Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act

Written by Nicola Winstanley

Illustrated by Marianne Ferrer

Annick Press

978-1-77321-324-8

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

October 2019 

Mel and Mo are twins and, as much as they love each other, they like different things. One likes the rain, the other sun. One likes getting up early, the other late. And as they grow older, their differences increase until all they do is disagree. When they choose careers, Mel takes over the family umbrella business and Mo performs on a high-wire with multiple poodles as part of the Sunny Sea-Side Circus.

From Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

But, with time, things change. They always do. Mel's umbrellas and Mo's act both fall out of fashion, regardless of their efforts to adapt. It isn't until the twins come together to reinvent themselves and their product or act that they find a way to be successful, still different but now in balance.

From Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

Nicola Winstanley, whose picture book How to Give Your Cat a Bath (Tundra, 2018) is currently nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award, always takes a light touch to important stories. Here we have non-binary twins who are the same but very different. Their differences define them. But when their choices become limiting, it is only by finding common ground that the two can continue to let their differences shine. Neither Mel nor Mo is expected to give up on themselves to "fit" into what their sibling or society deems appropriate for twins. Nicola Winstanley gives them the space to grow their creativity for creating a product or an entertainment but also the wisdom to recognize when collaboration would be beneficial.

From Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

Similarly Marianne Ferrer balances the similarities between the two siblings with their differences. With one creating colourful umbrellas of wild shapes and the other astounding with high-wire acrobatics, Marianne Ferrer places the emphasis on the twins' differences, though still recognizing their similarities in hair styles and by dressing them similarly when young. I have been a big fan of artist Marianne Ferrer since reviewing Racines (Monsieur Ed, 2016). From that, my first French-language book review, I've been enthralled by her pencil and watercolour illustrations that employ a subtlety of colour and balance the whimsy with the sensible.

Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act may be about twins who want to be individuals whose differences are accepted as relevant, but it's also about knowing when to bring those differences into proximity for collaborative creativity. It's a fine balance that Mel and Mo are able to find and celebrate, as we all should.

Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild

Based on the song of The Wardens

Illustrated by Lia Golemba

Red Barn Books

978-1-9991087-0-0

24 pp.

Ages 4+

August 2019 

Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild is an Albertan labour of love. Red Barn Books is a new publisher out of Carstairs, The Wardens are based in Banff, and illustrator Lia Golemba hails from Airdrie. It's not surprising that the picture book has a regional flavour of the mountains and the West, though outdoor lovers everywhere will be intrigued by the story, and the artwork and cowboy fans will be charmed.

From Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild, based on the song of The Wardens, illus. by Lia Golemba

Based on the song "Government Cowboy," The Wardens, a trio of musician-wardens Scott Ward, Bradley Bischoff and Ray Schmidt, recount in ballad storytelling the life of national park wardens. From preparing their horses to helping with search-and-rescues and monitoring wildlife and the natural wonders of our mountain parks, these Rocky Mountain Rangers tell of the complexity and affection they have for their vocation. Though the story's text, a version of The Wardens's song, is explicit in colourful details of their daily activities, the story is appended with a description of the nature of their jobs, a list of expressions used, a picture glossary of mountain flora and fauna, and a map of the parks of the Canadian Rockies. Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild is a complete package of narrative and learning.

From Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild, based on the song of The Wardens, illus. by Lia Golemba

The artwork of Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild by illustrator Lia Golemba exemplifies the ruggedness of the song and terrain, blending earthy colours and strong lines and shapes, with textures of wood grain and twisted rope across many double-spreads. Based on her lino block prints which are then digitally remastered, Lia Golemba instills the story with another layer of organic storytelling. I love the choice of colours and the integration of cragginess with softness, mirroring the hard and dangerous work with the affection the cowboys have for their endeavours.

While some may see Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild as a regional story depicting a landscape of and a pursuit embedded in the Rockies, it is more than that. It's a Canadian story of a land to be guarded by those who understand its heartbeat so that it may be sustained for all who live on it and those fortunate to visit.

Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round

Written by Rosanna Battigelli

Illustrated by Tara Anderson

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-092-5

24 pp.

Ages 3-6

September 2019

Get ready for some Halloween festivities with Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round and engage young children in the Halloween holiday with only the fun and delight, and none of the fear or creepiness so pervasive in the celebrations of older trick-or-treaters.

Whether you're a parent or teacher, you'll know of the annual October visit to the pumpkin patch to pick out a perfect pumpkin or two for Halloween night.  In lively rhyming verse of two word phrases that always begin with the word "pumpkin", Rosanna Battigelli welcomes the reader to participate in the sensory experience of that pumpkin path visit  and the subsequent carving of the jack-o'-lantern (instructions for "You Can Carve a Jack-o-Lantern Too!" are included on the endpapers), without the travel or the mess.

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Then, just as so many children will be doing on October 31st, the felines of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round prepare for their costumed foray into the neighbourhood for a bit of trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin mask,
pumpkin dare,
pumpkin candy,
pumpkin scare!

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Finally they return home to a snack, a story and bed.

So many children love Halloween for the dress-up and the candy but little ones rarely get into the scary aspects of the day and, for those many children, Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round is a perfect holiday read. Its light rhyme will get children repeating the text, first predicting and ultimately reading, with its metrical melody of syllabic fun. Rosanna Battigelli has pitched her first picture book perfectly for the very young, ensuring a fun read that invites them to take on their own reading.

Illustrator Tara Anderson's bio shares that she has cats at home and perhaps that explains why she knows these feline wonders so well, anthropomorphizing them into playful children of diversity. They vary in colour and size, expression and activity and present the enjoyment of a special day spent with family and friends. Her artwork, coloured pencil and acrylic glaze on watercolour paper, emphasizes the bright oranges and complementary purple of the pumpkins and the night, exuding playfulness and caring. Her characters are adorable, the days and night comforting, and the action enthralling.

Young children may not know that costumes and jack-o'-lanterns were originally used to ward off spirits on All Hallows' Eve but they do know the joy of pumpkin picking and carving and dressing up and procuring oodles of candy and, with Rosanna Battigelli and Tara Anderson's picture book, they can do so on many nights before and after October 31st.

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Small in the City

Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-198-6

40 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2019

On October 2, the Canada Council for the Arts announced its finalists for the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards, and Small in the City was one of the nominated titles for the English-language children's book illustration. This is Sydney Smith's fourth nomination–he and JonArno Lawson won in 2015 for Sidewalk Flowers (Groundwood, 2015)–and this one is all the more distinct as Small in the City is his first picture book as author and illustrator.

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

Though the cover makes a young child who looks out of a streetcar window larger than life, minimizing the buildings reflected in the glass, Sydney Smith's illustrations show a child peripheral to the city. They look out over the streets of people doing and buildings standing. When they leave the streetcar, they are dwarfed by everything in the busy city. People march past looking at their feet or their phones. Sounds of taxis and car horns and construction and sirens are loud and scary. It's almost too much.

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

But as the child ventures through the cold streets and snowflakes begin to fall, they know how to be a part of that city. They know which alleys to avoid and wonderful places to hide or climb or enjoy the steam from a dryer vent. As they walk from the busyness into a neighbourhood of trees and yards, local stores and houses, and a park, this child gives advice about where safety can be found. Soon enough the reader will observe that the child has posted salmon-pink notices to posts and fences and doors. The child may be small in the city but a lost cat is even smaller. Still, with the flurries becoming snow squalls with near whiteout conditions, the child reaches home, convinced that "You will be all right."

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith's artwork, created with ink, watercolour and gouache, journeys with the child from a dark-toned city centre through neighbourhoods infused with colour to a home blanketed in the lightness of peace and contentment. It's a Toronto of commerce and community, movement and stability, and this child lives in it and of it. They may be small but they are not insignificant and as they walk closer and closer to home, their presence becomes more meaningful.

Being small in the city is a perspective most adults have forgotten. It's seeing the heart of the city as it is, free of interpretation and expectation but infused with perception. As such, Small in the City is a story of a child for children and most certainly for those who have ever lost a pet. This could have been a sad story of loss and fear but Sydney Smith makes it one of resilience and hope, expectation and common sense. It's seeing shelter and warmth, food and comfort where adults might only see trees and shrubs, a dryer vent, the fishmonger and a church ledge. It's perspective as perception that makes Small in the City effusive in community and family and takes the reader from the obscurity to the light of home with its happy ending.

The Stone Rainbow

Written by Liane Shaw

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-108-4

272 pp.

Ages 13-18

September 2019

Liane Shaw introduced her characters Ryan and Jack to YA audiences in her novel Caterpillars Can't Swim (Second Story Press, 2017), telling the origin story of their accidental friendship and Jack's acceptance of his sexuality. Though only a handful of others in his life, including his mom, Ryan's mom. Ryan's friend Cody and Jack's counselor Matthew, know that Jack is gay, he has capitulated that expressing that sexuality in the small town of Thompson Mills is unlikely.

This town is so small that being different usually means you're flying solo. (pg. 61)

In The Stone Rainbow, Jack meets the new guy at school, Benjamin Lee, and Jack is smitten. The new vice-principal's son is beautiful and kind and Jack doesn't know what to do. He's used to hiding in his "caterpillar camouflage" (pg. 8) and now the idea of putting himself out there, expressing his interest in anyone, especially a young man who may or may not reciprocate that interest, is terrifying.  Staying a caterpillar, on the other hand, is familiar, even if stifling.

Benjamin, on the other hand, is not willing to stay in the closet. When they are assigned an art project that reflects something of social and personal significance, he creates a massive rainbow of coloured stones on plywood. He honours and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community with the myriad of messages on the stones that reflect the rainbow's symbolism. Though Benjamin is pretty much out, his art project rouses all the nastiness that Jack had already witnessed in his town. But when Benjamin is attacked, Jack decides to focus on something positive that might help Benjamin as well: a Pride parade. Fortunately, Jack discovers that there's a whole lot more support for him and Benjamin and a Pride event than he could ever have imagined.

Though The Stone Rainbow is a story of acceptance of self and others, it is also a tragic story that depicts the reality for those who may be perceived as different. There is violence and hate and masks. Jack knows what it is to come out–as he did to his mother in Caterpillars Can't Swim–so he still feels compelled to hide his sexuality from his peers and others, fearing their reactions, and shielding his true self and expression of that self. Even with supports from Ryan and others, it's not until Jack meets Benjamin that he is able to shed that chrysalis to reveal the butterfly he was meant to be. It is both "terrifying and wonderful" (pg. 239) and Jack recognizes he "could be as beautiful as I want to be because no one cares if a butterfly is a boy or a girl. It's just a pretty part of nature that everyone accepts." (pg. 242)

With her diverse cast of characters, Liane Shaw demonstrates that differences make a community richer, though there are the unenlightened who still need to learn this lesson in compassion and tolerance. If The Stone Rainbow teaches us anything it's that it's the blending of all into a spectacular prism of life that makes our world complete and beautiful.

If everyone just decides to treat everyone else with kindness, it all goes away. Intolerance, disrespect, racism, homophobia, misogyny, bullying, and all the other horrible words we've had to invent to find a way to label the endless crap people seem to feel the need to throw at each other...all wiped out by one simple command. Be kind. (pg. 214)

2019 Governor General's Literary Awards: Finalists announced

Today, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the finalists for the highly prestigious Governor General's Literary Awards.

The seven categories of books, both in French and English, for which awards are given are:

• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Young People's Literature (Text)
• Young People's Literature (Illustration)
• Drama
• Translation

Congratulations to the finalists 

of all the awards
and I present here those nominees of

works for young people.

English-language: Young People's Literature (Text)

Break in Case of Emergency
Written by Brian Francis
HarperCollins

Cold White Sun
Written by Sue Farrell Holler
Groundwood Books

Girl of the Southern Sea
Written by Michelle Kadarusman
Pajama Press
Reviewed here

Stand on the Sky
Written by Erin Bow
Scholastic

The Grey Sisters
Written by Jo Treggiari
Penguin Teen

English-language:  Young People's Literature (Illustration)

Albert's Quiet Quest
Written and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Tundra Books

Birdsong
Written and illustrated by Julie Flett
Greystone Books

How To Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps
Written by Nicola Winstanley
Illustrated by John Martz
Tundra Books

King Mouse
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Dena Seiferling
Tundra Books

Small in the City
Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books

 French-language: Young People's Literature (Text)

Au carrefour

par Jean-François Sénéchal

Leméac Éditeur

Dans le coeur de Florence
par Lucie Bergeron
Soulières éditeur

L'albatros et la mésange
par Dominique Demers
Éditions Québec Amérique

Mon coeur après la pluie
par Pierre Labrie
Soulières éditeur

Où est ma maison?
par Édith Bourger
Les éditions du soleil de minuit

French-language: Young People's Literature (Illustration)

Contacts
par Mélanie Leclerc
Mécanique générale

Jack et le temps perdu
par Stéphanie Lapointe
Illustrée par Delphie Côté-Lacroix
Quai no 5, Les Éditions XYZ

L'escapade de Paolo

par Lucie Papineau

Illustrée par Lucie Crovatto

Les Éditions de la Bagnole

Laurent, c'est moi!

par Stéphanie Deslauriers

Illustrée par Geneviève Després

Fonfon

Le pelleteur de nuages

par Simon Boulerice

Illustrée par Josée Bisaillon

la courte échelle

Winning titles will be announced 

on October 29, 2019

and 

presented on a later date at Rideau Hall.

Canadian KidLit Gala: 2019 (Toronto, ON)

Writers! Illustrators!

Lovers of youngCanLit!

On October 15, 2019, the second Canadian KidLit Gala will be held as the *unofficial* after-party of the Canadian Children's Literature Awards. The brain child of authors Ishta Mercurio, Kari Maaren, Star Spider and Claudia Osmond, the Canadian KidLit Gala will celebrate the winners and nominees of the 2019 Canadian Children's Book Awards and all creators of Canadian children's books. It will be a great opportunity to celebrate, schmooze, imbibe, and share with writers and illustrators of youngCanLit.

This volunteer-run event will be fundraising for the Canadian Children's Book Centre to support the Children's Book Week, an annual event that allows dozens of Canadian children's authors and illustrators to visit and present to thousands of Canadian kids across the country.

The event will include the music of The Intentions, canapés, a live auction and raffle (with everything from book bundles to critiques to original art), drinks and dancing.
​

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Here's the scoop on the event and how you can attend:

Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Time: 7 p.m. to midnight

7 p.m.: Doors open

8 p.m.: Performance by The Intentions

9:30 p.m.: Recognition of winners and nominees

9:45 p.m.: Live Auction and Raffle winners announced

Location:  Lula Lounge

1585 Dundas West

Toronto, Ontario

M6K 1T9

Tickets:  $45 ($55 at the door) 
(includes free coat check, canapés, one drink ticket) 

Full details are available at the website at https://www.cankidlitgala.ca/ 
Tickets here

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Come and join creators and readers of youngCanLit

 at the

Canadian KidLit Gala

and

help celebrate the writing and art achievements of creators of Canadian children's books.