Book Launch: Outcast by Adrienne Kress (Toronto)

Get your best 1950's gear on

and head to

The Dominion Pub

500 Queen Street East

Toronto

on June 6, 2013

for 7 p.m.

to help launch

the newest young adult book

Outcast

Diversion Books

978-1-62681061-7

283 pp.

June, 2013

from

author Adrienne Kress

whose other books include

The Friday Society (Dial, 2012)

Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (Scholastic Canada, 2007)

Timothy and the Dragon's Gate (Scholastic Canada, 2010)

Outcast focuses on 16-year-old Riley Carver whose community has been living in fear for six years since "angels" starting coming down from the skies and taking people.  When one shows up in her backyard, she shoots him with her mother's shotgun.  But, instead of a dead body, she gets a really hot, living guy who thinks it's 1956. (Details courtesy of goodreads.com)

Dress up, 

go to the Launch, 

have some great Fun

 and 

get the Book!

Namesake

by Sue MacLeod

Pajama Press

978-1927485293

232 pp.

Ages 12+

May 1, 2013

In current-day Halifax, teen Jane Grey and fellow classmates in her Advanced Placement History are embarking on their research projects and it would seem obvious that she would focus on her Namesake, Lady Jane Grey.

Just a bit of a history lesson for those unfamiliar with the Nine Days Queen.  In 1553, due to the machinations of her parents and the Duke of Northumberland, Lady Jane Grey was made heir to the King of England, Edward VI.  She had already wed the son of the Duke of Northumberland, so when Edward VI passed, the Duke declared Lady Jane to be Queen of England, sure that he could control the throne through her.   However, according to succession, Lady Jane's cousin Mary, King Edward VI's half-sister and King Henry VIII's daughter, would be next Queen.  Imprisoned until the arrival of soon-to-be Queen Mary I, Lady Jane was hopeful of a pardon because becoming Queen had never been her intention.  However, with her parents and the Duke playing the odds with her against Mary, and because her strong belief in her Protestant faith conflicted with Mary's Catholicism, a pardon was not granted and Lady Jane was executed.

In the twenty-first century, Jane discovers a small book called Booke of Prayre while unpacking her backpack of library books.  Reading aloud from it, Jane is transported mysteriously to the environs of the Tower of London, eavesdropping on two women, Mistress Tilney and Mistress Ellen gossiping about "our lady." Repeated visits to 1553 has Jane making the acquaintance of Lady Jane Grey and learning of her fate, her hopes, her regrets and her position on her faith.  Knowing what historically happened to Lady Jane, Jane wonders about her purpose in being sent back.  Was she to help the Lady convert to Catholicism?  Was she to help Lady Grey escape? Or was she there simply to provide her with companionship?

Dealing with her own tenuous situation at home, Jane is sympathetic to Lady Jane's dilemma, recognizing the similarity in the extent of their dire circumstances and inability to change them.  Since the death of her father, Jane has come to recognize that her mother Analise works in one of three modes: Mode One is Single Mother as Hero; Mode Two is the Nothing mode; and Mode Three is Hell.  Though a competent English professor, Analise harbours much anger related to her husband's death, and deals with it using alcohol which just exacerbates her mood swings and colours her interactions with Jane.  Not surprising that Jane has concerns when her history group must meet at eachother's homes for study and editing sessions.  And with best friend Megan hanging out with the tactless Crisco and wrapped up in a boyfriend situation, Jane is feeling more and more isolated and unable to find support.  For Jane, slipping back into 1553 gives her an opportunity to exert some control.

While Namesake may be initially seen as a standard time-slip novel, with a contemporary character going back in time to learn something which she could apply to her own life, the book goes beyond this by Jane trying to take an active role in Lady Jane's situation, even to the point of altering history if need be.  Jane educates Lady Jane on the vernacular and popular culture of her Halifax and Canada.  And while Lady Jane does begin to try out some of her new vocabulary, she uses it as a foreign language, not dropping the occasional work into her own speech.  Sue MacLeod has given Lady Jane a voice so authentic that her use of newly-acquired vocabulary provides for some much-needed humour.  Her voice is true and melodic, never wavering from that of a sixteenth-century young woman.

I am especially pleased by the direction the author takes Jane's time slip, allowing for the two young women, just sixteen, to share their lives and their stories, and Jane anticipating bringing Lady Jane back with her.  But, when Lady Jane does slip into Jane's time, it spurs a new relationship between Jane and her neighbour, the elderly woman she has nicknamed Mrs. Lynde (à la Green Gables), who surprisingly becomes her salvation.

The history is true, the twists unique and the touches of humour and romance are heart-warming. And Namesake still delivers an open ending that takes the reader to a more hopeful situation than Lady Jane's true horrific ending.

Brovko's Amazing Journey: Book Launch (Saskatoon)

Coteau Books

and

 Larry Warwaruk

author  
of  
Andrei and the Snow Walker (Coteau, 2002)

invite you to the book launch 
of 

Brovko's Amazing Journey

Brovko's Amazing Journey
by Larry Warwaruk
Coteau Books
9781550505542
168 pp.
Ages 7+
April 2013

The story of 12-year-old Andrei's companion Brovko, who is left behind when the family leaves Ukraine to start their new life in Canada.  But Brovko finds a way to get himself reunited with his best friend. 


on

Thursday, May 16, 2013

at

7:30 p.m. (CST)

at 

McNally Robinson Booksellers
8th Street East
Saskatoon, SK

For more information on Brovko's Amazing Journey, go to Coteau Books here http://ow.ly/kSghg

********************************

This is a book launch that I wish I could attend.  While my father came to Canada from Ukraine when he was in his twenties, he still had a photo of his dog, Marko, that he had left behind.  Looking at Larry Warwaruk, I see a Ukrainian grandfather, one I never knew, and know that Brovko's Amazing Journey will be an amazing story imbued with the richness of Ukrainian traditions.

An Infidel in Paradise

by S. J. Laidlaw

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-304-9

311 pp.

Ages 12+

February, 2013

in·fi·del
noun \ˈin-fə-dəl, -fə-ˌdel\
1 : one who is not a Christian or who opposes Christianity
2 a : an unbeliever with respect to a particular religion b : one who acknowledges no religious belief
3 : a disbeliever in something specified or understood

Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infidel on May 8, 2013

Under this definition of infidel, just about anyone could be called an infidel.  Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics - all could be considered infidels by another group.  Yet the scathing judgement that is leveled against sixteen-year-old Emma as a Canadian teen forced to live in Islamabad, Pakistan is especially outrageous; she doesn't want to be there anymore than anyone else wants her there.

After her dad takes off with the family maid from their posting in Manila, Emma Grey's family (older brother Vince, younger sister Mandy and Mom) relocate to Pakistan for her mother's job, running the consular section of the Canadian embassy. Though embassy children are used to moving around a lot, the whole "make-new-friends and learn-to-fit-in" process required to make lifetolerable seems more problematic for Emma this time, probably because of her father's absence and mother's absorption in her work and obliviousness to her children's needs.  Emma is resentful of her mother for forcing them to move (this was a weak effort to make Dad choose between his family and new partner), and for expecting more of Emma specifically, including mothering eight-year-old Mandy.  Not surprising that Emma is brutally honest when asked by a new classmate, Mustapha Khan, how she is enjoying Pakistan.

"Well," I begin, feeling the familiar anger wakening like a beast inside me, "there's not a single mall, movie theater, or Caramel Frappuccino within a thousand miles, but there are huge poisonous reptiles, beggars on every street corner and all the atmosphere of a maximum-security penitentiary.  I'm just surprised there's not more tourism." (pg. 21-22)

 Ouch.  Not the way to make friends and influence people apparently.  Although she is quickly welcomed by Angie, a girl from the American compound, and introduced to her friends, Leeza, Jazzy and Tahira, Emma's candour and insistence on personal freedom place her at odds with several students, including Aisha, Mustapha's wealthy "promised" one, and Faarooq, protective and strict brother of Tahira.

All conflict is compounded when Mustapha continues to pay attention to Emma, much to Aisha's irritation, and Emma and Mustapha are thrown into a drama group with Faarooq and another boy Ali to produce a skit about conflict, first focusing on a racist American girl (hint?) and then on a Pakistani boy who likes a Canadian girl.  And, although Emma enlists Angie's help to avoid being alone with Mustapha, knowing that she is attracted to him, she and Mustapha are repeatedly thrown together, sometimes because he chooses to be with her and sometimes because he wants to be kind.  It all makes for much cultural and romantic confusion.

I can't imagine the transient lifestyle of foreign service families and the particular skills that the children must need to navigate new lives successfully.  Couple that with divorced parents and living with a workaholic mother and in a tenuous political-religious situation, and you've got all the makings of a disaster.  S. J. Laidlaw thankfully has given Emma the wicked sense of humour, common sense and heart to find a way to help Mandy and herself, as well as carve a niche for themselves in their new world.  She finds a source of wisdom, recognizing the value in the kind and comforting Mr. Akbar, and has enough insight to recognize her own flaws and address them as she can.

S. J. Laidlaw could have imbued "An Infidel in Paradise" with the same resentment that is implied in the scathing indictment of "Infidel!" leveled against Emma but she does not.  Instead, she plays with the idea that the safety of "inside", whether it be the compound, one's comfort zone or culture, and the danger of "outside" is not always the case.  It has more to do with perception and broaching that transition with caution in an effort to make both territories manageable.  Even Emma is able to find herself accepting her new life as "An Infidel in Paradise."

The Color of Silence

Written by Liane Shaw
Second Story Press
978-1-926920-93-1
269 pp.
Ages 13-17
2013

Does silence have a colour?  Or does silence have different colours?  If I'd been asked those questions, I might have initially given silence the colour black - a void, without filling, a black hole of nothingness but the potential for sound.  But Liane Shaw shows us that The Color of Silence will vary with the listener, here specifically two teens: one whose world had been filled with laughter and song, and then terror, before she chooses not to speak; and one whose silence is involuntary as a result of a medical condition which has denied her a voice since birth.  And just as she did in Fostergirls (Second Story Press, 2011), her novel which was reviewed here on December 5, 2011, Liane Shaw demonstrates that perspective is everything and nothing is the same for everyone.

Alternating chapters between Alexandra and Joanie, and the reminiscences and present situations of both seventeen-year-old girls, Liane Shaw has the two connecting first due to a court order, definitely involuntarily, and then emotionally and naturally through silence.  Alexandra Taylor is court-ordered to provide 200 hours of community service after an accident in a borrowed car leads to the death of her best friend, the popular Cali Prescott.  While both Alex and Cali had loved singing, Cali's talent seemed more innate and now Alex can't even bear to speak.  With her dad, Alex is somewhat more forthcoming, although accepting the guilt for Cali's death and recognizing the futility of her words in preventing it have numbed Alex's desire for verbal communication. Unfortunately, Joanie is the one whose brain doesn't relay messages to her body and suffers through repeated bouts of severe respiratory distress, necessary feeding tubes, a lack of muscle control (except for her eyes) and no voice.  And yet she is the one who works tirelessly to understand Alex and to connect with her.

Joanie, whose poor health and absence of real family would give her great reasons for bitterness, shows only acceptance and understanding, trying to learn more about Alex's reluctance to speak (she doesn't know anything about the court order) and still appreciating the silence she brings.

I rather like having someone here who understands about silence. (pg. 69)

Joanie's silence is coloured with the prisms of light, i.e., rainbows, that reflect from a stone necklace that has been hung above her hospital bed.  The colours trigger her memories of happier times, staying at the group home, going out on school trips, and just being able to leave her hospital bed. So much of her day is quiet because of the dearth of visitors, essentially only her care staff.  Until Alexandra.  Joanie is delighted with Alex's visits, although Alex barely groans out a gasp or yes or no for her first visits.  But Joanie takes it upon herself to get Alex speaking.

Finding the words in silence is one of the things I do best. (pg. 123)

Though the two girls seem to be voiceless, they are attentive to each other.  For Alex, she is too distracted at the beginning to notice much about Joanie, spending much of her efforts anticipating others judging her for her past "crime" and her lack of skills.  Similarly, Joanie worries about others' perceptions of her, even wishing that,

there was a magic mirror that could show him who I really am.  I don't want either of us to keep on looking at the outside of me. (pg. 93)

 When Joanie is given the opportunity to turn her eye movements into words using technology called the Eye Gaze (which they affectionately call the Wizard), the two girls are finally on the same page, with Alex realizing that she has something to offer Joanie i.e., the time and effort to ensure the Wizard is everything it can be.  They are only limited by Joanie's health and consequently time to see what the Wizard can help her achieve.

Liane Shaw ensures that the readers see that voicelessness can be selective or involuntary but the consequences similarly disheartening.  For each girl there is a degree of shame (justified or not, as much shame is) but understanding, appreciation and  effort can mitigate the effects, if only temporarily.  The Color of Silence is not a plot-driven novel of adventure, intriguing subplots or parables to teach us how to live. It's a story of two characters and how they develop and evolve into better functioning individuals, finding the colour in their lives.

Kamik: An Inuit Puppy Story

by Donald Uluadluak

Illustrated by Qin Leng

Inhabit Media

32 pp.

Ages 4-9

2012

Though Kamik: An Inuit Puppy Story is based on an Inuit boy, his dog and his grandfather, the expectations of a young boy for his new pup and the wisdom that an older family member shares could be from any household.

Jake seems frustrated with his restless new puppy, Kamik, who is distracted by new sights, sounds and things upon which to chew.  Jake's declarations that, "He never listens, no matter how loud I yell" or "Get back here!" or "Stop it" has his grandfather, Ataatasiaq, chuckling before sharing with Jake his reminiscences of raising puppies, with the help of his own grandmother and the other women.  While sharing anecdotes with Jake about hunting with his dog team and the many times the dogs helped him out, his grandfather imparts the traditions of communicating with and appreciating one's dogs.  From the naming of pups to cherishing them as if children, his grandfather makes it clear that Kamik will be what Jake makes of him by his relationship with the husky puppy.

Depending on the book cover, author Donald Uluadluak's name may be preceded by the qualifier, "Adapted from the memories of", sharing the credit of Kamik: An Inuit Puppy Story with those who shared their wisdom of raising dogs with him. The idea that knowledge is continuously built upon from past generations, perhaps with each new generation taking what works and leaving behind what doesn't, is heartening.  Whether used for raising pups or children or for guiding one's choices, experience is an invaluable teaching tool.  Without taking over Jake's learning, his grandfather steers him with kindness and humility and good old-fashioned common sense to ensure that Kamik is treated well and appreciated wholly for his goodness.  The illustrations by Qin Leng, artist of A Flock of Shoes (Sarah Tsiang, Annick Press, 2010 ) and Dear Baobab (Cheryl Foggo, Second Story Press, 2011), have the perfect light touch for a story that has as strong message about the right way to do something and with compassion to ensure that the reader, and Jake, never feel chastized.

Record Breaker

by Robin Stevenson
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-5546-9959-9
152 pp.
Ages 9-12
2013

Most of us would do anything to alleviate the sadness and despair of one we love.  Children are inclined to do the same, although the means by which they are convinced they can do this may be rather unconventional.  Take young Jack, for example, in Robin Stevenson's latest from Orca Book Publishers, Record Breaker.  He is sure that breaking a world record will propel his mother from her overwhelming sadness following the death of his baby sister Annie, and he's willing to try just about anything. 

Jack seems like a pretty good kid.  When his dad tells him to get to the dinner table or help his mom or go to his dad's cousin's place, the Miller's, he does.  Because he often gets sent to the Millers, Jack spends a lot of time with his second cousin, Allan, who likes to repeat his mom's and dad's comments, ("My mom said it'll be a miracle if she (Jack's mom) ever gets over that baby dying" pg. 23; "My dad always said Kennedy was soft" pg. 40).  Regardless, Allan is willing to help Jack out in his record attempts, even painful ones like face-slapping. 

While Jack's concern for his mother tends to overwhelm his daily activities, several key events have an impact on him and those around him.  First, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.  Although they live in Ancaster, the possibility of bombings are a real concern, and Jack's dad returns to building a fallout shelter started before Annie's birth.  Second, a new girl, Kate Levine, moves to a nearby neighbourhood, using a local treehouse that Jack had been using as an escape.  Kate is an astute young girl, helping Jack see that there is something, other than a world record, that he can accomplish to help his mother.  In fact, her mom believes Jack's mom needs someone to whom she can talk and Mrs. Levine volunteers to help.  Together with Allan and Kate, Jack finds the means to add some light to his mother's life, and remind both his parents that they still have a son who has been burdened with dealing with his sister's death on his own.

In the context of 1963 southern Ontario, Robin Stevenson shares the grief and fears and innuendo of a time unknown to most young readers.  But, by making the focus in Record Breaker a local one, with the grief related to the loss of a family member, the fears about a family who may be unable to rebuild itself, and others' gossip about issues of which they know very little, young readers will be able to empathize.  Even so, whether global or local, these issues can be devastating, and recovery may seem impossible.  But, as Jack and Robin Stevenson demonstrate, with a little help and a different perspective perhaps from unlikely sources, there is hope.