this book also makes a wonderful choice for character education lessons on kindness, empathy and perseverance. Educators will appreciate the heartfelt depiction of a young child's warm feelings for her teachers.

Retrieved from 

http://www.kidscanpress.com/products/my-teachers-not-here 

on April 5, 2018. 

The Reckless Rescue (The Explorers, Book 2): Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Author of books for middle graders and young adults

Adrienne Kress 

is launching 

the sequel to The Explorers Book 1 

The Door in the Alley

 Written by Adrienne Kress

Illustrated by Matthew C. Rockefeller

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

9781101940051

305 pp.

Ages 8-13

2017

The Reckless Rescue

The Explorers Book 2

 Written by Adrienne Kress

Illustrated by Matthew C. Rockefeller

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

 978-1-101-94009-9

384 pp.

Ages 8-13

April 2018 

on

Saturday, April 21, 2018

3 - 6 p.m.

at

Bakka-Phoenix Books

84 Harbord Street

Toronto, ON

From Penguin Random House Canada website: 

More mystery, more bravery, more danger, and one amazingly reckless rescue await in the second book in the Explorers series! The perfect read for fans of The Name of This Book Is a Secret and The Mysterious Benedict Society!

Reader! Your attention is greatly needed. We have left things unresolved! What began as your average story of a boy stumbling upon a pig in a teeny hat and a secret international explorers society has turned into an adventure of epic proportions.

  *  The bad news: The boy (Sebastian) has been kidnapped by a trio of troublesome thugs.
  *  The good news: His new friend Evie has promised to rescue him!
  *  The bad news: Sebastian has been taken halfway around the world.
  *  The good news: Evie has famous explorer and former Filipendulous Five member Catherine Lind at her side!
  *  The bad news: There's still the whole matter of Evie's grandfather (and the leader of the Filipendulous Five) somewhere out there in grave danger.
  *  The good news: Pursuing Sebastian will lead Evie and Catherine to another member of the Filipendulous Five, who might be able to help!

This missive is a call to action and an invitation to join in mystery, bravery, and danger. There will be new people to meet, new places to see, and some dancing along the way. And one amazingly reckless rescue.

Retrieved from 

https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/534143/explorers-reckless-rescue#9781101940099 on April 3, 2018.

Harry's Hiccups: Book launch (Guelph, ON)

Guelph author

Jean Little 

 will be launching 

her new picture book 

Harry's Hiccups

 by Jean Little

Illustrated by Joe Weissmann

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-459815629

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2018

on

 Sunday, April 15, 2018

1:00 - 3:30 p.m.

at

Three Willows Church
577 Willow Road
Guelph, ON
N1H 7H3

Harry tries and tries to get rid of his hiccups. He tries drinking a glass of water upside down, he tries putting an ice-cold key down his back, he gleefully tries eating a spoonful of sugar. But nothing works!

In this charming picture book, written by children's literature legend Jean Little and illustrated by award-winning illustrator Joe Weissmann, Harry is afflicted with a case of the hopeless hiccups. It's not until Harry has a surprise encounter with a different sort of neighbor that it seems like Harry might finally get some relief...hiccup, hiccup...

Retrieved from publisher's website at 

https://www.orcabook.com/Harrys-Hiccups-P1432.aspx 

on April 3, 2018.

The launch

will also feature

Maggie de Vries

with her newest picture book

Swimming with Seals

by Maggie de Vries

Illustrated by Janice Kun
Orca Book Publishers

9781459813212

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2018

Ally isn't able to live with her mother. Instead she lives far, far away, on the other side of the country, with her gram and great-aunt. But one summer Ally goes to stay with her aunt and uncle in the "big city by the ocean" and gets to spend time with her mom. While exploring the shore, watching whales from the boat dipping into the salty water, Ally finds out something important: her mother loves to swim as much as she does.

This is a very personal story. Ally is based on the author’s niece, Jeanie, and Ally's mother is based on the author's sister, Sarah, who went missing from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver in 1998. Jeanie is like a seal in the water, and Sarah was just the same, but they never got to swim together. In this story, they do. Swimming with Seals is a story that was written for the thousands of children who long to live with their birth parents and will never fully understand why they can't.

Retrieved from Orca Book Publishers' website at 

https://www.orcabook.com/Swimming-With-Seals-P1418.aspx 

on April 3, 2018.

Siuluk: The Last Tuniq

Written by Nadia Sammurtok

Illustrated by Rob Nix

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-178-2

28 pp.

Ages 5-8

April 2018

The Inuit stories about the Tuniit are of a legendary people akin to friendly giants.  They were considered to be immensely strong, massive in size and gentle in demeanour. It was not surprising then that Siuluk, a very large man of considerable strength who lived quietly by himself, should be considered the last Tuniq by his Inuit neighbours. 

From Siuluk: The Last Tuniq by Nadia Sammurtok, illus. by Rob Nix

When several of the Inuit men taunt Siuluk about his size and strength, he knows they are being mean but he responds with a challenge for them to lift a sheet of rock.  Of course, none can lift the massive rock except Siuluk who lifts it with ease and leaves his legacy in a message he carves into the stone.

From Siuluk: The Last Tuniq by Nadia Sammurtok, illus. by Rob Nix

Though you can read about the Tuniit in Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley’s Tuniit: Mysterious Folk of the Arctic (Inhabit Media, 2015) and in How Things Came To Be: Inuit Stories of Creation (Inhabit Media, 2015),  Siuluk: The Last Tuniq takes a different perspective on the Tuniit.  Nadia Sammurtok tells a very simple story about teasing and differences in which a man finds a straightforward but elegant response to dismiss his intimidators.  So while children will learn about Siuluk and his status as the last Tuniq, they will also learn that anyone can be ill-treated by others and still  handle that treatment with self-possession and poise.  Siuluk, who is given graphic life by American illustrator Rob Nix, could have hurt the men who teased him about his size and strength but instead he demonstrated his brawn in a quiet but impactful manner, and even left a message for generations to come.

From Siuluk: The Last Tuniq by Nadia Sammurtok, illus. by Rob Nix

The best part of this story is revealed in Nadia Sammurtok’s afterword in which she reveals that her father had been told as a child a story about a man purported to be the last of the Tuniit who'd allegedly lived close to Chesterfield Inlet in Nunavut.  In fact, there’s a photo of her father, Tom Sammurtok, with Siuluk’s rock.  So it seems that Siuluk: The Last Tuniq, which is also available in Inuktitut, may be a traditional story about the last remaining Tuniq from the oldest community in Nunavut but it’s all the more special for the evidence of its veracity and the life lessons it encompasses.

Krista Kim-Bap

Written by Angela Ahn
Second Story Press
978-1-77260-063-6
176 pp.
Ages 9-13
April 2018

Everyone wants to fit in. They want to be accepted by their peers and appreciated by their family. And eleven-year-old Krista Kim wants the same. Fortunately she has a best friend, Jason, who is a close as a brother. In fact, he’s even better since he appreciates her Korean heritage, especially all the delicious foods, more than Krista’s teen sister Tori who strives not to be seen as Korean. Sadly Krista’s very Korean grandmother adores Tori and doesn’t seem to appreciate Krista’s tomboyish ways or her friendship with Jason.

But everything starts to change after a classmate, Madison, invites Krista to her “Red Carpet” birthday party and Grandma takes Krista to a salon for hair, makeup and eye taping (to create the impression of a double lid) and Tori recreates a Korean hanbok for Krista to wear to the event. Soon Krista is eating lunch with Madison and the more popular girls, and Jason, her dear friend who was like a part of the family, is relegated to her background.

Meanwhile, Krista and her classmates are working on family heritage projects and Krista decides to focus on the foods with which she is familiar. But it’s her Grandma who makes the kimchi and kimbap and the authentic Korean dishes that she loves. So, Krista asks her Grandma to teach her how to cook.

“This food that all Koreans eat is in our hearts.” (pg. 124) 

As Krista learns more about her heritage, particularly through its cuisine, she’s actually learning more about her grandmother, what it means to be Korean for all her family, and what it means to be a friend.

Angela Ahn takes us into the heart of a second- and third-generation Korean family in Vancouver and gives readers a taste of a culture with which many of us are not familiar. Kids growing up in families such as Krista’s will undoubtedly recognize the customs and traditions, the social relationships, and those distinctions that make being Korean different than other cultural heritages. By making Krista’s heritage the background for her maturing acceptance of who she is and what friends she wants in her life, Angela Ahn has rolled this middle-grade novel into a special bundle of substance and flavour, not unlike the kimbap she learns to prepare with her grandmother.

Sparks!

Written by Ian Boothby

Art by Nina Matsumoto

Color by David Debrick

Scholastic (Graphix)

978-1-338-02946-8

200 pp.

Ages 7-10

February 2018

Knowing the universal acceptance of dogs as heroes, a cat named August invents a robotic dog suit in which he and feline friend Charlie undertake daring rescues like saving babies from wells, children from tornadoes, and families from fires. The suit also helps keep August from touching the grass (a major phobia since an escape outdoors as a kitten led him to nasty testing at an animal lab) and keeps the cats anonymous from prying reporters and those who might disturb their comfortable lifestyle. However, unbeknownst to them, an evil genius in the guise of a baby named Princess is setting up accidents that require the rescue dog dubbed Sparks to leap into action.  It seems Princess believes that Sparks might be the dog that other animals, under the baby's control, would follow, allowing the heinous alien-infant to conquer the world.

From Sparks! by Ian Boothby, art by Nina Matsumoto

Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto, best known as veteran creators of The Simpsons comics, will delight middle graders with this hilarious graphic novel of cats banding together to achieve heroic deeds and fighting an evil baby.  Readers will be tickled by all the characters: clever inventor August, who plays the stock market and buys a house; Charlie, who lives life with enthusiasm and has a fondness for frolicking and attention;  Steve-O, the hyper-chattering squirrel; and the storytelling robotic litter box.  Even Princess who transmits pain via agony pants worn by her pseudo-parent minions is priceless as the koala hat-wearing brain who still needs diaper changes and naps.  Princess is as controlling and scary as any human baby, albeit with creepier toys, and it's so satisfying when (spoiler!) her errant ways are chastized by her real parents.

From Sparks! by Ian Boothby, art by Nina Matsumoto

Sparks! is a fun read that fights stereotypes of cats being self-absorbed, dogs being the heroes, and babies being innocent and safe. Moreover, it provides a sad commentary on the media that creates stories, not just reports them, and the ease with which they manipulate the stories.  In fact, Sparks! is really a story that turns the concept of control on its head.  Of course, young readers might not pick up on all those messages from author Ian Boothby but they'll love the story and Nina Matsumoto's bold graphics that blend the real with the fantastic.  It's obvious Nina Matsumoto knows cats well (a photo of the real August and Charlie in the dedication attests to this).  She gets the joy of rolling in the grass or the pose of the classic butt-lick perfect but then gives an imaginative angle to the technological wizardry and provides vigorous splashes of action and disaster.  The compulsory Zzzzzap! and Ka-Pow with an occasional Ssshhlorp!, Fa-dunk and Sproing add that touch of comic book flavour that kids will enjoy.

From Sparks! by Ian Boothby, art by Nina Matsumoto

I'm pleased that Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto (who will be attending this year's Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May) have left the cat flap open for a sequel to Sparks! as I'm sure the amazing duo of August and Charlie have more acts of heroism on which to embark, whether as themselves or in the costume of their canine superhero.

Timo Goes Camping

Written by Victoria Allenby

Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-040-6

48 pp.

Ages 5-8

March 2018

It's wonderful to see a new Timo story from Victoria Allenby and illustrated by Dean Griffiths.  This early reader series tugs at my heart with each new story as the rabbit Timo learns new life lessons alongside his friends Bogs, Hedgewick, Rae and Suki.

Suki, the squirrel with the ideas, decides the group of friends should go camping.  Though Timo feels that adventures are "messy and unsafe and not at all sensible," he goes along with the plan.  However, he looks for advice at the Toadstool Corners Library, where it "smelled like paper and ink and comfort," finding good advice in a book called Camping is Fun.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

Setting out on their adventure, Timo puts his new skills to use in knotting rope, making a fire, and recalling all the lessons about canoeing and orienteering and more.  But, when little things go wrong, like a tent that won't go up or a dunking in the lake, most of the group enjoys a chuckle, though Suki's teasing and name-calling becomes tiresome to Timo who finally has to call her out on it.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

This lovely series of early readers returns an innocence and humility to children's early readers that we haven't seen since Peter Rabbit and Frog and Toad.  There are valuable lessons about friendship and self-acceptance and learning.  But, even more, Timo allows children to share in his learning about friendship and interacting with others, as well as the importance of reading.  From his first book, Timo's Garden (2015), and his second, Timo's Party (2016), the rabbit is learning how to deal with friends and his own insecurities which he is always able to put aside when he takes the opportunities to learn and gain insight from his experiences.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

As in all three of the Timo books, Victoria Allenby has made her characters so distinct that their roles in this camping adventure make perfect sense.  Hedgewick is named Chief Chef, Rae is Head Engineer, Bogs is the Toad of Tunes, Suki is the navigator (though more like the one who tells everyone where to go and what to do), and Timo is labelled the camp librarian.  Each has assets that makes the group work effectively, though I'm partial to Timo who wisely finds answers in books.  For an author to create a story rich in characters, atmosphere, plot and positive messages is an astounding achievement for any book but extraordinary for an early reader.  

The story is brought to visual life by Dean Griffiths' artwork, with its textural richness of setting and scene.  Dean Griffiths, whose art illustrates among others Bad Pirate (by Kari-Lynn Winters, Pajama Press, 2016) and Tweezle into Everything (by Stephanie McLellan, Pajama Press, 2013), knows how to adapt his style for an early reader, balancing the story, not becoming the story as it may, and rightly so, in picture books.  

Together Victoria Allenby and Dean Griffiths have made Timo Goes Camping a book that any child would love to take on their own camping adventure, as guide (see the illustration below about using a compass), insurance or pleasant diversion.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

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Pajama Press has published a delightful readers' guide for Timo Goes Camping which is available for free download at http://pajamapress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Timo-Goes-Camping_ReadingGuide1.pdf