What If Bunny's Not a Bully?

Written by Lana Button

Illustrated by Christine Battuz

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0055-4

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

March 2020

Kitty from Lana Button and Christine Battuz's My Teacher's Not Here! (2018) is still learning to navigate school and to be a part of a peer group. But she's a clever kitty and when she's told about Bunny being a bully, Kitty is determined to understand.

From What If Bunny's Not a Bully? by Lana Button, illus. by Christine Battuz

Elephant tells all the others that Bunny is a bully because she is mean and will make them sad if she gets mad. But Kitty wants to understand so much about Bunny being a bully.

...did she start out friendly,
a kid like you and me,
but ran into a bullybug
whose stringer makes you mean?

She has questions about how Bunny became a bully, whether she will always be a bully, and even whether it's contagious.

From What If Bunny's Not a Bully? by Lana Button, illus. by Christine Battuz

But when Kitty worries that she could become a bully and too be left out, Elephant reassures her that they would never leave her out because then they would be the mean ones. That's when Kitty recognizes that maybe Bunny is not the bully she's assumed to be and they need to change something to make things better.

Lana Button has a keen sense of how young children think and feel. Like many young children, Kitty will tend to follow when she feels that others know a situation better, like the elephant seems to know from experience with Bunny. But Kitty also has an empathetic heart that makes her think about the big picture and discover when that picture may be skewed. From her innocent worries about a contagion to visualizing an elderly Bunny still being shunned by Kitty's peers during a game of croquet, Kitty sees beyond what they are being told and the hurt some of them feel.

From What If Bunny's Not a Bully? by Lana Button, illus. by Christine Battuz

Christine Battuz's illustrations emphasize that innocence of perspective in her use of colour and shape, placing her very softly rounded animals in familiar school yard scenes. Her stylized landscape of patterned balls on trunks for trees, and red flowers dotting the yard, with birds throughout is as the very young often depict their surroundings. Yet there's so much to see in the expressions of Christine Battuz's characters, from discomfort and bossiness, to confusion and surprise, that What If Bunny's Not a Bully? could be an anchor book for lessons about feelings.

For young children, lessons in getting along with others and creating inclusive communities can be challenging. Their needs are often so immediate and egocentric. But what Lana Button and Christine Battuz have done is brought these lessons to their bubble of experience and helped guide them to seeing outside of themselves to understand what others may be experiencing. A valuable lesson for all of us.

•••••••••••

Today 

Monday April 27, 2020

at 2 p.m. EST

listen 

to a reading

by author Lana Button

of

What If Bunny's Not a Bully?

and

 to a conversation about pro-social behaviour in primary grades.

as part of the #CanadaPerforms live presentations.

Just go to Lana Button's Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/lana.button.5

••••••••••• 

What Grew in Larry's Garden

Written by Laura Alary

Illustrated by Kass Reich

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0108-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2020

What Grew in Larry's Garden is far more than meets the eye, or the tongue, in this picture book about fruits and vegetables that help build community.

Larry, a teacher, has a small but impressive garden next door to young Grace who likes to help him.

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

There were buttery yellow carrots and purple potatoes. Rainbow chard and scarlet runner beans. Rosy tomatoes the color of ripe peaches. And black ones with red insides.

Together they garden, nurturing the plants and enjoying harvests. When problems arise, like bugs and squirrels, Larry always says, "We can figure this out." His positivity and efforts lead him to encourage his students to grow their own tomato plants from seed and to gift them to others, explaining in letters why they'd been chosen. From gifts of thanks or apologies or to helping them face their fears, Larry was actually allowing his students to connect with others.

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

But when a neighbour adds a big panel to the top of his fence, blocking the sun out of Larry's garden, it's Grace who figures out a way to make things right, echoing back to Larry that he will just need to "Wait and see" what her idea is.

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

Laura Alary based What Grew in Larry's Garden on Toronto teacher Larry Zacharko's project to use tomato plants to help his students connect with their community. Although this endeavour is but a portion of the story of What Grew in Larry's Garden, the whole story is supportive of the need to build community, whether it is by gifting a tomato plant, helping others, making compromises or reaching out to those who seem immovable. Laura Alary makes sure to communicate through her text that community comes with time and effort and is worth both.

Versatile artist Kass Reich–she has written and illustrated a series of Hamster concept books as well as provided art for the Megabat series and other picture books–uses gouache and coloured pencils to bring Larry's garden and his community to life. She uses colour and shape to embrace the reader in a neighbourhood of picturesque houses and arboreal splendour and a garden so textured with life that it's hard to believe there's room for Larry and Grace and a ginger cat to work and play. Fortunately, their efforts at creation and connection produce far more than a garden of fruits and vegetables. They also create a closeness of people and place.

What Grew in Larry's Garden is rosy reciprocity, budding bonds and sprouts of support. Ah, for every garden to be this lush. 

From What Grew in Larry's Garden by Laura Alary, illus. by Kass Reich

Story Boat

Written by Kyo Maclear

Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Tundra

978-0-7352-6359-8

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

February 2020

A young girl and her little brother begin a journey with family and others, travelling from one "here" to another "here" and finding comfort where they may in a cup, a blanket, and especially in a story of hope.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

As they travel, the girl tries to explain the concept of "here" to her little brother. The concept can be a difficult one for very young children to grasp, especially as "here" is constantly changing for the travellers. But here becomes whatever is on hand that creates a permanency of people and emotion. It's the cup "Old and fine, warm as a hug" or a "song that every can sing." And, always, that cup or song, or blanket or lamp, or flower, becomes part of a story boat that takes the two children and their cat to see hope amidst a turbulent sea.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Kyo Maclear, author of my favourite Virginia Wolf (2012), consistently tackles big issues by making them personal and intimate. Leaving one's home for something safer, travelling into uncertainty, and looking for hope wherever it may reside will sadly be familiar to most refugees looking for new homes after violence, persecution, and instability compels them to leave the homes they've always known.

Here is our journey
That holds the warmth of a cup,
The softness of a blanket,
The brightness of a lamp,
The strength of a flower
And the openness of a story.

Imagine what it must be like for young children for whom the destination is a grey hole of nothingness, unable to anticipate where home may be or who will be there or what it will look like. Kyo Maclear's wonderful child's storytelling transports them to a new here.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Award-winning Iranian-born illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh, who currently lives in Washington D.C., fuses the gravity of the refugees' lives with their comforts from home and hope for something good. She does this primarily through her palette of backgrounds of muted blue green and splashes of brightness in the oranges, though much is still black and white, not unlike their circumstances. However, Rashin Kheiriyeh's art, created with coloured pencil and watercolour, oil and acrylic paint, along with some cut paper and other media, also uses shape to infuse the story with the activity of movement, whether it is the travellers' journey on foot or on water or the children's jaunts by story boat. Thankfully, it's all forward from an old here to a new one.

Kyo Maclear and Rashin Kheiriyeh's Story Boat may be a story of those seeking refuge and children finding ways to cope with uncertainty but this story transports and guides just like their story boat. For them and for us, stories can save and illuminate new ways.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Weekend Dad

Written by Naseem Hrab

Illustrated by Frank Viva

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-108-5

36 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2020

My dad says I have two homes now.

Though TV and movies may play up the drama involved with parental separation, Weekend Dad tells how bittersweet it may be for children who live between households. It's not the joy of double houses and playing off one parent against the other. It can be hard and it can be sad. From Naseem Hrab's poignant words to Frank Viva's affective artwork, Weekend Dad is the real story behind a separation within a family.

From Weekend Dad by Naseem Hrab, illus. by Frank Viva

The story starts on a Monday morning when "my dad moved out  of our house and into an apartment." Each day that follows the child is reminded of his dad, whether it's the colour of his hair or his tears at a hamster's death or that he hates tuna fish.

From Weekend Dad by Naseem Hrab, illus. by Frank Viva

But when Friday night comes and it's time for the weekend with his dad, a new reality begins. It's taking a bus to an apartment which is home but not home. And though he has his hedgehog stuffie Wendell, it's different and things makes him feel scared.

From Weekend Dad by Naseem Hrab, illus. by Frank Viva

Their Saturday is filled with new routines from eating eggs for breakfast, playing cards and going to the park, all repeated Sunday. But when it's time to leave, the child is mindful of each parent being alone without him. Still this child must reconcile that his father will not be coming in when dropping him off and to that end, Dad hands him a touching letter about how much he loves him and is always with him.

...you will hear your dad's heart beat, and with each beat, you will hear the words: "You are loved." No instrument can pick this tiny pulse up except for your own heart and imagination.

This is a story of reality but with heart. Mom and Dad aren't going to find their way back to each other. (And Naseem Hrab makes sure not to place blame on either parent or make the story about their relationship. This is all about the child.) Dad's apartment is rather sparse but he's working to make it more for his son.  Naseem Hrab's text from the child's perspective is similarly stark as the situation probably is for any child experiencing a separation within the family. It is what it is. The boy doesn't overthink but he does take it for what it is right now: complex, confusing, and harsh. The only relief is in the dad's words, words that he undoubtedly took time to compose, and which touch with their affection and concern.

From Weekend Dad by Naseem Hrab, illus. by Frank Viva

Between the muted tones of olive drab, rose brown, grey and yellow and the ever-present scribbles of cloud and smoke, Frank Viva's artwork does not divert from Naseem Hrab's text. The upheaval and the austerity of the circumstances are reflected in Frank Viva's ink and digitally coloured illustrations. With few colours and an economy of shape, Frank Viva conveys what this child sees and feels, and it is bleak. But things will change, and Naseem Hrab's final words, having father and son heading off to buy a bed, and Frank Viva's last double spread, a little brighter in colour and alive with activity, indicate things are going to be okay.

The Secret of White Stone Gate (Order of Black Hollow Lane, Book 2)

Written by Julia Nobel

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

978-1-7282-2003-1

304 pp.

Ages 8-14

March 2020

After a tumultuous first year at Wellsworth boarding school in England (see my review of The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane), Emmy is both excited and apprehensive about returning after summer holidays. She is glad to be reconnecting with her friends Lola and Jack but she knows that her intention to find her long-missing father may put her and her friends in danger, again, with the mysterious and treacherous secret society known as the Order of Black Hollow Lane.

Several things make this year at Wellsworth a little different. First, twelve-year-old Emmy has been instructed to have her mom’s cousin Lucy, a snarky woman who breeds Chinese crested dogs and aspires for her and husband Harold to be in every posh club in London, including the Thackery Club, act as unofficial guardian.  Secondly, she hides the all-important Order's medallions–though the Order has been told they were all destroyed–in a safety deposit box at the Royal Bank of London. Thirdly, new schoolmates at Wellsworth include Jack's new roommate Sam, for whom Emmy is feeling a little fluttery, and Jack's little brother Oliver who is having a hard time fitting in.

After the funds from the Wellsworth Annual Charity Supper and fundraiser are discovered in Lola's dresser and she is expelled, Emmy learns that the Order has set up Lola and will continue to do harm unless Emmy tells them where her father is. Sadly, Emmy does not know where Thomas Allyn is and worse yet, Lucy is hearing rumours about Emmy and her friends from her club acquaintances that suggest the young people are troublemakers. Sam agrees to go undercover and befriend Brynn, Lola's nasty cousin and Order member, to help Emmy and Jack. But after two violent assaults on her friends, Emmy wonders if she can find her father and save her friends before it's too late.

Before Wellsworth, Emmy may have lived with her mom, a parenting expert, but she lacked family. Her mother is far too wrapped up in her career and purporting to always know what's best for her daughter, including connecting her with a selfish cousin who cares little for Emmy, but who fails to listen to Emmy, particularly in regards to her father. (It's easy not to like Emmy's mom and Lucy.) It's not surprising that Emmy wants to learn more about her father, though when she discovers he is alive, she has mixed feelings about the man who seems to want to protect her at all costs but who chose to leave years ago. Because of the confusing relationships with her parents, Emmy inevitably finds the family she needs with her friends at Wellsworth. And she has mystery upon mystery to solve with her allies.

Julia Nobel's first book in the Order of Black Hollow Lane series, The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane, is a finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize and a nominee for the Forest of Reading's Silver Birch Fiction award so young readers will be pleased to know that The Secret of White Stone Gate is available to continue Emmy's story. There's a new mystery, new characters, and more nefarious actions perpetrated by the Order but Emmy is getting closer to her father and helping him while making a real life for herself at Wellsworth. Fortunately, the mystery must continue with a third book if we are to learn whether Emmy and her friends will be able to keep the treasures of Black Hollow Lane from falling into the hands of the Order. No news yet on Book 3 but I'm sure it won't be a secret for long.

The Mystery of the Black Hollow Lane (Order of Black Hollow Lane, Book 1)

Written by Julia Nobel

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

978-1-4926-6464-2

320 pp.

Ages 8-14

2019

For a parenting guru, Emmy Willick’s mom seems to relinquish much of her responsibilities, telling her daughter that she always knows what’s best for her (does she?) when sending her an English boarding school, Wellsworth.  But before Emmy heads out, she uncovers a metal box with 12 medallions with a note from her father, Thomas Allyn, who’d left when Emmy was three. As her parents met in England, Emmy is determined to use the opportunity at Wellsworth to learn as much about him as she can.

At Wellsworth, she meets Lola Boyd, her housemistress’s daughter, and Jack Galt with whom she becomes fast friends. Because she has had no schooling in Latin, she is encouraged by Madam Boyd to join the Latin Society, a club headed by Master Larraby.  When the trio begin to study the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and learn that Wellsworth Hall used to be Blacehol Abbey, Emmy discovers a secret society called the Order of Black Hollow Lane using the same symbol as the Latin Society, a skull with a cross and dagger. But Jack tries to dissuade her against learning about the Order to which his father and older brothers, as well as Lola’s nasty cousin Brynn, belong and which Jack believes is dangerous.

After being slipped several old messages ostensibly from the files of Thomas Allyn, Emmy realizes that her father, the school and the Order of Black Hollow Lane are all tied together. But what Emmy doesn’t know is how and why.

Boarding schools are a favourite location to set mysteries, just as English countryside villages are home to so many cozies. Schools like Wellsworth are ripe with a myriad of characters, good and bad and some misunderstood, from among their student and adult populations. There are roomies, classmates, teachers, administrators, custodians and more in these enclaves of apparent decorum. Their relationships are a tangled web of support, bullying, distrust, affection and malevolence. For Emmy, whose self-absorbed mother loves to dictate but not engage and without a father present in her life, Wellsworth offers her an opportunity to find family. She may be driven to find her father and have him become part of her life, if she can, but with Lola and Jack and a gaggle of other characters who may be of assistance in their own ways, Emmy is able to make a new life and solve a mystery or two.

•••••••

Tomorrow I review The Secret of White Stone Gate, Book 2 in the Order of Black Hollow Lane series.

Music for Tigers: Guest review

Today's review was written by teacher-librarian Elizabeth Cook.

Written by Michelle Kadarusman

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-054-3

192 pp.

Ages 8-12

April 2020

As an avid traveller, I love stories that help me relive fabulous trips I have taken in the past.  While I never made it all the way to Tasmania when adventuring around Australia, where Michelle Kadarusman’s Music For Tigers takes place, I felt as though I had.  Her description of the Tasmanian rainforest is breathtaking.  Michelle Kadarusman weaves her words in such a way that makes the world down under come alive.  The best way I can describe it is that she not only created a beautiful story, it felt like she created a melody with her words.  I could feel the rhythm and cadence of the eucalyptus trees and all of the animals contained on the island of Tasmania.

Music is all that the main character, Louisa, can think about when she arrives in Tasmania after a long flight from Toronto.  Clutching her violin, she would much rather be rehearsing for her upcoming audition for the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra than bushwhacking her way to a remote cabin with her Uncle Ruff that she has only just met.  At her cabin, Louisa finds solace in making her violin fill the emptiness around her with melodies to help her feel as though she were at home in Toronto.  Louisa can’t help but feel she is being watched from outside her window...and this time it isn’t the Huntsman spider that previously inhabited her cabin. 

When Louisa learns to live in the present and embrace her time in Tasmania she learns the true beauty of nature: the sound of cicadas among the gum trees, locating the Southern Cross in the dark night sky, and watching small wallabies bouncing along the forest floor.  Unfortunately, this is all under attack as Louisa learns that the camp of her great-grandmother, a safe haven for endangered animals in the wild, is soon to be bulldozed to make roads to the nearby mines.  Has Louisa learned the true value of what is important in life too late to make a difference?

Michelle Kadarusman’s Music For Tigers is a beautiful novel that is a captivating read.  It weaves in themes of animal stewardship, environmental protection, family, and friendship into one heartwarming book.  This novel would be an excellent read for adults as well as students in Grades 4 and up.  If you love protecting animals in their natural environment, you will love this book...just be sure to watch out for those bunyips!

~ Elizabeth Cook is a teacher-librarian in the Halton District School Board. She is an avid reader and fan of Canadian literature.