The Most Magnificent Team

Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1295-3

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

May 2025 

 

The most magnificent little girl and her dog from The Most Magnificent Thing, The Most Magnificent Idea, and The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z return and they're still making and building but with colleagues now.

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

It's another day of doing for our young maker. She and her pug may do lots of things from helping others, snacking and dreaming but coming up with ideas for new builds is at which the child excels. Gathering her materials for her latest idea she heads down to her working space on the street and encounters another child already there. There's another little girl, this one with fabulous hair buns, a green headband, glasses and a grey cat out on the sidewalk with a collection of materials and the start of a house. Impressed with what she sees, our first little girl invites her neighbour to work with her on her new idea.

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Although our little girl starts off wanting to take the neighbour's ideas into consideration, the two have very different styles of working. While the girl gets right to work, the neighbour child is all about measuring and calculating and considering and making suggestions for making the idea better but never starting to build her part of the project.

 

Even when the girl just does it all her way, the neighbour girl has criticisms.

 

The neighbor insists her idea will be better.

But that's impossible since the girl's idea is already the BEST.

And you can't make the best BETTER – it's already

THE BEST!

 

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Not only does the neighbour criticize, but she also undoes the work of the girl. At this point, they huff off and decide to work on their own projects. But they both feel their projects to be mediocre, more "HMMM" than "WOW" so decide to amalgamate. They combine their efforts and help the other and while they still run into disagreements, they find that taking a breath, consulting their canine and feline assistants and rejigging their concept can lead to something even more magnificent than they imagined.

 

They might do things differently, and

they'll probably disagree sometimes, but they

know that whatever they make together is

sure to be MAGNIFICENT.

 

Working with someone can be challenging the first time. You have to take into consideration their ideas and their way of doing things and it might require some compromise and even relinquishing some control. But what happens when your styles of making are drastically different? The little girl in Ashley Spires's The Most Magnificent Team finds out soon enough that it's not just a question of adding a person to the mix. It doesn't mean your workload will be lessened immediately or that it'll be more fun. It sometimes means more work upfront to get to know them, how they work, how they can contribute and how to deal together when the partnership is challenged. Fortunately, Ashley Spires shows how a partnership or team can develop from individuals through disagreement and into compromise and finally lead to success and achievement. While young children will certainly benefit from reading a story about how a team comes together, whether they are working in a makerspace, on a sports team or in a group on a class project, I believe their teachers and parents would also be helped to understand that kids don't always hit it off immediately and that with time they can find solutions for themselves that work. It might not always be the solution we would have chosen, but if it's a solution that works for all, we have to let them try.

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

I love Ashley Spires's stories whether it be her Binky the Space Cat or Burt the Beetle series or her standalone books like Larf and Small Saul. Though her approach is playful, and her illustrations whimsical and bright, she handles tough issues of fitting in and trying your best. In The Most Magnificent Team, Ashley Spires gives us two very different children and helps them find a way to work together, a big goal for everyone. Still, Ashley Spires always keeps it good-natured and lighthearted rather than confrontational or competitive. The kids want to work together; they just haven't figured out how to do it yet. But they do and their collaboration becomes a masterpiece for all, assistants included.

 

Being a magnificent creator can be a solitary activity, whether it be building or writing or something else altogether. But it can be the work of a team and, when a team works together, it can be truly magnificent.

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint?: Celebrating the Seasons

Written by Tyna Legault Taylor

Illustrated by Michelle Dao 

HighWater Press

978-1-774921227

36 pp.

Ages 5-8

May 2025 

 

A boy and his father walk the land through the seasons. With each season, there are new things to forage or fish or gather but always the child asks his Notawe/Baabaa, "Dad, is it time to gather mint?" That mint, a key component in his mother's teas, both cold and hot, drives this child to ask each time they head out to walk the land.

From Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint?, written by Tyna Legault Taylor, illustrated by Michelle Dao

The text of Joshua's story is told in English but it is peppered with translations into Omushkegomowin, Swampy Cree, as well as Anishinaabemowin which is Ojibwe. As Joshua learns about the land and its plants and animals, so too do the readers in multiple languages.

 

Although Joshua would love for it to be summer (nipin in Swampy Cree, niibin in Ojibwe) when he can gather mint (katakipanik, gaaminomaagobagak in Swampy Cree and Ojibwe respectively), it is still fall when this story begins. His father (Notawe, Baabaa) reminds him that now it is a time of hunting, gathering Labrador tea (the plant), and fishing for whitefish.

From Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint?, written by Tyna Legault Taylor, illustrated by Michelle Dao

As he and his father venture out into the season of winter, Joshua asks again and is reminded of those winter activities like snowshoeing, fishing for lake trout and herring, and gathering cedar branches for tea and for cleansing the indoor air. 

From Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint?, written by Tyna Legault Taylor, illustrated by Michelle Dao

When winter turns to spring and the animals and the plants respond to the warming temperatures, Joshua is reminded that it is a time for hunting geese and gathering spruce buds and fishing for lake trout. Alas, it is still not time to gather the mint.

 

But when it finally is summer, Joshua rejoices, not just for the pickerel they'll fish and the sweetgrass, blueberries and cranberries they pick but for that much-anticipated walk with his father and the inevitable mint iced tea–recipe included–that his mother will share with the family.

From Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint?, written by Tyna Legault Taylor, illustrated by Michelle Dao

There are many picture books about the seasons, but Tyna Legault Taylor's story has a richness of Indigenous heritage that makes it unique. Tyna Legault Taylor, a member of Attawapiskat First Nation, ensures a completeness of the year of seasons with the abundance of activities that Joshua and his dad enjoy together with the changing weather and circumstances. She brings us to Joshua's traditional lands in northeastern Ontario and to the culture of his Omushkego Cree and Anishinaabe family.

 

Michelle Dao, a Vietnamese Canadian illustrator, gives both a storytelling flavour and a non-fiction character to Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? Her digital artwork conveys the deep relationship between Joshua and his father, as well as the rest of the family, but also details the important elements that are hunted, fished, or gathered through the seasons.

 

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? is but the first book in the Joshua Learns from the Land series, with the second book set to be released this October. For teachers of young students who are just learning the way seasons work, Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? would be a fabulous and sensitive introduction, with an Indigenous emphasis on language–two languages in fact–and traditional practices of hunting, fishing, gathering and more.

 

• • • • • • •

 

Joshua Learns from the Land

 

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint?: Celebrating the Seasons (May 2025)

Kokum, Are These Moose Tracks?: Celebrating Fall (October 2025)

Mom, Is It Time for the Spring Niska Feast?: Celebrating Spring (forthcoming)

The Crayon Stub

Written and illustrated by Marcus Cutler

G. P. Putnam's Sons (An imprint of Penguin Random House)

979-8-217-00333-4

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

May 2025 

 

Judging by the plethora of artwork on the refrigerator and adoring the walls, Big Cat loves to draw. He draws dinosaurs and robots and unicorns and pizzas and more. But when he's ready to attempt his next masterpiece, he is dismayed to find only a small nub of red crayon left in his box.

From The Crayon Stub, written and illustrated by Marcus Cutler

As he comes unglued, Big Cat looks at his previous works and deliberates about what he'll use his limited resource on. Little Cat, who may or may not be responsible for the lack of crayons, accompanies Big Cat as he ponders and worries and stresses.

From The Crayon Stub, written and illustrated by Marcus Cutler

But then Big Cat tosses his red crayon stub and drawing paper away in frustration and Little Cat grabs them. After a chase ensues, a masterpiece may be created but through extraordinary means.

From The Crayon Stub, written and illustrated by Marcus Cutler

While I have reviewed a number of books which Marcus Cutler has illustrated (e.g., Do Not Turn the Page!, and The Walrus and the Caribou), this is the first picture book of his that I've reviewed that he has both written and illustrated. (Note: he does have an earlier story, I Do Not Eat Children, that I have not read.) And, what I've realized is that there's a difference when he is the author-illustrator. Marcus Cutler's digital artwork has always had a degree of silliness that brings a playful mood to the stories but, when he also writes the text, the funniness is enhanced. Most young readers would recognize the distress of missing all their crayons, but Marcus Cutler gives us an over-the-top reaction in Big Cat's response. And then we've got a younger sibling who gets into an older sibling's things and uses them indiscriminately–wait until readers see what Little Cat does with the crayon stub–and the laughs continue. The art is both straightforward and clever in its simplicity but also filled with little details that captivate. Together Marcus Cutler gives us the funny in the story and the art.

From The Crayon Stub, written and illustrated by Marcus Cutler

There may only be a stub of a red crayon left in Big Cat's box but it's enough to create a tale rich in humour, colour, and character, courtesy of Marcus Cutler.

I Am Not a Sloth

Written by Marie-Pier Meunier

Illustrated by Valérie Desrochers

CrackBoom! Books

978-2-898026041

32 pp.

Ages 6-9

May 2025 

Harry may be a sloth i.e., the mammal but he is not lazy or complacent. He is more than just sloth, and he wants everyone to see all the things that he is because he has a big personality and he's proud of it. In fact, he introduces the reader to all the Harrys he is.

From I Am Not a Sloth, written by Marie-Pier Meunier, illustrated by Valérie Desrochers

He is joyful and generous, but he can also be furious and cranky. He can be studious and adventurous but also proud and anxious. He is typical in that he is a blend of positives and less positives, lovely traits and others when challenged with life. He may be a sloth–which he finally accepts–but he's so much more.

I am HARRY

and that suits me just fine.

I like myself as I am, one of a kind. 

From I Am Not a Sloth, written by Marie-Pier Meunier, illustrated by Valérie Desrochers

Quebec's Marie-Pier Meunier's message is that all of us are not just one thing. We are a blend of so many traits, both good and less desirable, that make us who we are. We might not always like being envious or stubborn and we certainly don't want to be labelled based on a single trait or a single bad act because we are more than our worst moments. Too often children are told by their peers or a parent or a teacher than they are one thing, whether precocious or difficult, lazy or entitled, and that's all they will remember or fear that's how everyone will see them. Harry is more than a sloth in his behaviours but then aren't we all? We all have days of inefficiency or fatigue or even unkindness, but we should not let those moments define us. It's unfortunate that we often see ourselves and others in terms of our worst not who we truly are. It's hard for Harry to accept that he is a sloth because of the connotations associated with that label but Marie-Pier Meunier lets him see how much more he is–just as young readers might do so–and how full his personality is. (Her author's note speaks about how personalities are formed, that we are not defined by our emotions, and that labels are hurtful.)

From I Am Not a Sloth, written by Marie-Pier Meunier, illustrated by Valérie Desrochers

Valérie Desrochers, an illustrator also from Quebec, makes I Am Not a Sloth a joyful acceptance of self beyond the obvious. She makes Harry both shy and brave in acknowledging his true self. He has twinkling eyes, a smile that is both affectionate and self-deprecating, and a face that expresses all the good and the not-so-good traits that are Harry. And in a landscape of lush fronds and leaves, as well as in a playful house setting, readers get to see the big picture that is Harry.

 

I Am Not a Sloth would a fabulous starter for so many lessons, from writing characters that are full-developed to self-image and acceptance. Most of all, it is a sweet story about acknowledging everything about ourselves, good and bad, and not dwelling on the worst, and that includes avoiding labelling, a harmful practice that overlooks the individual as a whole.

From I Am Not a Sloth, written by Marie-Pier Meunier, illustrated by Valérie Desrochers

I Lost a Day

Written and illustrated by Briana Corr Scott

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77471-363-1

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2025 

 

For many of us, losing a day is a negative event. It means that we lost 24 hours in which we could have accomplished something or been more present for others or ourselves or enjoyed life. It could be losing it to strong feelings or procrastination, to futility, defeat or discombobulation. But Briana Corr Scott shows children that the loss of a day can bring positives of calm, greater clarity, effectiveness, and more.

From I Lost a Day, written and illustrated by Briana Corr Scott

In rhyming verse, Briana Corr Scott gets into the heads and hearts of children as they are overcome with anger or rage or sadness.

When my head holds a storm

That blocks out the light

 

When my hands are hard fists

That are ready to fight...

When those times come, each finds a way to cope, whether it be hiding under their sheets, listening to the rain, reading, sketching, playing music, running, or just being outdoors. Everyone is different but they choose strategies that work for them to help be distracted from the anger or the sadness or to help it dissipate. 

I smell the cool earth

As the wind moves the leaves

 

A piece of my sadness

Floats away on the breeze. 

From I Lost a Day, written and illustrated by Briana Corr Scott

The strategy that touched me the most was the untangling of a ball of yarn as it is a metaphor for the undoing of a lost day. After all, a lost day is but one day among many.

Yarn that is tangled

Can always be wound...

 

In the days that I lost

It was me that I found.

The title of I Lost a Day caught me off-guard with the discouraging tone I thought it set for the book. It is but a title. That title and the first illustrations of the book are just a preamble to explain what children can do to deal with big feelings of anger and depression, irritability and anxiety. It sets up the story to be one of enlightenment, in other words one of learning to see differently and to feel the lightness that comes of self-care. Briana Corr Scott, whose book While You Were Sleeping I reviewed in 2023, has a delicacy to her storytelling and her artwork. Her author's note details a personal connection to the story of I Lost a Day–in addition to suggestions for other activities to help cope with those lost days–and I believe that this connection is what has helped her be sensitive and comprehensive in the strategies she recommends to children to try.

From I Lost a Day, written and illustrated by Briana Corr Scott

That awareness of the enormity of those feelings and that potential ways in which they may be addressed and successfully waived come through in Briana Corr Scott's illustrations. She uses gouache and watercolour to create artwork that portrays those overwhelming feelings that can cause a loss of days, days of raging storms and devastating anguish. These images are powerful in their darkness and their influence to dominate. But then Briana Corr Scott shows children finding the stillness in rain and reading and the quiet in running and drawing, and recovering themselves. 

The sadness can't catch me

I'll pass it right by

 

My body feels lighter

When I sit and sigh.

This is not a how-to book to defeat depression or anger. It is however a story that appreciates how time may be lost to feelings that overwhelm and offers possibilities for coping with no judgment and no obligation to conform or control. Briana Corr Scott, instead, shows kindness and understanding with the hope that we might find ways to care for our mental health that work for us.

Jackie's Drawing

Written by Andrew Katz

Illustrated by Tony Luzano

CrackBoom! Books (An imprint of Chouette Publishing)

978-2-898025679

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

May 2025 

There have been more than several novels, picture books, and short story collections that have been based during in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic with its lockdowns (stay-at-home orders) and other measures. Though never mentioning the pandemic, Jackie's Drawing sees a child's perspective on the resulting isolation and a rebound to normal in terms of nature's response and her own inspiration for creativity.

From Jackie's Drawing, written by Andrew Katz, illustrated by Tony Luzano

Jackie's story begins with a rusty haze befalling her community. This haze forces everyone to stay indoors and to isolate from everyone and everything, including the mountain she'd often visit for inspiration for her art. At first, Jackie is still able to draw, gathering ideas from memory and her own experience. But, with time, it becomes more difficult as she had "lost the heart to do anything."

From Jackie's Drawing, written by Andrew Katz, illustrated by Tony Luzano

But one day a flash of silver in the canal beneath her window gets her attention. An unexpected dolphin has appeared, and with it a menagerie of other animals, from a bald eagle to moose and deer and foxes who have begun to make their way onto the streets, into the air, and into the water where only people had ventured. Jackie is enthralled and takes up her drawing pencils, determined to draw them all.

From Jackie's Drawing, written by Andrew Katz, illustrated by Tony Luzano

But as she draws them all, a wonderful dragon with antlers, a tail fin and feathers appears and transports her to the mountain where her drawing inspiration always lived.

From Jackie's Drawing, written by Andrew Katz, illustrated by Tony Luzano

While Jackie's Drawing speaks to a child's loss of enthusiasm for her drawing with her separation from nature, Andrew Katz's note at the conclusion of the story reminds us that the natural world too responded to the pandemic or could have. So, as Jackie had lost her creative muse the longer the "haze" drenched her community, the animals who normally would have been relegated to outside that community were able to find their way onto the quiet waterways, skies and land within. And for Jackie to find that nature was coming to her to awaken her imagination was a lovely positive during a dark time. Of course, it is still Jackie's imagination that helps her create a chimera–Andrew Katz discusses this in his appended note too–of the animals she sees, allowing her to travel in a flight of fancy to her beloved mountain to re-experience the joy of drawing outdoors.

 

Andrew Katz and Tony Luzano have previously collaborated on a picture book, I Want to Be Super!, so there seems to be a harmony of styles that works. Jackie's Drawing is again about an imaginative kid and Tony Luzano's digital art reflects every nuance of a child who is enthusiastic but then loses that enthusiasm when troubled with isolation and then finds a way to regain that passion for her art. His use of bold colours and distinct animals places the emphasis on the wonders outside and in Jackie's artwork, not on the grim haze that permeates their world for such a long time. He finds the light for her and for the reader to get beyond that haze of bleakness. 

The first year of the pandemic was especially difficult for many people but for children whose creativity was stifled, it might have been more challenging. Finding new things to do helped many but only coming after feeling the loss of their routines and familiar activities. Finding their new normal involved grief, courage, and imagination. Thankfully for Jackie, she found her ability to express herself from the very same source of encouragement she'd always relied upon, just in a different configuration.

The Bigfoot Field Guide to Campers (and Other Mysterious Creatures)

Written and illustrated by Jami Gigot

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1263-2

36 pp.

Ages 4-7

Releases May 2025

 

Ah, the mysterious Bigfoot. Mythical beast or elusive recluse? Whatever it is, many fear an encounter with the massive creature. But what if it encountered us? Does it have a similar perspective?

From The Bigfoot Field Guide to Campers (and Other Mysterious Creatures), written and illustrated by Jami Gigot

In its field guide to mysterious creatures, Bigfoots believe that there "is one species that is so dangerous, and so treacherous, that Bigfoots have come to fear them above all others..." It's the nasty camper. Ever since campers invaded the home of the Bigfoots with their click-flashers, and moved their rock collections, peed in their gardens and contaminated their waters, Bigfoots have been forced to move deeper into the forests. But the Bigfoots have a guide to help each other deal with these troubling visitors. 

From The Bigfoot Field Guide to Campers (and Other Mysterious Creatures), written and illustrated by Jami Gigot

First step for Bigfoots is identification, easily accomplished by hairless faces and limbs, odours and noises. Once identified, the aim is to avoid being seen. In the case of the Bigfoot giving this advice, everything goes awry when a young camper spots the Bigfoot as he spots her. Guideline #3 recommends camouflage if spotted but he's kind of big, and the child finds him. And though he tries to remain calm and play dead–these are Guidelines #4 and #5–her tickling makes it difficult to remain secretive. 

Bigfoot knows to never eat a camper's food or let them use their click-flasher on you and to never let their guard down on a camper–they are NOT warm and cuddly creatures–but things take a turn when the camper becomes distressed recognizing the absence of the other campers. Can Bigfoot follow all the guidelines, or will he be able to show kindness to an upset child who sees a friend in the big guy and not a monster?

From The Bigfoot Field Guide to Campers (and Other Mysterious Creatures), written and illustrated by Jami Gigot

Vancouver's Jami Gigot may have meant this picture book as a tongue-in-cheek look at how we perceive the mythical Bigfoot but by turning it around and helping us see how Bigfoots may perceive us, Jami Gigot gives us a lesson in tolerance and kindness. It starts as a story of conflict between Bigfoots and campers, but it flips and opens up into a story of acceptance. Both Bigfoot and the child see beyond their fears and misconceptions and find something special that is mutually beneficial. 

Jami Gigot, who also wrote and illustrated Star Boy: Inspired by the Life and Lyrics of David Bowie, Imagination Vacation, and The World in Our Backyard, keeps the simplicity that would come of a homemade field guide. Her art, rendered in coloured pencil and digital paint, keeps a sweetness to Bigfoot–he looks more scared of the camper than she does of him– as well as to the goofy, young campers who may not have learned to be intolerant or fearful of others who are different from them. 

Whether Bigfoot or a camper, there may be a surprise in the woods for you. Be prepared with compassion and tolerance and you might just have an unexpected encounter with a new friend. But shhh! Let's keep that a secret.