KAZAAK by Sean Cassidy

Cassidy, Sean. Kazaak! Markham, Ont.: Fitzenhenry & Whiteside, 2010. ISBN: 978-1-55455-117-0. $18.95.

Kazaak! is the story of two porcupines named Spike and Rupert. Spike is quite the ingenue when it comes to having quills; Rupert, though, is an old pro. Rupert excitedly shows Spike all the wonderful things that quills can do. Most marvelous of all, however, is the way that, with a flick of a mighty tail, a porcupine can kazaak pretty much anything. You can kazaak fruit and let the yummy juice drip of your quills into your mouth. You can kazaak a tree and use it to help you climb up. The most important thing that kazaaking allows you to do? Scare off Bear.

Unfortunately, things don't go so well for Rupert and Spike when they encounter Bear in the woods. Rupert has spent so much time showing Spike what quills can do and kazaaking here and kazaaking there that all his quills are gone! A little quick thinking on the part of Spike, though, saves the day!

The final few pages of Kazaak! end with some information about porcupines—where they live, what they eat, and what their tracks look like. Additional statistics are shared about quills—for example, an average porcupine has 30,000 quills and if you were to draw all 30,000 quills at a rate of two quills for every second, it would take four hours to finish. Speaking of drawing, a final activity provides a diagram of how to draw a porcupine.  It's a good book, though I did feel a bit sorry for Bear when everything came to an end.

Reviewed by Stephanie Ashley

NO SMALL VICTORY by Connie Brummel Crook

Crook, Connie Brummel. No Small Victory. Ontario. CA: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2010. ISBN: 978-1-5545-5169-9. $12.95

The theme of “moving” comes up frequently in works of children’s literature, and rightly so—for many kids, moving translates to losing everything they know and love, starting over with seemingly nothing.

In No Small Victory, Bonnie’s family has been hit hard by the Great Depression, and they are forced to move quickly, without taking time to slowly say their goodbyes to the only home Bonnie has ever known. She’s the new kid in her one-room schoolhouse, unfamiliar with the strict male teacher, and faces many of the same challenges as adolescents today, but in a historical setting that distances the events from immediate reality while still modeling lessons and behavior.

The story also addresses issues of money and debt, particularly that of a family who struggles valiantly to pay down their bills. In today’s economy, these are problems with which many families struggle. Bonnie serves as a character to identify with for someone in a similar situation.

Despite being a bit of an underdog, Bonnie uses her smarts to become a heroine. It is Bonnie who creates the rhyme that saves her peers from bullies when they acquire lice, and it is Bonnie who wins the spelling bee to defeat the big older bully from the neighboring town!

A story of family, of friendship, and of wholesome triumph, No Small Victory is a book I recommend without reservations. With this story, Crook has won no small victory!

Marisa Behan

Review: KISS ME! (I'M A PRINCE!) by Heather McLeod

McLeod, Heather. Kiss Me! (I’m a Prince!). Illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan. Ontario: Fitzhenry, 2011. ISBN 978-1-55455-161-3. $18.95.

Kiss Me! (I’m a Prince!) breathes new life into a familiar fairy tale. No doubt the children who read this book and whoever reads along with them will be familiar with the standard fairy tale fixture, a prince who has been turned into a frog. But McLeod and her illustrator, Kerrigan, signal a departure from the familiar storyline as soon as the book is opened.

The story begins with a familiar request by the frog prince—he needs a kiss in order to be restored to his human form. The girl he asks for that kiss, however, is anything but conventional. Ella, wearing a baseball cap backwards and an old pair of sneakers, is not interested in kissing. She just wants to play with the talking frog. He, however, points out how “unseemly” it is to play and get dirty. Life at his palace is all about education and etiquette. As soon as Ella teaches the frog prince the joyin being children, they spend many happy days swimming in the pond andplaying hopscotch.

That is, until the day a courtier from the frog prince’s palace comes to take him back home. He does not stay away, however. Two weeks later, he returns to Ella’s and tells her that although he received many kisses while at his castle, none was able to restore him to his former self. What he really needs is a kiss from a true friend. Ella asks whether he really wants to be a prince again, since he will be stuck again in his old stuffy existence. His parents, the frog prince explains, have agreed to give him time every day to play. With this good news, Ella kisses her frog friend, and they play happily ever after.

One of my favorite aspects of this version of the fairy tale is its shift in emphasis from marriage to friendship. Young children typically do not desire to find their one true love. They desire friendship and play. McLeod taps into the inclinations of her young readers. The beautiful watercolors and often-humorous visuals add to this book’s considerable charm.

Kira Hall

Review: THE LISTENING TREE by Celia Barker Lottridge

Lottridge, Celia Barker. The Listening Tree. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2011. ISBN 9781554550524. $11.95. Ages 9-12. 168 pp.

The Great Depression was rough for farmers in the Saskatchewan Prairie like Ellen Jackson’s father. After four years of drought with no crops and no end in sight, he must leave the farm, going west to find work and support his family. Ellen and her mother must leave, too, or starve. They head to the big city of Toronto to stay with her Aunt Gladys. A shy child, Ellen is used to small town life where her best friend is the only other girl in her grade. In Toronto, she can’t possibly just go outside and meet the other children in the neighborhood like everyone expects her to. The big elm tree in front of her window becomes her solution—she can crawl into the tree, hide among the leaves and branches, and just observe the other kids for a while, getting to know them before actually meeting them. But one night while hiding in her tree, Ellen overhears two men talking and planning trouble for her next-door neighbors. She has to make a decision: stay in her comfort zone and do nothing, or step up, rising above her fear to do the right thing.

The story parallels Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. Not only is Ellen herself actually reading The Secret Garden, she thinks of her listening tree as her “secret garden,” a place of beauty that is all her own where she can be herself. By the end of The Secret Garden, the main character finds she no longer needs the garden; likewise, Ellen eventually overcomes her shyness and also finds she no longer needs the listening tree.

In addition to being a story about a young girl’s courage, the book details life during the Great Depression. It was a time where families had to separate to earn money. Men left home to find jobs to feed their families; women, who had been stay- at- home caretakers, had to go out and find jobs. Children could no longer be carefree. Older children had to stay and mind their younger siblings. For everyone, food and clothing were scarce. At one point, the only food Ellen and her mother have is oats actually meant for their horse, but the oats remain whereas they’ve had to sell the horse.

The Listening Tree depicts life during one of history’s most difficult economic times, yet it is a moving story of how good life can be especially in tough times, when you are with people who love you and whom you can trust.

Joyce Myers