The Delta is My Home

McLeod, T. & Willett, M. (2008). The Delta is My Home. Calgary, Alberta: Fitzhenry and Whiteside Co.
(Photographed by Tessa Macintosh)

This book is a collaborative effort by a grade 6 student (Tom Mcleod) and his teacher. Tom lives in Aklavik, Northwest Territories where he spends a lot of time on the land hunting and fishing with his family. The Delta is My Home tells about Tom's family and their life in Aklavik - his school, hunting trips, interviews with CBC radio, his Mom's wonderful bannock, and a big flood. Tom's father is a Renewable Resource Officer and Tom adds facts about wildlife behaviour and preservation to his stories.  Tom's stories are in one font while his teacher's comments are in another font. Through beautiful colour photographs of the landscape, wildlife and everyday life on each page and Tom's personal stories enhanced with added information from his teacher, this book really gives a sense of Tom's life in the north.

Intermediate, Teacher resource

Fallout

Tate, Niki. (2011). Fallout. Victoria, BC: Orca Books.

Teen suicide, a survivor, distant parents, slam poetry, someone who understands....  Nikki Tate's Fallout is a powerful and engaging story of a teen coping with her younger sister's suicide through writing and performing poetry.  We meet Tara one year after her sister's death.  She has left home and moved to another city where she works in a bookstore by day and meets with her slam poetry friends by night.  Every day is filled with memories - and poems. Prose descriptions of a slam poetry competition are interspersed with poems about a family dealing with suicide. Tara begins to open up to her new friends and find a few moments of relief and, eventually, someone who really understands. While the topic is complex, there is no prolonged analysis or discussion and the characters are not very developed. The story moves along quickly touching on many common teen concerns (parental expectations, teen sex, teen drinking, depression, walking home alone, balancing competition and friendship). This is not a 'deep' novel but with its sparse layout, large type and lots of white space it is a perfect high interest, low reading level (3.0)  for reluctant or struggling readers that will appeal to many other teens looking for a quick read.

Young Adult (Part of the Orca Soundings Series, also available as an e-book on Google Play)

National Film Board Website

National Film Board Website Retrieved from http://www.nfb.ca/

This website is a wonderful resource for fun and educational films. This year I have used the stop motion animation tutorial, Animate Everything, with both Div. 6 & 7.  Div. 7 has explored 'balance' with videos like High Steel and Marianne's Theatre.  On the home page you can choose from channels like 'Animation', 'Kids Movies' and 'The Green Channel'.  In the wonderful 'interactive' section (accessible from the home page), you can access interactive films like "Out My Window" that lets you explore the views from various high rise windows around the world and here about those peoples' lives or "Waterlife" that documents environmental concerns about the water of the Great Lakes. With no subscription, you have access to over 2,000 films. If you create a password account, you can make play lists to keep track of your great finds and, if you feel 'techy', you can cut portions of films to create shorter clips.  With my education account, I have access to another 500 films. This is a great resource for entertainment and enrichment, but remember, it is not geared specifically for children and there is mature content on the site.  As with all web use, be sure to monitor your childrens' viewing.

All Ages

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Wishinsky, F. & MacLeod, E. (2008). Everything but the Kitchen Sink: Weird Stuff You Didn't Know About Food. Toronto, Ont.: Scholastic.

(Illustrated by Travis King)

Have you ever eaten grunt, mudbugs or slugburgers?
Did you know that molasses can be deadly?

Discover these and many more facts in Everything but the Kitchen Sink. This clever book won the Red Cedar Award for non-fiction in 2011. Wishinsky and MacLeod explore food facts with short, bulletted bits of information gathered around themes like food history, superstitions, funny names, records, inventions and trivia.  There is even a chapter with food experiements to perform in your own kitchen. The way the text is divided by headings, bullets and chapter breaks makes it easy to read in chunks and accessible to a variety of reading levels.  Travis King's cartoon style illustrations give the book an animated feel. Trivia text boxes interspersed throughout the book add interesting "bits and bites" to the menu. I learned a lot about culinary history and traditions and found myself captivated by the clever headings and wanting to read section after section.

Intermediate

Out of the Box

Mulder, M. (2011). Out of the Box. Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers.

"I wonder why some people can have terrible lives and still find things to be happy about, and other people can have everything and still be miserable."

This is the question Ellie asks herself when a summer with her fun-loving Aunt Jeanette takes her out of the round of tears, arguments and accusations that haunts her home life and offers her a different view of the world.  Jeanette lost her partner, Alison, to leukemia.  Ellie goes to Victoria to stay with Jeanette for the whole summer and help clean out the basement (a project long planned with Alison).  They find an old bandoneon (an Argentinian instrument like an accordion) in the basement and Ellie falls in love.  During her stay Ellie helps her aunt at the soup kitchen, makes a new friend, searches for the original owner of the bandoneon and realizes that life can be different. With her aunt's help, Ellie learns that it is not her job to solve all the problems for the adults in her life - it is all right to just be thirteen.  Far from trite, this novel's conclusion holds out hope while remaining realistic.  A gentle portrayal of mental illness and how it can affect others, this empowering novel reveals the joy and freedom available to those who have the courage to reach out to others.

This novel is included in the Canadian Children's Book Center's Best Books for Kids and Teens 2012.

Intermediate/Young Adult

Owl Magazine

 Cooper, K. (Ed.). Nov. 2012. Owl. Toronto, Ont.: Bayard Canada.

Subscribe at https://secure.indas.on.ca/bayard/

 Although I subscribe to Owl for our library and my own two children had subscriptions, I have to admit I have not read one cover to cover since I was 12.  I was impressed. It had something for everyone: puzzles, quizzes, animal facts, sports science, jokes, contests, an advice page with both student and professional suggestions, FAQ, a 'hot topic' current events pole, 2 serial comic strips, a DIY section and even some world records!  The layout is bright and colourful, mixing text and graphic information. Responses to past questions and contests are included with children's names and ages making the magazine really feel child centered. The contests and submissions all have web or e-mail as well as 'snail mail' addresses that make them accessible to all readers. Like all magazines, the articles stand alone and readers can pick and choose where to spend their time - and go back later for more.  Best of all, Owl is Canadian!

Intermediate

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire!

Horvath, Polly. (2012). Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire! Groundwood Books, Toronto, Ont.

An absolute treat!  A fast paced mystery with human characters mixed up with talking rabbits, foxes and marmots (never trust a marmot), this clever story written in large, well spaced font interspersed with full page pen and ink illustrations appears at first glance to be an early chapter book. The wry humour and social and political commentary, however, will bring smiles to more sophisticated readers. Madeleine, who lives on Pender Island with her hippie parents, returns home from work one evening to discover her parents have been kidnapped - by foxes. The foxes need the help of her code breaking uncle and hope her parents will lead them to him. Madeleine's uncle falls into an sudden coma (a great way to get a rest, he says)  and she must enlist the help of Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, two talking rabbits who take her in and look after her.  Much high jinks ensues including an unpredictable marmot, some purple disco boots and a desperate last minute rescue. This book can be enjoyed on many levels. It would make a wonderful read-aloud for a mixed audience too.

Late Primary/Intermediate/Adults too :)

A Weird Case of Super-Goo

Oppel, Kenneth. (2010).  A weird case of super-goo. Toronto, Ont.: Harper Trophy Canada.

From Kenneth Oppel, author of some fabulous books for intermediate readers, comes the Barnes and the Brains series for younger readers. With cartoon-style black and white full page illustrations and accessible text divided into short chapters, this is a great chapter book to hook early readers on a new series. Giles, Kevin and Tina are the "brains" of their school who have created a 'genius business' to help other people with their problems.  Giles decides to quit the 'Genius business' after a failed experiment turns his hair red, but he needs to enlist the help of his old friends when his high maintenance aunt arrives and creates a youth potion which makes her a little too youthful - even for Giles.  The clever portrayal of adults who just don't 'get-it' and the recognition that childhood is not all its cracked up to be will appeal to young readers as will the fact that it is the kids who solve the problem in the end. A Weird Case of Super-Goo is a funny, fast-paced book about friendship, co-operation and responsibility that is not at all 'preachy'. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Check out the Barnes and the Brains website, too.

Late Primary

Island Santa

Mcfarlane, Sheryl. (2012). Island Santa. Victoria, BC: Children's Health Foundation of Vancouver Island.
(Illustrated by Sheena Lott)

Today I had the exciting job of helping with a book launch in our library.  Author Sheryl McFarlane, illustrator Sheena Lott and philanthropist Jeneece Edroff all arrived at South Park with film crews from CTV and Chek News and support staff from The Children's Health Foundation of Vancouver Island.   Louisa's class were treated to the first reading of the brand new book by the author and got to see the original illustrations presented by the illustrator herself.  After the story, Louisa's class got to ask Sheryl and Sheena a few questions.  They had spent a lot of time learning about good questions and thinking about the first two pages of the story that I had read them as an introduction. The questions were thoughtful and topical - Sheryl and Sheena were pleased and impressed.  Then the students got to meet Jeneece, one of the people who inspired the book, and ask her questions too. It was wonderful to see how inspired the students were by Jeneece's thoughtfulness and determination to raise money to 'give back' to those who have helped her.  Jeneece raised money to build a house where families with children who need medical care can stay while their child is in hospital. Here is a link about the house they built, Jeneece Place.

The book, Island Santa, is based on the true story of Kaare Norgard, a man who travelled to the islands and lighthouses around Vancouver Island at Christmas time to deliver presents to isolated families. He dressed as Santa and decorated his boat with lights.  Children could hear the boat approaching because Kaare played Christmas carols over the loud speakers. Louisa remembers seeing the "Santa boat" when she was little. Kaare Norgard's family donated a large amount of money to Jeneece place and the book is a thank-you to his family.  Sheena Lott's detailed water colour illustrations bring the west coast to life and echo the emotions of the story which follows Sam as he helps on the Santa boat through long days and a brutal storm on his way to visit his sister who is in the hospital over Christmas and his parents who are staying at Jeneece Place. This touching story of people helping each other and finding ways to give when it really matters inspired the children at South Park Family School and I am sure will inspire many others.

Primary

Sheryl McFarlane wrote about the launch at South Park in her blog.
Here is a link to the CTV newscast of the launch.
Here is a link to the Chek News segment:

http://www.cheknews.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=136

When you click on this page there will be 8 boxes under the playing window. The last box has Jeneece’s face in it and says coin drive.

Maxed Out

Greer, D. (2012). Maxed out. Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers.

The fact that  Daphne Greer worked with people with special needs for sixteen years shines through in this touching and true to life story of Max, a young teen who is trying to hold his family together after his fathers' death.  Max's mother has fallen into depression and spends her time either at work or in bed, crying, leaving Max to look after his older brother, Duncan, who has autism.  Max loves his brother but becomes more and more frustrated as Duncan's behaviours make everything more difficult from routine chores to playing hockey with his friends. Hockey is Duncan's passion - and his last connection with his Dad.  Finally, Max works out a plan so that he can play in the big game - with disasterous consequences.  When life seems totally out of control, Max calls the Kids Help Line in the middle of the night.  From hurtful statements made in anger to the supportive acts of a true friend, the characters in this high interest, low reading level story really ring true. Many teens will be able to relate to Max's feelings of being 'Maxed out' and not knowing where to turn.

Young Adult (Hi-Lo)

The Village of Many Hats

Woodward, Caroline. (2012). The village of many hats. Fernie, BC: Oolichan Books.

When this novel arrived with the box from the donation book sale, I had to read it right away.  I discovered Caroline Woodward last year when her picture book "Singing Away the Dark" was listed as a Chocolate Lily Award nominee. Her lyrical style and clear images of country life that reminded me of my own childhood won me over immediately.  In this, her first novel for young readers, Caroline describes small town life with the same understanding.  She brings Gina, the nine year old narrator, to life by using clear, short sentences that give you the feeling you are really listening to a grade four student. Gina is forced to grow up a little faster as her family deals with her little sister's serious heart problems. Her journey, and the characters who help her along the way, offer deep insights into the virtues that help us to live together and the innate kindness of neighbours. You will be pulled along into Gina's world as she learns, with the help of a wise hat maker, how to stand up for what she believes in and recognize the virtues in herself and others.

Intermediate