CM Volume 1 Number 10

Volume 1 Number 10

August 18, 1995

Table of Contents

Book Reviews

Hot, Cold, Shy, Bold: Looking at Opposites.
Pamela Harris.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.
Preschool / Ages 2 - 4.

If We Could See the Air.
David Suzuki. Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.
Review by Dennis Wood.
Grades 1 - 4 / Ages 5 - 9

Simply Ridiculous.
Virginia Davis. Illustrated by Russ Willms.
Review by Brian Rountree.
Preschool - Grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.

Bone Button Borscht.
Aubrey Davis. Illustrated by Dusan Petricic.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.
Preschool - Grade 3 / Ages 3 - 8.

Video Review

Planet Earth: Caring for Our Environment.
Review by Lorrie Andersen.
Grades 1 - 5 / Ages 5 - 10.

News

Australia:
A Festival of Australian Children's Literature

Book Review

Hot, Cold, Shy, Bold: Looking at Opposites.
Written and photographed by Pamela Harris.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1995. Unpaginated, cloth, $14.95.
ISBN 1-55074-153-5.

Preschool / Ages 2 - 4.

Review by Lorraine Douglas.

excerpt:

A hot face, a cold face, a shy face, a bold face, a big face, a small face. . . .

Pamela Harris is a Toronto photographer who has written and photographed two books for adults -- Another Way of Being (Impressions, 1974) and Faces of Feminism (Second Story Press, 1992). This is her first book for children and her first book in colour.

The beautiful, clear photos demonstrate the concept of opposites though the emotional or physical range of faces described in the text. We see an ``old face, a new face, a how-do-you-do face," plus the round face of a pumpkin contrasted with the square face of a papier-mâché halloween mask. The simple, lively text and the appealing faces will interest the very young child.

The concept of opposites has been explored by the American photographers Tana Hoban in Exactly the Opposite (Greenwillow, 1990), and Bruce McMillan in Becka Backward, Becka Frontward; A Book of Concept Pairs (Lothrop, Lee and Shepherd, 1986). But Harris's approach -- using faces rather than objects or actions -- is unique.

The ethnic backgrounds of the participants make this an excellent choice for multicultural audiences, and the large font size and bold typeface make this a good large-print selection.

Highly recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for the Winnipeg Public Library.

Book Review

If We Could See the Air.
David Suzuki.
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.
Don Mills: Stoddart. 32pp, paper, $6.95.
ISBN 0-7737-5666-3.

Grades 1 - 4 / Ages 5 - 9.

Review by Dennis Wood.

This book is a disappointment. Suzuki is a national treasure, whose popularization of science has deepened and broadened the understanding of many Canadians. If We Could See the Air misses the mark because it promises a story and delivers a lecture. Readers of The Magic School Bus expect a lecture, and facts at every turn, but readers of this book are led to expect a story which the book doesn't deliver.

Wherever the dialogue devolves into a science lecture, which is frequently, the narrative suffers. Still, Fernandes's delightful illustrations go a long way toward redeeming the book, doing all they can to support the concepts.

Nonfiction for primary grades is a tough balancing act. Readers must be enticed and informed. This book does both, but fails the most important test: ``Read it again!" will not be any child's refrain. If We Could See the Air is inexpensive, and school libraries may want it to fill a gap at j533.6, but it is not as good as the first in the ``Nature All Around" series, Nature in the Home.

Not recommended.

Dennis Wood is a school librarian at Miami, Manitoba.

Book Review

Simply Ridiculous.
Virginia Davis.
Illustrated by Russ Willms.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1995. 32pp, cloth, $14.95.
ISBN 1-55074-107-1.

Preschool - Grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.

Review by Brian Rountree.

excerpt:

In a village far, far away, there lived a young man who was sometimes a little silly. . . .

And so the fun begins. Willy and his wife are going to have a baby. Willy goes off to ask the Wise Old Man what kind of baby they will have. Later on he returns to consult him on a name for the baby. On his way home Willy loses the name but is astounded that an old woman passing by would know his child's name.

Virginia Davis has rewritten this Ethiopian folk tale that children as early as grade two will enjoy. Older readers will have a good opportunity to make their reading aloud entertaining to a younger audience.

The whimsical watercolour illustrations by Russ Willms will surely be enjoyed by the readers. He gives his characters a vibrancy and vitality whether they appear alone on the text page or extending beyond the borders of a traditional picture. (Willms previously illustrated Brewster Rooster by Berny Lucas.)

Simply Ridiculous can be used in a variety of ways: as a storybook; as an example for artwork; as an examination of age and youth; or in a study of the many folk-tales from around the world involving ``a young man who was sometimes silly."

Recommended.

Brian Rountree is a teacher-librarian in Thompson, Manitoba and is currently Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian School Library Association.

Book Review

Bone Button Borscht.
Aubrey Davis.
Illustrated by Dusan Petricic.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1995. 32 pages, cloth, $14.95.
ISBN 1-55074-224-8.

Preschool - Grade 3 / Ages 3 - 8.

Review by Lorraine Douglas.

excerpt:

As he warmed himself by the stove he looked around the room. Suddenly he spotted a man in the shadows. It was the synagogue caretaker, the shamas.
``Shalom aleichem, peace be with you!" called the beggar.
The shamas did not answer.
``Strange," thought the beggar.
A glimmer crept into his eye, and the corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly. He had an idea.
He grabbed one of the bone buttons on his coat and tugged.
Tchk. Off came the button.
Tchk. Tchk. Off came two more.
Tchk. And another.
Tchk. And another.
Still the shamas did not speak. But now he was looking at the beggar. Now he was curious.

This new version of the classic ``Soup Stone" tale is filled with droll humour and wonderful watercolour illustrations. Mr. Beggar comes to a little town dreaming of a good meal, but its poor inhabitants turn him away. He sees a long line of light in the snow and finds the open door of the synagogue. The shamas doesn't even speak to him. In a sudden inspiration he takes the bone buttons from his coat and asks the shamas for one more button for bone-button borscht.

Soon the whole town is involved in creating the best borscht and the greatest feast ever! The people believe it is a miracle and one family after another takes in Mr. Beggar and his magic buttons. When he finally moves on, he leaves the townspeople his buttons. Over the years the buttons are lost, but they learn how to make good borscht even without them . . . .

The illustrations in this tale of sharing celebrate the creation of the borscht, and the homely but appealing townspeople. Dusan Petricic's illustrations use overhead perspectives and changing colours to add to the delight of this fresh version of an old story. A great book for reading aloud, or for classes interested in comparing different versions of classic tales.

Highly Recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for the Winnipeg Public Library.

Video Review

Planet Earth: Caring for Our Environment.
National Film Board of Canada, 1995.
VHS, 27 minutes, $26.95. Closed-captioned.
Distributed by the NFB, P.O. Box 6100, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, PQ, H3C 3H5
Fax: (514) 496-2573 / Phone: 1-800-267-7710

Grades 1 - 5 / Ages 5 - 10.

Review by Lorrie Andersen.

Alas, although this is a new compilation, the three short films on environmental issues collected here are not themselves new.

The first, ``Lord of the Sky" (1992) is a strikingly animated story -- parable, really -- of a people who through carelessness destroy their harmonious environment. A brave young boy undertakes the courageous journey to visit the spirit world and the Lord of the Sky to seek rescue of his village from the ravens that are obliterating the sun, causing perpetual darkness. Through his brave and kind deed, the boy comes face-to-face with the Lord of the Sky who grants him his wish. The film-making -- using models, puppets, special effects, and cut-out paper animation -- is wonderful.

The second piece, nearly four minutes long, is ``Paradise Lost" (1970). It's a wordless, depressing, animated film emphasizing the damaging effects of air pollution; it ends with the death of a bird, a butterfly, and other woodland creatures. No doubt ``Paradise Lost" would be a good discussion-starter for adolescents and adults, but it's inappropriate for the young children at whom this compilation is aimed. Children need to see both the problems and the possible solutions -- why deprive them of hope?

The third film, ``Journey of the Blob" (1989), would be more appealing to young children; many of them could relate to the young boy who conducts a kitchen science experiment. He discards the resulting blob by flushing it down the drain, only to find that months later it's back on his doorstep (so to speak: actually it comes out of the garden hose as he is filling his little pool). This wordless ecological tale of the water cycle was one of the best from the ``Look Again" series.

``Lord of the Sky" is closed-captioned. ``Paradise Lost" and ``Journey of the Blob" are without words.

Recommended with reservations.

A librarian by training, Lorrie Andersen is Collection Development Consultant, Instructional Resources, for Manitoba Education and Training.

News

A Festival of Australian Children's Literature

``Country Victoria celebrating
the Golden Jubilee of
the Childrens' Book Council of Australia"

Saturday, September 16th to Tuesday, September 19th, 1995

To celebrate fifty years of the CBC (the Childrens' Book Council of Australia), Latrobe University, Bendigo is holding a Festival of Children's Literature, offering sessions for all people interested in children's books, writing, and illustration.

The program features addresses by and workshops with major figures in Australian children's literature such as Maurice Saxby, Lilith Norman, and Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, authors Margaret Aitken and James Moloney, and illustrators Noela Young, Terry Denton, and Geoff Hocking.

A curated exhibition of the work of Noela Young (The Muddle-headed Wombat, An Older Kind of Magic, and Pigs might fly...) and of Terry Denton (The Paw, Mr Plunkett's Pool, and Spooner or Later...) will provide the centrepiece of the Festival and will be available for public viewing all week.

The Festival will be opened by Maurice Saxby at a cocktail party at the exhibition on Saturday evening, with a display of fifty years of winners of the CBC Book of the Year awards as well.

Sunday will see papers on Children's Literature from Maurice Saxby, Lilith Norman, and Terry Denton, and workshops featuring Noela Young, Terry Denton, and Geoff Hocking. Lunch is included.

Monday has sessions for schools from ``No Mates Drama in Action" during the day, and a lively panel discussion on the current state of Australian children's literature in the evening. Margaret Aitken, Terry Denton, James Moloney, Lilith Norman, Maurice Saxby, and Noela Young will be on the panel.

On Tuesday, schools will be able to choose from more ``No Mates" action or from two ``Bookgigs" -- Terry Denton discussing The Paw with primary students and James Moloney discussing Gracey with secondary students. The Festival winds up on Tuesday evening with Agnes Nieuwenhuizen talking about Young Adult fiction. Tickets for the whole Festival ($100) or various parts (various prices) are now available!

For further information contact David Beagley at:
Learning Resource Centre
Latrobe University, Bendigo
PO Box 199, Bendigo
phone (054) 447334
Victoria, Australia
3550
e-mail biggles@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au

Copyright © 1995 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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