The House On The Canal by Thomas Harding

A building located in the middle of Amsterdam next to a canal was referred to by Anne Frank as "the old house on the canal."  That house had it's beginnings long ago. 

In 1580, the land where the "tall, narrow house" would come to stand was part of a marshland filled with field mice and seagulls. In the 1600's people came to build a canal that had strong walls. In 1635, a stonemason built a brick house with a green door close to the canal. When he required more space, the stonemason built an annex at the back of the house. More homes were built next to the house, one with blue shutters, another with red shutters, as well as a church with bells that rang four times every hour. 

In 1653, the house was the home of a woman with twelve children. She had fled persecution because of her Christian beliefs.  The plague raged along the canal in 1709, but the woman and her family survived. She lived for many years there. The Great Frost came, freezing the canal, meaning that food and water could not be supplied to the people that lived hear the canal. Eventually a wealthy merchant and his wife moved into the rundown house, repainting and repairing the annex. Although they had no children there were parties and many of their friends visited. Eventually the merchant died and his wife moved out of the house. After many winters, the ground floor of the house became stables for horses. It soon became a place of business.

By 1880 the house on the canal was still used as a home with people living in both the front and the annex in the back. The area around the house and the canal smelled like rotten eggs. In 1884 a fire raged blistering the brick walls but firefighters saved the house. In the early 1900's the house once again became the home for a family, an ironmonger, his wife and children. The stage was set for the house to play an important part in a war that saw millions killed.

Discussion

The House On The Canal is a picture book that traces the history of the house that would become known as the Anne Frank House, so named because it was where Anne Frank and her family along with the van Pels family and a dentist hid from the Nazis during the occupation of Holland in World War II. In the back matter of the book, the author writes that the house was built on a canal, called the Prinsengracht (or Prince's Canal) by Dirk van Delft in 1635. He eventually added on to the rear of the house, an addition called the annex which would play a part in hiding Anne and seven others.

Although Harding doesn't mention them by name in his account, in the back matter he does identify the people mentioned: Baefje Bisschop was the woman with twelve children who found refuge in the home, the wealthy merchant was Isaac van Vleuten who moved into the house in 1740 with his wife Cornelia, the ironmonger was Alle Pieron who moved into the house in 1901.Of course many readers will know that the "...tall man in a fine suit" was Otto Frank and the "young girl with a sweet smile" was his daughter Anne.

Otto Frank moved his businesses into the house in 1940 but when the Nazis began rounding up the Jewish people in Amsterdam in 1942, he moved his family into the top three floors of the annex where they lived hidden for over two years. Sadly Anne and the other Jewish people were betrayed by an unknown person and sent to concentration camps. Only Otto would survive the war, returning to Amsterdam in 1945. Anne's diary had been recovered from the annex by two of Otto's employees, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl. It was given to Otto upon his return. The house was bought by NY Berghaus who were convinced by Otto Frank to donate it. More than a million people visit the restored house annually.

Thomas Harding previously authored a picture book about a house his great-grandfather built outside of Berlin prior to World War II, exploring the unique history of that house and how his family lost and then regained it. In this latest offering, Harding explores the history of a better known house, the annex that was the hiding place of Anne Frank and her family during World War II. Readers are taken back to the very beginning, before the canal existed and before the house was built. The timeline approach, with each two page spread featuring a specific year, identified in the upper right corner of the right page, offers readers a coherent and easy to follow story. Readers can see how, over a period of centuries, a house can be used in many different ways: as a home for a family,  as a place of work and sometimes as a place of refuge. The simple text is accompanied by illustrations done in mixed media by illustrator, Britta Teckentrup.

The House On The Canal offers a unique and interesting way to introduce young readers to the story of Anne Frank. Although there is a photograph of the Annex taken in 1954, a more recent colour photograph of the house, along with a photograph of Anne Frank would have put a face to the name.

Book Details:

The House On The Canal by Thomas Harding
Somerville, Mass.: Candlewich Studio     2025

Gold Rush: The Untold Story of the First Nation's woman who started the Klondike Gold Rush by Flora Delargy

The Yukon Territory is located in northwest Canada and is known for its beautiful wilderness, with glaciers and rugged mountains. The summers are short, the winters long and dark. Cutting through the Territory is the Yukon River, its name taken from the Gwich'in word 'Yu-ku-ah", which means great river. Gold can be found in its riverbed. When this was discovered, it started the Klondike Gold Rush.

The land that makes up the Yukon Territories is the ancestral home to fourteen First Nations which are organized into two clans: the Wolf and the Crow clans. A Wolf can only marry a member of the Crow clan and vice versa. The First Nation peoples lived a life hunting and gathering. They comprised eight language groups including Gwich'in, Han, Kaska, Upper Tanana, Northern Tutchone, Southern Tutchone, Tagish and Tlingit. 

In the summer of 1896, Shaaw Tlaa, a young woman from the First Nation Tagish and Tlingit peoples, was travelling with her husband. Her name meant "Older than Old".  Shaaw Tlaa, also called Kate, was married to George Carmack, a white American prospector. As a member of the Tagish Wolf clan, Kate knew and respected the land. She knew which plants could be eaten and which were used for their medicinal properties. Along with her brother Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) and her nephew Kaa Goox (Dawson Charlie), Kate and her husband were searching for gold. Some say Kate found gold, other stories are that Keish did. Whoever was the first, the claim was registered in George Carmack's name.

News of a gold strike at Bonanza Creek spread rapidly throughout the Yukon Territory. Soon prospectors flooded the area, working to extract good from the creek. In 1897, gold fever soon struck throughout the world, as some returned to places like San Francisco and Seattle, very rich. 

Discussion

Gold Rush offers a fascinating account of the Klondike Gold Rush from the perspective of the women who were involved. Although the story starts off with the discovery of gold possibly by an Indigenous woman, it is also a story of women entrepreneurs, miners, and business owners. Delargy profiles four amazing women in Gold Rush.

Martha Black ran a sawmill and quartz mill on the Yukon River. Belinda Mulrooney was an entrepreneur who opened a store and a restaurant in Dawson as well as a very grand hotel, called the Fairview. Nellie Cashman, was an experienced prospector well before the gold discovery at Bonanza. She set out on an expedition to the Klondike. To fund her mining claims, Nellie ran a series of boarding houses in Dawson. She had a mine that yielded one hundred thousand dollars in gold! A huge fortune at that time. There was Bessie Couture who owned two restaurants in Skagway, Alaska. Each of these women did not accept that claim that the gold trail was "No Place For Women". Instead, they proved they were more than equal to the task of life on the trail. Just how incredible the accomplishments of these women were, is demonstrated by the fact that "...Of the 100,000 stampeders who set out for the gold fields, around 70,000 either turned back or perished." 

Gold Rush also offers a portrait of life in the Far North during the Gold Rush. Delargy outlines the considerable supplies miners and stampeders required to survive on the trail. The various routes to the gold fields are shown on a map, including the White Pass Trail and the most famous, the Chilkoot Trail. The latter had been used as a trade route for hundreds of years by the Tlingit people. With it's fifteen hundred steps at a thirty-five degree incline, it was a major obstacle to be overcome by stampeders.

Delargy describes how miners extracted the gold nuggets from the river sediment and rocks, using the sluice box system. To reach gold found deeper, mine shafts were constructed. The Klondike Gold Rush lasted until 1899 when gold was found in Nome, Alaska. Gold Rush also explains the effects the gold rush had on the First Nations of the Yukon, the destruction of their ancestral fishing and hunting grounds, the loss of their culture, and the exposure to new diseases.

Although the title of this book is the "Untold Story of the First Nation's Woman Who Started the Klondike Gold Rush", in fact it is mostly about other women involved in the gold rush. Kate Carmack's life, despite the gold find, was not one of ease. Her marriage broke up, she lost custody of her daughter, Graphie, and returned to the Yukon to find her Tagish village gone. 

Gold Rush is an informative, engaging book on the Klondike Gold Rush, the story richly enhanced by the author's ink and watercolour illustrations.

Book Details:

Gold Rush: The Untold Story of the First Nation's Woman Who Started the Klondike Gold Rush by Flora Delargy

Beverly, MA:  Wide Eyed Publications      2024

75 pp.

Up, Up, Ever Up! by Anita Yasuda

Up, Up, Ever Up! is the story of Junko Takei, a Japanese woman determined to be a mountain climber.

Junko grew up under the sakura trees on her mountain, dreaming of climbing. At the age of ten, Junko along with her friends, climbed Mount Chausu. On their climb they encountered hot springs, strong smells, and boulders. 

When she eventually left Miharu for the city of Tokyo, Junko continued to long for the mountains. She was able to join a mountaineering club that accepted women. Each weekend Junko laced on her boots and joined other climbers heading up mountains. In her adventures, Junko met someone who also loved climbing. They married and had a family.

As her family grew, Junko , along with other women climbers planned an expedition to Mount Everest. At this time, no woman had succeeded in climbing the world's highest mountain. 

Discussion

Junko Ishibashi was born September 22, 1939 in Miharu, a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. She was the third youngest of seven daughters. When she was ten years old, Junko developed a love of climbing on a school trip to Mount Nasu (also known as Mount Chausu) in Tochigi Prefecture. Junko loved the mountain landscapes she encountered on the climbs. However, climbing was an expensive sport and one that was male dominated so Junko did not undertake many climbs while a high school student.

She studied at Showa Women's University from 1958 to 1962, earning a degree in American and English Literature. After graduating Junko joined several climbing groups which were for men only. Although some members were not welcoming, Junko was able to climb all the major mountains in Japan including Mount Fiji. 

In 1966 Junko married Masanobu Tabei who she had met during a climb on Mount Tanigawa. She was twenty-seven years old. Junko and Masanobu eventually had two children. In 1969, Junko founded a women's climbing club, Joshi-Tohan Club. She formed the club mainly as a result of how she was treated by men in the climbing clubs. The first expedition the Joshi-Tohan Club undertook was to successfully climb Annapurna III in May of 1970. They were the first women and Japanese to summit the mountain. 

In 1971, the Joshi-Tohan Club applied for a permit to climb Mount Everest but it wasn't until 1975 that the club received a place in the formal climbing schedule. The Mount Everest team of fifteen members was led by Eiko Hisano and used the same route that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay took in 1953. Two of the women were mothers, while many others had professional jobs. They encountered opposition as they raised funds for the trip. They were able to begin their climb in 1975, after years and months of fund-raising and training. On May 4, while camping at 20,000 ft, an avalanche struck, burying Tabei and four fellow climbers. They were dug out by the Sherpas accompanying the expedition. Tabei was injured in this accident but recovered and was able to resume the climb.

Tabei was chosen by Hisano to make the final ascent to the peak, after altitude sickness left the team with only enough oxygen tanks for one woman to make the climb. Tabei along with her sherpa guide Ang Shering, reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 16, 1975. She was the first woman to summit Everest, and only the thirty-sixth person to do so. 

By 1992, Junko Tabei became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits, climbing Kilimanjaro in 1980, Aconcagua in 1987, Denali in 1988, Elbrus in 1989, Mount Vinson in 1991, and Puncak Jaya in 1992. Throughout the 1990's and into the early 2000's, Tabei continued to take part in many all women's mountaineering expeditions. 

In later years, Junko Tabei advocated for  the conservation of mountain ecosystems like that of Mount Everest. She completed post-doctorate studies at Kyushu University with special focus on the mounting human waste being left on Everest and other mountains by climbers. Diagnosed in 2012 with cancer of the peritoneum, Junko Tabei passed away in 2016.

Up, Up, Ever Up! offers younger readers an engaging introduction to the remarkable life and accomplishments of  mountaineer, author, teacher, conservationist and mother, Junko Tabei. Yasuda captures the determination and quiet perseverance of Tabei as she turned her childhood love of the mountains into a lifelong passion. She was able to overcome the resistance of those who told her women did not belong in mountaineering, forging a path, step by step, for those women who would come after. Tabei, who was a modest person and uncomfortable with the fame her accomplishments brought, was able to use her notoriety to help the people of Nepal and to advocate for more responsible mountaineering practices and tourism. Tabei was also one of few women who attended university, at a time when women were discouraged from seeking a higher education. Tabei's motto was "Do not give up. Keep on your quest!"

Portraying Junko Tabei's journey upwards are the lovely illustrations done by Japanese illustrator, Yuko Shimizu. The illustrations for Up, Up, Ever Up! were rendered using "a Japanese calligraphy brush that was specifically made for Buddhist sutra and black India ink to make drawings on watercolor paper." These were then coloured digitally using Adobe Photoshop. Like Junko Tabei, Shimizu's mother also attended Showa Women's University.

Up, Up, Ever Up! is a must-read for young girls as an encouragement to follow their dreams, even when they seem especially impossible! Yasuda has included an Author's Note, a Timeline, a Glossary, and a detailed Bibliography for further reading.

Book Details:

Up, Up, Ever Up! by Anita Yasuda

New York: Clarion Books    2024

Sea Without A Shore by Barbara Rosenstock

Sea Without A Shore explores the unique world of the Sargasso Sea, the only sea without a shore.  It is located hundreds of miles into the Atlantic Ocean and is saltier and warmer than the surrounding ocean.

It seems like an ocean desert except there are rafts of Sargassum, which is not a plant but an algae. It grows stipes and blades and has gas-filled globes which keep the weed on the ocean surface.

The Sargassum grows from a small branch that has broken away and as it does so, tiny creatures come to live on it: "...bryozoans, feathery hydroids and spiraled tube worms" that feed on the microscopic life. There are "rubbery snails, waving anemones and spongy nudibranchs" that stalk and eat. 

The floating Sargassum offers " a place for wandering creatures to explore: pinching crabs, skittering shrimp, buggy amphipods." They scavenge, eating dead and living plants and animals, cleaning up the weeds."  This allows young creatures like "pointy swordfish, stocky jacks, and blunt-nosed mahi mahi to grow as they eat tiny bits of food that falls off the weed."  

The Sargassum also contains strange creatures like "...toothless pipefish, riffling flatworm, and crawling frogfish."  The pipefish sucks up amphipods, while the frogfish lure's it's prey, which it swallows whole.

There is life both above and below but the Sargassum is a home to a diverse community.

Discussion

Sea Without A Shore tells the story of how a new Sargassum seaweed fragment develops a growing community. Author Barbara Rosenstock was motivated to research the Sargasso Sea after encountering tangled seaweed on a beach in the Dominican Republic.

The Sargasso Sea encompasses an area that is two thousand miles long and seven hundred miles wide. It takes it's name from the Sargassum seaweed that is free floating and that reproduces "vegetatively" - that is without seeds or spores. The Sargasso Sea has no land borders. Instead its borders are four ocean currents: to the west the Gulf Stream, to the north the North Atlantic current, to the east the Canary Current, and to the south the North Atlantic Equatorial current. 

In her Research Note, Rosenstock writes that she and illustrator, Katherine Roy met with oceanographers, Dr. Kerry Whittaker assistant professor at Corning School of Oceanography, Maine Marine Academy and Dr. Robbie Smith, curator, Bermuda Natural History Museum,  in Bermuda to research the Sargassum. Bermuda is the only landmass within the Sargasso Sea. The oceanographers took them to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo to view the ocean life exhibits. They also examined fresh Sargassum to see the various sea creatures that live in the weed.

Based on her research, Rosenstock realized that she could not feature all the life in the Sargasso Sea into one picture book. Instead, she presents a simplified story of this open ocean ecosystem, highlighting both its diversity and how life within the Sargassum is interconnected. Rosenstock employs short descriptive phrases to describe the various sea creatures and these descriptions are accompanied by the beautiful illustrations by Katherine Roy. 

Rosenstock has included an map of the Sargasso Sea framed by the sea life mentioned in the book. Readers can return to the illustrations to locate these creatures as they are mentioned in the picture book. There is also a short Afterword by Dr. Sylvia Earle, a former chief scientist of NOAA, and currently president and chairman of Mission Blue, an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. There are full colour photographs of a cluster of Sargassum and of the Sargassum frogfish, a Research Note by the author, a note on Too Much Sargassum?, and a list of Sources.

The Sargasso Sea is believed to have existed for at least ten thousand years and its continued may depend on future generations knowing and understanding this unique ocean ecosystem.

Book Details:

Sea Without A Shore, Life in the Sargasso by Barbara Rosenstock

New York: Norton Young Readers     2024

The Tree of Life by Elisa Boxer

It was winter in the ghetto called Terezin. There were many children in the ghetto, scared and lonely. One woman, Irma Lauscher, was secretly teaching the children to read and write, and also to celebrate Jewish holidays. She asked one of the prisoners who left the ghetto each day on work detail to smuggle in a tree sapling. He agreed even though this meant risking his life if he were caught.

When the sapling arrived, it was a comfort to the children who planted it in a pot. Eventually, the children planted the sapling in the ground within the ghetto. To keep the sapling alive, the children each shared a few drops of their precious water each day. The tree grew taller and was known as Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life.

Meanwhile, many of the children were removed from the ghetto and sent by train somewhere even worse. But those children who remained continued to water the tree. After the war and the prisoners were released, the tree was now five feet tall. Before the children left the ghetto they gave the tree one more drink and placed a sign by it that read, "As the branches of this tree, so the branches of our people." 

Over the years the tree continued to grow, a mature, silent witness to what had happened in the ghetto. Irma survived the war and send seeds from the tree all over the world. In 2007, after a flood, the tree finally succumbed. But six hundred saplings were now living throughout the world!

In 2021, a fifteen foot descendent of the tree of life was planted in New York City. There children will come to care for it and learn more about the past, the ghetto, and the teacher and the children who had hope for a better future.

Discussion

The Tree of Life is the touching story of Jewish children creating a memorial of hope in the darkest of times, when most of them would have no future.

In January, 1943, Irma Lauscher and a group of Jewish children gathered in Theresienstadt concentration camp to plant a tree. This was to celebrate the Jewish holiday called Tu B'Shvat which is called "The New Year of The Trees".

Theresienstadt, also known as Terezin, was a Nazi concentration camp and ghetto located thirty miles north of Prague in the Czech Republic. Theresienstadt was originally a fortress created in the late 18th century by Emperor Joseph II of Austria. Terezin was located within the fortress. However, during World War II, with the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Nazis converted Terezin into a Jewish ghetto and concentration camp. The ghetto held over fifteen thousand Jewish children, of which only one hundred fifty would survive. Most of these children and the Jewish adults as well, were sent to their deaths at the extermination camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz.

Unlike many other camps, Terezin prisoners were scholars, philosophers, scientists, musicians and artists. The camp was used as a propaganda tool to prove to the world that the Nazis were treated the Jewish people well. In 1943, the camp was beautified in response to a request by King Christian X of Denmark to inspect it. Named Operation Embellishment by the Nazis, the camp was cleaned, fakes shops and cafes were created and thousands deported to Auschwitz to alleviate overcrowding. When the inspection was done in June of 1944 by Danish officials they saw freshly painted rooms holding no more than three Danish Jews per room. The officials did not ask to see areas of the camp that were not part of the official tour and any questions they asked of residents were not answered. Rafael Schachter, a Czech composer, along with other Jews, was forced by the Nazis to give a repeat performance of Verdi's Requiem. He was deported to Auschwitz in October 1944  and gassed the next day. In September 1944, the Nazi's made a propaganda film titled Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet  or, Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement. 

Despite this, the children of Terezin were educated, even though it was apparent most of them would not survive. This was a ploy by the Nazis to hide the camp's true purpose. Irma Lauscher was one of the teachers. She was born in Hermanuv Mestec in 1904 and went on to earn a teaching degree from Chales University in Prague. In 1932 she married Jiri Lauscher. They had a daughter, Michaela in 1936.  Irma continued teaching even after they were deported to Terezin in 1942, helping the Jewish children learn about Jewish history and traditions.

The seeds for the tree were smuggled in by an unknown prisoner who worked outside the camp. In the spring of 1943 the tree was planted in one of the Terezin yards. Another version has Irma bribing a Czech guard who smuggled in a sapling of a silver maple. The tree survived the war by being watered by the children of Terezin, most of whom did not survive. Irma and her family also survived. 

After the war, Irma often visited the tree at Terezin, who grew into a stout sixty foot silver maple. Unfortunately, the tree was destroyed by a flood in 2003. But by that time many saplings of the original tree grew in the United States and Israel.

Elisa Boxer tells the story of the Tree of Life in this lovely picture book with digitally created artwork by Alianna Rozentsveig. It is a gentle retelling that focuses on the sacrifice of the Jewish children, to create a symbol of hope and peace, for a future they would never have. This symbol was spread throughout the world, in the form of saplings planted in different cities. Each tree is  a reminder to children of all peoples and faiths, of the lives lost and offers a reminder to fight hatred in all its forms.

The artwork portraying life in Terezin is dark and conveys a sense of foreboding with shades of beige, brown and black while the children are shown in brighter colours. The train taking the Jewish children to their deaths in Auschwitz, belches black smoke against an ominous dark sky. In the postwar images, the background is light, conveying a sense of hope.

There is an Author's Note at the back as well as a Selected Sources section which offers readers the opportunity to explore more in-depth the story told in the book.

Book Details:

The Tree of Life. How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World by Elisa Boxer

New York: Rocky Pond Books    2024

Stars of the Night by Caren Stelson

Stars of the Night relates the incredible story of Nicholas Winton and the Czech kindertransport.

In 1938 Czechoslovakia, life for young children in the old city of Prague was good. There were picnics in the park with dark bread with cheese and slices of their mother's sweet honey cake. In the winter, skating on the rivers was followed by a trip to the local coffeehouses for hot cocoa with whipped cream. The children, who were Jewish and eight, nine and ten years old played with friends who were mostly not Jewish. This didn't matter to them. They attended school. Prague was a peaceful city.

But in November of that year, things began to change. Tent camps were set up outside the city, filled with people, who the children were told, were refugees. In Germany, the stores and synagogues of Jews were vandalized and burned. The people in the tents were seeking safety. Soon the Jewish children of Prague found they were being yelled at too. Their parents began to worry, but were too busy to explain. Soon they decided they had to meet the man who was offering to make arrangements. But what man were they meeting in Prague?

In March 1939, the German army entered Prague, with their leader Hitler standing in a car, his arm straight out in front of him. Everywhere the red flags with the black zigzag were hung.

When the childrens' fathers received replies to their letters, the packing of suitcases began. The children were told they were taking a trip to England. And they were told, "There will be times when you'll feel lonely and homesick. Let the stars of the night and the sun of the day be the messenger of our thoughts and love."

The childrens' journey beganat Prague's Wilson Railway Station. The train station was filled with mostly Jewish families who were saying tearful goodbyes to their children as they boarded the trains. At the German border, the children alone, on their train without their parents were afraid of the gruff German police who checked travel documents and searched suitcases. From Germany they travelled through the Netherlands to the English Channel where they boarded boats. After another train ride in England, the children arrived in London where they were welcomed by the English families who would care for them. The children didn't know that the man their parents had written to was a man in London who had made this all possible. 

In England, they soon learned that war had broken out and as the years passed they saw pictures of people being made to wear yellow stars, and being forced into cattle cars on trains and sent to terrible places. Were their parents safe at home in Prague? They didn't know. When the war ended, many of the children were much older, seventeen and eighteen and were able to travel back to Prague to search for their parents. They soon realized that their parents were gone, that they were some of the people put on the cattle cars and sent away.  Many years passed, the children grew up, married and had their own children.

Then one day a scrap book was found with the names and photographs of children, their passports and letters and a plan of escape. In the scrapbook was also the name of the man who organized all this - Nicholas Winton. The children, now older adults, finally met him to thank him.

Discussion

Stars of the Night tells the story from the perspective of  669  brave children, who made the journey from Czechoslovakia to Great Britain just as Hitler began his rampage across Europe. As children, at the time, they didn't really know what was happening in their communities, and in the world at large. They were told they were being sent away, but they couldn't possibly understand what that really meant. These children were part of the larger kindertransport - an attempt to save the children of Jewish parents from inevitable death. One person determined to do that was Nicholas Winton. 

Nicholas Winton was born in 1909 in West Hampstead to parents of German Jewish ancestry. He worked as a stockbroker. In 1938, Winton's life was about to change forever. Germany had taken over areas of Czechoslovakia that were predominantly German-speaking, called the Sudetenland. This was allowed by the Munich Agreement. After this, in November, the Nazis conducted an organized attack on Jewish citizens in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland in what became known as Kristallnacht. As a result, Jewish refugees from these areas began to arrive in Czechoslovakia, on the outskirts of Prague.

Due to this attack, the British government decided to allow children under the age of seventeen from Germany and other areas annexed by Germany, to enter Great Britain. The requirements were that they have a foster family willing to take them in and that there were certain financial commitments made.

It was at this time in December, 1938 that Nicholas Winton's friend, Martin Blake asked him to visit Czechoslovakia instead of travelling to Switzerland for a ski trip. Winton arrived in Czechoslovakia as an associate of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, an organization created in response to the refugee crisis in Prague. There he met Doreen Wariner who arranged for him to visit refugee camps filled with Jews and political opponents of the Nazis.

Winton knew of the Kindertransport to rescue Jewish children from Germany and Austria, and he decided to organize a similar operation for Czech Jewish children. He first began organizing from his Prague hotel room and then in an office. Winton soon had thousands of distraught parents attempting to apply. He returned to England to raise money for the transport of Jewish children to England.

The first kindertransport organized by Winton from Czechoslovakia left Prague on March 14, 1939. Seven more transports would follow, these by train and ship, as portrayed in Stars of the Night. When Germany invaded Poland, and Great Britain declared war on Germany, the transports ended. Nicholas Winton's remarkable efforts remained hidden until his wife Grete discovered a scrapbook with the names and photographs of the children he saved. In 1988, the year the scrapbook was discovered, the children, now adults, were finally able to meet the man who saved them, on a British TV show.

Author Caren Stelson, who is Jewish, focused on five children from the Kindertransport in her story, giving each a different colour that is consistent throughout. Sisters Eva and Vera Diamantova wear orange and red respectively. Eva and Vera were ten and fifteen-years-old when they left their parents on July 20, 1939 and boarded the Czech Kindertransport to England. Vera would use the diary her father gave her, to write about her experiences and to write down the words her mother told her, about the stars of the night and the sun of the day being the messenger of their thoughts and love for her. Vera remained in England becoming a writer while Eva moved to New Zealand and became a nurse.

Brothers Josef and Ernest Schlesinger are portrayed wearing dark blue and light blue respectively.  Josef was eleven and Ernest, nine-years-old when they left Bratislava to travel to England. Sadly, Josef and Ernest's parents did not survive the Holocaust. Canadians will know Joe Schlesinger as a famous foreign correspondent for CBC. Renata Polgar wears green in Stars of the Night. She was only eight-years-old when she left her parents in her hometown of Brno to live with the Daniels family in Britain. She remembered happy times with this family. Renata was one of only five children whose parents both survived the Holocaust.

The illustrations in Stars of the Night were created by artist Selina Alko with acrylic paint, colored pencil and collage. 

Stars of the Night is a picture book that introduces the Czech kindertransport to younger readers in a simple manner, allowing for further exploration and learning about this event and the remarkable Nicholas Winton who orchestrated one aspect of it. His story demonstrates how one person can make a significant difference in the lives of many. As Joe Schlesinger remarked about Nicholas Winton, "This is the man who gave me the rest of my life."

Book Details:

Stars of the Night by Caren Stelson
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books 2023

The Possible Lives of W H, Sailor by Bushra Junaid

Coastal erosion has exposed a two-hundred-year old wooden coffin on the Strait of Belle Isle. The person in the coffin was buried with their head oriented east toward Africa. The man, with good teeth and kinky hair, was young and short in stature. He was also missing his forearm. The coffin also contained a knife and pouch and a shoe. These items had the initials WH engraved on them. Who was this man and what was his story? How did he come to be buried here?

Discussion

In June 1987, a burial site near the small fishing village of L'Anse au Loup on a part of the Labrador coast was exposed. Bones, fabric and wood were exposed. Archeological investigation revealed a coffin containing a skeleton wearing a military uniform, wrapped in a shroud of a wool blanket. There was also a pouch and in the pocket of the jacket was a pocket knife with the initials WH carved into it. The lone shoe had a W carved into the sole.

Working together, an osteologist and conservator were able to determine that the remains were that of a Black man. The presence of a twenty centimeter long wooden marlinspike, a tool used to separate or join together rope, in the coffin suggests that this was a sailor. Investigators believe that WH was possibly a midshipman or the servant of a ship's officer in the early 1800s.

The Atlantic was sometimes called the Black Atlantic for the number of Black people who sailed across the ocean. Over twelve million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic in slave ships. Approximately one-fifth of all sailors in both the merchant marine and the military were people of colour, some enslaved, others free.

In The Possible Lives of WH, Bushra Junaid, wonders about the life of the Black sailor known only as WH. Her poetry narrative is filled with questions about his name, his origin, how he came to be a sailor, lose his arm, and what he saw and felt. In asking these and many other questions, Montreal-born Junaid, an author, artist and curator, takes young readers on a short trip through the earliest Black history of Canada.

Millions of West Africans were captured and forcibly transported across the Atlantic from 1526 to 1867 in what was known as the Transatlantic slave trade. This journey in the Middle Passage, was done in the festering hold of a slave ship, under such terrible conditions, that many did not survive. 

Other Blacks were born on plantations in the Caribbean or in America where they cut sugarcane, picked cotton and planted rice. On these plantations, life was no easier. Junaid, in her Background To Timeline note at the back, writes that "Caribbean slave owners bought enormous quantities of the poorest grade of Newfoundland and Labrador codfish or 'salt fish' (also called 'refuse fish' or 'Jamaica fish') to feed their enslaved workforce." The enslaved were fed poorly, among other things. When Britain was considering abolishing the slave trade in 1791, there was concern that such a move would result in the collapse of the Newfoundland fishery. Little concern existed for the enslaved and their health.

Some enslaved Africans and people of colour, escaped by enlisting in the British or American navy. Some who fought for England during the American revolution, were given land in Nova Scotia. The land was of poor quality, but they stayed, had families and became an integral part of the history of Eastern Canada. All of these are possible origins for the sailor we know today only as WH.

In asking her questions and offering possible answers, Junaid paints "...a picture of what the life of a Black sailor in the later eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries may have been like."  something we know a bit about, from the writings of Black sailors from this era. 

The author has illustrated her story with beautiful artwork done both in traditional media and digital methods.Also included are the following resources: Background:Finding WH, a Timeline, Background To Timeline, References and Resources, photographs of Artifacts Found At WH's Burial Site, and a Teachers Guide.

The Possible Lives of WH, Sailor gives voice to the past, to those people of colour, who either by choice or not, are a part of Canada's history and the making of this country.

Book Details:

The Possible Lives of WH, Sailor by Bushra Junaid
Tors Cove, NL: Running the Goat Books & Broadsides,   2022

My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom

A young girl cannot wait for her hair to grow. Her mother and grandmother (Nokomis) weren't allowed to have long hair. It was cut at the school they attended. But for a young girl letting her hair grow is important.

The stories and memories of the day Nimishoomis taught her to fish for the first time, were woven into her hair which reached her ears. The birth of her baby brother happened when her hair touched her shoulders. Welcoming him was woven into her hair. Learning how to make moccasins from her cousins is woven into her hair that now fell past her shoulders. 

At the Pow Wow, the girl's hair, down to the middle of her back, was braided by her Auntie Delia. Her aunt's teaching and prayers from that day are woven into her hair. When Nimishoomis passed away, the girl cut her hair so that he would have her "energies".

Discussion

In the exquisite picture book, My Powerful Hair, the significance of hair to Indigenous peoples is explained.  Author Carole Lindstrom, who "...is Anishinaabe/Metis and an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe," explains what hair means to her people. 

Lindstrom was not allowed to grow her hair long when she was growing up. Her mother also did not have long hair, even though she had beautiful, thick black hair. Lindstrom learned that this extended back another generation to her grandmother and great-aunts who also had "...shorn black hair above their ears." This was a product of their forced attendance at Indian boarding schools in the early 1900's. At the boarding school, Lindstrom's grandmother was taught that long hair was "...a sign of 'wildness' and 'savageness'." It's a peculiar view, since at this time most European women had long hair, which was often pinned up. 

To avoid being viewed in this way, Lindstrom's grandmother, mother and herself all wore their hair short. When she learned of this, Lindstrom decided to grow her hair long, as a way of reclaiming her identity and culture. In her Author's Note at the back, Lindstrom explains the generational impact the Indian boarding school had on her own family.

In My Powerful Hair, Indigenous artist Steph Littlebird's  vivid illustrations capture the essence of what hair means to Indigenous peoples. Hair is believed to be a source of strength and holds memories. It is grown long to be close to Mother Earth. Hair is considered a celebration of life, carrying power. Having hair braided by a loved one reinforces the relationship. For Indigenous peoples, stories, memories, culture and connections to one another are woven through hair. The richly coloured illustrations done in Procreate, reinforce this beautiful message of the importance of hair in Indigenous culture.

Book Details:

My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom
New York:  Abrams Books for Young Readers   2023

Food For Hope by Jeff Gottesfeld

In Food For Hope, the founder of food banks is profiled as well as the topics of food insecurity and poverty.

John van Hengel was waiting in line to enter a dining room for the needy. The food wasn't great - soup, rice and beans  but John was hungry and he was happy to be able to eat.

John had grown up not knowing hunger. His father owned a drugstore and his mother was a nurse. He grew into a handsome, athletic and successful man. He moved to California, got married and had two sons, living in a house near the ocean. But suddenly life got difficult and he lost everything. He found himself so poor, he wasn't able to feed himself. 

At the dining room, John met many of the people also eating there - veterans, homeless, poor families and those with disabilities. With the help of Father Ronald at St. Mary's Church, John found faith, and he was hired at the kitchen. He also found a place to live above a garage.

John wanted to offer the hungry more variety and better food. He drove an old truck to the nearby orchards east of town and with a volunteer crew, collected the grapefruit that had fallen onto the ground. There was so much fruit that he was able to give to other charities. 

At one of the charities John overheard an unemployed mother claim that her family ate very well from the supermarket dumpster. She took a disbelieving John to the dumpster and he saw it was filled with damaged tins and boxes of food as well as bruised but edible vegetables. She told John she wished she could "bank" the extra food.

This encounter gave John the idea of creating a food bank - "a place to share food that's being thrown out." Father Ronald thought it was a wonderful idea and encouraged John to act on it. When John protested that he was too busy, Father Ronald told him it was his choice to act. And so he did.

St. Mary's Food Bank opened in an abandoned bakery six months later. The food came from supermarket warehouses. In its first year of operation, St. Mary's sent one hundred twenty-five tons of food to various charities. Even John's adult sons came to help.

John soon started another charity called Second Harvest which opened many food banks throughout America. Large amounts of food were donated to his charity and volunteers we able to distribute it all.

Discussion

The world's first food bank was St. Mary's Food Bank which opened in 1967 in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded by John van Hengel.

Van Hengel was born in 1923 in Waupun, Wisconsin. He graduated from Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin and went on to attend graduate school. He then studied broadcasting at UCLA. John had many jobs including working as a magazine publicist, in advertising and even driving a beer truck in Hollywood. He married Beverlee Thompson, a model, and they had two sons, John and Thomas. At this time he was a division sales manager.  

But in 1960 his marriage ended in divorce and van Hengel returned to Wisconsin where he lived a very different type of life. He worked in a quarry and ended up injuring his back breaking up a fight. Van Hengel moved to Arizona, hoping the warm, dry weather would help. A devout Catholic, he took a vow of poverty, volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen and working as Immaculate Heart Church in Phoenix.

As Gottesfeld relates in his picture book, it was an unemployed mother who told Van Hengel about the surplus food being discarded by grocery stores. After convincing store managers to let him have the food, van Hengel had so much food that in 1967 with a three thousand dollar donation from St. Mary's Catholic Church and the use of an abandoned bakery, the St. Mary's Food Bank was born.

In 1975, van Hengel received federal grant money to open more food banks and in 1976 he started Second Harvest. Today the food bank concept has spread throughout the world, often with mixed opinions about whether they are helpful. The first food bank in Canada opened in Edmonton, Alberta in 1981.

Food For Hope offers young readers the back story of the food bank movement. Most young people have heard of food banks, and in these difficult economic times, it's very likely there are many young readers whose families may use food banks to supplement their meals. Many schools in the United States and Canada have food drives, as do many churches and other organizations. This picture book shows how the movement began, with the determination of one man to help those struggling to find enough to eat in a country of plenty. In the process, it also focuses on the topics of food insecurity, poverty and food wastage.  

To write Food For Hope, Gottesfeld  used published newspaper accounts and interviewed van Hengel's sons, John Jr. and Thomas as well as Stephen Morris a friend and volunteer at St. Mary's, and Jen Tresinski, a historian at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Waupun, WI. The colourful digital illustrations were done by Michelle Laurentia Agatha.

To help readers learn more about John van Hengel's life and food banks, Gottesfeld has included an informative Author's Note and Terminology which defines what a food bank is. A timeline of the food bank movement is also included. 

Food For Hope shows how one person can make a huge difference in the world. Food banks have an impact directly on the lives of individuals: children, single parents, the elderly and the very poor. Van Hengel initially felt he was too busy to take on the development of a "food bank" but he was told that the call had come, and he was the one to answer it. The choice was his. As he said, "The poor we shall always have with us, but why the hungry?"

Book Details:

Food For Hope by Jeff Gottesfeld

Creston Books      2023

Kimiko Murakami: A Japanese-Canadian Pioneer by Haley Healey

This picture book is the story of one Japanese-Canadian's determination to persevere in the face of intolerance and difficult circumstances.

Kimiko was born in a village near Vancouver to a parents who were fishers, then farmers, selling their chickens, fruit and vegetables to hotels. They moved to Salt Spring Island when she was five-years-old. Kimiko grew up and married Katsuyori and had a total of six children. Kimiko and Katsuyori worked on the family farm until the Second World War when things changed.

Under new rules that applied only to Japanese Canadians, all people of Japanese heritage were taken by ship to Vancouver. Kimiko and her family were taken to Hastings Park where they were forced to live in barns that were meant for the animals there. 

During this difficult time, Kimiko remembered the Japanese word, "ganbaru" which means "to push on through hard times and never give up." Kimiko remembered this as her family was sent first to an internment camp in Greenwood, British Columbia and then to a sugar beet farm in Magrath, Alberta.

Life at Magrath was hard as their shack had no electricity, no running water and it was very cold. They were eventually sent to another camp in British Columbia.

When the war ended, Kimiko and her family were told they could go to Japan or live east of the Rocky Mountains. However, she and her family were determined to return to Salt Spring Island. To accomplish this goal, they saved money by opening a restaurant in Cardston, Alberta. Eventually, they were allowed to return to Salt Spring Island.

However, when they returned to Salt Spring Island, they discovered that their land had been sold and that the Japanese cemetery was filled with garbage. They were not treated well either by the residents. In spite of this, Kimiko and her family rebuilt their life, buying new land and returning to farming. Kimiko's children grew up and remembering their own hard times they helped others by donating some of their land for homes for people who were struggling.

Discussion

The focus on this biography of Kimiko Murakami is her determination to remain strong during hard times and not give despite all the obstacles racism placed in her life. 

When her family was forcibly removed from their farm and sent to various internment camps, she kept her hope alive that some day she would be able to return. After enduring terrible conditions during the war, Kimiko and her family rebuilt their lives, literally from the ground up, repurchasing land that was stolen from them. What is even more remarkable is the forgiveness and charity they gave in return for the racism and hatred they experienced! This is evident with the gift of land they gave when others were struggling later on.

Kimiko was born to Kumanosuke and Riyo Okano in 1904 in Stevenson, B.C. The Okano family moved to Salt Spring Island in 1909 but visited Japan in 1911 or 1912. According to the Salt Spring Island Archives, Kumanosuke owned considerable land and was determined to become an integral part of the local community. He encouraged the Japanese to donate to churches, give food to those in need and help fight forest fires on the island. 

Kimiko and her sister spent some years in Japan under the care of their grandmother. Being left in Japan upset Kimiko for the rest of her life. Kimiko returned to Canada in 1919. When she visited Japan in 1925, she married Katsuyori Murakami and they returned to Canada. In 1932 they purchased land on Sharp Road on Salt Spring Island. They worked hard to clear the land and develop a prosperous farm where they grew tomatoes in greenhouses. Their berries and other vegetables and fruits were sold in Vancouver and Victoria. The quality was so high that their berries were served to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth when they visited Victoria in 1939.

After enduring internment in several prison camps for Canadians of Japanese heritage during World War II, Kimiko and her husband eventually saved enough money to return to Salt Spring Island in 1954. Kimiko was not keen to return. Unfortunately, the racial prejudice that Kimiko and her family experienced during the war continued for many years after, as they sought to re-establish their farm on the island. 

The focus of Healey's biography is on Kimiko's perseverance, her determination to continue moving forward despite hardship and ongoing prejudice, even in the post-war years. It was her spirit of ganbaru that helped her through the most difficult times. In this regard, Kimiko is a role model for young readers showing them they can succeed even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Kimiko's story is illustrated with the colourful, digitally rendered artwork of Kimiko Fraser. There is a Historical Timeline of events in Kimiko's life. The inclusion of photographs of Kimiko and her family would have been a wonderful addition to this picture book. Healey's book offers younger readers the opportunity to explore the Japanese internment and the effects of racist policy. It's important to celebrate Canadians like Kimiko, who despite experiencing profound intolerance and racism, worked to make Canada a better country.

Book Details:

Kimiko Murakam: A Japanese-Canadian Pioneer by Haley Healey
Toronto: Heritage House Publishing Co.       2023

Unbound: The Life and Art of Judith Scott by Joyce Scott with Brie Spangler

Unbound is the remarkable story of Judith Scott, who overcomes her disabilities and institutionalization to become  an internationally recognized fabric artist. 

Entwined

Judy and Joyce are twins who live with their parents and three older brothers. They are always together, under the sun and moon, playing together in the neighbourhood. But when Joyce begins kindergarten, Judy, who has Down Syndrome, cannot come. She has learning disabilities and a weak heart. Although the doctors tell them that Judy is "slow", to Joyce she is "perfect just the way she is." 

The Colors of Gone

One day Joyce learns that her father has taken Judy away to a special school to live and where she will learn to talk. Joyce overhears her father tell her mother just how hard it was to leave Judy at the school. Although Judy's magazines, dolls and toys are placed in a box by her mother, Joyce takes them out every night and sleeps with them. Eventually, Joyce is able to visit her sister. When Joyce sees Judy's school, she is not happy: there are no books, crayons, or playground. Judy and Joyce hug and look at a magazine filled with pictures of bunnies.

Unbound

Time passes and Joyce brings her friends, her husband and then their children to meet Judy. Joyce still misses her sister and arranges for Judy to move from the institution in Ohio to her home in California. The staff at the institution tell Joyce that this move will be difficult because they believe Judy is deaf, something that surprises Joyce. Finally, the two sisters are together again, when Judy arrives unaccompanied on a flight.

A New Language

Judy and Joyce are much happier now. With Joyce working as a nurse during the day, Judy is enrolled in an art program for adults with disabilities at an art studio, Creative Growth Art Center. Although Joyce has never seen Judy do anything artsy, one day Judy begins working with natural materials: yarn, twine, twigs and wood. Soon Judy is in the studio everyday creating pieces out of many different materials. These creations are colourful and unique. One day after many years, Judy creates a piece that is small and black and she also gives Joyce all her magazines. The next day, Judy dies in Joyce's arms.

Discussion

Unbound is the story about the life of Judith Scott, whose disabilities hid her remarkable talent for decades, until her twin sister brought her home and enrolled her in an art studio. There Judith discovered her gift for communicating through fabric art.

Judith Scott lived at a time when people with Down Syndrome were often institutionalized. They received little education or intellectual stimulation and were often hidden away. In some cases, families were encouraged to send their children with disabilities away, in others, the lack of support for home care and education made living with their families almost impossible. In her Author Note at the back, Joyce Scott writes, "Wherever we live, we find many people who are bit 'different' in one way or another. These individuals, because of their differences, are often thought of as being less than those of us who consider ourselves 'normal'. They are often kept at a distance, not included in the everydayness of our lives....Because they are not valued, their unseen strenghts and gifts often go unrecognized, unexplored, and undiscovered." 

This is exactly what happened with Judith Scott. Institutionalized, her potential remained hidden until her sister, Joyce was able to bring her into her home, and to give her the opportunity to explore through art. Judith eventually discovered that she could express herself through the use of natural materials and so communicate with others.

Judith's twin sister, Joyce, found her sister's institutionalization emotionally distressing. In her eyes, Judy "...is perfect just the way she is. She knows things that no one else knows and sees the world in ways that I never will." Joyce was able to see past her sister's disabilities, knowing her as a loving person who responded in a different way to the world around her.

Judith's story is told through four short chapters from Joyce's perspective. At the back, a photograph of an older Judith is included along with information on the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland. There is also some information on Down Syndrome, a Timeline of Judith's life, and and Author Note and Illustrator Note. The illustrations for this picture book were created  with watercolor, colored pencils, and mixed media. Illustrator Melissa Sweet strove to interpret Judith's process and art using natural objects like wood, yarn, and thread.

Unbound is the inspiring story of Judith Scott, renowned fiber artist who discovered her ability to express herself through the use of natural materials, and to overcome her major life challenges.

Book Details:

Unbound: The Life and Art of Judith Scott by Joyce Scott with Brie Spangler
New York: Alfred A. Knopf      2021

The Fossil Whisperer: How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur by Helaine Becker

Wendy loved hunting through hills and gullies for unusual things like rocks, birds, burrs and bird feathers. She also loved to take pictures of her finds with her camera.

During a class field trip to the badlands near her home in Alberta, twelve-year-old Wendy discovered a piece of fossilized coral.  Her teacher explained that "Millions of years ago, this land was the Western Interior Seaway - an underwater world teeming with marine life." 

Wendy was intrigued by the information a fossil could provide about the past and so she began hunting for fossils in earnst. Her favourite place to hunt for fossils was Devil's Coulee, part of the badlands. Soon she was finding many fossils. 

When she was seventeen, Wendy made an rare find - a fossilized dinosaur eggshell. This discovery brought paleontologists to Devil's Coulee to explore for more fossils and they found them: more fossilized dinosaur eggs from Hypacrosaurus. Even more  important was the discovery of dinosaur embryos in the fossilized eggs!

These discoveries led to Wendy working at the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology and traveling the world to find fossils in other countries, including Greenland and Mongolia.

Wendy continued to hunt for fossils in Alberta, uncovering the fossil of a unique horned dinosaur. Because the rest of the fossilized remains of the dinosaur were buried deep, it took four years to excavate and extract the bones. Paleontologists were able to determine that this was the remains of a new horned dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. The dinosaur was named after Wendy, Wendiceratops pinhorensis. Meanwhile, Wendy continues to find fossils.

Discussion

Wendy Sloboda is a Canadian fossil hunter who has made many significant fossil discoveries over the past few decades that have led to a great understanding of dinosaurs. Born in Warner, Alberta, Sloboda found her first significant fossil in 1987 as a teenager. This discovery was of fossil eggshells, as described in Becker's picture book that led scientists to discover several nests of duck-billed dinosaurs called hadrosaurs. Other notable finds include a fossilized turtle containing eggs, the footprint of a new ichnospecies of dinosaur, as well as her discovery of a new species of horned dinosaur which was named in her honour.

Becker's detailed account of Slobada's contributions to paleontology includes some information on the types of animals that populated the Western Interior Seaway, and explanations as to why the discovery of the  Hypacrosaurus embryos was so significant. Becker's research for the book included interviewing Wendy Sloboda.

Telling Wendy Sloboda's story in picture book format does make her contributions accessible to younger readers but photographs of locations and of Wendy would have been nice additions to the book. A map showing Wendy's hometown, the location of the Alberta badlands (including some photographs of this unusual landform) her discoveries would also be helpful. Sandra Dumais' colourful digital illustrations round out the story.

Included in the back matter are several pages with information about the real Wendy, How to Be a Fossil Hunter, Alberta's Amazing Bone Beds (a picture of the Alberta badlands would have done nicely here), How Are Fossils Formed?, About Wendiceratops, a Glossary and where to find more information.

The Fossil Whisperer will help inspire a new generation of girls to consider geology and paleontology as potential career options. Wendy Sloboda's life demonstrates that a childhood interest can develop into a life-long career.

Book Details:

The Fossil Whisperer: How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur by Helaine Becker
Toronto: Kids Can Press      2022

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin

Grand Canyon is an exquisitely illustrated picture book about the formation of this amazing landform located in the United States.

The Grand Canyon is located in the state of Arizona and forms the major feature of the Grand Canyon National Park. It is one of the largest canyons in the world, an astonishing two hundred seventy-seven miles long and more than a mile deep.  The climate in the canyon varies from top to bottom, meaning there are different plants and animals as well.

The warmest part of the canyon is the Inner Gorge which is at the very bottom. Water is brought into the Inner Gorge by creeks, giving life to many different species. These creeks run into the Colorado River which runs the entire length of the canyon. This river has eroded through the various layers of rocks for over five million years.

The Colorado River is currently eroding into the very bottom rocks of the canyon, the Vishnu Basement Formation which is at least 1.64 Billion years old.

Walking up out of the canyon, means passing younger and younger rocks. From the basement layer, a hiker will first encounter the rocks of the Grand Canyon Supergroup (1.2 billion years old), the the Bright Angel Shale containing trilobite fossils when the area was covered by a sea. 

The Redwall Limestone comes next, overlain by the Hermit formation which formed 280  million years ago when giant dragonflies filled the sky and fish, amphibians and reptiles had evolved. the sea had treated but rivers were an important part of the landscape.

Above the Hermit Formation is the Cocinino Sandstone, formed 275 million years ago when the area was filled with sand dunes. The Cocinino Sandstone is overlain by the Toroweap Formation then capped by the Kaibab Formation which was deposited when the ocean once again covered this area 270 million years ago. Bryozoans, sponges and corals were a part of this diverse ecosystem, along with trilobites, nautiloids and sharks. 

As the hiker and his daughter climb through these different rock formations, the present-day ecosystem of the canyon also changes, offering a wide range of climates and habitats to experience.

Discussion

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin is a beautifully illustrated book that offers readers information about the geology, climate and wildlife of the Grand Canyon. This is done through the story of a young girl and her father as they walk the South Kaibab Trail up to the South Rim of the canyon.

To help readers become oriented, Chin offers two cross-sections at the beginning of the book: the ecological communities in Grand Canyon which highlights the boreal forest for example, and the Rock Layers in Grand Canyon which identifies the different rock formations and their ages. As the hikers make their way along the trail they also journey through geologic time from the oldest formation to younger and younger rocks. Chin explains what the Grand Canyon area was like during this time by highlighting fossils or geologic features they see in the rocks. For example  in the Grand Canyon Supergroup he writes that hikers "may find ripple marks preserved in the stone. Clues like these tell us what this place was like when the rock formed. They are like windows...." A cutout showing the ripple entices the reader to turn the page and view an illustration of what that vast sea with ripples on the tidal flat might have looked like 1.2 billion years ago! 

Following each geological period are colourful picture panels showing the ecological community the hikers experience as they climb past the rocks in the canyon. For example, as the hikers encounter the Redwall Limestone formed 340 million years ago from a vast sea, they see the California condor, an endangered vulture that nests in the caves of this rock formation. Chin also includes native species found in each of the ecological communities as well as how some geologic processes such as erosion, occur. 

Grand Canyon is rich in detail and facts, all presented in a wonderfully engaging way. There is a beautiful two-page panorama view of the Grand Canyon and at the back of the book there are numerous notes on the Grand Canyon. These include Human History of the canyon, Grand Canyon Ecology, Grand Canyon Geology which informs on sedimentary rocks and fossils, How Canyons Are Formed, The Colorado River, Grand Mystery which presents a short geologic history of the canyon area. A Note From The Author also explains his interest in geology and rocks, and how the illustrations for the book were designed based on his research. The illustrations were rendered with pen and ink, watercolour and gouache. There is a beautiful generalized cross-section of the Grand Canyon at the back of the book. Chin has also included a list of selected sources in the back matter.

Anyone who has marveled at the Grand Canyon and wishes to know more, will enjoy Jason Chin's masterpiece picture book Grand Canyon.

Book Details:

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin
New York: Roaring Brook Press   2017

Last Flight by Kristen Mai Giang

Saigon, Vietnam is a city with busy streets. We were used to the sounds of sandals on the pavement and motorbikes. But the war brought new sounds: heavy boots and booms that felt nearer and nearer. When it was time for Ma to have her baby, Ba drove her holding a lantern on his motorbike. There were now eight in our family.

Then we learned that Saigon was falling. Since Ba worked for Pan Am, an American airline, he told us we would go to America. Pan Am promised to fly their workers out of the country. As the war came closer, the booms became louder and some days we could smell tear gas. Eventually only one flight out of the country remained and we had to be on that flight. 

However, we did not have the papers required by Vietnamese citizens to leave the country. In the hopes of solving this problem, Mr. Topping who was Ba's boss at Pan Am decided to declare his Pan Am Vietnamese staff as his family and signed adoption papers for over three hundred people!  But they also needed a plane and a flight crew.

The last night before the flight, we slept at Ba's office. In the morning buses took us to the airport. But Ma and Ba were worried because people were saying the airport was closed. However, at the airport we saw a Pan Am plane landing. President Gerald Ford had declared the flight an emergency rescue flight and a volunteer crew were on the plane. Hundreds of people clamored aboard the plane. When it was decided the plane was too heavy, we threw out bags to make more room. 

Soon the plane raced down the runway and was in the air. We left Saigon behind and faced the biggest job of all, starting over.

Discussion

Last Flight is the story of Kristen Mai Giang's family's escape from Saigon on April 24, 1975, a mere six days before the city's surrender to the North Vietnamese army. Kristen Mai Giang was only eighteen months old when her family left Vietnam. The story recounted in the picture book is a fictionalized version of what happened, based largely on her older sister Linh's memories as well as those of Allan Topping whom the author interviewed.  For example, her family never knew Allan Topping but his role in saving more than four hundred people just before the fall of Saigon is well documented. In addition to that, he was also responsible for evacuating more than six hundred Vietnamese orphans out of the country in Operation Baby Life, the week prior.

Airways Magazine has an excellent article that describes the situation leading up to the last Pan Am flight, identified as 1965/31. The details of the flight were kept secret so that the airport would not be overrun with people attempting to board. The flight would take not only Pan Am employees but anyone else it could, who wanted to leave the country. 

Giang, in her Author's Note, writes that she "wanted to highlight what seemed to me the real miracle of this story, -- the simple and sometimes stunning ways people choose to help each other." Last Flight does just that, showing how Linh helped her mother pack, how she put one stuffed puppy into a bag so her little sister could be brave, how she helped the little ones stay quiet at Ba's office and how her Ma and Ba gave money to help pay for more people to escape on the last flight.

The artwork for Last Flight was created by retired pediatrician, Dow Phumiruk using pencil and coloured using Photoshop.

Included in the back matter is a photograph of the author's familiy shortly after their arrival in the United States, an Author's Note, Flight Facts about the last Pan Am flight out of Vietnam, and a Bibliography.

Book Details:

Last Flight by Kristen Mai Giang
Montclair: Levine Querido     2023

Oolichan Moon by Samantha Beynon

Two sisters, Little Sister and Big Sister, loved visiting their grandmother and grandfather. They were respected Elders who lived according to the traditional ways of their people, Nisga'a. One thing they really loved was a tasty fish called oolichan.

When the sisters woke up they both wondered if this was the time of year the Nisga'a catch oolichan. They decided to go downstairs and ask grandmother (jiji). Grandmother told Little Sister that the oolichan are very important to the Nisga'a and that to some Elders they were known as the "saviour fish".  

They were considered the "saviour fish" because they were the first fresh fish of the new year.  After the long winter months their people sometimes ran short of the dried fish that helped them through the winter. In early spring, millions of oolichan filled the rivers.

Grandmother explains to the girls that there were many reasons why the oolichan were saviours to their people. The fish is rich in vitamins which helps keep people healthy.  They also are so rich in oil that they can be lit and used like a candle when they are dried. The oil is often administered to a person who is sick.

Even more important is that the oil is like liquid gold to the Nisga'a people. Grandmother tells Little Sister and Big Sister that the oolichan are boiled in large, watertight boxes called brentwood boxes. The oil was skimmed off and traded to other nations. And yes, Grandmother tells the sisters that this is the time of the oolichan moon! At the  door is Daada, their auntie with a bag of fresh oolichan!

Discussion

Oolichan Moon is about an amazing little fish, called oolichan by the Nisga'a, that has been central to their culture for generations. Known as Thaleichthys pacificus to biologists, this small, smelt-like fish spends most of its life in the ocean but returns to the freshwater streams and rivers where it was born, to spawn and die. The oolichan run usually happens in March.

As noted in this picture book, the oolichan was considered a saviour fish because it was the first fresh food of the spring, just as the First Nations peoples along the coast were running short of their winter stores. The fish were so plentiful that they could be caught using a net or an oolichan rake. Today, oolichan is considered an endangered species. 

Although the sisters in the story speak about loving to eat the tasty oolichan, the author in her note titled "Oolichan Grease" writes that most of the fish caught were used to extract the oil. Oolichan fat is more like olive oil than fish oil, with about fifty-five percent mono-unsaturated fats and a low polyunsaturated fat content. This type of oil content means the oil doesn't spoil as readily and is the reason the fish when dried can be lighted like a candle. Oolichan has also been an important medicine for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.

Young readers learn all about the oolichan through the interaction of two sisters, Little Sister and Big Sister with their beloved Jiji or Grandmother. Although Little Sister asks many questions and keeps interrupting, Grandmother is patient with her, happy that her young grandchildren want to know about their heritage and culture. Informing her grandchildren offers a vehicle for informing the reader too. Beynon not only highlights the importance of the oolichan in the Nisga'a culture but also demonstrates the importance of intergenerational relationships to Indigenous peoples.This relationship has been a way of passing on traditional knowledge to the younger generation.

Oolichan Moon is illustrated by Lucy Trimble who is from the Frog Clan. Trimble's richly coloured illustrations contain many elements of traditional Indigenous design and artwork. Author Samantha Beynon who is of Nisga'a, Ts'msyen and European heritage, has incorporated related Nisga'a vocabulary in her story and has included several separate pages at the back: Nisga'a Vocabulary, A Fish Central to Nisga'a Culture, Oolichan Grease and Oolichan Fishing.

Book Details:

Oolichan Moon by Samantha Beynon
Madeira Park, B.C. :  Harbour Publishing,   2022

The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana Stiefel

Yaffa was a girl who lied in a shtetl, a small Jewish town, called Eishyshok. Yaffa's family and most other families in the shtetl had roots that went back over nine hundred years. Their stories were part of the shtetl, and helped keep their faith and traditions alive. Yaffa and her brother Yitzchak played their way through the seasons, sledding and skating in winter, swimming in the lake in the summer. Yaffa would help her Grandma Chaya sell candles on market days. Yaffa and her friends would have their fortunes told for a fee. 

Yaffa's Grandma Alte has a photography studio above the family's pharmacy. Her grandfather brought a camera from America years earlier and Grandma Alte has now become one of the town's photographers. She photographed shopkeepers, newlyweds and babies. Pictures of the Jewish New Year were mailed all over the world to family and friends. Even Yaffa had her picture taken when she was six years old, feeding the chickens. But that year things changed...

German tanks and soldiers came to Eishyshok. Jewish schools and businesses were shut down and the Jews rounded up and forced into the synagogue. Yaffa's father fled out a window and fled with his family into the forest. Yaffa stuffed a few family photographs into her shoes. Almost all of Eishyshok's Jews were killed over a two day period. But Yaffa, her brother Yitzchak and her parents were saved by a kind farmer who hid them in his underground shelter.

As they hid over the months, Yaffa learned to read and her father shared stories of their town's holidays and weddings. During the war they would live in many different places but Yaffa kept safe the photographs she had saved. 

After the war, Yaffa did not return to Eishyshok, but instead moved to Jerusalem. She grew up, married and moved with her family to America. There she became a history professor.

When a new museum was being built in Washington that would document the Holocaust, President Jimmy Carter asked Yaffa to design a memorial. Instead of focusing on death and suffering, Yaffa chose to highlight the lives of those who were lost in the Holocaust. She remembered the people of her shtetl, the children, brides and grooms, the milkmen and the musicians. Remembering the photographs she carefully saved during the Holocaust, she wondered if others had done the same. Perhaps she could build a memorial to the lives of Eishyshok, photograph by photograph and that's what she set out to do.

Discussion

The Tower of Life gives young readers the backstory of a memorial known as the Tower of Faces which is part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington, D.C. The designer of the memorial, Yaffa Eliach survived the Holocaust along with her father and brother Yitzchak. Most of their village were not so lucky. In 1941, almost the entire Jewish population of the shtetl was murdered by the Einsatgruppen (the Nazi killing squads). When Yaffa returned for a visit in 1987, not only was there not one single Jewish resident in living in Eishyshok, but the Jewish cemeteries had been destroyed, the main synagogue was a sports center and the events of the massacre largely erased and forgotten. 

To commemorate what happened in Eishyshok, and to honour the lives of the Jewish people, Yaffa collected six thousand photographs of the residents of Eishyshok that were taken between 1890 and 1941.  Of these photographs, Yaffa chose just over one thousand photos to be used in the permanent memorial which opened in 1993. The photographs not only represent the innocent victims of the massacre but also shtetl life prior to the Holocaust. Of course for the late Yaffa Eliach (she passed away in 2016), the photographs were also a memory of what happened. 

Author Chana Steifel makes use of the picture book format to tell Yaffa's story and that of the creation of the Tower of Faces memorial. It is a compelling read that makes both the story of the Holocaust and the Tower of  Faces accessible to a younger audience. Illustrator Susan Gal's artwork mirrors the events  of Yaffa Eliach's life: life in the shtetl prior to the Holocaust is portrayed in vivid colours of greens, reds, yellows and blues, while the arrival of  the Nazis and the subsequent massacre sees the palette change to reds, oranges and blacks. The people of the shtetl in life before the Holocaust have recognizable faces and features, smiling and interacting with one another. They have a dynamic community, bonded by over nine hundred years of history.  During the massacre, all is chaos and darkness, with faces of fear. Yaffa's work to research and collect photographs for the memorial over a period of seventeen years, is portrayed again in vivid colours. The faces of relatives and friends, as they look at old photographs, are shown filled with the joy of remembering.

The Tower of Life is a fascinating account of  Yaffa Eliach's determination to remember the victims in a way that honored the best parts of their lives, their zest for living, for loving and being with family. The author has included a timeline of Yaffa's life in A Snapshot of Yaffa's Life and Legacy, as well as a Bibliography.

Readers may find this thesis, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Multivalent Tower of Faces by Grace Astrove to be very informative.

Book Details:

The Tower of Life by Chana Stiefel
New York: Scholastic Press      2022

The Secret Pocket by Peggy Janicki

Mary's 'Utsoo (grandmother) and 'Utsiyan (grandfather) had a smoke house next to their lake. The smoke house was used to smoke meat, fish, berries and maitlus (a cake made out of berries). 'Utsoo spent so much time in the smoke house tending the fire that she had a pad and pillows to rest on. There was Utsoo's hugs and sweetened tea, and the feeling of being loved.

But at the end of summer, this all changed when one day a priest and nun came to visit their family. Mary and her family were busy fishing at their lake, and she and her brothers and sisters were playing on the beach. It was decided that Mary along with her sister Aggie and her brother James would be sent far from home to Lejac residential school. 

At the school, Mary who was too young to attend Kindergarten, wandered the hallways during class time. She was homesick for 'Uloo, 'Uba, 'Utsoo, and "Utsiyan. She also rarely saw her brother James who lived on the boys side of the school. The were not allowed to speak Dakelh. 

At Lejac, Mary was always hungry and cold. They were taught by the Sisters who were strict and often cruel. Mary was often homesick. Fall, winter, spring and early summer were spent at the Lejac residential school. But when she was home, Mary helped 'Uloo (mother) with mending and learned to sew moccasins together, beading them. Mary's father who was Chief, would visit Lejac to check on his children. These visits had to be arranged ahead of time and Mary and her siblings were given extra food so that it appeared they were being cared for.

But Mary and the other girls found ways to survive. They soon learned that it was fairly easy to take food from the kitchen. Then they had a brilliant idea! With rags from the rag box, Mary and her schoolmates used their sewing skills to sew pockets into their petticoats. The pockets were used to hide the food they took from the kitchen. They took apples, carrots and bread to feed themselves and their school mates. This extra food ensured they had enough to eat and to survive.

Discussion

The Secret Pocket tells how a resilient group of young Indigenous girls, struggling in one of Canada's residential schools came up with a brilliant idea that helped them survive. The author, Margaret (Peggy) Janicki is an award-winning  Dakelh teacher from the Nak'azdli Whut'en First Nation. Her mother, Mary attended Lejac residential school but never spoke about her experiences until later in life. In her Author's Note, Peggy Janicki recounts how her mother shared the story of the secret pocket while recovering from a broken hip. This story has since been gifted to Indigenous graduates at the University of the Fraser Valley in the form of a secret pocket sewn into the stole of each graduate. The secret pocket holds a copy of Mary's story. More about Peggy Janicki can be found at her website.

The Lejac residential school opened in 1922 on the shore of Fraser Lake in British Columbia. It was run by the Oblates of Immaculate Mary and the Sisters of the Child Jesus. The school remained open until 1976. As with many residential schools, former students indicated they were physically and sexually abused, and there were deaths of students at the school as well. In 1937, four young boys froze to death after running away from the school and attempting to make the journey home to the Nadleh reserve.

Mary's story is one of resilience, courage, and perseverance. The Secret Pocket is yet another story that highlights the suffering Indigenous children endured in the Canadian residential school system but more importantly also demonstrates their ingenuity and determination. As Mary reflects back on this period of her life, she notes, "Now as a great-grandmother, I look back at this time and see what sweet little geniuses we were. In the full face of genocide and cruelty, we secured our families' path for generation to come. We sewed our survival into every stitch. We come from a strong line of artists and geniuses, so we stitch with easy skill." In other words, the secret pockets thwarted the goal of assimilation and destruction of the Indigenous culture. It was a fight for their future.

The author includes a Glossary of terms at the back as well as an Author's Note that explains how she came to learn about the secret pocket from her mother. The digital illustrations were done by "Eastern Fraser Valley-based artist Carrielynn Victor who is a descendant of Coast Salish ancestors that have been sustained by S'olh Temexw (their land) since time immemorial and Western European ancestors that settled around Northern Turtle Island beginning in the 1600's."

The Secret Pocket offers Canadian readers of all ages another opportunity to reflect on the history of Canada's residential schools and the chance for all to experience intergenerational healing through the stories of our Indigenous peoples.

Book Details:

The Secret Pocket by Peggy by Janicki
Orca Book Publishers     2023