Cat Comes Too by H. Hutchins and Dog Comes Too by same author

Hutchins, Hazel. Cat Comes Too. Illus. Gosia Mosz. Toronto: Annick Press, 2013._____________ Dog Comes Too. Toronto: Annick Press, 2013.Nicely sized for children’s hands, these two little board books should delight both pre-schoolers and beginning readers. Their story lines are simple and humorous.In the first, a curious kitten follows a pair of human feet (the entire body is never revealed but seems feminine) up the stairs to the attic and, there, has a fine frolic amidst the storage. In the second, a puppy follows a heavy-booted pair of legs (gender unclear) on an outdoor hike that proves challenging, but not impossible, for the small canine striver.Gosia Mosz’s colorful line drawings give us, simultaneously, both the world view of each young pet and a sense of its indomitable personality. With very few words, and a vocabulary level well within the range of most three- to six-year-olds, Hazel Hutchins produces a delightful amount of word play, particularly in Dog Comes Too: “Too far Too hot Too tired, pup? Big rest Two friends To the top Together” (Dog…pp.15-19)(For the children who read this book, a formal lesson on homonyms may come years later, if at all; no matter. They will have internalized the concept, anyway.)In these works, Hutchins and Mosz demonstrate the features of good composition for the very young: simple plotlines; recognizable settings; text that is readily memorized, then read; illustrations that are wedded to the text; characters that are lovable; and a viewpoint not unlike their own--all this and witty wording, too. Brilliant.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections. She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

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Melvis and Elvis BY d. Lee

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2pc92 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Children's Literature ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Home School ◽

Beginning Readers ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Good Selection ◽

Selection For ◽

The University ◽

Final Selection ◽

Selection Of

Lee, Dennis. Melvis and Elvis. Illus. Jeremy Tankard. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2015. Print.In this new anthology of poetry for children, the inimitable Dennis Lee lets us explore our moods: silly or serious, playful or pugnacious, riotous, rebellious and just plain rude. In typical Lee fashion, he eschews sentimentality: The dog got fat— His belly exploded And that was that. (“Cabbagetown,” p. 22)but he is also capable of stealing the heart with simple, lovely metaphor: Bobolink, bobolink, Take me along. I’ll be the silence And you be the song. (“Bobolink,” p. 21)He teases the tongue with creative wordplay (a Dennis Lee trademark): I thought I saw a potamus, Asleep upon a cotamus, But when I reached the spotamus, The potamus was notamus. (“The Notapotamus,” p. 29)Ever true to his audience, he does not flinch from the reality of childhood emotion, be it longing: If you could like me, Like me now, As deep as the dreams In your heart allow. (“The New Friend,” p. 30)or loathing: Doodle, doodle, poppyseed strudel, I’ve got a friend and he smells like a poodle. * * * Push him down a wishing well— Still can’t stop that awful smell. (“Stinkarama,” p. 26) The book is cleverly structured, beginning and ending with poems about Melvis the monster and Elvis the elf, the final selection subtly acknowledging both the “inner monster” and the “inner elf” of the child.Jeremy Tankard’s illustrations are highly suited to the text. He uses bold outline, vivid color, and complementary backgrounds to effect focus, clarity and mood. Preschoolers and beginning readers should have no trouble relating poem and picture.This is a book that could be shared repeatedly with children at bedtime or in storyhour. However, a parent, teacher, or librarian would want occasionally to interject, “Do we sometimes feel like that? Would we actually say that or do that?” That being understood, it is a good selection for home, school and public libraries.Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections. She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

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The Muskox and the Caribou by N. Mike

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/dr29468 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Children's Literature ◽

Publishing House ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Primary School Teachers ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Nature And Culture ◽

Colour Palette ◽

The University ◽

Selection Of

Mike, Nadia. The Muskox and the Caribou. Illustrated by Tamara Campeau. Iqaluit, Nunavut, Inhabit Media, 2017. In simple, sensitive, and well-structured prose, Nadia Mike relates the story of a lost muskox calf that is adopted by a female caribou. Her own fawn, like the other newborns in the herd, is short haired, long legged, and agile. The musk ox calf, by comparison, is shaggy, stocky, and stumpy. The herd’s young caribou tend either to ignore or reject him. The doe, however, instinctively protects him until he is mature enough to find his way to a muskox herd. The story is not sentimentalized; neither is it excessively anthropomorphized. Admittedly, the young caribou “giggle” as the muskox attempts to splash in the pond with them and the little muskox wonders, “Why do they make fun of me?” Anthropomorphizing to this degree seems reasonable in conveying to young children that animals of one species are instinctively cautious, sometimes hostile, toward those of another. Mike’s storyline is expertly enhanced by the line drawings and delicate colour palette of Tamara Campeau. An experienced wildlife illustrator, Campeau presents a realistic picture of both Canada’s tundra, and the animals which inhabit it in spring and summer. As well as a heart-warming story, there is an introduction to the natural sciences here, an opportunity to discuss the concept of species, to study a little further our northern ecosystems, and to explore the mothering instinct that leads a female of one species to temporarily adopt the infant(s) of another. Primary school teachers, school and public librarians, and parents across the nation would find this book an excellent introduction to the nature and culture of Canada’s Arctic. Hats off to Nunavut’s first independent publishing house for this fine piece of children’s literature. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie Aitken Leslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She was formerly Curriculum Librarian for the University of Alberta.

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Garbage Delight by D. Lee

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2jp5d ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Children's Literature ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Intended Audience ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Color Palette ◽

Good Target ◽

The University ◽

Selection Of ◽

Better Than

Lee, Dennis. Garbage Delight. Illus. Sandy Nichols. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2015. Print.Should anyone doubt the power of illustration in children’s literature (no children’s literature specialist would—but should anyone) all doubt can be dispelled by a comparison of this new work illustrated by Sandy Nichols, with Lee’s earlier one of the same title: Garbage Delight, illustrated by Frank Newfeld, classic edition, Harper Collins, 1977. In the original work, Garbage Delight is the title poem of a collection as irrepressible as its intended audience. (Five and six-year-olds would be a good target.) Frank Newfeld’s illustration of the “Garbage…” eater is “Bigfoot,” a ferocious stuffed animal with a unicorn’s horn, an alligator’s teeth, and a lion’s claws—and, oh yes, a dress. Introduced to us on page 18, Bigfoot returns to preside over a table laden with a spectacular array of food—all in living color: the jelly, the “hamburgles”, ice cream, and cake that the poem promises, along with a whole lot more. Interestingly, there isn’t any real “garbage” on that overflowing table; it is just the prospect of the gluttony to follow that strikes us as obscene, hilarious, and memorable.The new edition, focusing on one single poem, and physically designed for the very young, enables illustrator Sandy Nichols to take a very different tack from that of Newfeld. Nichols has the freedom to tell a whole story: a bear cub clambers into a fenced yard where a pair of toy creatures, one reptilian (possibly a stegosaurus), one sheep-like, are picnicking. The cub, eschewing the picnic treats, tears into and devours the garbage. When it collapses from its exertions, the toy creatures wrap it lovingly in their picnic blanket and cart it out of their yard. Ultimately, the cub returns to its much relieved mother.The color palette Nichols uses is delicate, her line drawings often evocative. Her depiction of the reptile beating a pan with a spoon while the horn-tooting sheep, cub in tow, brings up the rear is particularly charming. (For reasons unknown, it connotes an illustration of the nursery rhyme “Hey-Diddle-Diddle” for this reviewer. We even see the moon come out, although no one jumps over it!) To describe in a single word her storyline, her illustrations, her evocations, and her tone, I can do no better than the publisher’s notes accompanying the text: winsome. In sum, Nichols’ work is a fresh and entirely valid interpretation of a Canadian children’s classic. Well done.Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship included selection of children’s literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She is former Curriculum Librarian for the University of Alberta.

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Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet by S. O'Leary

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/dr29460 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Children's Literature ◽

Academic Libraries ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

The Other ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

The University ◽

Selection Of ◽

Child Readers

O’Leary, Sara. Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet. Illustrated by Jacob Grant. Tundra Books, 2018. From first to last, the phonic examples in O’Leary’s alphabet book are disarming: “Aa Alligators think you’d like them if you got to know them.” “Zz Zebras would like to be first. Just once.“ Unlike so many other authors of this genre, O’Leary rarely struggles to find simple, memorable examples of words that begin with the appropriate vowels and consonants. The sole exception in his work is the use of “Chipmunks” to illustrate the sound of the letter “C.” Child readers would have to be mature enough to recognize the digraph (ch) and be alert to its sound. That exception being noted, all of the other phonic illustrations—even the ones for the “difficult” sounds—are straight-forward, playful and engaging. “Qq Quail get quite tired of being told to be quiet.” “Uu Unicorns believe in themselves. “Yy Yaks giggle at their own jokes.” Joseph Brant’s illustrations are all that they ought to be: large, clear, colourful and, most importantly in this type of book, unambiguous. His depiction of voles for the letter “V” is particularly endearing. Those of us involved in the field of children’s literature might want this illustration and its motto on our flag: “Vv Voles always want just one more book.” In any case, we should ensure that this delightful book is on our children’s library shelves. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie Aitken Leslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship included selection of children’s literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She was a Curriculum Librarian for the University of Alberta.

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Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by D. Stein

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/dr29409 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Fairy Tales ◽

Picture Book ◽

Read Aloud ◽

Primary School Children ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Good Story ◽

Ugly Duckling ◽

The University ◽

Selection Of

Stein, David E. Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise. Candlewick Press in Association with Penguin Random House Canada, 2018. In this, his second picture book starring Interrupting Chicken, Stein begins with a delightful pun: Chicken declares that every good story has “an elephant of surprise.” Papa tries to convince her that she has misheard her teacher, that every good story has “…an element of surprise.” To demonstrate, he attempts to read aloud classic folk and fairy tales: The Ugly Duckling; Little Mermaid; Rapunzel. Chicken, of course, interrupts. The Ugly Duckling gazes at his reflection and sees “…an Elephant.” The prince ascends the tower on a rope of hair to discover that his love is “…an ELEPHANT!”. Papa is dogged; he keeps trying. Chicken is relentless; she keeps interrupting. The story hour goes on with appealing silliness until Papa graciously allows it to end, not surprisingly, with elephants. A former Caldecott Honor winner, Stein creates not only this amusing storyline, but its illustration as well. He employs a variety of artistic techniques to great effect. The basic narrative, (including Chicken’s interruptions of Papa’s readings) is presented in cartoon style and bold crayon; the classic readings are highlighted with line drawings and water colour. Thus the theme of “interruption” is both conveyed and sustained by the art work. There are a few provisos about sharing this book with primary school children: a child will more fully enjoy the inappropriateness—and silliness—of Chicken’s outbursts if he or she is familiar with the plotlines of the classic tales that Papa attempts to read. The wise parent, or teacher, or librarian will ensure this familiarity in the most obvious and enjoyable way: sharing the stories. There is a further consideration: the hilarity of Chicken’s behaviour arises because she either cannot, or will not, acknowledge the literary concept of a “surprise element.” Children who, themselves, can grasp that concept will laugh harder than children who cannot. Depending on the age and maturity of the child listener, a little didacticism on the part of the adult reader may be appropriate. With these requirements satisfied, this book is a winner. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Leslie Aitken Leslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship included selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and academic libraries. She is a former Curriculum Librarian of the University of Alberta.

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Today is the Day by E. Walters

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2kp5q ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Extended Family ◽

Young Audiences ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Color Palette ◽

Realistic Fiction ◽

The Creation ◽

The University ◽

First Time ◽

Selection Of

Walters, Eric. Today is the Day. Illus. Eugenie Fernandes. Toronto: Tundra Books, a division of Random House of Canada, 2015.Eric Walters, who has written a wealth of realistic fiction for Canadian children, now takes young audiences into the realm of fictionalized reality. The decision to fictionalize is warranted; the unvarnished truths with which he deals are stark enough for an adult’s comprehension, let alone that of a child. A former teacher and social worker, Walters established The Creation of Hope, a foundation which runs an orphanage in the Mbooni district in Kenya. He works with hundreds of children who have lost parents to a wide variety of causes including HIV/AIDS. Children arrive at his orphanage because any extended family members whom they might have are too impoverished or frail to provide for them. Today is the Day is set in the orphanage.Walters’ gift as a writer is the ability to create a positive, hopeful and believable moment in a harsh reality. His young protagonist, Mutanu, has awakened to a day of celebration, a day when all one hundred fifteen young residents of the orphanage would receive gifts and treats and visits from extended family. Even more exciting than these events for Mutanu and each of fifteen others, this day, July 12, was to be declared their official birthday. Such were the circumstances of their early lives that no record of their birth exists. Now, for the very first time, Mutanu’s “… coming into the world was not forgotten but was a cause for joyous celebration.”Eugenia Fernandes’ illustrations convey the expansiveness and beauty of the Kenyan landscape, the humbleness and simplicity of the orphanage. Her line drawings are generally realistic in perspective, whimsical in content. Her color palette is cheerful and sunlit. In large part, her work creates the mood of hopefulness in this book.Extensive end notes explain the purpose and setting of the Creation of Hope foundation and, as well, provide photographs of the orphanage. The background to this story is explained, and we are introduced to the real Mutanu and some of her friends. There is no direct appeal for funds in the book itself; however, the publisher’s notes indicate that “A contribution to The Creation of Hope will be made by the author and publisher based on sales of this book in Canada.” It seems a worthy cause.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She was a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

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A Day at School / Une Journée à L’école by S. Cordier & C. Lacroix

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2c32v ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Picture Book ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Target Audience ◽

First Year ◽

Intended Audience ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Key Factor ◽

Grade One ◽

The University ◽

Selection Of

Cordier, Séverine and Cynthia Lacroix. A Day at School / Une Journée à L’école. Trans. Sarah Quinn. Toronto: Owlkids Books, 2013. Print. The format co-creators Cordier and Lacroix use in Picture My Day, Picture My World, and A Day at the Farm succeeds very nicely in this picture book as well. Their success has much to do with both their sensitivity to the target audience (pre-school to grade one), and their anticipation of the book’s use. They provide abundant illustration, keeping the text very brief. Short sentences or mere labeling hint at, but do not force, the storyline. The latter is created, in large part, by the reader.This book would work very well in a one-on-one situation: one adult, one child. The adult might prompt,“Where do you think they went on their holidays? What are they buying for school? How are they getting ready for their day? I wonder where Mummy and the baby are going? Let’s see where Daddy and the children are going.” and so forth.Inspired by an array of color filled drawings, even a non-reading child could flesh out the story, making it the same every time—for comfort’s sake—or different every time—for variety’s sake. The key factor is the child’s involvement.The vocabulary used in the text is well within the range of the intended audience. Most five-year-olds would begin to memorize the text after a few readings; most grade ones would actually recognize and read the words by the end of their first year at school. In sum, A Day at School is an invitation to imagine, to create, to read and to learn.Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections. She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

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What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2kw31 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Erika Banski

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Children's Literature ◽

Picture Book ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Controlled Vocabulary ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Color Palette ◽

Waking Up ◽

The University

Seuss, Dr. What Pet Should I Get? New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2015. Print.This title will be of great interest to children’s literature specialists and researchers. The end notes tell us that in 1991, when Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) died, the manuscript was left in a box of his studio projects. His widow, Audrey, and former secretary, Claudia Prescott, discovered it in the fall of 2013. The manuscript comprised line drawings to which pieces of paper containing potential text had been attached. In some instances, multiple versions of text had been taped on top of each other.Cathy Goldsmith, Seuss’s art director for the last eleven years of his life, surmises that Seuss began the book between 1958 and 1962. If she is correct, Seuss was by this time a very well established figure in children’s literature, having had success with such treasures as And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street (1937); The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins (1938); Horton Hatches the Egg (1940); and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957).Seuss had ventured into writing for children after a very successful career as a cartoonist. (In particular, his design of advertisements had proven lucrative.) Beginning in the late 1950s, however, his artistic and literary talents were to be employed in yet another direction, the Beginner Books that Random House would publish to foster reading interest among children in their primary school years. The challenge was to create an interesting picture book using the controlled vocabulary (200 to 300 very basic words) of the “Dick, Jane and Baby Sally” variety of primer. Seuss was up for the challenge. Certainly, The Cat in the Hat, also 1957, had astonishing success in this regard. It may well be that What Pet Should I Get? was another such attempt. In any case, its story line is simple: two children in a pet store face the dilemma of selecting just one of the vast array of adorable possibilities.Goldsmith and the editors at Random House have done their best to create the book Seuss might have intended. They have made decisions about not only which lines of text might best suit his drawings, but also the color palette he might have selected, the position and nature of the font, and so forth. The end result is mixed in terms of its literary impact. The drawings are pure Seuss; his signature is all over them. The color palette is, arguably, what he might have chosen. The text, however, is dull. It never lifts from the page—possibly because Seuss felt he must restrict his vocabulary choices. THEN . . . I saw a new kind! And they were good, too! How could I pick one? Now what should we do? We could only pick one. That is what my dad said, Now how could I make up that mind in my head? (page 18, unnumbered) This is scarcely lively, engaging Seuss. When he was at his best, his writing maintained a consistent beat, a measured foot, and, often, an internal rhyme. He repeated, distorted and created words in the cause of a rollicking rhythm. Consider this stanza describing the fiendish Grinch in flight with the holiday loot that he has stolen from Whoville. Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit, He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it! “Pooh-Pooh to the Whos!” he was grinch-ish-ly humming. “They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming! “They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do! “Their mouths will hang open a minute or two “Then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!The passage simply spirits the reader along. Sadly, What Pet Should I Get? does not contain this kind of writing. Still, we must treasure the manuscript. It gives us insight into the artist at work: what he envisioned, how he began, what he decreed to be finished or not. This early draft of What Pet Should I Get? was probably not quite what Seuss had hoped it would be. It was not perfect. It was not finished. He set it aside. The inescapable conclusion is that he, who gave much to his readers, demanded much of himself.Rating: Not applicable in this caseReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections. She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

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The Day War Came by N. Davies

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/dr29467 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Children's Literature ◽

Children’S Literature ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Her Family ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Refugee Child ◽

The University ◽

The Guardian ◽

Walking To School ◽

Selection Of

Davies, Nicola. The Day War Came. Illustrated by Rebecca Cobb. Somerville, Massachusetts, Candlewick Press, in association with Help Refugees, 2018. A young school girl begins her day happily by breakfasting with her family, walking to school with her mother, and commencing the normal, pleasant learning activities of her classroom. In an instant, her world changes; she is orphaned and alone in a devastated landscape. War has come; she articulates its reality: “War took everything. War took everyone. I was ragged, bloody, all alone.” Simple, forceful, poetic lines such as these carry forward this story of a child refugee. Though it could be read and understood by primary school children, it would resonate with readers young and old alike. Nicola Davies indicates that her book was inspired by the Guardian newspaper website which featured an account of a refugee child who was refused school entry because there was no chair for her to sit on. In Davies’ own words: “…hundreds and hundreds of people posted images of empty chairs, with the hashtag #3000 chairs, as symbols of solidarity with children who had lost everything and had no place to go.” Davies’ interpretation of this reality for young readers is engrossing and moving. Her storyline is perfectly interpreted by the watercolour and graphite pencil illustrations of Rebecca Cobb. Using an expressionistic style, Cobb captures the feelings of confusion and disbelief, abandonment and isolation felt by the displaced child. She also brings a sense of hope to the story’s conclusion. The teamwork of Davies and Cobb is brilliant. Together, they have created a moving and memorable piece of children’s literature. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship included selection of children’s literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She is a former Curriculum Librarian of the University of Alberta.

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Hurry Up, Henry by J. Lanthier

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g26d6x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Leslie Aitken

Keyword(s):

Academic Libraries ◽

Public Libraries ◽

Urban Setting ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Primary Means ◽

Emotional Complexity ◽

The University ◽

The City ◽

Selection Of

Lanthier, Jennifer. Hurry Up, Henry, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant, Penguin Canada Books, 2016.Dreamers and introverts need time: time to observe; time to imagine; time alone to recharge their emotional batteries. The “Henry” of this storybook is, very definitely, a dreamer—and, very possibly, an introvert. He seems destined to be dragged out of his reveries by a clock-watching family, and worn to a frazzle by his hyperactive friend, Simon. Happily, Henry is loved; even better, he is understood by both his grandmother and Simon. Together, these two conspire to give Henry a gift of time.Isabelle Malenfant creates an urban setting for Lanthier’s story. Her delicately coloured line drawings depict the city sidewalks, city parks, hallways, elevators, and apartment rooms through which Henry is “hurried.” Her illustrations are perfectly suited to the text--in fact, they are the primary means by which the emotional complexity of the story is conveyed.Lanthier’s text, itself, is very simply worded, even understated. The vocabulary she uses, her story’s emphasis on clock-watching and time-telling, suggest a book perfectly suited for independent reading in grade two.The book is an obvious “must buy” for school and public libraries. As well, it would be a helpful addition to the home library for families who find themselves endlessly urging one of their smaller members to “Hurry up!”Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She is a former Curriculum Librarian for the University of Alberta.

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