scholarly journals Slither and Slide: What’s Outside by N. Hilb

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Black Bear ◽  
Lead Author ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
The West ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Photographic Images ◽  
First Case ◽  
The University

Hilb, Nora, Simon Shapiro and Sheryl Shapiro. Slither and Slide: What’s Outside. Toronto:  Annick Press, 2012. Print. Nora Hilb, who is listed as lead author on this book, is a prolific illustrator living in Argentina.  The text is by Toronto authors Simon and Sheryl Shapiro. Together, this team of three has produced an entertaining and educational book which progresses through the seasons from spring to winter. Each two page spread has four integrated parts. On the left page is a photograph of something outside. The first is of a fruit tree in blossom. On the facing page is an image of children outside, doing something that mirrors what is in the photograph.  In the first case, to mirror the tree, they are watering a plant. The accompanying text is in the form of a three line rhyme about what the children are doing. The rhyme is followed by one word in large capital letters. For example, one of the winter photographs shows a row of wind turbines and is matched with a drawing of a child with a pinwheel. The accompanying text reads, “The blustery wind/that blows in from the west/ for windmills and pinwheels, it’s really the best/ WHIRR!” One can easily imagine reading the rhyme to a child and then spelling the word out at the end as a learning activity. Many children will learn to recite the rhymes. The high-quality photographic images are the work of a variety of people. Hilb’s drawings are whimsical, with lots of bright colours and action. The page pairs are fun. The image of a waterfall is paired with an image of children at the beach dumping water from one bucket to another. The rainbow image is paired with children colouring with a rainbow of crayons. The picture of the black bear is paired with an image of a child in a bear-costume pretending to scare his Dad. Overall this is an attractive book that incorporates a little learning and lots of ways to engage and amuse small children. Highly recommended. Recommendation:  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 Great Sheep Shenanigans by P. Bently

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
School Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Harry Potter ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
The University

Bently, Peter.  The Great Sheep Shenanigans.  Illus. M. Matsuoka. London:  Andersen Press, 2011. Print. In this tale, it is really the wolf, Lou Pine (hear the French loup and Lupin, the werewolf from Harry Potter), who gets up to shenanigans, rather than the sheep.  The text is a clever and funny rhyme that tells the story of the wolf trying to catch a lamb to eat.  Along the way, we hear sheep-related cultural and literary references from, “the wolf in sheep’s clothing,” to Red Riding Hood. “I’m just in the mood for a Gran-flavoured snack,” the wolf tells us. The wolf makes many attempts to catch a lamb, but is always thwarted, if not by his own silliness, then by the water-gun toting Ma Watson, by bees, by Red Riding Hood’s Granny, and finally, by Rambo the Ram, who butts him into “a big pile of poo!”  While the intended audience is pre-school, the author sprinkles in some big words, such as “derrière”, “kersplat”, “skedaddling” and “vindaloo”, that children will enjoy and repeat, but adults will need to explain and pronounce on the first reading. The text is often printed over the illustrations, sometimes in extra-large font to emphasize a point.  Sometimes it is part of the illustration.  When “Lou found a thicket of blossoming trees,” the words from the phrase “Down came the blossom” float down the page with the blossoms.  The illustrations are as much fun as the text. The sheep are most often depicted as balls of white with heads, ears and four small pegs for legs.  Lou Pine is a two-dimensional creature, while Rambo the Ram blows steam out his nose and wears boxing gloves. The sheep occasionally have glasses, bow-ties or hair-bows. Because the rhyme is jaunty and the illustrations are fun and inventive, this will be a book that small children will want to have read to them over and over.  Highly recommended for public and elementary school libraries. Recommendation:  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 The Dog by H. Mixter

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
School Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Golden Retriever ◽  
Small Children ◽  
Therapy Dog ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Sick Children ◽  
The University

Mixter, Helen. The Dog. Illustrated by Margarita Sada. Greystone Books, 2017.  In The Dog, Helen Mixter has kept her text brief and simple, and allowed the images to convey the story.  It is a story about a boy who is ill and how much his quality of life is improved by the introduction of a therapy dog.  Margarita Sada’s artwork easily shows the fatigue, sadness and illness of the boy and the unconditional affection of the dog. The dog, who looks like a young golden retriever, is never given a name, perhaps to keep her more generic. She is depicted as having boundless health and energy. She even has rosy cheeks, indicating health. The colours that Sada uses are bright and natural and the pictures will attract and hold the attention of small children. Inspired by a visit to a Vancouver children’s hospice the book gently presents how effective a therapy dog can be for very sick children.  The Dog would be a good addition to public and school libraries. It would also be an excellent addition to libraries in children’s hospitals. 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 Sweetest Kulu by C. Kalluk

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Character Trait ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Arctic Hare ◽  
The University

Kalluk, Celina.  Sweetest Kulu. Illus. Alexandria Neonakis.  Iqaluit, NU:  Inhabit Media Inc., 2014.  Print.“Kulu” is an Inuktitut term of endearment for babies and small children.  In this work, traditional throat singer and author, Celina Kalluk, shows all of the gifts that nature brings to a newborn baby.  The images show the baby cradled and adored by many creatures.  Each creature brings a character trait as a gift for the baby.  “Caribou chose patience for you, cutest Kulu.  He gave you the ability to look to the stars, so that you will always know where you are and may gently lead the way”.  With each gift, Kalluk uses a different adjective to describe the baby – happy Kulu, admired Kulu, beloved Kulu. Illustrator, Alexandria Neonakis has created an image for each animal in rich and deep colours.  The images spread over two facing pages with text over-printed. Each image is gentle and tender.  The baby is shown nestled between the front hooves of a musk-ox, curled up against a polar bear or snuggled up in the paws of an Arctic hare.  The baby is reflected in the water when the Arctic char brings a gift of tenderness.This book is a beautiful representation of a mother’s love for her baby reflected in the traditional Inuit connection to the land and nature.  It is a calming and peaceful book, which will become a bedtime read-aloud favourite. Highly recommended for elementary school libraries, public libraries and babies’ rooms 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 The Dreaded Ogress of the Tundra by N. Christopher

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Cautionary Tales ◽  
The University

Christopher, Neil.  The Dreaded Ogress of the Tundra.  Iqaluit:  Inhabit Media, 2015. PrintAmautaliit are giant ogresses who eat small children.  They roam the Arctic tundra looking for unsupervised children such as orphans or those who have wandered away from camp.  They sneak up on the children, capture and carry them away in their disgusting baskets containing rotting seaweed and giant bugs.  These stories have two themes.  First, they are cautionary tales designed to keep children from wandering away from camps and villages. Second, they usually show the children using their ingenuity or ancient magic to escape the not-too-smart amautaliit.This is an updated and revised version of Christopher’s 2009 volume, Stories of the Amautalik, which contains versions of the two stories presented in this work.  However, this edition of the book is more like a junior handbook to amautaliit (plural of amautalik). While this book has many illustrations which are appropriately dark, scary and creepy, there is much more text than one usually finds in an Inhabit Media book.  At least half of the pages are full text and like Stories of the Amautalik, the reading level is high for young children. The book includes a seven-page introduction to amautaliit, which describes who these creatures are, their clothing, their baskets, their caves and how they hunt small children.  At the end of the book there is an “Other Ogres and Ogresses” section, which gives single page, illustrated descriptions of similar creatures, including a giant spider that assumes a human-like form. Even though this is a revision of an earlier work that many libraries will have, the expanded content would make it a useful addition to libraries with children’s collections, and particularly to academic libraries that collect works on Arctic myths and legends.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 Gina’s Wheels by M. H. Bishop

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Role Model ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
The University ◽  
Adult Reader

Bishop, Mary Harelkin. Gina’s Wheels. Regina, SK: DriverWorks Ink, 2014. Print.While this is a picture book and the protagonist is just entering kindergarten, the language is quite a high reading level and the text dense.  It is definitely a book that needs an adult reader. The artwork in this book is simple and unsophisticated, but will engage small children with the work.  Illustrator Diane Greenhorn does resort to the visual cliché of diversity in the classroom, including the obligatory red-head, blonde, African American, brown-skinned children and child with a hijab, although kindergarten-aged Muslim girls are often not covered.The messages that the book conveys are complex.  It is about a child, Gina, who encounters Métis Paralympian Colette Bourgonje, who has a wheelchair.  Gina is sufficiently moved by the meeting that she goes home and for several weeks does everything while sitting in a stroller, to understand the experience of being in a wheelchair.  When she enters kindergarten and meets a child in a wheelchair, her experience helps her befriend the child.While the book does a good job of presenting how to interact with a disabled person, the concept of the Paralympics and the integration of a disabled child into school, it does not present the things that Gina had to do to adapt to life seated in a stroller.  As is often the case when the able-bodied write about the disabled, rather than from the disabled person’s perspective, the reader does not learn much more about life as a disabled person.  However, the book does present disability in a positive light and also shows Bourgonje as a role model.  It also presents Gina as a role model of a child demonstrating understanding and empathy and Gina’s Mom as a role model as a parent who is positive about disability and supportive of her child’s exploratory learning.   Because there are few children’s books about disability, and fewer still about disabled Indigenous people, this book is recommended with reservations for public library and elementary school libraries.Recommended with reservation:  2 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 Christmas in the Mouse House by M. Kneen

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Health Sciences ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Christmas Tree ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
The University

Kneen, Maggie.  Christmas in the Mouse House. Somerville, Massachusetts:  Templar Books, 2011. Print. This delightful pop-up and lift-the-flap book will entertain adults and children alike. English children’s author and illustrator, Maggie Kneen, who is also an architectural and archaeological illustrator, creates nostalgic images of the perfect family Christmas. The Mouse family lives in what might be a Colonial-era house. Mama Mouse wears long dresses and aprons and Papa Mouse has a knee-length red frock coat and a cravat. Mama Mouse cooks over an open fireplace with a tea kettle hanging on a hook. Upstairs, Nanny, in a pink candy-stripe dress and white servant’s cap, puts baby to bed in canopied cradle. It is Christmas Eve and Mama and Papa have hidden all of the Christmas decorations.  Readers help all the little mice find them by lifting the flaps. Christmas decorations are behind the clock, in a pot on the shelf, in cabinets and even outside in a bird’s next. During the course of their search, the little mice also collect toys that would make good ornaments and even make some of their own ornaments. Every pair of pages shows a different room in the house, each with several flaps. Every other room scene has a pop-up.  The last pop-up shows the whole Mouse family dancing around the decorated Christmas tree, which everyone agrees is “the most beautiful Christmas tree they’ve ever seen.” The reading level of this book is too high for the age 3-6 target audience.  However, it is the kind of book that adults read to small children. Like all pop-up books this volume will succumb to wear and tear, but will be much loved. Highly recommended. Recommendation:  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.

scholarly journals The Qalupalik by E. Kilabuk

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Picture Book ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Early Readers ◽  
Colour Image ◽  
Text Page ◽  
The University ◽  
Different Cultures

Kilabuk, Elisha.  The Qalupalik. Iqaluit:  Inhabit Media Inc., 2011. Print. This volume is the first in the Unikkaakuluit Series from Inhabit Media.  It is currently available in English and South Baffin Inuktitut editions, with other Inuktitut dialects in the works.   Contemporary Inuit storyteller, Elisha Kilabuk, leads off this series with a story that he learned from his mother, who learned it from her father. It is not unusual to find a myth appearing in different cultures or subcultures in different forms.  This cautionary story is about the qalupalik has many variants.  The qalupalik is a scary monster that lives under the sea ice, and captures small children who wander too close to the water.  The monster is outwitted by a small orphan child, who convinces the creature that his toes, which are poking out of his shoes, will eat her. Inhabit Media has recently published similar stories in Stories of the Amautalik: Fantastic Beings from Inuit Myths and Legends.    In that version, the creature comes from underground, but is still outwitted by a child who tells the creature that his toes eat Amautaliks. The Qalupalik is a single story in a picture book.   There are a few sentences on each text page and a full colour image on the facing page.  Joy Ang’s artwork is evocative and effective.  Her qalupalik is green and slimy with a huge nose, white eyes, webbed feet and long claws.  It is scary enough to keep any child from roaming too close to the water’s edge.  The images of this disgusting creature will also cause this book to be in high demand among those 6 to 8 year olds who love “gross” pictures.  In contrast to the qalupalik, Ang’s images of the children are more cartoon-like and light-hearted.  They are a nice balance to the scary monster.  While the text will be too difficult for early readers, the images tell the story and the book will work well as a “read aloud”. Overall The Qalupalik is an excellent presentation of the myth and is recommended for public and elementary school libraries. Highly Recommended:  4 stars out of 4 Reviewer:  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 Larf by A. Spires

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
School Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Small Children ◽  
Teddy Bear ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The University

Spires, Ashley.  Larf.  Toronto:  Kids Can Press, 2012. Print. This book is a twist on the “lonely hearts” theme, with lots of humour.  Larf is a sasquatch who feels “like nobody knows [he] even exist[s].  Author Ashley Spires has given him a lifestyle that somewhat mirrors her own – jogging, gardening, and walking his pet bunny, Eric. Larf is excited to hear that another sasquatch is going to make an appearance in a town nearby, so he decides to go meet him.  When he gets there, he is disappointed to find out that it is a guy in a sasquatch suit who tells him that “Sasquatches aren’t real”.  But he does meet another sasquatch, who has also been enticed into town by the sasquatch performance, a girl sasquatch named Shurl.  She carries a handbag and wears a pink dress.  And so a friendship begins. This story is of the same genera as E.T., Shrek and Monsters, Inc. that make scary, imaginary creatures less scary by making them look cuddly or childlike and showing them leading day-to-day lives similar to our own.  Larf is both cuddly, looking a bit like a furry teddy bear and child-like in that his head is large for his body, like a baby’s.   Larf does ordinary things.  He eats at a table, rides a bus, does laundry on Wednesday and would like to have a friend to play teeter-totter with him.  It is hard to be afraid of a furry creature who is lonely and wants to have friends. The drawings are all cartoon-like and presented in a variety of attractive ways.  Some fill more than a page while others are overlapped like photographs.  Sometimes there are four small panels on a page, each with its own caption.  There are a few jokes in the book.  For example, we are told  that Larf “is a master of camouflage”, but  even small children will see that his beret, scarf and grey pants are not enough to disguise a giant-sized sasquatch. This book is fun to read and would be an excellent for public and school libraries, particularly those in “sasquatch country”, where children might have been spooked by scary stories about sasquatches. 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 Sometimes I Feel Angry / Sometimes I Feel Nervous / Sometimes I Feel Jealous / Sometimes I Feel Lonely / Sometimes I Feel Sad Illus. A. Sandland.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Children ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The North ◽  
The University

Sometimes I Feel Angry /   Sometimes I Feel Nervous / Sometimes I Feel Jealous /   Sometimes I Feel Lonely /   Sometimes I Feel Sad. Illus. Amanda Sandland. Iqaluit: Inhabit Education, 2017. The Nunavummi Reading Series from Inhabit Education situates emotional literacy learning in the Canadian Arctic. These books are part of a leveled reading series and are graded at Fountas & Pinnell Text Level J (books designed to be read aloud to young children). Amanda Sandland’s illustrations are spare and uncluttered.  Backgrounds are plain or contain simple landscapes. The characters developed by Ali Hinch are anthropomorphized animals representing small children.  The nervous caribou has a hat and satchel and Aqi, the sometimes sad and lonely bird, has boots. Some of the characters appear in several books. One of the most helpful things about these books is that the resolutions are realistic. The characters display real emotions and reactions. These situations are resolved through talking with friends and recognizing which responses are healthy and which are not. There are none of the trite “quick-fixes” that so often appear in children’s books related to emotions. There are many children’s series that address emotions, but because these books are set in the Arctic and use Arctic animals, children in the North will be more comfortable with the content. The characters do things that Northern children would do: playing one-foot high kick, looking for fossils, picking berries, ice-fishing and going sliding. Children who do not live in Northern environments will be able to learn more about the North, as well as about emotions. This is a high-quality, relatively inexpensive series that is highly recommended for elementary school libraries and public libraries.  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. 

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