scholarly journals Our Last Issue

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Desmarais
Keyword(s):  
Junior High School ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Current Form ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Children's Stories ◽  
The University

Dear Readers, After publishing our beloved journal for nearly ten years, the time has come for us to publish a final issue of the Deakin Review in its current form. We hope it will enjoy a second life at a later date under the auspices of another group at the University of Alberta. On behalf of the editorial team, I would like to thank all of our book reviewers for their hard work and dedication. Your reviews were always a joy to read and were it not for your invaluable contributions, the journal would not have been a success for so many years. It’s amazing to think that our large team of reviewers included people united not only by their keen interest in children’s books but also by family bonds. Indeed, we regularly received reviews from people who are related to each other, like Kirk MacLeod and his daughters Lorisia and Kaia MacLeod, who all share a wonderfully infectious enthusiasm for children’s literature and libraries. We also benefited from the support of prolific reviewers like Leslie Aitken and Sandy Campbell. Remarkably, since our very first issue, Sandy introduced many new librarians, family members, and others who have a love of childrens' books to review for the Deakin Review.   Fortunately, our journal always benefited from the support of a highly capable team of editors. Accordingly, I would like to thank my fellow editors, Kim Frail, Debbie Feisst, Janice Kung, and Denis Lacroix, for volunteering their services so generously. They always carried out their work with tremendous enthusiasm and collegiality. I am also grateful to all of our former editors, including David Sulz, Hanne Pearce, Allison Sivak, and Cam Laforest, for their help and encouragement. Over the years, I had opportunities to interview some fascinating authors who shared wonderful insights about their work for the enjoyment of our readership. Our journal also benefited greatly from the contributions of colleagues like Lynne Wiltse and Joanne de Groot who gave their students opportunities to write reviews of contemporary children’s books and have them published in the Deakin Review. Other UofA colleagues wrote guest editorials and reviews for special issues. In one of our special issues, we were proud to partner with teachers from Ben Calf Robe - St. Clare Elementary/Junior High School who asked their students to submit book reviews for a class assignment during READ IN Week. Thanks are due as well to our namesake, Dr Andrea Deakin, who has been an inspiration to us all for her lifelong enthusiasm for children’s stories. I am grateful to Margaret Law for introducing me to Andrea so many years ago. I reserve special thanks for you, our devoted readers, for taking a lively interest in our journal and the books we reviewed. I sincerely hope that your passion for children’s books continues to flourish and grow. Please take good care of yourselves, especially during these trying times, and may you always draw comfort from good books, family, and friendships. All the best, Robert Desmarais, Managing Editor  

scholarly journals The Deakin Review Celebrates a Significant Milestone

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Desmarais
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Good Time ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Similar Content ◽  
The University ◽  
To Receive

Dear Readers,We have reached an important milestone now that the Deakin Review is in its third year of publication. To wit, we have published well over 200 reviews, our readership continues to grow, and we’ve been delighted to receive so many compliments about the overall quality and appeal of our online content.For the entire month of September 2013, we displayed two full-scale exhibitions of Deakin books in the Humanities and Social Sciences and Coutts Education Libraries at the University of Alberta. We relished this opportunity to show more than 100 books, accompanied by excerpts from the corresponding reviews, to the campus community, which further raised the profile of our quarterly journal. In fact, many students have since asked about opportunities to submit book reviews to our editors for consideration.As many of you know, the Deakin Review was originally conceived as an in-house publication that would publish content from our own librarians and support staff, but we now believe that this is a good time to expand our pool of reviewers to ensure that our journal continues to grow and thrive. So, if you are thinking of submitting a review, please contact me by email and I’ll be pleased to review the submission process with you. Our editorial team will still be comprised of librarians from the University of Alberta Libraries—a unique point of distinction that sets us apart from other journals with similar content—but we will begin accepting well-written reviews of recently published children’s books from anyone, effective immediately.In other news, we recently decided that the Deakin Review should transition to a peer-reviewed journal within 18 months. This means that we’ll continue to publish thoughtful and well-written book reviews just as we have been doing, but in due course we’ll also include a peer-reviewed article in each issue about practitioner, cultural, or social issues relating to children’s books (e.g., how children’s books are used in the classroom; readers’ advisory services offered by YA librarians; language development rates for young children who use multimedia e-books). We’re looking forward to publishing excellent scholarship in these areas, so please contact our content editors if you would like to submit a paper for peer review and we’ll be pleased to discuss whether your paper meets the criteria for publication in our journal.It’s exciting to consider that we aspire to peer-reviewed status, which would mean that our content would be indexed by full-text scholarly databases for multidisciplinary research. Clearly, this is an ideal time to contribute to the growth and success of our journal, but rest assured that we will continue to help readers select children’s books by looking for excellence in writing, design, and illustration. Our main focus is, and always will be, to handpick the books that will appeal to children, young adults, and all those interested in children’s books.Enjoy our new issue!Best wishes,Robert DesmaraisManaging Editor

scholarly journals Deakin Announcements

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Desmarais
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Publishing Program ◽  
Scholarly Article ◽  
Faculty Of Education

Dear Deakin Readers,I hope you enjoyed a restful and happy holiday! Our editorial team met recently to develop a publishing plan for the coming year and we would like to communicate some important news. To keep everyone in the loop about our editorial plans and related activities, we will update our readers with an annual report, which we intend to publish at the end of each volume year. Thus, our first report will be published later this summer. On the matter of peer-reviewed issues, the editorial team will continue to solicit articles for review, so please consider contacting us if you are interested in writing a practitioner-themed scholarly article about children’s books (e.g., building a children’s science library; developing a young adult publishing program; writing picture books about children with disabilities; etc.). We intend to publish our second peer-reviewed article later this year, following on the success of our first peer-reviewed article in last year’s health issue (Vol. 4, No. 2).Finally, the April publication (Vol. 4, No. 4) will be a special double issue reserved for University of Alberta graduate students who are studying children’s literature, resource selection, and evaluation of children’s books in the Faculty of Education. We look forward to reading their thoughtful opinions and recommendations! In the meantime, we have recommended many good books to help you ward off the winter doldrums. Enjoy!Best wishes,Robert Desmarais, Managing Editor

scholarly journals Northern Dancer: King of the Racetrack by G. Joyce

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Thoroughbred Racing

Joyce, Gare.  Northern Dancer: King of the Racetrack.  Markham, ON:  Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012. Print.It is not often that you find a biography of an animal, but in this case, the animal was a national icon.  According to Gare Joyce, Northern Dancer, the great racehorse “made more money as an accomplished racehorse and sire than any Canadian athlete in history – even more than Wayne Gretzky ”.  The book begins with a genealogical chart that shows that of the 19 horses starting in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, 18 were descended from Northern Dancer.This book chronicles Northern Dancer from his birth through to his wins and standing at stud until his death at age 29.  Through his story, the reader also learns about the world of North American thoroughbred racing.  We meet the great jockeys:  Ron Turcotte, Willie Shoemaker and Bill Hardtack who all rode Northern Dancer to victories. We learn about the development of racehorses and the major races:  The Preakness, The Belmont, The Kentucky Derby and the Queen’s Plate.   Joyce writes informally and conversationally, as though he is telling one long story.  For example, he tells us that Northern Dancer “became unruly around his stall…At least once he ripped the shirt off his trainer.” Later we are told that a trainer inadvertently let Northern Dancer run hard the day before a race and people thought that no thoroughbred could “run the equivalent of two races on two consecutive days.   As it turned out, the only ones hurting after the Florida Derby were those who hadn’t bet on the heavily favoured Northern Dancer.”  The text is accompanied by many photos of Northern Dancer, including archival images of horse and jockey in races, at the wire and in the winners’ circle.           Overall, this is an enjoyable story of a remarkable horse.  Northern Dancer: King of the Racetrack is highly recommended for junior high school libraries and public libraries everywhere.  Highly recommended:  4 stars out of 4Reviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

scholarly journals Artificial Eyes by B. Sheen

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Borle
Keyword(s):  
Junior High School ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Text Book ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Black And White

Sheen, Barbara.  Artificial Eyes. Norwood House Press, 2017.Artificial Eyes is one of a series of non-fiction books called Tech Bytes, that “explores...new technologies and how they are changing the way people perform everyday tasks.” Barbara Sheen, author of almost 100 children’s books, explores the history of artificial eyes, how they are made, their effect on people’s lives, and future developments. This is a detailed work that is designed to be a reference or text book for Grades 4 – 6. It is an odd combination of factual presentation and anecdotal stories about individuals. For example, “When Teddy was two years old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in his eye. To rid him of the disease, his eye was surgically removed.”  Squeamish children may find some content disturbing. To balance the dense text, most pages have a photograph, diagram, or side-bar containing interesting information. There are also “Did you know?” boxes, which allow for some level of interaction. For example, “Did you know? Bionic eyes only provide black-and-white vision. Experts are working on software that would let wearers see colors.”  The end of each chapter also has text-based questions and potential research projects. In this way it is more like a text book, but it is unlikely that a classroom would need textbooks on a subject this specific.While the short sentence and paragraph structures are appropriate for the upper elementary reading level, many of the words and word-combinations will be difficult for students in these grades. They may require help in understanding the content. There are few children’s books about artificial eyes, so this would be a good addition to public libraries and both elementary and junior high school libraries. Recommended: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sean C. BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.

Becoming Holmes by Sh. Peacock

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Junior High School ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Sherlock Holmes ◽  
Original Series ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Arthur Conan Doyle ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
The University

Peacock, Shane.  Becoming Holmes.  Toronto, ON:  Tundra Books, 2012.  Print. This is the final book in The Boy Sherlock Holmes series.  In the first five books, Shane Peacock developed the landscape of Holmes’ early life, preparing the reader for his transition into the adult genius-detective that we all know and love.  Holmes’ creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not supply much information about Holmes’ childhood, so authors have great scope to imagine how such an extraordinary person as Sherlock Holmes grew up to become what he is.  Shane Peacock is not the first to create a prequel series, nor is he likely to be the last. Prequels to much-loved stories are always a risk.  However, Peacock has done a remarkably good job of imagining Holmes’ early years while staying true enough to Conan Doyle’s character that readers will not be jarred when they progress from this series to the original series.  In this rendition of Holmes’ childhood, much is explained by the fact that he is a half-Jew and that his parents have died leaving the boy in the care of the apothecary, Sigerson Bell.  Bell has taught Holmes much of his vast knowledge base as well as some disguise and martial arts techniques. In this series we also meet Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, already ensconced in government, as well as youthful versions of Inspector Lestrade and the arch-enemy, here called Malefactor.   By the end of this book, Holmes has matured and thinks, “I am a man… It is just the beginning”, giving readers a segué into the original series. While other series about Holmes’ youth, for example Andrew Lane’s  Sherlock Holmes, the Legend Begins Series address older teen readers,  Peacock has written these volumes for 10 to 14 year olds.   His use of language is age-appropriate and the final volume, like the earlier ones, is action-packed with lots of intrigue and just enough of the macabre to keep pre-teens and early teens engaged.   Becoming Holmes is a good read that is highly recommended for public libraries and both elementary and junior-high school libraries everywhere. Highly Recommended:  4 stars out of 4 Reviewer:  Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

scholarly journals The Owl and the Two Rabbits by N. Sammurtok

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Children's Stories ◽  
The University

Sammurtok, Nadia. The Owl and the Two Rabbits. Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2019. Nadia Sammurtok, author of several children’s books including Caterpillar Woman and Siuluk: The Last Tuniq, has written stories of tundra animals. Like many Inuit children’s stories, this one is cautionary, teaching children not to play in dangerous places. In this story two small rabbits, who have been told to “remain hidden when they played outside,” get carried away jumping and attract the attention of an owl who wants to eat them. They escape by outwitting the owl and working together, two common survival themes in Inuit children’s stories.  Marcus Cutler’s artwork is bright and fun. Often northern scenes are portrayed as muted or dark, but Cutler’s skies are orange, red or purple, and the grasses are vivid greens and yellows. Small children will be able to enjoy the pictures on their own, but the text will require an older reader. While this book is not meant to be realistic—the animals speak and small rabbits are able to push a huge rock—Sammurtok does include some real animal behaviour from which children can learn. For example, “the rabbits' brown coats blended in with the tundra” and they freeze when threatened. Overall this is an enjoyable volume which would be a good addition to public libraries and elementary school libraries. Highly recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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