Kid Sterling

Written by Christine Welldon

Red Deer Press

978-0-889956162

432 pp.

Ages 10+

August 2020 

If Sterling Crawford had a soundtrack to his life, it would be ragtime and the blues. It would lift him up and mirror his lows, get him through the tough times and celebrate the highs. It would remind him of trains and rivers, work and family. And he would be known to the music world as Kid Sterling.

In the early 1900s, Sterling Crawford is just a ten-year-old boy living in New Orleans with his Momma and his seventeen-year-old brother Syl, shining shoes on Basin Street and dreaming of playing his horn for the King, Buddy Bolden.

...the notes from Buddy's cornet were cannonballs that shook Sterling's bones, the tone clear and pure, teasing and lusty, till he felt himself lifted up and away, a catfish on a hook. (pg. 19)

As much as Sterling wants to play music and learn how to write it, life is not as straightforward as he might wish. Even recognizing the threats and discriminatory limitations imposed on him by his black heritage, Sterling dreams of more, just as Syl does. But Syl who has instructed Sterling to never reveal them to be brothers, whether to pass himself off as white or to simply protect Sterling, goes beyond playing drums to make a better life. He works for a local gangster, gambles, and involves himself in other nefarious activities, even stealing money that Sterling had been saving for a new horn. With a strained relationship, Sterling and Syl head to Plaquemine for a cousin's birthday celebration and a musical gig for Syl. But everything shatters when Syl is forced to protect them from assault by a white man. The two separate and only Sterling returns to New Orleans where he is eventually arrested for assault.

Being sent to Captain Jones's Colored Waifs Home for Boys, Sterling feels like it's the end of the road for him.

A distant bugle sounded the end of the day. He figured his whole life was just like that bugle–out of tune. All his young life, his mother had sung to him, called him in to supper, to chores, to his bedtime. As he waited for sleep, he conjured the sound of her rich voice, humming those bluesy tunes to wrap him in safety and love. But memories brought him no comfort. Tonight, he had only loneliness and sour notes to call him to slumber. (pg. 233)

Still, Sterling learns more about himself and about music, even how to "...make some harmony out of the sour" (pg. 287). And there is a lot of sourness that pervades Sterling's life. Bad things, like notes on the wind, keep finding their way to him. He makes the best choices he can given the circumstances. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And sometimes it doesn't matter. In the end, it's still his story, and Christine Welldon tells it with authenticity and compassion.

Because Christine Welldon's background is as a non-fiction writer (e.g., Everyone Can Be a Changemaker, Reporter in Disguise, The Children of Africville, and Lifelines: The Lanier Phillips Story), you can be assured that Kid Sterling is a carefully and thoroughly researched book. Though Sterling himself is a fictionalized character, Buddy Bolden, Clarence Williams, Captain Jones and Armand Piron as well as others (Christine Welldon provides background on them at the conclusion of her book) were very real men who shaped Sterling's life and undoubtedly those of real individuals. But by embedding a fictionalized young African American boy in a true representation of New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century, Christine Welldon can build her story on him and his world without limitation. She can tell of the horrific racial discrimination from Sterling and his peers' perspectives, seeing how justice was served up based on the colour of skin. She can weave in the music of the day and how it was played and learned and disseminated. She can reveal how fear could dry up the music for Sterling, and how fear for self, family and friends impacted living.

If his life were like a music book of stories, Sterling felt as strong as the spine that bound and divided it down the center. One part was finished, its pages full. The rest contained empty notation lines, waiting to be filled. (pg. 406)

If Kid Sterling was a piece of music, it would be a hymn of pain and promise, hope and struggle. But that hymn should portend better, for Sterling and others whose lives were never given full voice. Let that new song stay true now and forever.

Snow Song

 

Written by A. K. Riley

Illustrated by Dawn Lo

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0235-0

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2020

Looking outside on my own snow-covered landscape, I am reminded how varied this frozen precipitation can appear and feel and impact our lives. How snow is perceived is so dependent on experience and age and community and the attributes of the snow itself. While the cover of Snow Song suggests a playful story of the joys of being outside in the snow with friends, this picture book is so much more. It is a sensory experience of words and art, contemplative and serene, as well as playful and dynamic, and Snow Song is accordingly a lyrical exposé of being in a new place and finding a commonality through snow.

From Snow Song by A. K. Riley, illus. by Dawn Lo

Though A. K. Riley's evocative free verse speaks to the snow and its movement and form, Dawn Lo shows the reader a child who has just moved into a new home, boxes still to be unloaded and unpacked. Dressed in beret and scarf and green jacket, we accompany her from her new front stoop, down the street and to a park with woodland, pond, playground and more, within a world of snow.

Fine pearls of snow

Then a twirl of snow.

Around the eaves

A curl of snow.

From Snow Song by A. K. Riley, illus. by Dawn Lo

The words are all about the snow, the feel of the snow and the shape of the snow. The snow becomes the focus and the background. It's everything. It gives the child the context for making new friends and familiarizing herself with her new world, whether from outside and around her to inside and looking out.

So soft the snow,

Froths the snow

Upon the trees

And spangled streams –

Up to my knees!

From Snow Song by A. K. Riley, illus. by Dawn Lo

Snow Song may be A. K. Riley's debut children's book but her finesse with words is exceptional. While many newbie children's authors overload their stories with text, A. K. Riley is frugal with her words, packing immense power and sensation in them. Her words convey the visual, the auditory, the tactile and more of snow, giving the child voice and the reader consciousness. Similarly, artist Dawn Lo uses gouache, pencil crayons and Photoshop to create a fusion of colours and textures, taking the reader and the child from indoors through both urban and wilder landscapes, all in the pursuit of the snow experience. Still, feeling anomalous in her new environs, the child is tethered to her past and present through the snow, giving her a naturalness of action and feeling to pursue the newness of her situation. That familiarity instils boldness and ease.

I hope there is snow in your life and the freedom to experience it. Regardless, Snow Song will guide you with its own snow and the freshness of life that comes with it through the words of A. K. Riley and the art of Dawn Lo.

Oh My Gods!

Written by Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick

Illustrated by Juliana Moon

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-0-358-299523

208 pp.

Ages 8-12

January 2021

 

When her mother has to relocate to curate a gallery show, thirteen-year-old Karen is sent to stay with her father, Zed, a man she barely knows, in Mt. Olympus.

From Oh My Gods! by Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick, illus. by Juliana Moon

She's surprised by his extravagance, from the carriage drawn by horses in winged costumes at the airport, to her multiple rooms at his mansion, at ordering every type of pizza imaginable since he doesn't know what she likes, and even the wrist corsage he gets her for her first day at Mt. Olympus Junior High. Not only is her dad the mayor of Mt. Olympus, he's the dean of her school. The man is ubiquitous, as well as charming and wealthy.

From Oh My Gods! by Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick, illus. by Juliana Moon

Karen is shown around the school by a really fast guy, Hermes, who introduces her to the different groups, from the Titans football team, to the Fates, random Jeff and the kids of the Mythbusters group who take Karen under their wing. There's the bright Tina who offers to catch her up; the kindly Dita; the guitar-playing Pol; and his sister Art who is wicked with a bow and arrow. 

From Oh My Gods! by Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick, illus. by Juliana Moon

When a boy is turned to stone in the library where Karen and Tina are studying, the group meet at a local diner and peruse a book on Monsters and Mythological Creatures, suggesting that a Gorgon might be at work. Karen is flummoxed by their earnestness, convinced they must be part of a LARPing group, that is, until they reveal themselves to be the gods and goddesses Apollo (Pol), Athena (Tina), Aphrodite (Dita), and Artemis. Learning that her father is a god as well, and that Karen may be a demigoddess whose powers could come in at puberty, all the weirdness of her new situation makes some sense.

From Oh My Gods! by Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick, illus. by Juliana Moon

But, there's still the mystery of the boy turned to stone which escalates when Pol is similarly transformed and there is a worry that Karen's arrival may be related to these bizarre crimes.

While fitting in to a new school, making new friends, and establishing a relationship with a previously-absentee father may be familiar circumstances for some young people, Karen's new life is anything but. By telling Karen's coming-of-age story in a world based on the immortals of Greek mythology, Toronto author Stephanie Cooke and American author Insha Fitzpatrick have added a playful dimension to this graphic novel.  Everything is a little more fantastic, from the characters and their abilities–details are provided in "Karen's Mythology Notes!!!" at the book's conclusion–to Karen's naive accounting for the weirdness she perceives–like centaurs as drama students really committed to their craft–and the inclusion of so many elements of Greek mythology. Every new reveal, like the diner called Ambrosia and the Fates literally bumping into Karen and her friends and saying "We didn't see this coming" (pg. 123), is cheeky and entertaining. While the illustrations by Brazilian digital artist Juliana Moon have given Karen and her friends the normalcy of young teens with their backpacks, clothes and hair, she also embeds it in the mythological Mt. Olympus and makes it realistic.  

I've just learned that this is a series–yay!–and Oh My Gods! is just OMGs #1. The next book, titled The Forgotten Maze, is due out in January 2022, and this is particularly welcome as Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick have left us with an impending adventure starring Jeff and a maze, as well as with wanting to know if and how Karen discovers her powers as a demigoddess.

Dino Dana: Dino Field Guides

Last year, the wildly popular Canadian television series that features young dinosaur-loving Dana took to print in the form of two volumes of Dino Field Guides. Read below why they will be a great addition to the libraries of paleo-lovers young and old.

Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide

 Written by J. J. Johnson, Christin Simms and 

Colleen Russo Johnson

 Mango Publishing Group
978-1-64250-284-8
230 pp.
Ages 8-12
April 2020

 

 

Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide Volume 2

 Written by J.J. Johnson, Christin Simms and  

Colleen Russo Johnson

Mango Publishing Group
978-1-64250-521-4
230 pp.
Ages 8-12
December 2020

 

Books about dinosaurs are plentiful. Check out any school library to find evidence of a collection that is regularly signed out and well-loved. But these field guides are much more than encyclopedias of dino info and it's because of the premise upon which the TV series was founded. Originating from the Canadian series Dino Dan and then Dino Dan: Trek's Adventures, Dino Dana stars a young girl who not only knows about dinosaurs and wants to learn more but imagines them to life. Using CGI animation along with live action, the TV series are less lecture and more interactive and these field guides continue to emphasize that strength.

From Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide by J. J. Johnson, Christin Simms and Colleen Russo Johnson

In the first volume of this series, Dino Dana teaches young readers about Albertosaurus, Amargasaurus, Brachiosaurus, Compsognathus, Corythosaurus, Diabloceratops, Diplodocus, Dracorex, Dromaeosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Europasaurus, Futalognkosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Gigantoraptor, Hippodraco, Incisivosaurus, Kentrosaurus, Kosmoceratops, Maiasaura, Microraptor, Nanotyrannus, Nanuqsaurus, Ozraptor, Pachycephalosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Sinornithosaurus, Spinosaurus, Stegosaurus, Stygimoloch, Therizinosaurus, Triceratops, Troodon, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Ugrunaaluk and Zuul. (Whew! That's a whole lot of dinosaurs.) For each, there are three double-spreads. In the first, the animal is showcased with its name, pronunciation and meaning, location, and time scale to show when they lived. On the next spread, more details about the creature's size, morphology and behaviour as well as interesting tidbits are shared. 

From Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide by J. J. Johnson, Christin Simms and Colleen RussoJohnson

Finally, Dino Dana engages her readers in an experiment she undertakes to answer a question she has about that particular dinosaur. It could be about its defense mechanisms or feeding preferences or behaviours with respect to taking care of their young. Her experiments honour the scientific method, asking a question, getting background research information, making a plan, keeping track of results, and drawing conclusions. And because Dana often involves her family, including baby Dexter, in her investigations, or dresses up in wonderful dinosaur costumes–who knits those amazing headpieces?!–they are all the more colourful in their results.

From Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide by J. J. Johnson, Christin Simms and Colleen Russo Johnson

In the second volume of Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide, which was just released last month, Dino Dana pursues more research into tectonic plates and fossils but also extends her knowledge about Pterosaurs like Pterodactylus, Pterodaustro and Quetzalcoatlus; Flying Dinosaurs like Archaeopteryx; Prehistoric Marine Creatures including Archelon, Deinosuchus, Livyatan, Megalodon and Plesiosaur; Prehistoric Mammals such as Brontotherium, Woolly Mammoth and Smilodon; Terror Birds like Titanus; Prehistoric Snakes like Titanoboa; and finally Prehistoric Insects like Meganeura. In addition to new species and groups of creatures beyond dinosaurs, Dino Dana gives special consideration to the young of several, like the Baby Smilon, Baby Wooly Mammoth and Baby Plesiosaur, in this second volume.

 

From Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide Volume 2 by J. J. Johnson, Christin Simms and Colleen Russo Johnson

As with any nature field guide, Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide and Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide Volume 2 are informative handbooks that include just about everything you wanted to know about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. But, because Dino Dana is always learning and engaging in discovery activities to feed her knowledge, her field guides don't just tell the reader stuff. They also demonstrate their own development. There are numerous instances where Dana has corrected previously-held truths about dinosaurs, like the theory that "Dinos are like lizards" being replaced with "more like birds." By always asking questions, like the great investigator she is, and attempting to find the answers, whether through research or active inquiry, Dino Dana engages her readers in the process of learning.

For fans of the Dino Dana series and for those who have never seen it but are lovers of dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, Dino Dana: Dino Field Guides are an absolute treat of visual entertainment and comprehensive knowledge.

 

Nature All Around: Trees & Nature All Around: Plants

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of reviewing Nature All Around: Birds, Pamela Hickman and Carolyn Gavin's newest book in Kids Can Press's Nature All Around series, and I was reminded of earlier books that I hadn't reviewed. Here are my reviews of two additional titles published earlier in the series.

🌲🌳🌲🌳🌲🌳🌲🌳🌲

 

Nature All Around: Trees

Written by Pamela Hickman

Illustrated by Carolyn Gavin

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-804-7

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

2019

 

Nature All Around: Plants

Written by Pamela Hickman

Illustrated by Carolyn Gavin

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-819-1

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

2020  

As with Nature All Around: Birds, Pamela Hickman and Carolyn Gavin offer children a broad introduction to a group of living things in an illustrated text perfect for the early middle grade reader. They cover life cycles, behaviour, identification, seasonal variation, and unique species, as well as offering an opportunity for learning through activity

From Nature All Around: Trees by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

In Nature All Around: Trees, children will become familiar with the basics of tree morphology (i.e., trunk, bark, roots, crown, leaves, seeds and branches) and the differences between deciduous and evergreen trees. The different types of leaves and their role in photosynthesis and respiration are also covered. Looking at the tree through the seasons, Pamela Hickman details pollination, fruit production, and the making of maple syrup from sap. She also reports on the forest regions of North America, the role of trees as habitat, and tree identification. Still as scientifically accurate as the details are, Nature All Around: Trees is also a celebration of trees and their wondrous role in different ecosystems, and Carolyn Gavin's illustrations of watercolour and gouache honour both the science and the magic. (The joy of colour and shape in the illustration below is just one superb example.)

From Nature All Around: Trees by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

In Nature All Around: Plants, Pamela Hickman discusses flowering and non-flowering plants, life cycles, adaptations to the environment, to attract pollinators and for protection, and the many quirky species and anomalies to the norm. Of course, there is always the activity-based learning which here includes "Beginner Plant-Watching" and growing microgreens.

From Nature All Around: Plants by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

Children are spending a lot more time indoors right now and being out in nature offers a plethora of opportunities for learning, for exercise, for quiet time and for connection. With the Nature All Around series from Pamela Hickman and illustrated by Carolyn Gavin, heading out to take in the natural world and make those worthwhile connections that remind us that we're much more than entities on screens is all the more possible. 

From Nature All Around: Plants by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

 🌲🌳🐛🌲🌳🐛🌲🌳🐛🌲🌳🐛🌲

 

The complete Nature All Around series includes four books to date:

Nature All Around: Trees (2019)

Nature All Around: Bugs (2019)

Nature All Around: Plants (2020) 

Nature All Around: Birds (2020)

Nature All Around: Birds

Written by Pamela Hickman

Illustrated by Carolyn Gavin

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-818-4

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

2020

 

With so many kids' activities curtailed, especially those involving team sports and getting together with others, it may be a great time to get your little ones involved in an activity like birding i.e., bird-watching which they can do alone, with family, or later with friends, developing it into the life-long passion enjoyed by many.

Pamela Hickman, whose collection of books about nature will astound, takes children through the basics about birds, from their life cycle to changes through the seasons, attributes of eggs, feathers, beaks, behaviour and more, and inviting them to watch birds.

From Nature All Around: Birds by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

Organized with a simple table of contents, glossary and index, Nature All Around: Birds is an easy non-fiction read for early readers and middle grade children without bogging them down in scientific names and other minutiae that might dissuade them from learning. Pamela Hickman has made Nature All Around: Birds comprehensive but reader-friendly, drawing children in with the short blurbs of explanatory text.  Coupled with the colourful gouache and watercolour illustrations by Carolyn Gavin which blend realism with a touch of whimsy, it's all bright and informative without reading like a field guide or textbook.

From Nature All Around: Birds by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

Learning about birds for young children will require looking out their windows or taking a walk and opening their eyes to the feathered creatures who share our landscapes. But, with Nature All Around: Birds, their focus will be bolstered by Pamela Hickman's descriptive and guiding text and Carolyn Gavin's detailed and communicative art and undoubtedly help establish an abiding appreciation for birds.

From Nature All Around: Birds by Pamela Hickman, illus. by Carolyn Gavin

You Were Never Here

Written by Kathleen Peacock

HarperTeen

978-0-06-300251-7

392 pp.

Ages 13+ 

October 2020

 

I used to think that once things broke, you couldn't put them back together, that the cracks would always be present and there was no point in trying. (pg. 388)

Seventeen year old Mary Catherine Montgomery a.k.a. Cat undoubtedly thinks of herself as broken, or at least not normal, and it has nothing to do with her physique, though she often deprecates herself for her wild red hair and chubbiness. What Cat can do, since puberty, is feel others' desires and fears when she has skin-to-skin contact. Consequently, she wears long sleeves as much as possible and avoids crowds and any chance of close contact with anyone. She's learned from experience how damaging it can be to reveal what she knows. The first time was with Riley Fraser, the boy next door to her Aunt Jet's in Montgomery Falls, New Brunswick. Now after another incident because of her gift, Cat is leaving her home in NYC and going to stay with her aunt. But things are much different now. Oh, she still has her gift, though she generally knows how to avoid its consequences. It's Riley. He's disappeared.

At her aunt's home, now a rooming house, Cat meets eighteen-year-old Aidan Porter, as well as his friends Chase, Joey and Skylar, and reconnects with Riley's older brother Noah who returned from university when his brother disappeared three months earlier. As Cat tries to fit in with her horror film-loving new acquaintances and piece together the bullying that Skylar is experiencing related to Riley, as well as help Noah learn what happened to his brother, Cat gets caught up in another incident when they discover the near-dead body of another student, Rachel Larsen.

In a thrilling YA novel of a suspicious disappearance, a supernatural gift and the natural need for acceptance and human contact, Kathleen Peacock sends us into the community of Montgomery Falls and into the heads of Cat and several others to recognize that,

Sometimes... people fear the things they want or want the things they fear. (pg. 154)

Discovering what happened to Riley is paramount in You Were Never Here but learning about Cat's ability and how that has impacted her relationships with Riley, her NYC friend Lacey, her father, and others is also relevant. Because of that power, Cat avoids getting close to people, including her own family, and can't trust herself to feel for anyone, worried that they might run out on her or accuse her of being a monster. How do you trust others when you can't trust yourself? Blending Cat's gift with regular teenage angst, a craving for friendship and a bit of romance, and a mystery or two to be solved, Kathleen Peacock has created a story teeming with emotions and tension, and reminds us what it takes to be human, and Cat most certainly is. She's bright, realistic, compassionate, and cautiously trusting, though not always of herself. She is not the monster but there is one around. And, as with any good mystery, the reveal is both unexpected and convincing.