The Deakin Review of Children's Literature
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Eat This! How Fast-Food Marketing Gets You to Buy Junk (and How to Fight Back) by A. Curtis
No full textCurtis, Andrea. Eat This! How Fast-Food Marketing Gets You to Buy Junk (and How to Fight Back). Illustrated by Peggy Collins. Red Deer Press, 2018.
Andrea Curtis’s first children’s book was What’s for Lunch? What school children Eat around the World, and her latest book Eat This!: How fast Food marketing gets you to buy junk (and how to fight back) is written for the modern family. It talks about product placement, ads on the internet, the all-natural myth of orange juice and more. Even though this book is word-heavy (there is a glossary) there are bright colourful pictures, by Peggy Collins, accompanying almost every page. However, they cannot show the advertising of the actual products they want to talk about. So a box of frosted flakes becomes sugar rings with a tiger mascot, and any clown can represent McDonald\u27s.
Intermittently, it has real-world examples of people fighting fast-food marketing around the world. For example, the Game Changer campaign in Australia, which focuses on the ads in cricket for junk food, alcohol, and gambling. At the end of the book, there is a list of things to try to challenge fast food and marketing strategies. Their goal is to get the reader engaged with what they have just read, offering examples such as potlucks that celebrate diversity, or observing your favourite show for product placement.
There are also multiple facts sprinkled into the book like how part of Philadelphia\u27s soda tax is used for improving parks, or how Peru has banned junk food in schools. Overall the book discusses an important topic that is all too relevant in the age of the internet. Better yet, its goal is getting children to engage with advertising in a critical way. Children will benefit from the book, as it explains how advertisers don’t always have our best interests at heart and can help open a dialogue with adults on the subject.
Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars
Reviewer: Kaia MacLeod
Kaia MacLeod, a member of the James Smith Cree Nation, is an MLIS candidate at the University of Alberta. Her bachelor’s degree was in Film Studies, which she sometimes likes to call a degree in “movie watching,” she enjoys exploring how folklore is represented on film and in online content.
 
The Gnawer of Rocks by L. Flaherty
No full textFlaherty, Louise. The Gnawer of Rocks. Illustrated by Jim Nelson. Inhabit Media, 2017.
The Gnawer of Rocks, written by Louise Flaherty and illustrated by Jim Nelson, is based on the author\u27s memories of a story she heard as a child from an Inuk storyteller, Levi Iqalugjuaq, in Nunavut in the 1970s. The book, which feels like an incredible mix of picture book and graphic novel, focuses on a traditional story about a creature called Mangittatuarjuk and two young women who fall into her clutches.
Nelson\u27s artwork follows the layout of a comic book, using word balloons and panel captions, which makes for an immersive reading experience following two girls who discover a trail of beautiful rocks outside of camp which lead them from the bright and colourful world of home into the increasingly dark and frightening world of Mangittatuarjuk. The book mixes Inuktitut terms throughout, but does include a glossary at the end.
The story does get both gruesome and horrific in the cave of Mangittatuarjuk, but the story, which would be great for older school children, does include a warning in the author\u27s note. A really great introduction to traditional northern Canadian stories, the book includes an introduction for context and acknowledges the original storyteller as well as the reasons for this type of story and its likely role in the lives of children. An excellent read for children who are already comfortable with scary stories.
Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kirk MacLeod
Kirk MacLeod is the Open Data Team Lead for the Government of Alberta’s Open Government Portal. A Life-Long reader, he moderates two book clubs and is constantly on the lookout for new great books!
 
You\u27re in Good Paws by M. Fergus
No full textFergus, Maureen. You\u27re in Good Paws. Illustrated by Kathryn Durst. Tundra-Random House Canada, 2019.
Maureen Fergus’s You’re in Good Paws is about a young boy named Leo, whose parents accidently take him to an animal hospital to get his tonsils out. Leo is unsure about being at an animal hospital, but the animals do their best to make him feel comfortable and safe. Leo even ends up making friends with other animal patients.
The illustrations, by Kathryn Durst, are bright and take up most of the space on the pages. The illustrations give children a lot to look at and explore. There are some hidden jokes throughout the book, which can be as entertaining for the adults as they are for the children. The text is very simple for children to follow and more difficult words, such as anesthesiologist, are explained in plain terms making it easy for children to understand.
While the story of a young boy’s parents taking him to an animal hospital may seem silly, it puts a positive spin on going to the hospital. Leo’s adventure makes a hospital visit seem less scary and even puts a fun spin on having to get surgery. This book can be very useful for children who are unfamiliar with hospitals and have to have surgery or even just go in for a check-up.
With that in mind, I would recommend it for elementary school and public libraries.
Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Jenn Laskosky
Jenn Laskosky is a graduate student at the University of Alberta in the Library and Information Studies program. She has an interest in health sciences librarianship and international librarianship. Her passion for reading has continued to grow throughout her education.
 
In the Sky at Nighttime by L. Deal
No full textDeal, Laura. In the Sky at Nighttime. Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2019.
This illustrated poem shows what a polar village looks like at night and what is in the night sky. In the Arctic, winter nights are long, and it is dark as people go about their daily lives, so many people are familiar with the night sky. Tamara Campeau’s illustrations, each of which fill two facing pages, are in deep blue and purple hues, with the sky prominent in them. The text is overprinted on the artwork. Campeau’s rendering of the village has accurate details. Some of the houses have heating oil tanks outside. Paths to the doors have snow heaped alongside them. Power lines, attached to wooden power poles with insulators and transformers, loop through the village. The yellow light from electric lighting shines out through the windows of the houses. At the beginning of the book Laura Deal describes observable things in the sky: stars, falling snow, northern lights, ravens. Towards the end she becomes more figurative, introducing a mother’s song and dreams swirling in the sky.
The text is a six verse poem, each verse beginning with the phrase “In the sky at night time.” The structure of the poem is reminiscent of Stephen Eaton Hume’s 1992 picture book, Midnight on the Farm, which also uses six verses, each beginning with a repeating phrase, to describe a nighttime world, however the two landscapes are distinct.
Because this is an illustrated poem in the form of a picture book, rather than a picture book with text, some of the words are more difficult than one would expect in books for young children. For example, the dreams are “magical and extraordinary.” As a result, this text, simple as it is, will need some explanation. In the Sky at Nighttime is highly recommended for 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.  
Awards & Upcoming Events
No full textGreetings!
Summer is an ideal time to share news about annual children’s book awards because many of them were announced in the spring. InfoSoup provides a comprehensive list of awards presented each year by the American Library Association and other organizations. At this time of year I always like to have a look at the Canadian Children’s Book Centre website to remind myself of all the award competitions for Canadian children’s books. Here in Edmonton, the Book Publishers Association of Alberta announced a short list of three books in the Children’s & Young Adult category that all look very compelling.
A Sampling of Upcoming Events
October 3, 2020
Picture Book Summit is an online conference for illustrators and writers of picture books, but of course everyone is welcome. Registration is now open.
October 3/4, 2020
FOLD Kids Bookfest is a festival for authors and illustrators who create books for young people. This virtual event is designed for young people, but it will also include content for adult writers of children’s books. Registration opens on September 21, 2020.
October 24, 2020
Packaging Your Imagination is a conference presented by Canada’s Conference for Children’s Authors, Illustrators & Performers. Registration will be open in August 2020 and the event will be available via livestream (it will also be recorded).
I hope you all find the time to discover some wonderful children\u27s books this summer. Enjoy the adventure!
Best wishes,
Rober
Our Last Issue
No full textDear 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\u27 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
A Children’s Guide to Arctic Butterflies by M. Pelletier
No full textPelletier, Mia. A Children’s Guide to Arctic Butterflies. Iqaluit, NU.: Inhabit Media, 2019.
This volume is part field guide and part art book. Like many field guides, it begins with general material about butterflies: distinguishing them from moths, describing their life cycle and how they survive in winter. The remainder of the book is made up of accounts for 12 different species. Each account has a genus species name, a physical description and a habitat description, and explanations of how they fly, what the caterpillar looks like, how they winter and a “fluttering fact.” Accompanying each account are two small images of the upper and lower side of the butterfly and a full-page image of the insect in its habitat.
The descriptions are detailed and interesting. For example, Pelletier tells us that, “Arctic butterflies can dry out all of their body tissues and freeze solid, thawing in the spring when the Arctic warms again.” The real joy of this book, however, is Danny Christopher’s illustrations. Christopher will be familiar to Inhabit Media readers as the illustrator of the Legend of the Fog and A Children’s Guide to Arctic Birds. Each full page illustration is a larger-than-life picture of a butterfly, rendered in muted tones that are lifelike, and match the environment. Christopher has replicated the natural greens, oranges and blacks of the lichen on rock. A child seeing a butterfly in the North could easily use this book to identify it.
This is an excellent contribution to Northern children’s wildlife books. Since some of the butterflies are circumpolar, this book is recommended for all Canadian school and public libraries and for those in other Arctic countries.
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. 
The Case of Windy Lake by M. Hutchinson
No full textHutchinson, Michael. The Case of Windy Lake. Second Story Press, 2019.
Micheal Hutchinson is a citizen of the Misipawistik Cree Nation in the Treaty 5 territory and is no stranger to the Canadian media. He’s worked as a print reporter for The Calgary Straight and Aboriginal Times and became the host of APTN national news. Somehow in his busy life, he has found time to write two amazing children’s books.
The Case of the Missing Auntie is Hutchinson’s second Mighty Muskrat Mystery book. It follows the cousins Chickadee, Otter, Samuel, and Atim (the Mighty Muskrats) of the Windy Lake First Nation. It takes place after the first book, but this time the Muskrats are leaving their reserve to spend time with family in the city.
By setting the book in the city, the topic of urban Indigenous people arises. Hutchinson depicts a wide range of Indigenous people: nurses, students, musicians, and bullies. He doesn’t romanticize Indigenous people, opting to focus on realism and making the characters lifelike. The book makes sure to mention potential issues with moving/travelling from a reserve to a large city such as not fitting in and racism.
The story has the same style as the previous Mighty Muskrat Mystery book with clear goals for the Muskrats to obtain: visit the Exhibition Fair, get Otter a ticket to see the band Wavoka’s Wail, and look for Auntie Charlotte who was taken during the 60’s scoop. One of the best parts is how realistic the story is, not everything goes the Mighty Muskrats way. This isn’t your typical “everything is going to work out just fine” story but that makes it a solid read—they need to come up with a plan B.
It opens a dialogue on residential schools, the 60’s scoop, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It felt like a good introduction to those tough topics, explaining what they are without dismissing them as something that happened a long time ago or minimizing their modern impacts. Instead, the story shows the aftermath, and how it affects the younger generation without limiting characters’ identities to only be their relationship to historical trauma. As such, this book could work as a discussion starter between children and adults on these topics and could be used to promote critical discussion around themes like Indigenous identities and experiences.
Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kaia MacLeod
Reviewers BiographyKaia MacLeod, a member of the James Smith Cree Nation, is an MLIS candidate at the University of Alberta. Her bachelor’s degree was in Film Studies, which she sometimes likes to call a degree in “movie watching,” she enjoys exploring how folklore is represented on film and in online content
Mr. Mergler, Beethoven, and Me by D. Gutnick
No full textGutnick, David. Mr. Mergler, Beethoven, and Me. Illustrated by Mathilde Cinq-Mar. Toronto: Second Story Press, 2018.
In this lovely picture book, David Gutnick explores an episode in the life of Canadian music teacher, Daniel Mergler. The first person narrator of the story is a musically gifted young girl whose family has emigrated from China. Like many immigrant families, hers is struggling financially; there is no money for music lessons. By chance, the girl and her father meet Mr. Mergler during a pleasant outing in a park. The encounter leads to the child’s musical instruction and, as well, her enduring affection for Beethoven. Gutnick concludes his book with end notes: the first leaves no doubt as to the giftedness, kindness, and generosity of Daniel Mergler; the second, a brief biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, will be helpful to young readers unacquainted with classical music.
Because the author claims to be only “inspired by” a true story, we must assume that at least some of the specific details of the plot are fictionalized. Still, the book is based on a CBC documentary, “Beethoven’s Bust,” which Gutnick prepared for broadcast (it was aired as a segment of the CBC radio program, “The Sunday Edition” in 2014). However fictionalized, the story seems real.
Interestingly, the child narrator is never named—perhaps because she is a composite figure, perhaps because Gutnick wishes to protect the privacy of his “sources.” Nonetheless, through the delicate drawings of Mathilde Cinq-Mar, we, the readers, come to know this child: we feel her sense of bliss as she flies through the air on a swing in the park; we admire her determination and certainty as she carols “Oh Susanna…” in her “audition” for Mr. Megler; we understand her rapt delight as she begins to master the piano keyboard, producing sounds that “…make everything else disappear.” An inspired touch is Cinq-Mar’s use of musical staves to create curved and sweeping pathways into the illustrated pages. The technique results in a perfect marriage of artwork and text. In sum, Mr. Mergler, Beethoven, and Me is a well-crafted, captivating, and heart-warming book that would be very suitable for independent readers in the upper primary and elementary grades.
Reviewer: Leslie AitkenHighly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars
Leslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship included selection of children’s literature for school, special and academic libraries. She is a former Curriculum Librarian of the University of Alberta
Studio: A Place for Art to Start by E. Arrow
No full textArrow, Emily. Studio: A Place for Art to Start. Illustrated by The Little Friends of Printmaking. Tundra, 2020.
With its saturated colour palate and complex, pop-y imagery, Studio exudes cover appeal and an abundance of cool charm. Studio is a first-time venture into creating a children’s book by both writer, Emily Arrow, and the illustrators, husband-and-wife team, The Little Friends of Printmaking. Both contributors bring a huge amount of talent, experience and enthusiasm to this collaboration.
Emily Arrow is a bona fide children’s lit social media celeb and, as Arrow’s wider oeuvre of literacy focused YouTube videos illustrates, she understands the pacing and tempo well-suited to an engaging children’s book. Studio has a fresh idea to convey to its younger readers and the decision to tackle representing these ideas in verse deserves legitimate praise. The cadence of the verse does stumble occasionally, but as it’s in pursuit of the complex, conceptual topic of the book, that can be forgiven.The characters\u27 faces and the detail in their depiction is appealingly reminiscent of children’s author and illustrator Richard Scarry, while the excellent use of black for framing and detail in contrast with a supersaturated palate is an assertive, design-influenced aesthetic. These elements give Studio a fresh but endearingly retro equilibrium.
Studio offers a visually rich introduction and warm homage to the concept of the multidisciplinary studio. The premise of Studio is a challenging one to negotiate and represent. A careful reading reveals “for rent” signs on the available studio spaces depicted in the book, so this is not focused on the sort of urban, community arts studios that children might already be familiar with. The adult caregiver accompanying the child on the tour of Studio is the one shopping for a studio space and is revealed at the end of the book as the primary user of the studio. The caregiver is sharing their experience of finding a studio with the child at the centre of the narrative. This is slightly problematic in a children’s book as this scenario doesn’t provide the child with agency in motivation, selection, or even autonomous use of the creative space being lauded. Studio is bringing an interesting concept and opportunity to a young audience in a very attractive way but, realistically, it’s one that probably won’t be accessible to a child until they are older.
This tension would function similarly if the child and caregiver in the book were exploring any workplace. While the child might be permitted to indulge in a sense of ownership, this isn’t a child’s space. It’s a space where children would be entirely guided, carefully supervised or absent. So, what is a creative child to do in this circumstance? Happily, Studio doesn’t overlook this dilemma and resolves the problem of agency with the book’s conclusion. The child, having been inspired by their tour of the studio and their caregiver’s newly found studio space, has set up an art space in their own home.
In this way, Studio functions as a creative call to action, offering children the aspirational goal of pursuing creative work. With its dynamic details and artful page design, Studio absolutely succeeds in conveying the appeal and functionality of a studio space and encourages creative children to understand it as an exciting and achievable goal.
Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Matilda Roche
Matilda Roche holds a BA in English, with a minor in Fine Art. She worked as a Library Technician at the University of Alberta for a number of years before leaving to assist in the operation of a family dental practice. She has published literature reviews and non-fiction, and now writes adult fiction when she’s not learning karate, grocery shopping and watching xianxia rom-com with her two lovely children and patient spouse