CM May 24, 1996. Vol II, Number 32

Table of Contents

Book Reviews

INTThe Royal Raven.
Written and Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm.
Review by A. Edwardsson.
Preschool - Grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.

CDNOn the Go.
Roger Paré with Bertrand Gauthier. Illustrated by Roger Paré.
Translated by David Homel.
Review by Diane Fitzgerald.
Preschool - Grade 4 / Ages 4 - 9.

CDNThe Kids Canadian Bug Book.
The Kids Canadian Plant Book.
Pamela Hickman. Illustrated by Heather Collins.
Review by Luella Sumner.
Grades 2 - 5 / Ages 7 - 11.

CDNLettering:
Make Your Own Cards, Signs, Gifts and More.
Amanda Lewis.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.
Grades 3 - 7 / Ages 8 - 12.

CDNThe Perfect Gymnast.
Michele Martin Bossley.
Review by Sara Brodie.
Grades 3 - 8 / Ages 8 - 13.

CDNCreating with Fimo Acrylic Clay.
Libby Nicholson and Yvonne Lau. Illustrated by Tracy Walker.
Review by Luella Sumner.
Grades 4 and Up / Ages 9 and Up.

Features

Notable Web sites

Book Review

The Royal Raven.

Written and Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm.
New York: Cartwheel (Scholastic), 1996. Unpaginated, cloth, $21.99.
ISBN: 0-590-54337-7.

Preschool - Grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.
Review by A. Edwardsson.

**1/2 /4

excerpt:

CRACK! The egg popped open and out came Crawford. "Here I am!" he crowed. But there was no reply. His mother was out looking for food. He was all by himself. There was nobody to make a fuss about his arrival.
Then came an even bigger disappointment.
Crawford saw that he was a boring-looking raven, like all the others. Deep in his heart he felt he was special. He tried to show how different he was. "Look at me!" he said.
But nobody ever paid any attention.

POOR CRAWFORD THE CROW has an identity crisis. He longs to be a bird with more "razzle dazzle" than a plain black raven. He tries several ways to disguise his plainness, but when these attempts fail, he decides to do something drastic.

Deep in the forest he called upon an old woman who was known for her special powers. Crawford came right to the point: "I'll do anything for you if you can make me different. I want some color, some flash, some razzle dazzle!"

He cuts a deal, and once the magic words are spoken, Crawford transforms into a bird more gaudy than a peacock. After returning home to show off to the other ravens, he decides staying in the forest would be a waste of his beauty. So . . . he's off to the castle of the King.

Soon after his arrival, Crawford is spotted and captured by the princess. At first he loves the attention, but:

Unfortunately, the royal raven's table manners left much to be desired. He lost a great deal of his popularity when he caused a major ruckus in the royal dining room. He was ordered OUT!

Caged and ignored, he longs to fly free and join the other birds. One day he overhears the princess say that she wouldn't dream of releasing him, since his fancy feathers are one of a kind. "Suddenly Crawford understood what he had to do to gain back his freedom."

Hans Wilhelm based The Royal Raven on the story "The Little Grey Bird," which appeared in an earlier collection. Crawford's undoing is similar to the fate of the dog in Bill Peet's Wingdingdilly; "pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," and the price of their fame and fortune is a cage.

Although readers may relate to Crawford's desire for attention, it's hard to sympathize his self-absorbed character. Sure, his mother was absent at his birth, but why wasn't she able to teach him that beauty is only skin deep when she returned?

And there's no indication of why, when he had everything going for him, Crawford "blew it" with his bad table manners. Also confusing is that his "friends" are all happy to see him return -- but Crawford never appeared to have any friends. His behaviour certainly didn't suggest that he bothered to socialize with his fellow "boring-looking" ravens.

The bargain he strikes with the witch (who is carefully never labelled as such) is also a little unbelievable. Crawford is willing to sell his soul for some special effects, and all the woman wants in exchange are three tail-feathers?

Fortunately, Wilhelm's illustrations convey the transformation with some artistic special effects. Similar to the flashy scales of Rainbow Fish (Marcus Pfister), Crawford's new feathers are accented with iridescent gold holographic foil. The rest of the characters appear in the artist's characteristically charming watercolour style.

Readers who like or need special effects will probably enjoy The (moralistic) Royal Raven. However, Wilhelm's Oh What a Mess, and I'll Always Love You have much stronger storylines. Still, this book would be an acceptable purchase for libraries.

Recommended.

A.Edwardsson works at a branch of the Winnipeg Public Library where she is in charge of the Children's department. She has a Bachelor of Education degree, Child Care Worker III certification and is a member of the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Authors Association.

Book Review

On the Go.

Roger Paré with Bertrand Gauthier.
Illustrated by Roger Paré.
Translated by David Homel.
Toronto: Annick Press, 1996. Unpaginated.
Paper, $4.95. ISBN: 1-55037-408-7.
Cloth, $15.95. ISBN: 1-55037-409-5.

Preschool - Grade 4 / Ages 4 - 9.
Review by Diane Fitzgerald.

**1/2 /4

excerpt:

"Where shall we go?"
Georgia asked Gigi.
"To Paris? To London?
To Whitehorse or Fiji?

Shall we rollerskate
Or fly a plane?
Shall we sail a boat?
Or take the train?...

THIS ENGLISH TRANSLATION of award-winning illustrator Roger Paré's Plaisirs de vacances is the story of two mice travelling the world (and beyond). Sometimes they fly on their cat, sometimes they use a balloon, sometimes they use ropes to climb a mountain.

The format is constant: one four-line page of text facing a full-page illustration. Paré is quoted on the jacket copy as saying "When the illustration is explicit enough, what writing I have to add is little in terms of quantity," and the book is consistent with this philosophy.

The somewhat cartoonish illustrations are great fun, and accessible and usually crowded with the interesting details that fascinate pre-readers.When Georgia and Gigi are in the jungle, for example, they pose the animals for a picture; there is not only a crowd of monkeys, tigers, elephants, and so on mugging in front of the camera, but a caricatured butterfly watching the procedure from behind.

But the text is a let down. Keeping to a brief, four-line verse on a page allows for an extremely readable typeface, but not much detail -- something that may disappoint older children fascinated with the premise. How do they get to all those places, for example? Sometimes the illustrations tell you; more often they don't.

Moreover (though this may be the fault of the English translation), at times the A-B-C-B rhyme-scheme is so rough you wonder why they bothered. For example:

Then into the jungle
For a souvenir-photo
Of their many new friends,
Including Miss Hippo.

In all, a pleasant but unspectacular addition to a picture-book collection; the modest paperback price makes it more attractive.

Recommended.

Diane Fitzgerald is an elementary-school teacher in Saskatoon.

Book Review

The Kids Canadian Bug Book.
ISBN: 1-55074-231-7.

The Kids Canadian Plant Book.
ISBN: 1-55074-233-7.

Pamela Hickman. Illustrated by Heather Collins.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1996. 32pp, cloth, $14.95.
 Grades 2 - 5 / Ages 7 - 11.
Review by Luella Sumner.

****/4

excerpt:

A seed is like a tiny picnic basket full of food that the plant uses when it starts to grow. Before a seed can sprout, or germinate, it must have water. In the winter the water in the ground is frozen and the seeds can't use it. In the spring the ice thaws and the seeds begin to sprout. They soak up water like sponges until they get so big they burst. A tiny root and a shoot poke out of each seed. They will grow into a new plant if they get enough food from the soil and enough water and sunlight.

-- from The Kids Canadian Plant Book.

THESE TWO BOOKS are in the same series as Kids Can's Kids Canadian Bird Book and Tree Book. They follow the same format and are the same size. Each has a table of contents and a brief index.

Heather Collins's colourful and appealing drawings complement the text, the print is large and easy to read, and the vocabulary is challenging but not beyond the reach of most children in the age group. The sections each deal with a different topic, like (in the Plant Book) pollination, surviving winter, and plant defences, or (in the Bug Book) insects at night, insect migration, giant moths, and so on.

Some sections have suggested activities and experiments to stimulate the child's interest (the text cautions the reader and tells them to "ask an adult to help," and at the beginning of the books there is a brief disclaimer of damages that might result from following the activities).

These books would be good material for teachers or parents to use to introduce children to nature study. Kids will especially like the encouragement found in the bug book to go out and collect creepy-crawlies of all sorts to examine and then release back into the wild.

Highly recommended.

Luella Sumner is the Chief Librarian of the Red Rock Public Library in Red Rock, Ontario, where she has worked for twenty years.

Book Review

Lettering:
Make Your Own Cards, Signs, Gifts and More.

Amanda Lewis.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1996. 48pp.

Paper, $5.95. ISBN: 1-55074-232-9.
Cloth, $16.99. ISBN: 1-55074-312-0.

Grades 3 - 7 / Ages 8 - 12.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.

****/4

excerpt:

Use the suggestions and ideas in this book to create lettering projects of your own. Look at books, ads, magazines and posters to see how letters are used. You'll find that letters come in thousands of shapes and sizes. Be a letter collector -- if you see lettering you like, trace or copy it and keep it to use later. Experiment with different sizes, styles, tools and papers to invent new kinds of lettering. Most of all, enjoy the power in your fingers -- the power to communicate your ideas on paper.

THE "KIDS CAN CRAFT" series is known for its appealing and reasonably priced titles, and this new addition to the series is exciting. Lewis, a professional calligrapher, offers children an easy entrance into calligraphy by showing how to use double pencils with colouring for large signs and banners. She next demonstrates Gothic letters using a nib or felt markers.

Lewis's instructions are very clear and much better than those found in the Usborne book of Calligraphy Projects by Fiona Watt and Anna Rowley (Usborne, 1994). She also explains Versals and shows how to use them in bookmarks, labels, and gift tags. For each project, a list of requirements is included -- and many of the supplies are modest in price or found around the house.

Several projects will catch the eye of adult calligraphers -- especially the 3-D letter tower and jewellery made of baking clay. There's also lots of good information on using coloured pencils, design principles, and layout for the computer.

The projects are much easier than those in the Usborne Book of Calligraphy Projects, and both beginning and advanced students should find success in completing them.

Highly recommended.

Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for Winnipeg Public Library, and is also a calligrapher and book artist.

Book Review

The Perfect Gymnast.

Michele Martin Bossley.
Toronto: James Lorimer & Company ("Sports" series), 1996. 76 pp, paper. $8.95.
ISBN: 1-55028-510-6.

Grades 3 - 8 / Ages 8 - 13.
Review by Sara Brodie.

***/4

excerpt:

Bulimia.
Bulimia Nervosa, a disorder in which overeating alternates with self-induced vomiting, fasting, etc.
Vomiting. Overeating. The words burned themselves into my brain. Hilary had thrown up at the competition. She'd said it was nerves, but she'd acted so weird -- hardly nervous at all and angry when I wanted to get Pam to help. What if she's thrown up on purpose? She was practically starving herself at school, but she wasn't losing weight. Suppose she was stuffing herself in secret and then making herself get sick?

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD ABBY BERKOWSKI has recently moved with her family to Calgary and is having trouble meeting new friends. Abby is so painfully shy of meeting new people and trying new things that her mother forces her to join a local gymnastics club to boost her confidence and help her make new friends.

Instead of being the fumbling, awkward klutz she was positive she would turn out to be, Abby discovers she has some athletic talent. Slowly, Abby gains more confidence in herself and even makes some friends, including the top gymnast in the club, Hilary Chen.

Abby begins to notice how strange Hilary's eating habits are. Hilary alternates between eating very little and worrying about her weight one day, and wolfing down massive amounts of food the next. Eventually, Abby realizes Hilary has a serious eating disorder -- bulimia. When confronted, Hilary swears Abby to secrecy and insists she has to keep thin to make it to the top in gymnastics. Abby is torn between maintaining her friendship with Hilary and helping a very sick friend.

Anorexia and bulimia are all-too-common problems in the athletic world. A 1992 Globe & Mail article states that one in three female athletes will suffer an eating disorder. Who can forget the fate of young U.S. gymnast Christy Henrich, who died after a five-year battle with anorexia and bulimia? Christy, four feet, ten inches tall, and only ninety pounds, was told by a U.S. gymnastics judge that she would have to lose weight if she hoped to make the 1988 Olympic team. When she died in 1994, Christy weighed sixty-one pounds.

The Perfect Gymnast will introduce to the young reader the subject of eating disorders and the pressure often felt by athletes to be unrealistically thin in an honest, sensitive manner. The novel's characters are appealing because they are regular, everyday kids attempting to deal with a tough problem, and young female readers will find Bossley's novel a welcome addition to the sports stories genre. The Perfect Gymnast is fast-paced, informative, and -- at only seventy-six pages -- attractive even to reluctant readers.

The Perfect Gymnast is a recent addition to Lorimer's "Sports Stories" and Bossley's second title in the series. Her first, Breathing Not Required, was reviewed in the February 23, 1996 issue of CM.

Recommended.

Sara Brodie presently works for Dalhousie University Libraries in Halifax. She has recently returned from New York where she worked for the Brooklyn Public Library.

Book Review

Creating with Fimo Acrylic Clay.

Libby Nicholson and Yvonne Lau. Illustrated by Tracy Walker.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1996. 48pp, paper, $6.99.
ISBN: 1-55074-272-4.

Grades 4 and Up / Ages 9 and Up.
Review by Luella Sumner.

***/4

THIS BOOK IN THE "KIDS CAN CRAFT" series is wonderfully bright and eye-colourful, with every step in the creation of eye-catching jewellery illustrated in detail.

The introduction gives general information on the use of Fimo acrylic clay, including colours, tips on working with the clay, baking it, amounts needed, and tools and accessories needed for the projects. Each of the five chapters gives instructions in a different technique -- cookie cutting, stencil cutting, marbling, petal discing, and hand-building. There are at least three different projects described in each chapter, for a total of more than twenty-five. The illustrations and instructions are clear, and the lists of tools and clay amounts needed is precise.

The book lays the ground for successful projects, but obviously the quality of the results will also depend on the child's level of experience working with handicrafts and willingness to follow directions carefully. Although the authors do not state this book is intended primarily for girls, none of the projects are likely to appeal to most boys.

In the text of the book the authors do not mention the importance of adult assistance in buying supplies, finding the necessary tools (such as scissors, knitting needles, knives, and glue), or in supervising the baking process. Although there is a warning on the verso of the title page emphasizing the need for caution -- particularly with the baking process -- and recommending adult supervision, the omission of this advice from the main text is only flaw I found in Creating with Fimo Acrylic Clay. But it is an important one.

Recommended with reservations -- children using the techniques in this book should be supervised by an adult.

Luella Sumner is the Chief Librarian of the Red Rock Public Library in Red Rock, Ontario, where she has worked for twenty years.

Feature

"Notable Web Sites"

Every week, CM presents a brief collection of noteworthy, useful, or just interesting sites we've turned up and actually checked.

Please send us URLs and evaluations of any web-sites you think deserve the exposure.

The Secret of the Silver Horse
http://canada.justice.gc.ca/Publications/Info_education/Cheval/ind ex_en.html

Normally you don't associate children's literature with the Canadian Department of Justice. But The Secret of the Silver Horse is a well-illustrated story for children that teaches children:
that secrets about sexual abuse should not be kept. The story also teaches that if a child tells a teenager or an adult about sexual abuse and that person does nothing, the child should be persistent and tell someone else.
The only drawback is that large and attractive illustrations can be a little slow to load. In English and French.

words-R-us
http://www.wordsrus.com/

There's a certain irony in a site designed to improve kids' use of English being called "words-R-us," but this site features daily words arranged around weekly themes. Definitions and etymologies accompany each word. You can subscribe and get the words delivered by e-mail, but that way you miss the RealAudio pronunciation clips and occasional explanatory graphics. Of course, the spellings and pronunciations are American, so be around to guide your students through the "ou" problem.

Shakespeare Oxford Society Home Page
http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com /

Nothing encourages study than a little argument. For example, some people believe that Shakespeare wrote his own plays, others don't. Who's right? Being a History and English major, I could tell you, but you can look at the evidence yourself. The Shakespeare Oxford Society is not a product of the university, but a group who believe that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the real author of Shakespeare's plays. But be sure to also point your students to The Shakespeare Authorship page

http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/~tross/ws/will.html
for a more skeptical look at the possibility.

(Both sites found by Brian R. Page.)

Sources of Skeptical Information on the Internet
http://www.primenet. com/~lippard/skeptical.html

Speaking of crackpots, do you have students who take the X-Files a little too seriously? Have them browse among the many sources of skeptical/debunking information listed here. Even has pages suggesting organized skeptics may go too far...

Current Shuttle Flight!
http://shuttle.nasa.gov/

All right, the "Notable Web Sites" has been away for a couple of weeks, so I know many of you are missing the regular cool space-related site. Well, this one takes you to a sight devoted to the mission going on right now, over your head (the second flight for Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau). Information about the mission and crew, pictures, video and sound clips.

CM
Editor
Duncan Thornton
e-mail: cmeditor@mts.net
CM
Executive Assistant
Peter Tittenberger
e-mail: cm@umanitoba.ca

Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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