Ten Cents a Pound

Written by Nhung N. Tran-Davies

Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-056-8

24 pp.

Ages 5-9

April 2018

I defy anyone to read Nhung N. Tran-Davies' text in Ten Cents a Pound and not be moved to tears by a mother's willingness to work at gathering coffee beans so that her child could have a better life. All the more poignant is the response from the child who recognizes her mother's struggles and does not want to leave her in order to pursue an education elsewhere. Their dialogue, told with love and admiration and respect, is the story of Ten Cents a Pound. 

From Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Mama, I see your hands,
Coarsened and scratched,
By the twigs and bark of the trees, row on row,
By the leaves and berries, picked one by one.
I will stay with you.

So begins Ten Cents a Pound, with a daughter seeing the toil of hard work on her mother's hands and her declaration that she will stay with her.  Ah, but her mother will have none of that.  Calling her "silly child" or "faithful child" or similar, the mother asserts that she is working so that she might put books in her daughter's hands and set her on a life beyond their mountain and villages. Still the girl cannot see past her mother's pain and hardship and repeats that she cannot leave her.  Always with great affection and fortitude, her mother vows that the girl will be set free with an education and must go beyond the confines of their village. Finally, the girl accepts the wisdom of her mother's wish for her future but contends that she will return.

From Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Though I cry readily, not all books move me to tears. Ten Cents a Pound did so. Many parents sacrifice much for their children, though those trials are not always acknowledged, but here a child recognizes that suffering and doesn't feel like she can accept the cost of her mother's unselfishness. I don't know if physician and author Nhung N. Tran-Davies, who came to Canada from Vietnam, ever witnessed this self-sacrificing love but Ten Cents a Pound is a testament to the determination a parent can have for wanting a better future for their child.  This mother is willing to suffer the back pains, the harm to feet and hands, and declining eyesight and more just to ensure her child has an education and a better life.

Award-winning illustrator Josée Bisaillon blends the realism of the mother-daughter relationship with a lightness that belies the gravity of their circumstances. The outdoor scenes of fields and trees are grounded in the earth but give rise to the green of dreams and expectation. Even the fluttering butterflies and the child in flight suggest a journey of hope and ascendancy.

From Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Ten Cents a Pound may be a tome that supports the idea of education as the means for freedom and advancement or a social justice story embedded in the coffee fields of Vietnam.  But, at its heart, it is a dedication to mothers and daughters who are willing to offer anything to ensure a good life for the other.

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book: Blog Tour Guest Post by author Alice Kuipers

This month sees the release of Alice Kuipers' newest children's book

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

 Written by Alice Kuipers
Illustrated by Diana Toledano
Chronicle Books
978-1-4521-5232-5
120 pp.
Ages 6-9
May 2018

and

CanLit for LittleCanadians 

is pleased to be participating in the Blog Tour for the book's release

Today's guest post blog is from
author Alice Kuipers 
who shares with readers
about a free online course
she has created for children to get them writing.
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Welcome Alice Kuipers!

Thank you for having me here today! I love all your book suggestions and you always give me great ideas for books to share with my kids.

In my new book, Polly Diamond and the Magic Book, my main character loves to write. This got me thinking about making a course for young writers, one that they could do with their parents or on their own online. I filled the course with PDFs and downloadable movies, and hopefully lots of inspiration for up-and-coming writers to get their words on the page. Here’s a peek at one of the steps on Character, that I thought I could share with you today.


Your CHARACTERS are the people in your stories and poems. Here’s Polly Diamond!

Other characters in the book are her mom, her dad, and her sister Anna, who Polly turns into a BANANA!

As a super-star writer, you’re going to need to get to know your characters really well. And I’m going to show you how to do that!

I loved making the course—turns out I could talk and think about writing books all day long. I have a black piece of fabric from Fabricland here in my house which I hung up behind me (very high tech at this end!), so that the video content would be easy to watch, and tried to make the course as energetic and fun as possible. I thought of as many writing prompts as I could. Getting my four children to help out, I tested some of the ideas on them (mainly on the older two, who are eight and six, although my five year old surprised me with his storytelling!), and then, I sent everything over to Children’s Book Insider. I’ve been working with them for a number of years, and I’m the teacher for two of their courses: Chapter Book Blueprint, and Middle Grade and YA Blueprint. They put everything together and the FREE course for Super Star Writers is ready to go.

Sometimes, it’s easy to underestimate how brilliant kids are at telling stories—we have an innate ability, I think, to connect to stories, and I know from my work in classrooms and from hanging out with my own children that when I give just a few tips and hints, kids just love to make stories come alive (kind of how Polly makes stories ACTUALLY come alive in her magic book!)

Hopefully you and your children (or your class) enjoy the course—please let me know what I need to change or add to make it even more fun for the young writers in your life. And for those of you who enjoyed getting to know your characters, here are the first ten questions from the character worksheet for you to enjoy with the kids in your life.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTER

You can try this with one character or with ALL of the characters in your stories!

Draw a picture of your character—like the picture of Polly Diamond!

Imagine you can sit down with your character and ask him or her questions.

Write the answers YOUR CHARACTER would say. For example, if I was interviewing Polly Diamond, I'd ask: “What is your name?” And she would answer, “My name is Polly Diamond.”

Question 1: What is your name?

Question 2: How old are you?

Question 3: What is your favorite thing to do?

Question 4: What do you do when you first wake up?

Question 5: What do you love to eat?

Question 6: Do you go to school? If yes, what grade are you in?

Question 7: Do you have any brothers or sisters? Can you describe them if you do?

Question 8: Tell me about your best friend.

Question 9: Do you have a secret?

Question 10: Have you ever been in trouble?

Here’s the link to the rest of the course:

https://writingblueprints.com/p/writing-course-ages-6-10/

Thank you so much for letting me share my ideas about writing with you.

Alice Kuipers

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Many thanks 

to Alice Kuipers for introducing young readers

and their teachers and families

 to her new online writing course for children

and 

to her publicist Susan Busse for arranging for this stop on the blog tour.

CanLit for LittleCanadians is always pleased to host Alice Kuipers 

whose books continue to inspire young Canadian readers 

and now get them writing too!

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Be sure to check out the other stops on Alice Kuipers' blog tour for Polly Diamond and the Magic Book:

May 3: Book Time

May 4: The Feedback Society

May 7: Yoyomama

May 8: Library of Pacific Tranquility

May 9:  Stuff to Do With Your Kids

May 10: Glimpse Reviews

May 11: Savvy Mom

May 12: Our Collective Muse 

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

Written by Alice Kuipers

Illustrated by Diana Toledano

Chronicle Books

978-104521-5232-5

120 pp.

Ages 6-9

May 2018

Readers have always known that there is magic in the pages of books and the written word.  But little Polly Diamond, a positive and optimistic child with more joie de vivre than anyone since Pollyanna, finds a magic there like no other.

With the family anticipating a new baby, Polly will be moving into her little sister Sarah's bedroom.   To help ease the transition, Polly is gifted a turquoise book inscribed with "A Writing and Spelling Book for Polly Diamond" on the inside. To say that Polly is excited about this gift would be an understatement.

From Polly Diamond and the Magic Book by Alice Kuipers, illus. by Diana Toledano

But even more special is the magic with which the book is infused.  When Polly begins writing in it, the book writes back, speaking to her about its name, her baby brother and ultimately directing her in the process of writing a story.  And as Polly writes, the book makes it happen, like helping her paint the walls of the bedroom or making her invisible.  Polly is delighted to learn that anything she imagines can become real if she writes it down.  But, as the classic adage goes about being careful what you wish for, Polly learns that her imagination and her word choice must be harnessed especially as her book reads everything literally and not as Polly always intends.

From Polly Diamond and the Magic Book by Alice Kuipers, illus. by Diana Toledano

Suffice it to say that, after a number of whimsical calamities, Polly Diamond and the Magic Book still resolves with many happy endings including the arrival of Polly's new baby brother and Polly's naming of her book with a multifaceted title that demonstrates word power in yet another form.

Saskatchewan writer Alice Kuipers continues to impress with the breadth of her writing which spans from picture books and early readers to her forte, young adult novels. (See my reviews of Me (and) Me, The Death of Us, and 40 Things I Want to Tell You.)  All books inspire readers to be imaginative and answer the classic "What if?" directive of writing.  In Polly Diamond and the Magic Book, the question of "What if that which you wrote in a book could magically become real?" is asked and answered with playfulness, joy and affable mishap. Young readers will snicker as Anna is transformed into a tutu-wearing banana, the Aquarium Blue paint converts the walls to a living fishbowl, and the staircase is made of musical note steps.  The story is rich with imagery (and darling images courtesy of Spain's Diana Toledano) and the fantastic and, though things do awry, because sometimes your imagination can run a little wild (!), Polly Diamond and the Magic Book is an uplifting early reader that encourages creative writing and the spiritedness of words.  It's Super-Polly-tastic!

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Check out Alice Kuipers' Guest Post tomorrow
 here at CanLit for LittleCanadians

as part of the

Blog Tour
for Polly Diamond and the Magic Book 
 

Family of Spies: Book launch (Winnipeg, MB)

Join author

Jodi Carmichael

for the launch of

her new middle-grade novel

Family of Spies

Written by Jodi Carmichael

Yellow Dog

978-1-927855-94-2

288 pp.

Ages 8-13

April 2018

on 

Sunday, April 29, 2018

2 p.m.

at

 McNally Robinson Booksellers

Grant Park Shopping Centre

1120 Grant Avenue

Winnipeg, MB

I'm pleased to share that I'll be participating in the blog tour for Family of Spies on May 10, 2018 with my review of this action-adventure with a touch of the fantastic inspired by the author's own grandfather's rumoured espionage activities during World War 2.  But, until then, here is the blurb from publisher Great Plains.

When cousins Ford, Ellie and Gavin, discover their great-grandfather was a rogue World War 2 spymaster, they must outrun MI6 and the CIA through the streets of Paris, relying on their wits and Ford’s newfound clairvoyant skills to unlock Great-Granddad’s spy secrets buried in the past. Great-Granddad hid something important to the war effort and these agencies want it back! 

Retrieved from 

https://www.greatplains.mb.ca/product/family-of-spies/ 

on April 25, 2018.

Pulse Point: Book Launch (Winnipeg, MB)

Join sisters and now collaborative authors

From https://www.greatplains.mb.ca/product/pulse-point/

Colleen Nelson

and

Nancy Chappell-Pollack

for the launch of their debut collaboration

Pulse Point

Written by Colleen Nelson and Nancy Chappell-Pollack

Yellow Dog (Great Plains Publications)

978-1-927855-97-3

192 pp.

Ages 12-15

May 2018

on

Friday May 11, 2018

at

7:00 p.m.

McNally Robinson

Grant Park in the Atrium

Winnipeg, MB

In Kaia’s world, setting foot Outside can be deadly. The safety of the City has kept humans alive as climate change destroys the world. But the City has found a way to survive sustainably: it is run by the energy generated by its Citizens. The energy that citizens create is calculated and displayed on their pulse point, a transmitter embedded in their finger.

Kaia is a Citizen, one of the few deemed genetically perfect enough to live under the protective dome of the City with her grandmother and father. But when Kaia discovers her mother is alive and living Outside, she escapes the safety of the City and learns the truth about the sinister world she left behind.

From http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-16306/Colleen-Nelson-&-Nancy-Chappell-Pollack----Book-Launch#.WoXZ1Hgujdk

The Big Bed

Written by Bunmi Laditan

Illustrated by Tom Knight

Farrrar Straus Giroux

978-0-374-30123-1

32 pp.

Ages 4-6

February 2018 

This child is going to be arguing cases before the Supreme Court; that is, before she ends up presiding over it and being appointed Chief Justice.  She is confident, articulate and, though very young, she knows what she's after and why she should get it. In this case, it's sleeping with Mom in The Big Bed.

From The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan, illus. by Tom Knight

With eloquent arguments that she purports to be "reasonable" and filled with positive reinforcement about her father's skills as a wrestler and piggyback-ride giver, the little girl opines about what happens at night.  Seems the big bed isn't big enough for herself and her parents, and it's clear who will be leaving.  As she's afraid of the dark, and her father still has his own mommy–hence no need to share hers–she recommends a solution that she is sure he will "find not only satisfactory, but also quite generous."

From The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan, illus. by Tom Knight

Bunmi Laditan, the blogger behind the very funny "The Honest Toddler" (at http://www.thehonesttoddler.com/), brings her trademark humour to this child's story.  Because it is all told from the child's perspective, from sitting her father down, arguing her case, presenting her plan to her mother (who laughs hysterically) and a culminating claim that "Mommy and I just want you to be happy", I feel like this is based on something Mommy Bunmi Laditan has experienced.  Everyone knows kids say the darnedest things and this little one does more than just say, she reasons and orates.  Supporting that perspective are British artist Tom Knight's illustrations.  His artwork, particularly that of the graphics the child herself creates, bolsters the cuteness of a child's perspective and makes The Big Bed as convincing as she is.

I truly hope her father can get some sleep on his new cot.

From The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan, illus. by Tom Knight

Swimming with Seals: Book launch (Ladysmith, BC)

Maggie de Vries

launches

her newest picture book

Swimming with Seals

Written by Maggie de Vries

Illustrated by Janice Kun
Orca Book Publishers

9781459813212

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2018

on

Thursday, May 8, 2018

7:00-8:30 p.m.

at

Salamander Books

535 First Avenue

Ladysmith, BC

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.