Written by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard Illustrated by Pelin Turgut Inhabit Media 978-1-77227-475-2  28 pages  Ages 3-5 April 2024 Never has a rock been less of an insentient thing than in Ashley Qilavaq-Savard's I Am a Rock. For this child and his mother, this pet rock feels, sees, hears, and experiences all the seasons and life of an Arctic landscape, with or without its child by its side.   As a boy prepares for bed, a time open to great inquisition, Pauloosie asks his mother, "Anaana, what would it be like if rocks were alive?" as his adorable pet rock, Miki Rock, rests alongsi ..read more

Art by Roy Henry Vickers Text by Robert "Lucky" Budd Harbour Publishing 978-1-990776502 28 pp. Ages 2-6 April 2024    Roy Henry Vickers and Lucky Budd have taken young children on learning experiences into the natural world along the Pacific coast through their First West Coast Book series since 2017. Through colour and rhyme, shape and textured words, kids have been introduced to the concepts of the alphabet (A is for Anemone), animal sounds (Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak), numbers (One Eagle Soaring), colours (Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue) and more. Now they will graduate to a highe ..read more

On April 8, 2024 at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair, IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) announced the winners of the very prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award, given biennially, to an international author and an illustrator of books for young people has never been awarded to a Canadian, until now. This year, alongside Austrian author Heinz Janisch, the award was given to Nova Scotia illustrator (and also author) Sydney Smith.   At CanLit for LittleCanadians, I have had the pleasure to review a great number of Sydney Smith's books, bot ..read more

If you read my January 1st post about upcoming books, you'll know that there are hundreds of books of kidCanLit released in a 6 month period. While it's hard to get to all the launches that are set, it is far easier when multiple authors get together to launch their new books. In the spirit of cooperation, and under the umbrella of Authors' Booking Service, eight authors of picture books, and middle-grade fiction and non-fiction will be launching their new books in a special Group Book Launch.     Creators who will be present are Dana L. Church, Caroline Fernandez, Deborah Kerb ..read more

Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel Translated by Montana Kane Drawn & Quarterly 978-1-77046-702-6 56 pp. Ages 4+ April 2024   First there was The Mushroom Fan Club (2018). Then there was The Bug Club (2021). (Soon there will be Disgusting Critters: A Creepy Crawly Collection.) And now the genius of Elise Gravel takes us to the microscopic level to introduce those germs which can harm us and all the microbes that help keep us healthy, make our food, and do so much more. From Club Microbe, written and illustrated by Elise Gravel From a quirky definition of microbes, El ..read more

Written by Jean E. Pendziwol Illustrated by Martine Gourbault Kids Can Press 978-1-55074-571-9 32 pp. Ages 3-7 Spring 2024  (Originally published in 1999)   An important part of the primary curriculum is safety for children. And short of saying, "No!" or "Don't do that!" safety education by parents is often limited. A series of picture books (see below) by Jean E. Pendziwol and illustrated by Martine Gourbault from Kids Can Press offer a subtle but informative way of teaching everything from fire safety to stranger and water safety, and dealing with bullies. And this year, Kids Ca ..read more

Written by Gail Anderson-Dargatz Orca Book Publishers 978-1-4598-3483-5 112 pp. Ages 9-12 R: 2.5 April 2024  There's Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. There's also Chessie, the Chesapeake Bay creature,  and Champ, the lake monster of Lake Champlain. But in Gail Anderson-Dargatz's latest hi-lo novel for Orca Currents, we have Dottie, a cryptid that lives in the deepest part of Dorothy Lake. Or does she? Charlotte believes wholeheartedly in Dottie, just as her grandmother Donna always has. Ever since Donna saw the lake monster when she was 14, as Charlotte is now, she has been inter ..read more

Written by Marc Colagiovanni Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds Orchard Books (Scholastic) 978-1-338-812048-6 32 pp. Ages 4-8 March 2024    When you look in the mirror, do you see your hair out of place, or a crooked smile, or a body shape that is too little or too much? Do you see something less than the perfection you want? Are those expectations from others, from social media, from yourself? Wouldn't it be nice to hear the voice inside tell you you're more than enough? What if it was your voice telling you that you are "perfectly perfect"? In The Reflection in Me, it is. F ..read more

Written by Adam Pottle Illustrated by Ziyue Chen Roaring Brook Press 978-1-250-821-97-3 40 pp. Ages 3-6 March 2024    The anticipation of presenting the fairy tale she'd written is making Aurora quite nervous. But for a Deaf child who will use ASL to tell her story, trembling hands will make for a challenging storytelling. When she sees a beautiful butterfly in the garden, she recalls her father telling her that a butterfly's wings could create a wind that could carry around the world. With that, she is inspired her to generate one with her hands and send it off into the world. &n ..read more

Written by Rachel Salt Firefly Books 978-0-2281-0462-9  64 pp. Ages 12+ March 2024   With much in the media about climate change and extreme weather events that include droughts, floods, heatwaves, and fires, it's not surprising that young people may be confused about what is real and what is not. Because much of the information about climate change and extreme weather can be tainted with rhetoric, opinion, and even conspiracy, sorting the facts from the misinformation can be challenging. Environmental biologist Rachel Salt sifts through all the info out there and organizes it into ..read more