Kids’ Books

I’m Sad

By Debbie Ridpath Ohi (ill.); Michael Ian Black

While the Fan Brothers, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, and Ashlyn Anstee employ acutely different tones, styles, and media in their latest picture books, all unearth joy in some of life’s most unpleasant feelings: grief, sadness, and ... Read More »

June 4, 2018 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ The Mushroom Fan Club

By Elise Gravel

It would be hard to find a more charming non-fiction picture book – about a seemingly unpleasant topic – than The Mushroom Fan Club, Montreal author-illustrator Elise Gravel’s celebration of the titular members of the ... Read More »

May 31, 2018 | Filed under: Picture Books

What Happens Next

By Carey Sookocheff (ill.); Susan Hughes

The unnamed narrator of What Happens Next is bullied for being different and doesn’t want to go to school. The situation is hard to talk about, so when Mom asks her daughter how her day ... Read More »

May 29, 2018 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Goodbye Girls

By Lisa Harrington

To profit or not to profit off of someone else’s heartbreak, that is the question at the core of The Goodbye Girls, a new YA novel by Lisa Harrington. The book’s high school characters have ... Read More »

May 29, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Black Chuck

By Regan McDonell

The debut novel from Toronto writer and graphic designer Regan McDonell begins in the aftermath of tragedy. The savage death of teenager Shaun Henry-Deacon – “the bloody grass, Shaun’s belly torn open, the police dog” ... Read More »

May 29, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Kasey & Ivy

By Alison Hughes

Life’s been pretty good to cerebral 12-year-old Katherine-Charlotte (Kasey) Morgan, until she discovers a steadily growing red lump on her ankle. After a bone scan, germophobe Kasey finds herself in the hospital with a serious ... Read More »

May 29, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Death by Dinosaur: A Sam Stellar Mystery

By Jacqueline Guest

Every generation or so, a Canadian children’s publisher or writer comes up with the notion of a mystery series set in various locations across the country. In the early 1960s there was the Secret Circle ... Read More »

May 28, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Crimson

By Arthur Slade

Crimson opens with 11-year-old Fen in the village square awaiting punishment from Queen Servilia, the magical ruler of Illium. For filching a tiny glass butterfly (a gift for her little sister), Fen has been sentenced ... Read More »

May 24, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Clara Voyant

By Rachelle Delaney

Two new books explore the perks and problems that come with a stronger-than-average intuition. One protagonist “sees” his long-dead great-grandfather spying on Nazis, while the other unwittingly uses her “gift” to write horoscopes that come ... Read More »

May 17, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction