March 2, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
If Sharon Jennings’ Home Free, the first volume in Second Story’s new Gutsy Girl series is a sign of what’s to come, then hurrah. This short, sharp story sets the bar high for its followers: ... Read More »
Kids are often thought to be better than adults at dealing with grief, but that doesn’t mean it’s ever easy. Two works by celebrated Montreal author and illustrator Mireille Levert explore the cycle of loss ... Read More »
February 12, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Picture Books
The intense sensory pleasure of a grandparent’s garden is among many people’s earliest memories. And the loss of a garden, like Eden, is one of the most powerful human stories. Nonetheless, grandparents often have to ... Read More »
February 12, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Picture Books
When we first meet him, Timothy Freshwater is a fairly unpleasant character. “Too smart for his own good” and perpetually bored, he’s quick with the backtalk and flip remarks, dismissive of anyone who isn’t as ... Read More »
February 2, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
Eric Walters’ Black and White is a thoughtful book undermined by a serious flaw. The novel is about two middle school suburban kids. Thomas, 13, is in Grade 8. Denyse, 12, is in Grade 7. ... Read More »
January 20, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
A pirate ship, a treasure map, and a crew of orphans: how could even the most reluctant young reader resist such a premise? In her first novel, author Rachelle Delaney, a graduate of the MFA ... Read More »
January 5, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
The previous collaborations between Marthe Jocelyn and Tom Slaughter were elegant books that broke concepts of size or quantity down to their essence. Spare in text and image almost to the point of being like ... Read More »
January 5, 2009 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Picture Books
In Deborah Ellis’s most recent book, Off to War (Groundwood), she presents the real-life stories of Western children of soldiers who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though the stories are heartfelt, poignant, and disturbing, ... Read More »
December 4, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
Seventy years after her disappearance, Amelia Earhart continues to excite our imaginations. In Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator, award-winning writer Shelley Tanaka explores the famed aviator’s life, recounting her remarkable achievements both ... Read More »
December 4, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
B.C. author Laura Trunkey’s dryly funny debut novel is centred around the misadventures of Lily Brook Academy’s newest student, Danny Chandelier. Danny suffers from a malady most distressing: an astonishing capacity for adequateness. Eager to ... Read More »
November 3, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction