scholarly journals Finding Granny: We never really lose the people we love by K. Simpson

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Art Therapy ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Doctor Who ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The People ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The University

Simpson, Kate. Finding Granny: We Never Really Lose the People We Love. EK Books, 2018. This is an uplifting picture book about a child, Edie, whose beloved grandmother has a stroke and spends a long time recovering in hospital. At first, Edie does not accept that the woman in the bed, whose words do not make sense, is her grandmother. Through art therapy classes that Edie shares with her grandmother, she slowly rebuilds and reaffirms their close relationship. Edie comes to understand that while the colours in Granny’s painting are “all running into each other”, the painting is still beautiful. Gwyenneth Jones’ artwork is bright, exuberant and makes a sad and frightening subject engaging and entertaining. When the doctor, who has bright red glasses and a giant nose, explains that Granny’s “brain isn’t working the way it used to,” she points to a huge picture of a brain that has tiny eyes, a downturned mouth and huge adhesive bandages in an X across it.  This book celebrates intergenerational love and the effectiveness of art therapy in healing both relationships and illness. It also offers a lesson of patience and hope for those whose loved ones are recovering from stroke. Finding Granny would be a good addition to public, school, and hospital libraries. Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré by R. Taniton & M. Willett

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Book Series ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Bear Lake ◽  
The People ◽  
The University

Taniton, Raymond and Mindy Willett.  At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré.  Markham, On:  Fifth   House, 2011.  Print. Indigenous author Raymond Taniton is a member of The Sahtugot’ine, or the “people of Great Bear Lake”.  In At the Heart of It, Taniton invites readers into his world.  We meet his family, see the Sahtu Region where he lives, meet the elders in the community, learn how to make a traditional hand drum, learn some games and read some of the stories.  The stories are particularly important. This book is the most recent in Fifth House’s “The Land is Our Story Book” series, all co-authored by writer Mindy Willett. Taniton concludes this volume by saying, “The land is our storybook. It is our school, our library, our church. It is where we learn our stories and where we discover who we are as true Dene people. The land is at the heart of it all”.  And in this book Taniton and Willett do succeed in helping us to understand “the land”. This is a picture book, an educational book and a celebration of what it means to be Satugot’ine. Tessa Macintosh’s photographs are used throughout. The top of each page has a border image of the beaded toes of twenty-one moccasins. Often a large image will form the background of a page with text and other images superimposed.  For example, for the story “The Lake is the Boss”, the background is an image which looks out through the mouth of a cave.  The story is about a giant wolf that lived in the cave. The text, along with smaller images of the island that the wolf became when he turned to stone, is superimposed on the cave photograph.  The images and text, taken together, form many lessons for young people.  The stories provide metaphorical and philosophical lessons, but the book also provides practical lessons, such as the illustrated steps to making a drum.  As a whole, the book celebrates Raymond Taniton’s family, the Sahtugot’ine people and their way of life.   Highly recommended for elementary school and public libraries. Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

scholarly journals Siuluk: The Last Tuniq by N. Sammurtok

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Inuit People ◽  
The University

Sammurtok, Nadia. Siuluk: The Last Tuniq. Illustrated by Rob Nix. Inhabit Media, 2018.This picture book, published in both English and Inuktitut syllabic script, tells the story of the last of the Tuniit, or the giants of the Eastern Arctic. The story is connected to a large rock, near Chesterfied Inlet in Nunavut, which is called Siuluk’s Rock. Nadia Sammurtok who is from Rankin Inlet and heard the story from her father, recounts that people were unkind to Siuluk and teased him because he was different. Through a show of strength by lifting the very large rock, Siuluk convinced the Inuit people that he really was the strongest man and gained their respect.Both the language and the artwork in the book are simple. The clothing pictured is unadorned. Vegetation is suggested, but not detailed. Rob Nix has taken some liberties with the appearance of the individuals. Artwork left by the Tuniit (also known as the Dorset Culture), typically show rounded faces, similar to modern Inuit. Siuluk’s face is depicted as long and angular, with a prominent and high-bridged, convex nose, more common in some European people.Overall this is a good retelling of the traditional story and conveys the message of tolerance of difference. Libraries with children’s collections, and particularly those that collect polar children’s literature will want to include these volumes. Recommendation: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

Catch That Baby! by N. Coffelt

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Picture Book ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Visual Detail ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Book Award ◽  
The University

Coffelt, Nancy.  Catch That Baby! Toronto: Aladdin, 2011. Print. There comes a point in every toddler’s life when he or she just needs to make a break for it and run away from Mom; if naked, after a bath, so much the better.  Nancy Coffelt captures that moment in this delightful book.  Rudy tosses his towel at the dog, shouts, “No dressed” and the romp begins.  Mom chases, clothing in hand, and is joined in successive panels by other family members all of whom try, but not too hard, to “catch that naked baby”. This is primarily a picture book.  Award-winning illustrator Scott Nash has drawn cartoon style illustrations, with large blocks of bright colour, little visual detail and speech bubbles.   The simple presentation is perfect for toddlers, who will be able to completely relate to “Nudie Rudy” pelting around the house in the buff, although most pre-readers will not end up swinging from vines in the conservatory. Young children will enjoy the repetition in the little bit of text on each page and will love finding Rudy on each page, particularly on pages where those silly adults cannot see him, even though he is so obviously in plain sight that a baby could find him. Catch That Baby! is a gem that will become a favourite read aloud book in many families.  It would make an excellent gift for a toddler and belongs in every public library collection. Highly recommended:  4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

scholarly journals Picture a Tree by B. Reid

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Picture Book ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The People ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Shadow Cast ◽  
Street Scene ◽  
The University ◽  
Modeling Clay

Reid, Barbara. Picture a Tree. Toronto: North Winds Press, 2011. Print. The cover notes for this picture book tell us to “Picture a tree – now look again!”  Award winning Toronto author and illustrator, Barbara Reid, encourages readers to see not just the trees, but how people use them, what they mean and what we can see in them.  However it is not just the trees that demand a second look.  The book itself is the most amazing collection of artwork – all made of plasticine, a modeling clay!  On each page showing a tree in leaf, there are hundreds of tiny plasticine leaves.  When Reid shows us a street scene where the trees make a leafy tunnel, the street, the cars, the house fronts and the people walking their dog are all fine plasticine work.  When she shows us shade trees as umbrellas, not only is the woman with the baby and the man on a scooter made of the plasticine, the shadow cast by the tree is, too. As the book moves through the seasons from spring to winter, Reid really does find many different ways to look at trees. She sees the leafless branches as a drawing against the sky, falling leaves as a good-bye party and snow-covered trees as trees in snowsuits.  The text is brief and easy to read; no more than a single sentence on each page.  The concepts and words are simple enough for children ages three and up to enjoy. Most children reading this book will not see the artwork as different from any other illustration.  It is only in the expanses of sky or snow that it is easy to see the plasticine.  Because of this, parents will enjoy Picture a Tree on a different level from the children with whom they share it.   Highly recommended for public and elementary school libraries. Highly recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

scholarly journals That’s Not Hockey! by A. Poulin

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Standard Equipment ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Good Story ◽  
Hockey Player ◽  
The University ◽  
Bold Face

Poulin, Andrée. That’s Not Hockey! Annick Press, 2018 This picture book tells the story of the famous hockey player, Jacques Plante, who loved hockey as a child, but had to improvise because he did not have a lot of hockey gear. The title phrase “That’s Not Hockey” appears when Jacques uses a ball because he didn’t have a puck, uses a tree root for a goalie stick and has goalie pads made out of potato sacks and wooden slats. Andrée Poulin uses the bold-face phrase, “Hey, that’s not hockey” throughout the book, as though it had been shouted at the young Plante to indicate that people were not happy with his changes to the game. This foreshadows the reaction to one of Plante’s greatest and most memorable contributions to the game—the introduction of the goalie mask. While Plante initially faced booing, teasing, and taunting from “reporters, players, goaltenders and crowds”, helmets and facemasks became standard equipment in hockey and players now have far fewer head and face injuries as a result.   Félix Girard’s cartoon illustrations capture pond hockey in rural Quebec well. Girard also accurately portrays a bare-headed 1959 era hockey team hoisting the Stanley Cup. This is a good story about a Canadian hockey legend that also carries a lesson about continuing to work at making things better, even when most people seem to be against you.  Highly Recommended:  4 stars out of 4 Reviewer:  Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.  

scholarly journals Red Wagon by R. Liwska

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Farmers Market ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The University ◽  
Real Places

Liwska, Renata. Red Wagon. New York: Philomel Books, 2011. Print. This picture book is designed to be read by an adult to young children. Somewhat reminiscent of Peter Rabbit stories, the characters in this book are woodland animals.  The plot is simple.  Lucy is a young fox who has just got a red wagon.  She wants to play with it, but her mother sends her to the market for vegetables, so on the way, she imagines great adventures. Lucy’s companions on the journey are a bear, a rabbit, a hedgehog and a raccoon.  Liwska’s illustrations are endearing.  The illustrations are two-page spreads with the animals in various imaginary and “real” places.  With each new imaginary scene, the red wagon morphs into something different.  First it is a boat on the high seas, then a covered wagon, then a gypsy caravan at the market, then a train car, a space ship, and a piece of construction equipment.  In each scene the animals have props or clothing to match the theme.  In the space ship scene, the raccoon acquires a third eye to look alien.  All of the illustrations are done with fine pencil strokes that make the animals look like cuddly stuffed toys. Strangely, the text is generic and could be divorced from this work and applied to a completely different set of illustrations.  There is no mention of Lucy being a fox and no references to her companions or the wild changes in scenery.  For example, the text that accompanies the elaborate covered wagon scene, in which the animals have cowboy hats and bandanas and Lucy has a boots and a sheriff’s badge reads: “Soon the rain stopped and the sun came out.  She continued on her way.”  Lucy could have been an elephant, a robot, a child or an ant, as long as she had a red wagon.  While this will make no difference to a young child’s enjoyment of the book, the text could have been so much more engaging if the animals had been given names and the text reflected the content of the illustration, or for example, “Rabbit pushed, while Lucy pulled.” Similarly, the European look and feel of the book will make it more difficult for Canadian children to identify with the story. There are no wild hedgehogs in Canada and most Canadian children do not go to a market for vegetables – they go to a supermarket.  Even if they did go to a farmers’ market they would not find tents with flags, gypsy caravans, stilt walkers, jugglers and trapeze artists. However, oddities aside, this is a book that pre-readers and new readers will love. Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

scholarly journals Grandmother Ptarmigan by Q. Mikkigak & J. Schwartz

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
The University ◽  
Traditional Stories

Mikkigak, Qaunaq and Joanne Schwartz.  Grandmother Ptarmigan. Illus. Qin Leng.  Iqualuit:  Inhabit Media, 2013.  Print.Inhabit Media Inc. has as one of its goals: the collection and publication of Inuit traditional stories.  This picture book is another of their unique products. Many Inuit stories have recurring themes, including kind and caring treatment of children and origin stories, which tell us why things are they way they are.  This collaboration between Inuit elder, Qaunaq Mikkigak and writer, Joanne Schwartz, includes both. In this story a baby ptarmigan wants his grandmother to tell him a bedtime story.  She insists, instead, that he go to sleep.  When she finally relents and tells him a story, he is frightened by it and flies away.  The book ends with his grandmother searching for him, uttering the familiar call, “nauk, nauk”.  In the story, ptarmigan play the roles of people.  They live in igloos, sleep under furs and have "armpits".  Illustrator Qin Leng shows the birds with human-like expressions and emotions. Leng's illustrations match the story in their simplicity.  Most of the pictures are drawings of the ptarmigan on white or blue-green backgrounds, with no ornamentation.There are several lessons about adult-child relationships that often appear in traditional Inuit stories.  The two that appear in this story are that young people should respect their elders, listen to them and do as they are told and that adults should be kind and caring towards children. In this story, we expect the baby ptarmigan to get into trouble for not going to sleep, but because the grandmother frightens him with the story, it is the grandmother who is left is a worried state, searching for him.Grandmother Ptarmigan would be a good addition to school and public libraries and those libraries with Canadian Indigenous folktale collections.Highly Recommended:  4 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

scholarly journals Tales from the Tundra: A Collection of Inuit Stories by I. Kaslik

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Publishing House ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Publishing Company ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Traditional Technique ◽  
Internal Dialogue ◽  
The University

Kaslik, Ibi. Tales from the Tundra: A Collection of Inuit Stories. Illus. Anthony Brennan. Iqaluit: Inhabit Media, 2010. Print. Inhabit Media is an Inuit-owned, independent publishing company that “aims to promote and preserve the stories, knowledge, and talent of northern Canada.”  This collection of five traditional Inuit stories from different regions in Nunavut is one of their most recent offerings.  Three of the stories tell of how specific animals came into being.  One tells how the raven and loon came to look the way they do and the fifth, The Owl and the Siksik, is a typical story of outwitting the enemy. Anthony Brennan’s illustrations have a two-dimensional fantasy quality to them that is more reminiscent of cartoons or Japanese anime than of traditional Inuit art.  Many of the creatures are outlined in black and then filled with solid colour.  While the backgrounds are usually ice-blue, and there are pastel colours in the images, many of the main parts of the drawings are black, giving the book an overall ominous look. While these stories are described in the forward as “contemporary retellings”, Kaslik’s voice is similar to that of an elder telling stories and her style is traditional.  The language is simple and direct, occasionally incorporating Inuit words.  Animals are anthropomorphized.  They do the same sorts of things that humans do and have human emotions and foibles.  For example, in “The Raven and The Loon”, the two birds sew clothes for each other.   When Raven thinks that Loon is sewing too slowly, she reacts impatiently: “Please, sew faster!” impatient Raven pleaded.” Kaslik also uses internal dialogue, another traditional technique, to allow the reader to listen to the characters reasoning out their actions. For example, “Siksiks often go in and out of their dens,” thought the owl, believing himself to be very clever.  “Today I will find a siksik den and wait there until I see one.” There are few children’s books of Inuit mythology available, and fewer that have the authenticity of being published by an Inuit publishing house.  Overall, this volume is a small, but welcome addition to the field, through which many children will be able to learn about the mythology of the Inuit.  For public and school libraries everywhere. Highly recommended:  4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

scholarly journals On the Shoulder of a Giant: an Inuit Folktale by N. Christopher

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Bowhead Whale ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Quality Work ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Christopher, Neil.  On the Shoulder of a Giant:  an Inuit Folktale. Iqualuit:  Inhabit Media, 2015. Print.This is another in a series of works designed by Neil Christopher, one of the founders of Inhabit Media, to preserve traditional Inuit stories.  In this book he retells a story, which is known in various forms all across the Arctic, of a giant who adopts a hunter as his son.  This giant, named Inukpak,  is one of the inukpasugjuit or “great giants” of Inuit stories.  Inukpak is so big that he can walk across the Arctic in “just a few days” and when he stands in the sea the water "never come[s] up past his knees". He is so big that he thinks that the hunter is a lost child, so he adopts him and carries him on his shoulder.This is a simple retelling, designed to teach about the mythical giants and to explain why the story is found in many cultures across the Canadian Arctic.  However, it also models a big person/small person relationship in which small people do not correct or talk back to big people.  Children will relate to the hunter, who is treated as a child and because the story is told from the hunter's perspective.  The giant sometimes doesn't recognize the impact of his own actions.  For example when he runs back to shore, he creates waves that swamp the hunter, but the giant thinks the hunter has been playing in the water.  "The hunter wanted to tell the giant that he had not been playing in the water.  He also wanted to explain to Inukpak that he had caught a bowhead whale, not a sculpin.  But, once again, the little hunter did not want to argue with a giant, so he just said, 'Okay.' "This is mainly a picture book. The illustrations run over two-page spreads with text over-printed on them.  Jim Nelson does a good job of presenting the difference in size between the giant and the human.  Inukpak is presented as a happy fellow, with black shaggy hair and a full beard.  Children will be amused by the giant picking up a polar bear by the scruff of its neck, like a kitten. The images are realistic and the backgrounds are lovely representations of Arctic landscapes. Overall, this is an enjoyable and high-quality work that should be included in elementary school libraries, public libraries and libraries specializing in Arctic children’s books.Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

scholarly journals Mingan: my village

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Writing Workshop ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
North Shore ◽  
The North ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
The Village

Mingan:  my village. Illus. Rogé. Trans. Solange Messier.  Markham, ON:  Fifth House Publishers, 2014.  Print.This is one of the most unusual Canadian Indigenous children’s books to have been published recently.  It is an art book composed of fifteen of illustrator Rogé's portraits of Innu children from the village of Mingan (“Ekuantshit” in the Innu-aimun language) on the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The images are accompanied by fifteen poems written by the children.  Each of the portraits covers an 8.5 X 14’ page and is an almost life-sized likeness painted from a photograph.  The images are mainly sepia tones with some orange, blue and red highlights.  These portraits will allow children elsewhere in the world to see what an Innu child looks like. The poems are the result of a poetry writing workshop led by Laurel Morali and Rita Mestokosho at Mingan.  They are also published in the back of the book in Innu-aimun.  The works are simple, unsophisticated and present a child’s view of the world.  Nature and grandparents figure prominently in the works.   For example:                        In the wind's light, the pain of the heart                        The blue river                        When I listen                        I have a memory of my grandfather                        He tells me he is well                        This comforts me                        I know he protects me                        That he watches me                        I cry when he is not beside me                                                                       Sabrina                       Overall this is a striking work that could fit both in to art collections and children’s libraries as well as those collecting Canadian Indigenous materials. Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

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