Noteworthy Books on the Family

English Titles - continued

Denotes that the book is either a translation or is available in translation.

Roses Sing on New Snow: A Delicious Tale

Paul Yee
Illustrations: Harvey Chan
Toronto/Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre/A Groundwood Book, 1991
30 p. ISBN 0888991444
Ages 5 to 10.

In her father's restaurant Maylin creates a delectable new dish for a special banquet to honour the Governor of South China. Her brothers try to take the credit for the dish but all attempts to reproduce this New World dish, even those of the Governor himself, end in failure so the Emperor in the Old World can never taste or hear "Roses sing on new snow".

Chan's watercolours are effective in portraying variety and strength of scenery and emotion.

Silent Words

Ruby Slipperjack
Saskatoon: Fifth House Publishers, 1992
250 p. ISBN 0920079938
Ages 12 and up.

In northwestern Ontario in the 1960s a young native boy runs away from an abusive home and through the various people who give him shelter he learns the values and traditions of his own heritage and an understanding of himself.

Courtesy of: Fifth House Publishers

Two Moons in August

Martha Brooks
Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1991
157 p. ISBN 0888991231
Ages 12 to 16.

Sidonie's family would be labelled dysfunctional in today's terms because each member has not fully mourned the death of the mother. Flashbacks of the happy highlights in her family's past keep reminding Sid of her mother, and of how family love should be.

Kieran, who arrives from Toronto to spend the summer with his mother, also comes from a dysfunctional family. He, too, is afraid to love, afraid that he is destined to become an abusive alcoholic like his father. He spends many hours working off his emotional turmoil by swimming. In the tense climax, he feels such despair and helplessness towards his parents that he attempts to swim the lake in a raging thunderstorm. Sidonie saves him: theirs is more than a simple friendship.

It is the arrival of the aunts that turns things around for Sidonie's family. They not only provide a firm and sensible model of love, they also give of their own love freely. Thus the emotional tenseness that has pervaded the home dissolves. With the beginning of love, there is hope.

Waiting for the Whales

Sheryl McFarlane
Illustrations: Ron Lightburn
Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers, 1991
31 p. ISBN 0920501664
Ages 5 to 8.

An old man, who lives by the sea, fills his days by tending his garden and watching the whales when they return each year to swim in the strait in front of his cottage. But his life takes on new meaning when his daughter and her baby girl come to live with him. As the little girl grows and learns from her grandfather, a warm bond of love and companionship develops between the two. When the old man dies, mother and daughter continue the tradition of watching the whales.

Each of the award-winning illustrations, done with coloured pencils on pastel paper, is beautifully planned and has a special focus.

Courtesy of: Orca Book Publishers

Zoe's Rainy Day

Zoe's Snowy Day

Zoe's Sunny Day

Zoe's Windy Day

Barbara Reid
Illustrations: Barbara Reid
Toronto: HarperCollins, 1991
12 p. each volume. ISBN 0002237644, 000223758X, 0002237598, 0002237636
Ages 2 to 6.

These four books are wordless, board picture books, one for each season. The main character is Zoe, a little girl who loves the outdoors. All the activities take place in her neighbourhood, especially in the park. There is a happy conclusion to each story. A feeling of a close-knit family and community emanates from the four little books.

Reid works in plasticine relief, an art form beautifully perfected by her. Her characters breathe; her colours, rich and bright, are excellent; and her detail is remarkable with an immediacy especially appealing to young children.