Deakin Newsletter November-December 2010

Christmas Books
Picture Books
Fiction-Young Adult
Fiction-Classic
Folktales and Fables
Poetry
Non-Fiction
Canadian Children's Literature-History and Criticism
Awards
Obituary
Featured Websites
Featured Websites-Cumulative

     ~~~~~Christmas Books~~~~~

The Nativity Story By Geraldine McCaughrean Illustrated by Sophy Williams Lion Publishing PLC. Oxford. 2009

Geraldine McCaughrean tells the Nativity story simply and embroiders it richly in a retelling that is full of humanity as well as wonder. She begins her version with Zechariah learning from the angel that he will have a son.

"Don't make fun of me. I am an old man," he says; and then no more, for he is dumb.

Mary is approached, as she is gathering herbs, by a figure in dazzling white. She is made to consider briefly the shame her family would feel- but the thought is barely realised as she simply lowers her head."Let it be as God wishes." "Then the angel was gone, and so was Mary's good name." Joseph is told that God trusts Mary and so should he.

As Mary approaches, Elizabeth's child leaps in the womb to greet her.

Finally Joseph and Mary are on the way to Bethlehem. The Child is born, "the constellations turned handsprings in the sky", the shepherds arrive, the wise men come and go and Herod “waited and waited, digging his dagger into the arm of his throne, ruining the woodwork".

Lastly Joseph takes Mary and the Child across a border into Egypt.

Geraldine McCaughrean is a masterful storyteller, and this is a reverent but very human approach to St.Luke's story. Sophy Williams captures the wonder and the humanity too, not in over-elabourate illustration, but in gentle, soft-toned pictures. A shy Mary, her herbs on her arm, holds up a hand to shade her eyes from the angel's glory; Herod grips the arms of his chair his whole body straining forward in his anxiety. Sophy Williams leaves the principal double-page picture of the manger in soft blues and browns, the animals gathered around Mary, Joseph and the Child while the main light comes from a star seen in the doorway, pouring its glory on Mary and Jesus.

This is a striking, human and thoughtful retelling for children. Highly recommended.

Jack and the Manger By Andy Jones Illustrated by Darka Erdelji Running the Goat & Broadsides 2010

Andy Jones tells the Nativity story in the fashion of a Newfoundland folk tale in a book which begs to be read aloud, but which is more suited to eight years to adult than to younger children. If you know St. Luke's account you can better appreciate this tale for, to a certain extent, there is some play on the story.

It begins with a witty account of a "young fella", called Caesar Augustus, who had an obsession for counting things- "...if he passed by a pond he had to find out how many fish was in it..." When he becomes emperor he wonders how many people are in his empire, and although his servants reply "There's millions, b'y ", he has to find out.”And somebody else suggested that while they were there why not tax 'em!"

Now we meet Jack- walking the road to Bethlehem and meeting, and befriending, a young couple. The lass, pregnant, is riding on the donkey. So the story of the Nativity unfolds as the girl tells Jack of the angel that came to her, and the young husband tells Jack of his experiences.

We have it all, shepherds, angels and kings, and Jack setting off to tell the good news. The whole is told in a very homely way that is not the less compelling for that. You can imagine a group around a fire on a bitter Canadian winter's night with Jack, himself, spinning the tale.

Surely not every teller would have told the tale in perfect King James English, but the effect is none the less for that- just different, but best shared with children who are already familiar with it.

The text is illustrated in soft colour and seemingly simple illustrations which are none the less sophisticated in their seeming simplicity and the two carry power in this folk rendering.

The Christmas Eve Ghost By Shirley Hughes Candlewick/Random House 2010

Shirley Hughes' story is set in Liverpool in the 1930's where a young miner's widow struggles to raise her children by bringing in washing. Her description of the little house, the room full of steaming washing when it rained out of doors, the great iron mangle that pressed the water from the clothes, and the mother heating her iron on the kitchen stove, brings vividly to life the daily toil of Bronwen and Dylan's Mam. There is struggle and poverty in this house, but there is much love and caring too. There is also some bias (very common at the time) for Mam and the children go to sing hymns in the chapel every Sunday, but have little or no contact with the O'Rileys next door. They go to another church.

On Christmas Eve Mam and the children deliver all the extra laundry and, because the children are exhausted, Mam takes them home, but has to pick up a little shopping down the street. Alone in the house the children hear a "plonk", a knock that goes on and on. Terriified, the little children run into the street, straight into the arms of Mrs. O'Riley. The "plonk" is the sound of her sons playing darts on a board hung on the connecting wall. When a weary Mam comes for them the barriers come down between Chapel Mam and the Catholic O'Riley's a friendship is formed and an understanding accepted this at Christmas.

Like Shirley Hughes, I was a 30's child and can attest to how accurately and beautifully she has captured the atmosphere and the responses of the time- both physically and psychologically. As always, her children are very real little people- socks at half-mast, grubby faces, large innocent eyes and the unreasoned fears of the unknown. The "plonk" can only mean some kind of stranger, some ghost, something not understood, and the response is flight, fortunately, as it happens , into the warmth and understanding of a neighbour. Ah she so often does, Shirley Hughes celebrates a warmth, a kindness, and an acceptance in a story which has a real sense of Christmas - goodwill, peace and love. 

Duck and Goose: It's Time for Christmas By Tad Hills Random House 2010                                   (A board book)

Duck is setting off with a determined stride while Goose gazes up at the snowflakes. One by one Goose's attempts to enjoy the winter weather are dismissed by Duck. It is not the time for sledding, or snow angels, or making a snow goose, or skating, or forts. A puzzled, and frustrated, Goose is led on by the determined Duck to where there is something to be done, and Goose's help is needed. He must stand on Duck's head so that he can reach the top of the tree and place a star up there."It is time for Christmas."

Tad Hills' birds, seemingly simple in outline, are full of character and emotion. In every case the eyes give the feelings away. There is the stance, the text, but it is the eyes in every bird, even the young two, waiting expectantly under the tree, that convey their hopes and wonder this way. Mr. Hills' little books are totally appealing introductions to character and relationships expressed in a few deft lines and bright colour.

Picture Books

Canadian Railroad Trilogy By Gordon Lightfoot Illustrated by Ian Wallace Groundwood Books  2010

Gordon Lightfoot's iconic song, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, was commissioned by the CBC to celebrate Canada's centennial in 1967. Since then it has become a classic, an essential part of those things which feel truly Canadian and draw us together.

The text has been published in a large picture book format and illustrated powerfully and strikingly by Ian Wallace. An engulfing sweep of Niagara plummets down from a page, a Haida totem stands alone before soaring mountains, a wolf howls in the blue-white snow of the Rockies, bridges soar up the page linking mountain to mountain, and a great Canada goose soars over the islets of a coast. Ian Wallace perfectly captures not only the beauty of the land, but also the mammoth task the railroad workers faced.

The book contains the music score (for piano) and lyrics of Lightfoot's song,Ian Wallace's comments on illustrating the book, and adds notes on each illustration.

Snook Alone By Marilyn Nelson Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering Candlewick Press/ Random House 2010

Abba Jacob is a monk living alone in an island hermitage, well, not really alone, he has a little rat terrier called Snook. The two spend their lives together, Snook catching mice and rats, Abba Jacob meditating, praying, and caring for the plants. There is a quiet controlled pattern to their lives. One day Abba Jacob is asked to help catalogue the plant and animal species on every island, and Snook goes along to deal with the rats and mice, we see him, head up, nose forward, heading the boat out to sea. A great storm breaks out, they must leave the island, Abba Jacob calls the dog, but Snook is too busy with rats to hear him.

When he makes it to the shoreline there is the scent of Abba Jacob's footprints, but the monk has gone.

Left alone on the island Snook must forage for himself in a world very different from the pattern of his days with the monk. He must find water, food, and learn about the other creatures on the island, from a frightening encounter with a land crab to a meeting with turtles, crawling up the beach to lay their eggs. All the time Snook listens, he can almost hear a beloved voice whisper, "Good boy, Snook. Good dog.” So Snook waits, survives, always listening for that special voice.

Yes, the monk returns, as full of joy to find Snook as Snook is to see him. The dog has grown, has changed as he has learned to survive, but what has stayed constant is the love binding dog and man.

This moving, thoughtful story has been illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering in soft-toned detailed picture which capture the affection of the relationship and Snook's growing confidence as he explores the island, learns to survive, and experiences a whole new way of living. There is energy and terror in Snook's encounter with the land crab, there is curiosity and gentleness in his encounter with the turtle, and there is ecstatic joy in the reunion between Snook and Abba Jacob.

Top

No By Claudia Rueda Groundwood Books 2010

There comes that moment when a young child feels confident and adventurous. They have an answer for everything and are assured, as long as mother is nearby.

This moment is delightfully captured in Claudia Rueda's No. Winter is coming and little bear wants to experience it all. When mother suggests that it is time to sleep, little bear does not want to sleep; when mother suggests he will freeze he says he is not cold, he has saved berries for the winter, he loves snow, a storm will be fun......."MAMMA!".

Muted shades of grey and blue, and pages of escalating white, gently portray the growing cold. It is the overwhelming presence of white, the familiar forms broken and hidden by increasingly large blobs of snow and whirling flakes, that convey the sudden tension, the fear of the half-hidden little bear. If this is winter, where is Mamma? He must find her. Even then he does not want his mother to know his fear, he only came back because "Winter is very long and you might get lonely".

 

Help Me! By Paul Geraghty Andersen Press/ Random House 2010

 

Paul Geraghty bases his picture book on real, documented observations of animal behaviour, and gives young readers thereby a gentle lesson in caring for others.

A line of great grey elephants walk beneath a full moon which lights the dark blue sky. A nervous impala listens for danger, while hatching turtles struggle to reach a safe pool of water. An old tortoise falls onto her back under the path of the elephants, but the large foot that touches her carefully rolls her back on her feet. One by one animals appear to defy the behaviour we would expect as, one by one, they help the helpless of another species.

Paul Geraghty illustrates each encounter with a palette that emphasizes the differences of the African setting. His creatures are caught with an immediacy in action- his impala, eyes wide with terror, runs from a pack of wild dogs, newly-hatched little little turtles scramble over the muddy ground, making for the safety of a pool.

The story is told briefly and directly and expanded in the detail of the illustrations, allowing young children to take part in the telling by their observation. These are unusual stories brought gently and effectively alive in Paul Geraghty's disciplined prose and engaging illustrations.

Up and Down By Oliver Jeffers HarperCollins 2010

The boy and the penguin from Oliver Jeffers' Lost and Found are back in this gentle portrait of true friendship.

The pair spends all their time together and is content enough, but the penguin has a dream and, one day, decides it is time to do something important all by himself - fly. He tries several times with the boy's help, but it is not the same as doing it by yourself. Something catches his eye and his imagination, and off he goes.

The boy has trouble sleeping or concentrating, he is so worried about his friend. He does not know where penguin is, then a poster catches his attention and sends him off to find penguin and help him. An explosive beginning to penguin's adventure finds a loving ending as penguin's adventure ends in boy's arms.

Oliver Jeffers has given us a subtle portrait of a loving friendship, a true example of its importance in life. His clear colourful line expresses the emotions of his characters - the exuberance of penguin's dream of flying over the mountains, the care and anxiety with which the boy holds out his arms to catch the falling penguin, the lighthearted journey home, boy on stilts, penguin on a scooter, off into the sunset and their favourite game of backgammon.

Kitten's Autumn By Eugenie Fernandes Kids Can Press 2010

It is autumn, a curious kitten watches the falling leaves and the wildlife around the farm nibbling away at dried grasses and nuts, the last greenery left from summer and, in bear's case, the honey spilling from a bee's nest. The bees do not appear very happy.

A very brief text uses a range of terms for eating from a humming-bird sipping and a deer grazing to a chipmunk chewing and a turtle snapping. There is an experience in new words joined to Eugenie Fernandes totally engaging use of warm colour and touch-inviting texture in her mixed-media illustrations. There is always an enchantment in the subtle textures of her work which makes each book a joy to be shared by observant parent and child. Added to this is a little game, for the inquisitive kitten is hidden on every page.

Making the Moose Out of Life By Nicholas Oldland Kids Can Press 2010

Tucked into a corner of Big Bear Hug is a moose. We meet him again in Nicholas Oldland's new picture book which makes a rather obvious play on Moose and his character, for Moose is a reserved, hesitant beast. Perhaps feeling insecure; like that solitary child on the playground who holds back and just watches, Moose sees his friends joining in boisterously with kite-flying, skiing, and playing in the water. He is aware of his insecurity and seeks an answer - without success.

Whether it is the blow from Beaver's golf ball, or a sudden resolution, Moose sets out sailing only to become shipwrecked in a storm and finds himself on a desert island. Faced with a dire situation, Moose acts, finds water and shelter and makes friends with a cheery little tortoise named Tuesday. When rescue does come he seizes his opportunity and returns home to an affectionate welcome from his friends. He is a changed Moose- who still writes to Tuesday.

Moose needs a challenge to be able to find himself, but the point here is that he comes to this when he realises that he has only himself to rely on when he is first shipwrecked. Unlike A.A. Milne's old sailor, he does not sit on the shore waiting to be rescued, paralyzed by his situation. Moose already has all of this in him, he is just more shy, more reserved, more uncertain, and it is dire need - physical survival that restores him and helps him break through his shyness, his reserve. Many shy children will sympathize with him.

The Cat's Pajamas By Wallace Edwards Kids Can Press 2010

Another witty and delightfully detailed picture book from Wallace Edwards is always welcome. The book is a collection of English idioms illustrated with literal visual translations. The bear, Beryl, "had a real bee in her bonnet," and here she is, her gaudy hat topped with an enormous bee. Camilla, a camel, waiting in the desert heat for a train “had to cool her heels", which she does, literally, by pushing them into four large ice cream cones. "Letting the Cat out of the Bag", at the end, gives a list of the idioms explaining what they mean in common usage.

Each idiom is indicated in the illustration, but these also offer investigation, mood, and unexpected realisations. The past catches up to the present when a colourful group of birds in a tree includes a pterodactyl clutching a T-shirt emblazoned with a dinosaur. The solemn grey elephant, holding tight a bunch of coloured pencils in her trunk, has “a lot to draw on", literally and metaphorically. The host of bright cartoons on her hide suggests hidden depths to her grey form. Isn't that a twinkle in her eye?

There is a great deal here for children to discover and draw on, to search out and experiment with in word and picture. To add to the fun, there is a cat hidden on every page, and it will take bright eyes and concentration to find them all, but Wallace Edwards does give some help.

My Favourite Fairy Tales By Tony Ross Andersen Press/Random House 2010

Tony Ross's collection of seven fairy tales is an interesting mix of the well-known and the unfamiliar, but all aimed at the early reader and in a format that suggests a book shared by parent and child - one of the best ways to encourage reading.

A friend, recently returned from Bremen, Germany, asked me if I knew what a statue they had seen referred to. "There's a donkey with a dog on its back who has a cat on his back who has a cockerel sitting on it. Do you know what it means?" The Town Musicians of Bremen is a less-well known story than in the past - but here it is. The Hedley Kow was new to me - the story of a simple, but rather wise, old woman who finds a pot of gold. The Musicians of Bremen practise their music to good result. In Sweet Porridge a magic pot feeds a mother and daughter, and then a neighbourhood, Rumplestiltskin is a familiar tale, as is Beauty and the Beast, and there are two less well-known stories - Fairy Gifts and Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess.

Enthusiasts of Tony Ross will be familiar with the vigour and honesty of his very down-to-earth people. There is something particularly threatening about Rumpelstiltskin's blue skin and beard, and the Beast, when angry, almost leaps off the page in a red rage; but these are not figures to fear- they are so outrageous they are hilarious, and the smaller pictures are witty and telling, a special amusement for the adults who are reading the stories.

Jim, Who ran away from his nurse. A Cautionary Tale By Hilaire Belloc Illustrated by Mini Grey Knopf/Random House 2010

If you remember from childhood, Hilaire Belloc's Jim was always running off and, unfortunately, took off from his nurse at the zoo, meeting both a lion and a gory fate. In Mini Grey's witty interpretation pages open wide with tags to lift, books to open, a map of the zoo to peruse, and a truly fearsome lion to leap out of the page. The "grim" tale ends with the late Jim's father strictly encouraging children to "always keep a-hold of Nurse for fear of finding something worse" as the turn of a page replaces Nurse's gloved hand with the clawed paw of a lion.

This version has all of Mini Grey's vigour and wit. It is packed with detail to discover and enjoy, and her pop-ups and subtle asides will delight adults who remember Jim from childhood as much as they will engage children.

Fiction-Young Adult 

Hannah and the Spindle Whorl By Carol Anne Shaw Ronsdale Press 2010

Hannah lives in a houseboat on Cowichan Bay with her father, a writer. Her mother has died. Hannah loves living near the beach, exploring the shoreline and the nearby woods and caves. She is already sensitive to the place and its past. While exploring a cave she finds what turns out to be a Salish spindle whorl. Through this, and the influence of a trickster raven, she is carried back to a village, Tl'ulpalus, to a time before the Europeans had settled the area.

Through the raven's influence she meets Yisella, a young Salish girl, and is drawn into a welcome by the villagers. However times are changing, smallpox has been brought by the Europeans, and Yisella's mother, a famous spinner and weaver, falls victim. In supporting Yisella in her grief Hannah finally comes to terms with her own mother's death.

The time comes for the villagers to leave for the mainland and in the confusion Hannah and Yisella are accidentally left behind. They see settlers arrive by ship and watch as they pillage the village for souvenirs. Desperately they search for and save Yisella's mother's spindle whorl.

When Hannah returns to her own time, more sensitive and understanding of the bay and its history, she finds she has also returned with a special gift. Remembering her mother's needles and wools,sadly put away by her father, she takes them up and finds that her fingers have captured both her mother's skills and those of Yisella's mother. The journey through time and her experience there, and an unexpected gift from the great black raven, have brought understanding, appreciation and healing.

Time travel is difficult to handle well. Here Carol Anne Shaw has fully succeeded. The choice of a local setting makes her tale all the more authentic so that the reader may appreciate that the magic of the journey is centered in that real world. It leaves a sense that magic can, and often does, lie in real places. The spindle whorl is an important key to accessing the past and thus to travelling through time.

This is an enjoyable as well as a tender and thoughtful tale. For young readers it is an entry to part of West Coast history, and an introduction to the culture of others. It is also a gentle portrait of an unlikely friendship.

Winter Shadows By Margaret Buffie Tundra Books 2010

Winter Shadows is an exploration of the emotional stress of losing a mother and dealing with a new stepmother. Cass, a teenager, coping with her new stepmother Jean, and her difficult step-sister Daisy, is almost overcome with grief for her dead mother. She is devastated when Jean, imposing her own taste, changes everything in the home, erasing any signs of Cass's late mother.

While the family home, a pioneer house, is being renovated Cass finds a star-shaped brooch, a link from the past that allows her to see Beatrice Alexander. The Scottish/Metis eighteen-year-old is an ancestress. She is living in the house in 1856, and she is also suffering with a very difficult step-mother.

Cass is allowing her grief at her mother's death and her anger at her father's re-marriage to overcome her, and she badly needs the steady support of her mother's twin sister and a new friend, a reliable lad called Martin. Every change that Jean makes stirs Cass up more, and she turns to this ghostly vision of the past, and her journal, for some of her support.

Beatrice is the stronger character of the two. One hundred and fifty years ago there would not be the time or spare energy for her to indulge in Cass's introspection. Beatrice must help with the household, care for her grandmother, now isolated to an upper room, and she must show the restraint necessary to the situation. She is already, at eighteen, a thoughtful woman caught up in matters of the household, but also of courtship and marriage, yet she is appreciative of twenty-first century Cass and her needs. It is through the journal that she keeps, and Cass reads, that Cass finds the strength to deal with her totally changed family.

The 1856 setting is particularly effective and engaging. You feel the cold, you watch the preparation of a feast, you learn about the society and its expectations, and you become engaged in the lively character of Duncan Kilgour and his odd courting. The culture, the time, the expectations of that time, is all brought vividly alive.

Beatrice and Cass interact, sense each other, and affect each other in a thoroughly convincing way in this engaging novel.

On the Blue Comet By Rosemary Wells Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline Candlewick/Random House 2010

It is 1938. Oscar and his widowed father live together, sharing a love of model trains; but the Depression worsens, the bank takes both their house and their treasured train layout, and Oscar's father goes off to California in search of work while Oscar stays home with his aunt. He is befriended by an unemployed teacher of algebra and geometry, Mr. Applegate who begins to train Oscar's mind and open it to new ideas. Eventually Mr. Applegate gets a job as a watchman in the very bank where Oscar's trains are on display.

One night robbers break into the bank, hitting Mr. Applegate on the head and threatening Oscar with a pistol. Mr. Applegate manages to call out, "Jump, Oscar, Jump!" and suddenly the boy is tiny and part of the train layout. He catches one of the now full-sized trains and finds himself on the way to California with a young would-be actor called Dutch.

Rosemary Wells draws such a detailed portrait of Oscar's adventure, populating it with real people like Dutch, an actor, and Mr., H., a director of mysteries, and the young son of Joe Kennedy, that her time travel adventure appears absolutely authentic. The pace is maintained throughout the story and nothing feels out of place.

Bagram Ibatoulline has illustrated the tale with coloured illustrations that give a real sense of the period. His picture of Oscar and Dutch on the train will make parents and grandparents smile....for they recognise something about Dutch's face.

Prisoner of Dieppe By Hugh Brewster Scholastic 2010

Prisoner of Dieppe is, with Paul Yee's Blood and Iron, the first of a new series from Scholastic-
I am Canadian. These will be stories of young Canadian men who took part in a special event in Canadian history.

Hugh Brewster tells the story of two lads - Alistair and Mackie (Hamish McTavish), friends from youth who join up together, enlisting in the Royal Regiment, at the beginning of World War II.The story of their time together is told through an account that Alistair writes for his grandson, Lachlan, now the age Alistair was when he went to war. The boys go through basic training in Canada and then are shipped to England where their training leads up to them taking part in the Dieppe Raid. The two young men are captured during that operation and spend the rest of the war in German prisoner-of-war camps. Mackie cannot stand being penned up and Alistair tries to help his friend, but Mackie must break out.

The epilogue is a letter written to Lachlan by his grandfather, to be opened when the old man dies. A letter that explains what finally did happen to Mackie.

Hugh Brewster's novel is a moving and dramatic account of this dark defeat and the powerful effect it and its aftermath had on one young Canadian. This is a strong and moving beginning to the new series.

Pull Out all the Stops By Geraldine McCaughrean Oxford University Press 2010

Those who have read Stop the Train will be familiar with Geraldine McCaughrean's lively and bright Cissy. In Pull Out All The Stops a diphtheria epidemic has hit the town, the school is closed and the children sent out of town and out of danger. Cissy and two friends, accompanied by their new teacher, Miss May March, go to stay with their former teacher, Miss Loucien, who is now married to an actor and is part of a touring theatre group.

The Bright Lights Theatre Company, an engaging group of characters, is travelling down river on a wreck of an old paddle steamer and, unfortunately, they do not have the financial means to keep it operating, so they drift from town to town on the river, trying to raise funds with their performances. As Ms. McCaughrean's admirers can imagine, there are plenty of problems, excitements, and misunderstandings- some serious, some hilarious. At one point Miss March must rescue Curly, who was giving a Shakespeare recitation and finds himself in jail for profanity. In another Cissy must give a convincing regal impersonation.

Strong lively characters, a skilful mix of drama, danger and comedy, and the author's proven skill at weaving tales, makes Pull Out All the Stops a delight.

Eon By Alison Goodman Puffin Canada 2010 paperback

Young Eon has been training for years - studying Dragon Magic, a discipline that requires skilled sword-work and a gift for enchantment. "He" seeks to become an apprentice, a Dragoneye, to one of the twelve dragons of good fortune.

Eon and "his" master are following a dangerous path. Women are forbidden to use Dragon Magic and here, in the first paragraph, Eon is introduced in training, coping with cramps, and afraid, as she faces the Swordmaster, that she has miscounted the moon days. Her master discovered her unusual gifts early and, fiercely ambitious, he is risking both their lives to make Eon eligible to be chosen by the dragon.

These dragons are invisible to all but a few. They are of the spirit realms, but to the chosen they are glorious powerful creatures, dragons in the oriental tradition. Their Dragoneyes equally hold power under the Emperor. That Eon is chosen counters all tradition, and she realises this and the potential danger, for she is both female and a cripple - outcast in a culture that looks down on both. Now, once chosen, she and her master, desperately hiding her sex, are caught up in a struggle for power between the Emperor and his supporters and his General and the Ascendant Dragoneye, Lord Ido.

Alison Goodman weaves a powerful, totally engaging fantasy tale, using her oriental setting with skill to create a completely believable environment and pulling her readers into this strange mystical world with such skill and intelligence that they are totally engaged with the setting and characters.

Highly recommended. This is the paperback edition of the 2008 publication of Eon won the Aurealis Award.

Fiction-Classic
 

The Jungle Book By Rudyard Kipling Illustrated Nicola Bayley Candlewick/Random House 2010 paperback

Nicola Bayley is a fine illustrator with a delicate touch in depicting cats. She studied Graphic Design at St. Martin's College and then went on to study illustration at the Royal College of Art where her graduation show caught attention and led her into book illustration. Her refinement of line, delicate sense of pattern, exact reproduction of movement and balance are partnered with a refined sense of colour.

Kipling's three Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book were first published with her illustrations in 2005.This is a paperback edition. Here her affection for cats had to be confined to the golden menace of Shere Khan and the silky black pelt of Bagheera, but Bear folds his furry paws around the young Mowgli in protection, Kaa slinks his thirty foot body ,twisting along the ground, and Hathi the Wild Elephant thrusts his trunk upwards into the page as he trumpets his concern. Full page illustrations are balanced with groups of miniatures and the whole is supported by decorative coloured borders. This is a handsome edition of the Mowgli stories.

Folktales and Fables
 

Firebird By Saviour Pirotta Paintings by Catherine Hyde Templar Books/Random House 2010

Firebird is the retelling of the Russian folktale of the great bird with feathers made of fire who, every night, eats a golden apple from King Vaslav's tree. The king demands the thief be apprehended. First Prince Dimitri and then Prince Vasili search for the bird, but they do not have the imagination or the courage to go the whole way. Prince Ivan, the youngest and least respected son, sets off and finds himself facing encounter after encounter with the aid of a great grey wolf until at last he brings to his father the firebird and a princess.

The dramatic retelling is accompanied by richly-toned paintings - a mare with a golden mane, a wolf leaping through the evening grey, a forest, unfathomably black, lit barely by the moon and harbouring a pair of gleaming golden eyes, and, above all, a sweeping portrait of the Firebird herself engulfing the page with scarlet and gold, conjuring up a vivid memory of Stravinsky's music

The Nightwood By Robin Muller Tundra 2010

Robin Muller explores the wealth of folklore and legend in many of his books. The Nightwood is based upon a Scottish border ballad – “Tam Lin”. The first recorded version of this as a song appears in 1549, although the tale may be very much older, and there have been several interpretations since. Alan Garner's Red Shift was influenced by the story and Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock is another version of the old tale.

In Robin Muller's story Elaine, the young daughter of the Earl of March, intrigued by the tales of danger lurking within the forest, Nightwood, hears voices from the wood calling on her to come and dance at the Elfin Queen's ball. There she meets Tamlynne, a young knight enchanted by the Queen. They fall in love, but for him to escape the Queen's power, Elaine must be courageous and face a terrible test.

The story is told with poetic force, the stubborn lively Elaine having her quick temper tempered itself by love and sacrifice, turning her negative disobedience into positive life-saving energy and defeating the Elfin Queen to save Tamlynne at the risk of her own life.

This strong story-telling is illustrated with equally powerful illustrations that elabourate on the tale in their detail and form.

This is a striking re-telling of the ballad. It was first published in 1991, and this is a new, beautifully produced anniversary edition from Tundra Books.

Aesop's Fables Retold by Fiona Walters Illustrated by Fulvio Testa Andersen Press/ Random House 2010

This is a collection of sixty of the fables credited to Aesop, who lived in ancient Greece between 670 and 560B.C. Fiona Walters has retold each in clear energetic prose while Fulvio Testa's warm-toned illustrations make sly and telling comment on the text.

Young children will enjoy these, but so will everyone else in the family as they make comment on human foibles. Is the hare texting as he lies under the tree while the tortoise walks steadily by? There is a thought for the day.

Re-reading these is to realise just how much has gone into the language- "Look before you leap", "Do as you would be done by", " Slow and steady wins the race" and " A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Aesop is as wise and readable today.

Poetry

The Puffin Mother Goose By Raymond Briggs Treasury / Puffin 2010

The original Mother Goose Treasury was published in 1966, and it won the Kate Greenaway Medal that year. It was published again as a Picture Puffin in 1973. This new edition carries the notice that it is abridged.

The important matter is that we have it again to share with children. In his introduction to this new edition Raymond Briggs considers the best title for such a collection because, as he comments, many of the verses and songs are based on the common experience."They are rough, tough and earthy, sometimes blunt, violent and very matter-of-fact about the harder things in life." Still, children have accepted them, recited them, sung them, skipped rope to them, making them universal.

Raymond Briggs' illustrations have that feel of the everyday from the small picture of Bobby Shaftoe's wife holding up her baby to wave to his father's ship to the vigour of Terence McDiddles charming the fish from the sea to jump patterns over his head, a huge Humpty Dumpty sitting very precariously on a wall, or the lion and the unicorn engaged in a vigorous boxing match. The book is packed with witty, or sensitive, powerful and delicate, insightful illustrations which require exploration and delight.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats By T.S. Eliot Illustrated by Axel Scheffler Faber and Faber/ Penguin Books Canada 2010

Adults will be familiar with Nicolas Bentley's sophisticated and witty illustrations of Eliot's cats; but here is an edition which aims the work directly at children. While their parents may smile at the human characteristics satirized, children will just enjoy the feline characters for themselves. Here is Macavity, "There never was a cat of such deceitfulness and suavity"; now "There's a whisper down the line at 11.39" and we know Skimbleshanks is about to appear. Gus reminisces about his days in the theatre, and we are introduced to the very serious business of correctly naming a cat.

These poems continue to delight, from the time they were first published in 1939. I clearly remember my mother buying a copy for every single person on her Christmas list!

Now, in this edition, their appeal to children is acknowledged in Axel Scheffler's witty and child-appealing illustrations. I enjoyed the cat contemplating Plato's statue, or Rum Tum Tugger “helping" a mother with her needlework. The Jellicles dance, paw in paw, on the rooftops under the Jellicle Moon and the village comes to a hilarious halt as old Deuteronomy sleeps in the middle of the road while a thoughtful human puts up a "Road Closed" sign to protect his slumber.

The book is in paperback, it will slip into a stocking as the cats will slip into a child's heart.

Top

Non-Fiction 

The Sea Wolves: Living Wild in the Great Bear Rainforest By Ian McAllister & Nicholas Read Orca Book Publishers 2010

As in their earlier book, The Salmon Bears (Deakin Newsletter July/August 2010), Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read introduce young readers to the sea wolves. The wolves living in British Columbia's coastal rainforest are one of the last populations of wolves on earth that have not been seriously impacted by human populations. The coast wolves differ genetically from all other wolves, including those of the British Columbia Interior. Respected by the First Nations people, they have adapted to the rainforest, even swimming from island to island and enjoying catching and eating salmon- but only the heads. Wolves and ravens in particular are known to interact and can be seen playing together.

The authors begin by explaining to young readers how myth and fairy tale have given us such a negative view of the wolf , leading to extermination policies elsewhere; but wolves, we are told, are similar to us, they live in family groups, protect and enjoy their young. Each wolf in the pack has a specific role to play in the survival of the extended family.

At the last is a plea for the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest and the creatures that inhabit it as the authors show their concern about declines in salmon and plans for oil drilling and tanker ports which could cause devastation. The very real concern about the threats to the region are stated in terms that young people understand and appreciate.

As with The Salmon Bears, The Sea Wolves is illustrated with striking and engaging colour photography by Ian McAllister.

Design It! The ordinary things we use every day and the not-so-ordinary ways they came to be By Rona Arato Illustrated by Claudia Newell Tundra Books 2010

"The profession of industrial design developed from the need to find a balance between art and industry." The need to make more goods, like cloth, at a faster rate for a growing population produced those we would now term industrial designers, inventing machines that led to cloth woven in factories not on home looms, and pottery produced in the pot banks of Britain's potteries, rather than worked in the home kiln of the village potter. By the 18th century the industrial revolution was well on its way with inventors and designers finding new and better ways of producing goods through improved machinery.

These industrial designers were the latest members of an ancient movement that saw fire brought inside houses by 6000 BC, the Romans building baths and inventing central heating (much of this temporarily lost after the fall of the Roman Empire). Ms. Arato leads the young reader through the history of design and the reasons for change in the past. Some discoveries and designs were lost to be found again....indoor toilets, improved heating and cooking facilities...time brought changes made by inventors, early industrial designers.

Design it! is an engaging introduction to the development of industrial design but also to the question of what makes good design. It encourages the young reader to imagine how the design of some everyday objects could be improved. There is a good deal of material here, but it is skillfully broken down to accessible sections and illustrated with both clarity and humour. This is a book bound to intrigue a young reader with a growing interest in art and design and an itch to invent.

20 Projects to Make with Paper: Wind Power By Clive Dobson Firefly Books 2010

How can wind create power? The old windmills in countries like Holland were used to operate simple machinery, but now wind farms are growing up across the countryside to produce "green" energy, and there are some problems with this technology- in particular, noise. Wind Power is an introduction for young readers to this technique, and it also an opportunity for them to experiment with the forces that make windmills and pinwheels and wind turbines spin. Here are 20 projects for young people to experiment with, to discover what makes simple pinwheels to complex turbines turn faster and more efficiently. It encourages them to experiment and discover how moving air on various windmill shapes affects the power they produce.

Clive Dobson, a visual artist, has accompanied his text with illustrations and photographs, and very clear step-by-step instructions and diagrams, for the construction of these projects from a simple pinwheel to a sunflower turbine and a 6-Blade VAWT.

Canadian Children's Literature-Criticism and History

Picturing Canada: A History of Canadian Children's Illustrated Books and Publishing By Gail Edwards and Judith Saltman University of Toronto Press 2010

Picturing Canada is a history of the development of Canadian illustrated books for children, stretching from the earliest Nineteenth Century days to contemporary work. The book weaves the development of Canadian illustrated children's books into Canadian history and the experience of Canadian childhood, giving an overall picture of time, society, the Canadian experience and the influence this has had on Canadian publishing for children. The early titles emphasized the physical world of snow, mountains and ranging forests which gave the books both a unique view of the land and people and the sense of wilderness adventure that appealed as much to the lads in Britain's cities as it did to those in Canada's towns and villages.

The real breakthrough came with the work of William Toye and Oxford University Press in the 1950's. He began by putting together a line of children's titles, stories from First Nations' sources, Marius Barbeau's collection of French-Canadian fairy tales, The Golden Phoenix, and two striking non-fiction titles- A Picture History of Canada (1956) and The St. Lawrence (1959).

Frank Newfeld's unique contribution to Canadian book design, Elizabeth Cleaver's love of folk art, so often seen in her work, and Douglas Tait's use of Haida art forms in Christie Harris's Once More Upon a Totem, all set a standard for the work that followed.

The authors continue by describing the growth of new Canadian publishers, like Tundra, Annick and Kids Can Press, and the growth in regional publishing in the 1970's. They discuss the influence of May Cutler and her determination to improve the quality of Canadian picture books when she founded Tundra Books. She chose artists because she thought that "...a good artist is always a complete original and can't really be imitated. "(p.83)

The importance of the 70's in the development of children's literature in Canada is also underlined by the importance of the founding of The Children's Book Centre (now The Canadian Children's Book Centre) and the inauguration of various awards in the field, plus the growth of support from the Canada Council.

The 80's are pin-pointed as the era of the "flowering of Canadian children's illustrated books". Groundwood published Ken Nutt and Tim Wynne-Jones' Zoom series, Ian Wallace's Chin Chiang and The Dragon Dance gave a colourful introduction to the Chinese-Canadian community in Vancouver, and Annick published the first Robert Munsch book, The Mud Puddle. Kathy Stinson's Red is Best captured the vitality of a little girl who adores red. Our books were travelling - I remember seeing a lively display for the book in a children's book shop in London, England. Ted Harrison's bright flowing illustrations introduced children to the vast landscape and glowing colours of the north.

The authors tackle the changes that have taken place since the 1990's, changes that have challenged the conduct of children's publishing in Canada - funding, changes in library services, the decline of teacher-librarians, and the effect on school libraries. Another serious development has been the loss of the independent bookseller, the owner who is a book person with book-trained staff who knew and could intelligently discuss recent publications. The development of large book chains has not always meant educated and thoughtful service. At the same time the authors lament the loss of informed popular media reviewing of children's books.

As they point out, good, even excellent, books are still being published .The authors do examine in detail much of the contemporary work being done and give insight into the work of the outstanding illustrators like Barbara Reid who, by using modelling clay and experimenting with its potential, has produced some highly original and startlingly effective work. Who cannot gasp at the owl sweeping out from the pages of Have You Seen Birds or the amazing originality of her white on white in Peg and the Yeti?

The authors also comment on the valuable work done by those in the industry, the William Toyes, the Kathryn Coles, the Patsy Aldanas, the May Cutlers and all the other dedicated professionals in the field. To a great extent writing, illustrating, and publishing for children is a work of love.

For anyone in any way connected with children and books, as an academic, as a librarian, as a teacher, or a critic, or a parent, Picturing Canada is not only a valuable companion, it is also a very readable and enjoyable one.

Note: The book contains 65 pages of notes and 65 pages of bibliography.

Governor-General’s Awards – Shortlists English Language
Children’s Literature: Text Shortlist
K.L.Denman: Me, Myself and Ike : Orca Book Publishers
Lesley Fairfiled: Tyranny: Tundra Books
Gina McMurchy-Barber: Free as a Bird: Dundurn Press
Wendy Phillips : Fishtailing: Coteau Books
Cheryl Rainfield : Scars: Westside Books

Winner for Text:
Wendy Philips: Fishtailing: Coteau BooksIllustrations: Jon Klassen, text Caroline Stutson:

Children’s Literature: Illustration Shortlist
Kristi Bridgeman: Uirapuru: based on a Brazilian Legend: Text: P.K. Page: Oolichan Books
Julie Flett: Owls See Clearly at Night: a Michif Alphabet/Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: l'alfabet di Michif : text Julie Flett: Simply Read Books
Matt James: I Know Here: Groundwood Books/ House of Anansi Press
Jon Klassen: Cat's Night Out: text by Caroline Stutson: Simon and Schuster
Renata Liwska: The Quiet Book: text by Deborah Underwood : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Winner for Illustration:
Jon Klassen: Cat's Night Out: text by Caroline Stutson: Simon and Schuster


The Guardian Children's Fiction Award
Michelle Paver: Ghost Hunter: Orion/HarperCollins
This is the sixth and final book in a series, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

Carnegie
Short-listed for Which Witch? ( 1979) , Journey to the River Sea (2001) and Star of Kazan ( 2005)

Whitbread
Short-listed for Journey to the River Sea ( 2001)

Nestle Smarties Award
Gold Award Journey to the River Sea ( 2001)
Silver Award The Star of Kazan (2004)

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
Long-listed: Journey to the River Sea (2001)
Short-listed: The Ogre of Oglefort ( 2010)

Roald Dahl Funny Prize
Short-listed: The Ogre of Oglefort ( 2010)

TD Canadian Children's Literature Award
Arthur Slade: The Hunchback Assignments : HarperCollins

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award
Author: Colleen Sydor: Illustrator: Nicolas Debon : Timmerman Was Here : Tundra Books
(Reviewed in Deakin Nov-Dec 2009) 

Norma Fleck Award for Children's Non-Fiction
Priscilla Galloway with Dawn Hunter : Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road : Annick Press
(Reviewed in Deakin Nov-Dec 2009) 

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People
Shane Peacock : Vanishing Girl (The Boy Sherlock Holmes Book 3) : Tundra Books
(Reviewed in Deakin Nov-Dec 2009) 

Featured Websites

Nicola Bayley http://www.nicolabayley.com/		Nicola Bayley-Illustrator Books Illustrated Website: The Fine Art of Illustrations http://www.booksillustrated.com/en-UK/bayley-nicola
Nicole Bayley illustrated Jungle Book reviewed in this issue of the Deakin Newsletter)

Parrot Cat by Nicole Bayley (Copycats Series)

 

Johnny O'Brien		Johnny O'Brien: An interview http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-obrien-johnny.asp

Top

 

November 22, 2010
Jennifer Sigalet