Angel Square, by Brian Doyle

Title: Angel Square

Author: Brian Doyle

Publish Date: September 2004

Publisher: Groundwood Books

Pages: 144pp

ISBN: 0888996098

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction/Realistic Fiction

Annotation: Brian Doyle's humorous Angel Square follows a pint-sized detective named Tommy, otherwise known as The Shadow, while he faces the air of prejudice, in post-World War II Canada, after a Christmas time attack on a local Jewish man.

Summary: In 1945 in post World War II Ottawa, Tommy lives in a really touch neighborhood (where religious differences end in violence and odds daily). It's a rough time in our collective history but for Tommy it hits pretty close to home when his best-friend's Jewish dad is attacked. Enter Tommy (who adopts the alter ego "The Shadow" after his favorite radio show) who feels he can crack the mystery of who did this to Mr. Rosenberg and thus bring his best friend home from the far off hospital his dad is healing in. He finds that the clues lead him straight to "Angel Square" the most dangerous part of town. But, with humor and set against Christmas time, Brian Doyle broaches hard issues juxtaposed with the common trials of growing up from friendship to crushes, Angel Square.

Reading Log: What I liked best about this story was it's tone of a young boy who fancies himself the way many young boys do: perfectly capable of being a detective and solving anything! Not to mention, it was different then I thought it would be (I was expecting a depressing historical fiction tale of prejudice and violence rooted in a nasty war and the implications this time brings). The best part is the humor! Obviously, because of this sensitive nature. I think for boys and girls who need to learn about this subject giving it a special funny, and mystery-like edge makes it a well-rounded and cool historical novel that can be loved by a wide range of readers. I think the characters were really each special in their own right and the title was a really cool metaphor!

Publisher Bio, Website: http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_authors.cfm?author_id=180

Canada in Colours, by PerHenrik Gurth

Title: Canada in Colours

Author: PerHenrik Gurth

Illustrator: PerHenrik Gurth

Publish Date: February 1, 2008

Publisher: Kids Can Press

Pages: 24

ISBN: 043995620X

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Board Book

Series: Part of a Canadian-themed concept books for the young, ABC of Canada and Canada 123

Ages: 4-8

Annotation: Explore all the regions of Canada through color!

Summary: Artist Per-Henrik Gurth show us Canada's landscapes through the eyes of an artist and in vivid color! Visualize through the pages of this developmentally appropriate picture book, Canadian images like white snow or yellow wheat fields! This book will delight Canadians children and tourists families alike. And to top it all off, the northern lights (a colorful sky filled experience we all are fascinated with) is the coolest end to this colorful kid-sized buffett.

Reading Log: Color, Color, Color! Sometimes we forget how colorful our world is and how we define our surrounding by it! Kids love it and they will love this! Get to know Canada or introduce it to your little ones while learning about color too!

Download fun extras from Kid Can Press: http://www.kidscanpress.com/Assets/Books/w_CanadaInColours_1991/PDFs/CanadaInColours_1991_stickers.pdf

Emma's Yucky Brother, by Jean Little

Title: Emma's Yucky Brother

Author: Jean Little

Illustrator: Jennifer Plecas

Publish Date: April 16, 2002

Publisher: Harpercollins

Pages: 64

IBSN: 0064442586

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Beginning Reader

Series: I Can Read Books, Level 3

Ages: Ages 4-8

Annotation: Emma is so excited to find out her parents will be adopting a 4-year-old brother for Emma! Except when he comes its not what Emma Expects! Yuck!

Summary: Emma has always wanted a little brother! What little girl or boy doesn't? But, when he finally comes when her parents decide to adopt Max, she is in for a surprise. Although she was sure he would be her best brother ever and Max has his own plans. The reality of siblings, especially ones that deals with adoption presents a real life, funny, and quirky reality that all parents and siblings can relate to: He thinks a sister is YUCK! And Emma is the yuckiest of them all. Now Emma's big sister plans are going out the window as she is forced to deal with the precociousness of a four year old and deal with all the new issues that adoptive families deal with. Its cute and funny and can be enjoyed by both new readers who just want a fun book they can relate too as well as used by a family opening up their home to a new little brother or sister that is being adopted and how to be a great new sister or brother!

Reading Log: I don't know what it is about this little reader but I couldn't read it without a smile. The character's are cute and the scenario is really a wonderful one. I love the idea of adoption and I love seeing through the eyes of the new big sister! The illustrations are like a sophisticated version of children's art. It's really, super cute.

Jean Little Links: http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12400/Jean_Little/index.aspx

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780064442589/Emmas_Yucky_Brother/index.aspx

Odd Man Out, by Sarah Ellis

Title: Odd Man Out

Author: Sarah Ellis

Publish Date: February 2008

Publisher: Groundwood Books

Pages: 162pp

ISBN: 0888997035

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Age: Grade 5-8

Annotation: After being sent to spend the summer with his grandmother after his mom remarries, Kip finds a notebook that belonged to his father as a teenager (who passed away) that helps him find out more about himself the more he reads it.

Summary: With his mom on her honeymoon, Kip is forced to spend the summer with his grandmother and surrounded by his cousin (who are all girls)! He has a hard time feeling himself in this time of change as well as being surrounded by this unusual and uncomfortable situation. But then he finds a notebook that belonged to his late dad when he was a teen. Naturally he becomes engrossed in the story in the notebook. But what's more he may finally begin to understand his place as well as more about who he really is and where he may be going.

Reading Log: This book is a thoughtful story about the growing up, changing, and facing who you are despite adversity. Almost all teenage boys and girls feel the pains growing up, but Kip has some specially difficult things to face and it is a great book for relating to sensitive issues. I love the idea of a visual history!

Website on Groundwood Books: http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_titles.cfm?pub_id=1135

Another Kind of Cowboy, by Susan Juby

Title: Another Kind of Cowboy

Author: Susan Juby

Publish Date: December 2007

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Pages: 352pp

ISBN: 0060765178

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Age Range: Teen

Annotation: Alex and forge an connection and become best friends over horses. As they become closer they help each become who they really are.

What's Dressage?!!

First of all here is the definition of Dressage for those of us that aren't up with the Horse lingo Via http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dressage

dres·sage n. The guiding of a horse through a series of complex maneuvers by slight movements of the rider's hands, legs, and weight.

[French, preparation, training, dressage, from dresser, to set up, arrange, train, from Old French drecier, to set up, arrange; see dress.]

Summary: Meet Alex. He LOVES horses. He dreams of riding (even by pretending he's on one while riding bikes. When his dad wins a horse it opens him up to a world of horses and dressage and somewhere he can be himself. Meet Cleo. Wild and crazy with absentee parents, she uses the stables to gain a fresh start after making a stupid mistake and being sent off to live at boarding school on Vancouver Island. The dressage lessons are part of the sentence. Together the too night and day horse lovers find that they may actually have more in common (and in secret) and become better friends then they would have thought possible. Alex is secretly homosexual and Cleo has a desire to find love but has never really had a true friend. Can Cleo find love if she has never really had a real friend? And can Alex face who he really is?

Reading Log: A humorous look at a polarizing issue but from the eyes of the individual. Also a touching story about animal lovers who find themselves against a backdrop of "man's" other best friend. I love how it can show the girl's perspective when they think they find love in the wrong place. I liked this book because even though I have never really rode horses I thought it was stronger in the relationship department and very relatable.

Susan Juby's Website: http://www.susanjuby.com/cowboy.htm

Chester, by Melanie Watt

Title: Chester

Author: Melanie Watt

Publish Date: August 1, 2009

Publisher: Kids Can Press

Pages: 32

ISBN: Kids Can Press

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Picture Books

Series: Chester Books

Ages: Ages 4-8

Annotation: Once there was a mouse. No. STOP! The cat has something to say...Once there was a cat named Chester.

Summary: Melanie Watts book Chester, had to be named Chester, because truly he took over the book. It may have started out bein

g about a mouse and his house, but the Cat-in true a cat attitude-has to take

over. So the book literally has red cross outs and reframe from the perspective of chester. And from there the cat does his typical ignoring forte by continuing on with the story of chester...

Reading Log: In the spirit of cats and the humor of Ms. Watts, Chester is really funny and really creative. One of my favorites in the picture book category. There is a whole series too! Did I mention he looks exactly like my cat Circle? They are both adorably cheeky. And it's all about them!

Websites: http://melaniewatt.com/default.aspx

Kids Can Press: http://www.kidscanpress.com/Canada/Search.aspx?k=melanie+watt&type=1&p=0&itemsperpage=30&s=SortTitle+ASC

Imagine A Place, by Sarah L. Thomson and Illustrated by Rob Gonsalves

Title: Imagine A Place

Author: Sarah L. Thomson

Illustrator: Rob Gonsalves

Publish Date: September 2, 2008

Publisher: Atheneum

Pages: 40

ISBN: 043995620X

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction

Ages: Ages 9-12

Series: Imagine Series (Imagine a Night 2003 and Imagine a Day 2005)

Annotation: Imagination can take you anywhere...Anything you can imagine can be done if you think it.

Summary & Reading Log: A beautiful feast for the eyes and the soul. The places you go in this book are beautiful surreal images of pure imagination. I honestly can't get over how amazing Rob Gonzalves is. His imagination will over compensate for even the most out of practice day dreamers. And, it's perfectly paired with Sarah L Thompson's lyrical writing. Another one of my favorites!

Look at more of Rob's Artwork: http://www.discoverygalleries.com/ArtistGallery.asp?artist_id=23&category_id=2

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Imagine-a-Place/Sarah-L-Thomson/9781416968023

Boy of the Deeps, by Ian Wallace

Title: Boy of the Deeps

Author: Ian Wallace

Illustrator: Ian Wallace

Publish Date: 1999

Publisher: Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre

Pages: 29

ISBN: 0-88899-356-0

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction

Annotation: It is the first day of work in the deeps for James. But, the deeps are dangerous and James has to act fast when disaster strikes.

Summary: Ian Wallace's grandfather worked in the mines in Europe when he was a boy. Starting work at a young age was common and his stories are Wallace's inspiration for Boy of the Deeps. Wallace worked closely with Cape Breton a Canadian mining museum (which he explains in his notes in the beginning of the picture book) to bring this story to life. It's beautifully illustrated and testimony to the miner's work and the dangers in the the deeps (which even now is still causing headline's in the news). It also shows what life was like from the young boys perspective. I think this book is done really well and is so rich in it's story that just the few pages here could be easily expanded into a film. Somebody should do this!

Ian Wallace's Website: http://www.ian-wallace.com/

Boy of the Deeps on Ian Wallace's Webpage: http://www.ian-wallace.com/gallery_theboy.html

Book Trailer for Boy of the Deeps, made by me:

Dear Canada: No Safe Harbor, The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn, by Julie Lawson

Title: Dear Canada: No Safe Harbor

Author: Julie Lawson

Publish Date: January 1 2006

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 256

IBSN:0439969301

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction

Series: Dear Canada

Age Range: Ages 9 to 12

Annotation: After loosing her the rest of her family in the Halifax explosion in 1917, Charlotte searches for her twin brother Duncan.

Summary: It's December 6th, 1917. In the Nova Scotia Harbor are two ships, one Norwegian and the other French (and filled explosives). What happened when these two ships accidentally collided turned out to be the largest accidental explosive in history. 2000 people were killed and it even caused a tidal wave. Following this devastating human error, we find Charlotte, the Dear Canada heroine of Julie Lawson's book. She has lost her family, except for one brother who is away in WW1, and is now searching for her twin brother Duncan.

Reading Log: Written in the traditional diary form, Dear Canada: Where the River Takes Me is yet another exciting, emotional, and historical adventure that makes the entire series so endearing. Stories of such bizarre, extreme tragedies are always page turners but this one is really good. The author, Julie Newsom, own grandfather was wounded (not killed) in the explosion so it adds to a quality of authentic air that makes the book so cool! I really like the Dear Canada books. I wouldn't hesitate at reading any of them.

Dear Canada Authors Page: http://www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada/authors/jlawson.htm