Night Runners

Written and illustrated by Geraldo Valério

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-569-4

52 pp.

Ages 3-6

October 2022

Who needs words when art can say so much? Geraldo Valério is one of our most accomplished wordless picture book author-illustrators, telling rich stories in the natural world with a luxuriance of colour and shape and teeming with interaction that supersedes words. Night Runners is his newest.

From Night Runners by Geraldo Valério

In Night Runners, a stag–with a messenger bag–bounds across a field into a coniferous forest, lured by a shining circlet of stars in the sky. There are many downed trees and just as the stag turns to check out the possibility of wolves, he stumbles on a fallen tree and injures its leg. As the tearful deer lays there, waiting for the wolves to come and slay it, something amazing happens. The wolves do arrive, but they encircle the deer, and bring it water and foraged food, and even wrap the wound with leaves. 

From Night Runners by Geraldo Valério

Together they follow the beacon of stars to a gathering of animals around a fire. All animals are represented, from moose and beaver, dragonfly and rooster, snake and skunk, and they all welcome the wolves and stag to their company. But when the stag opens his bag, the gathering becomes a true party of song and dance, and the circle of stars becomes a sky filled with brilliant stellar orbs.

Geraldo Valério's message of finding unexpected friends, even among those most feared, is a compelling one, especially for our times. The deer expects the worst when faced with a potential enemy but instead finds compassion and companionship. And together they discover something even more powerful and add to it with their presence.

From Night Runners by Geraldo Valério

Geraldo Valério's story fills the reader with hope for respect and humanity, something desperately needed nowadays. We need to know that good can happen in the midst of tragedy and Geraldo Valério makes us feel that promise for goodness and empathy. His striking artwork, rendered in acrylic paint and coloured pencil on watercolour paper, gives us that hope, with the boldness of colour and line bringing the power of his story to the eyes.  The stars that shine are for everyone and, with his diversity of animals, both domestic and not, Geraldo Valério makes sure that everyone can be part of this story.

Winterkill

Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Scholastic

978-1-338-831-41-2

288 pp.

Ages 8-13

September 2022

 

Our way of life was being erased. We had to figure out a way to escape before we were erased too. (pg. 38)

With a war currently raging in Ukraine, it's easy to remember that Ukraine has suffered oppression for centuries. As it sought independence and freedom, the country was repeatedly targeted and made to suffer. Winterkill is but one story of an attempt to quash a people with a strong cultural identity and fervor for autonomy. 

In 1930, 12-year-old Nyl Chorny lives on a small farm with his parents and younger siblings Yulia (11) and Slavko (9) in the village of Felivka near Kharkiv. Ukraine is currently under the control of the Soviet Communists led by Stalin whose five-year-plan to modernise the country is really aimed at hurting Ukrainians by eliminating small family farms and combining them under large collectives called kolkhozes. Some villagers are buying into the lies told by Comrades Tupolev and Chort–Russians charged with governing them–and shock workers promising tractors, increased grain, and better opportunities. But for those like Tato, Nyl's father, the collectivisation is just a replacement for landlords and will have nothing to do with them. Still, they must abide by the demands of Communist workers who inventory all their goods, ban religious faith, and requisition their grain with the threat of being labelled kulaks and executed or deported. Some Communists are foreign specialists like Canadian George White who will be working at the future tractor factory and truly believes in Communism as does his young daughter Alice. Others have just found a new way to bully and exert control and gain wealth at the expense of others.

 

If you want to eat, join the kolkhoz. (pg. 50)

 

Still the family farms as best they can, managing with less after Nyl's Uncle Illya is executed for being a kulak, and Auntie Pawlina and baby cousin Tanya move in with the family. A bumper crop of wheat, millet and corn in the summer of 1930 has them all hopeful again and the family considers leaving the Soviet Union via Auntie's cousins in Ternopil, a city across the border in Polish Ukraine. But all those dreams go up in smoke when soldiers steal all the grain while the families celebrate the harvest.

Relying on foraging, hunting and fishing for food, and no way to get money needed for travel, Nyl and Slavko steal away to work in Kharkiv where the tractor plant needs construction workers. But what they find there is as dismal as at home though they are able to make some money. Still, what they return home to is worse than they could have expected. Whether any of them will ever survive, much less escape, a genocide by starvation and violence is Nyl's story to tell.

Winterkill is a big story. It is so big that I can't possibly reveal all the details and nuances of Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's story in a short review. There are good people and evil ones, both Ukrainian and Russian. There is joy and heartache, resourcefulness and laziness, greed and generosity. And there is oppression. Though much of Winterkill deals with the Holodomor, the 1932-1933 genocide of Ukrainians by starvation, it's a story that's bigger than that. It's about that oppression of people and culture. There is resilience, as Nyl demonstrates with his story, but there is death and destruction and horrific suffering. And Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch tells it with such authenticity that this book of historical fiction could be a biography. Still, she tells it with sensitivity and compassion and allowed this  Ukrainian-Canadian to read it with appreciation, albeit filled with sorrow.

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch will launch Winterkill at the Brantford Public Library’s downtown branch on Thursday, November 24, 2022, at 6 p.m. Copies of the book will be available for purchase from Green Heron Books for signing by the author.  

2022 Governor General Literary Awards: Winners announced

 

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

Books were awarded in seven categories, both in French and English, and I'm so pleased to announce the winners of those books for young readers.

Congratulations to these winners!

 

• • • • •

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

 WINNER

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

Written by Jen Ferguson

Heartdrum (HarperCollins)

 

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

WINNER

The Sour Cherry Tree

Written by Naseem Hrab

Illustrated by Nahid Kazemi

Owlkids Books

 

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

 

WINNER

Cancer ascendant Autruche
Written by Julie Champagne

la courte échelle

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

WINNER

Trefle
Written by Nadine Robert
Illustrated by Qin Leng 

Comme des géants

👏👏👏

Congratulations to this year's finalists

and these four stellar winners  

of books for young people

 

👏👏👏

Boney: Guest review

This review was written by Grade 8 student Hasini K.

Written by Cary Fagan

Illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-548-9

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

October 2022

 

While Annabelle and her dad are taking a walk in the woods with their dog, Scoot, Annabelle discovers an animal bone. Annabelle asks her dad if they can take the bone home, and her dad agrees. 

 

Annabelle decides to make the bone her new playmate, and names him Boney. Annabelle feels that Boney is a great playmate – and she is completely in love with her new friend! They hang out at the park and Annabelle even makes Boney a bed complete with a blanket and pillow in his own room. 

From Boney by Cary Fagan, illus. by Dasha Tolstikova

However, when creatures run wild in Annabelle's dreams, she wonders for the first time where Boney truly belongs. What becomes of Annabelle’s and Boney’s friendship? You'll need to read the book to find out.

Boney is written by Cary Fagan and illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova. It is a short but sweet story with very vivid and beautiful illustrations which are very thought-provoking. Kids may wonder where Boney, the bone, was actually from. The story does mention how the bone could've been any animal, but we can't help but wonder. I would recommend this book to readers from Grade 1-4 since it is pretty relatable in many ways. At some point in our lives, we all have to deal with the fact that something we might be doing is not right, even if we want to do it. Making tough choices is also very hard to do, no matter your age. Personally, I liked how the story had a really meaningful message. It teaches us that, sometimes, we have to do things that aren't easy to make the situation right. It captures the innocence and uncertainty of kids when they’re dealing with conflict within themselves. Little kids would especially take losing a friend or a toy or item they have gotten attached to, as Annabelle must do with Boney, very hard. I would certainly grab a copy of this creatively written book to enjoy!

~ Written by Hasini K., Age 13

2022 Le Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse: Winner announced

Today, the Canadian Children's Book Centre and Communication-Jeunesse (CJ) announced the winner of the 2022 Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse from an impressive short list of finalists. Congratulations to this year's French-language award-winning author who will receive $50,000.

 

 

Prix TD de littérature jeuness canadienne 

Lauréat

 

La fin des poux?
Written and illustrated by Orbie
Éditions Les 400 coups

 

 

 Toutes nos félicitations!

📚📚📚📚📚

Fly

Written by Alison Hughes

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0583-2

200 pp.

Ages 10-14

October 2022

 

...my body is not all that I am. (pg. 40)

Fly is what 14-year-old Felix Landon Yarrow (a.k.a. Fly per his initials) dreams of doing. In his dreams, he is no longer trapped in a wheelchair by cerebral palsy. He is free to spread his arms and soar.

            My disability,

                         my difficulties,

                                               my pain–

often on public display–

are

in fact

all my own.

                                       Private. (pg. 59)

But, Felix is in a wheelchair. And though he feels very much like his pain is often on public display, whether he is working with his aide Levi or being driven in the "special" school bus, he knows that he is invisible to many, especially his peers. Still, that invisibility becomes his superpower, with Felix becoming a "Fly on the Wall" and ready to emulate his literary guide, Cervantes's Don Quixote, and follow truth and justice. His quest: to save his classmate and damsel in distress, Daria, from the arrogant and dangerous Carter.

As Felix watches and learns, he becomes Knightwatch and emails warnings to Daria about Carter and to Carter that his heinous and potentially criminal behaviour has been observed. But, like Don Quixote, along with battles with enemies come inner battles of understanding of self. 

Fly, a novel in free verse, may have a contemporary setting but its story is as classic as that of Don Quixote. It's about finding inner strength and fighting against injustices. But author Alison Hughes makes sure the reader realizes that much of this is also about perception. Told in Felix's voice, the reader will sympathize with his constrained physical nature and applaud his courage to pursue chivalrous goals of protecting first Daria and then others from oppressors. Going after Carter gives Felix purpose, though he doesn't realize until the end that his manner of attack may leave others vulnerable. His goal is outward, to help others, but the learning he takes from his endeavour is all about him and what he needs to do to be fair. The growth that Felix experiences, moving from annoyance at how others judge and treat him to appreciation for efforts others make, is a monumental one. And Alison Hughes takes the readers along on that epic journey through her elegant free verse. The writing flows and has shape that comes with self-discovery, engagement with others and context of circumstances. Felix's story takes a form not unlike his own body, both vulnerable and combative, and we're there for the moment of battle, within and externally, when Felix realizes that some of the limitations to the freedom to fly may be those he's imposed on himself.

Killer Underwear Invasion!: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories

Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel

Chronicle Books

978-1-797214917

104 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2022

A killer underwear invasion? It must be true if it's been posted in the media, or you heard it from your mother! Right? Or is it? With her quirky art and common sense bathed in tongue-in-cheek humour, Elise Gravel helps young readers recognize the news that isn't real out there, from peanuts that enhance your muscles, and a politician who pinches puppies, to underwear that kills, and how to critically think about the news that is out there.

From Killer Underwear Invasion! by Elise Gravel

In six chapters, Elise Gravel describes what fake news is, why people create it and believe it, why it's bad and how it blows up, and how to differentiate it from the real news. Starting with a fabricated scorpion invasion, Elise Gravel shows how her little monsters create it and disseminate it. To demonstrate the reasons people create it, she uses the nefarious peanut-seller Nerbert. His aim may start with selling a product and making money, but it morphs into dreams of celebrity and power. There's also the aim to spread beliefs and ideas and engage social media. And so, we have fake news.

From Killer Underwear Invasion! by Elise Gravel

The danger of fake news is explicit, especially when it dissuades us from listening to the real experts and compels us to make harmful decisions about ourselves, our environment, our democracies. And when disinformation is woven together, it can overwhelm.

From Killer Underwear Invasion! by Elise Gravel

In the shadow of the disinformation perpetuated on social media, infiltrating everything from our health to our elections, Elise Gravel's Killer Underwear Invasion! is a sobering read. But, because of her comic approach, silly examples, and un-human-like characters, Elise Gravel teaches young readers thoroughly about fake news in a way that they will remember. It's informative without being heavy-handed or preachy, and terms such as clickbait, conspiracy theories, confirmation bias and satire are explained in the simplest of terms, making Killer Underwear Invasion! a perfect read for middle graders and even some younger children. (Especially helpful would be the teacher's guide at https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0261/7291/5805/files/KillerUnderwearInvasion_EducatorGuide.pdf which includes pre-reading activities, chapter by chapter discussion questions and activities, and guidance on evaluating the news.)

From Killer Underwear Invasion! by Elise Gravel

As illustrated non-fiction, Killer Underwear Invasion! will reach young people through its humour and irreverence. But it will teach them to become responsible readers of news and hopefully help them guide others to become better informed participants and patrons of social media and other broadcast accounts.