Some Things I've Lost

Some Things I've Lost

Written and Illustrated by: Cybèle Young 

Published by: Groundwood Books

Published on: September 15, 2015

Ages: 5+






My daughter is very forgetful. Almost every day her teacher sends home a note with things that she has forgotten to bring. But more often than not, she forgets to bring that note home too. You know how you can put string through the sleeves of a coat to the mittens on either side so you don't lost the mittens? We have adapted that idea many times, even to her pencil case/backpack.

She and I often wonder what happens to all the things she forgets. Sometimes they turn back up, sometimes they don't.

I wonder if they take on a life of their own like in this book.

The premise of this book is very simple. Young lists an item and where is is lost. There is a picture of the item before it was lost.

But open the flap and a whole new world begins. Young's papercraft adventures into the transformation of these objects is breathtaking. Would you recognize your plain black glasses after they metamorphize into a brilliant coloured clownfish? I wouldn't.

I'll keep looking for my daughter's missing items. But I'll think more creatively now about how those things could have changed so they hide in plain sight.

A Year Without Mom

A Year Without Mom

Written and Illustrated by: Dasha Tolstikova

Published by: Groundwood Books

Published on: October 6, 2015

Ages: 10+






For as long as I can remember, I have been captivated by Russia. In the early 90s, when this book is set, I was reading everything I could get my hands on about Russia. I was taking Russian lessons at my local community centre, I was practicing cyrillic handwriting, I was reciting Pushkin poems into my mirror. I knew about 19th century poets and composers, I knew about uskoreniye and the political players of the time. 

What I didn't know about was what it was like to be a kid like me in Russia. Turns out that in some ways it was pretty similar to being a kid like me in Canada. Studying and too scared to skip school with my friends. Crushes on boys who aren't worth it. 

This Dasha comes to life through Tolstikova's black and white drawings with authenticity and exuberance. This Dasha is like Angela Chase, if Angela were a Musocovite dealing with her parents not splitting up but moving across the world.

It was that moving across the world that made me interested in the book in the first place. In the international families I know, there are so many instances of kids and parents being separated for economic or personal necessary. Whether kids being sent back to grandparents to learn a minority language, or a mother going abroad for work, or so many other reasons, temporary separation from parents seems pretty common among families like mine. But I had never seen it in a children's book before, and I am happy that Tolstikova has chosen to share her biography with us.

Stage Business

Stage Business

Written by: Gerry Fostaty

Published by: Deux Voiliers Publishing

Published on: November 22, 2014

Ages: Adult









Happy New Year! 2017 is a time for setting new goals or getting back into old grooves. For me that means jumping back into blogging. Thanks for coming back to read. 

There is no better book to start my renewed blog career with than Stage Business. I had read and reviewed Fostaty's first book, the non-fiction As You Were: The Tragedy at Valcartier. I enjoyed it immensely. But I was worried that what made that book so amazing, the personal connection and attention to detail, wouldn't be able to transfer over to a mystery novel.

I needn't have worried. Both of those elements are in this book. It is obvious that Fostaty knows and loves the theatre, the world of Stage Business' characters. He builds this world as deftly as he builds up the mystery.

Michael Dion is a Toronto actor whose days involve memorizing lines, inhabiting other characters, and going on auditions, as well as visiting with colleagues outside pubs. The object of his affection asks him to look for her friend's missing son and that seems like something anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Google and Facebook could do. It isn't that simple and although Michael could quit at any time he keeps going, whether it is smart for him to do so or not, and brings his friends and neighbours into the heart of this mystery.

I think that this book would appeal to readers of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series. Basically there is a regular guy, with a sense of morality that gets him involved in situations that he is more prepared for than he should be, thanks to the theatre. He also has a splendid group of friends to help him out, and I would love to spend an afternoon on the sidewalk of a Toronto pub with all of them. The mystery is what keeps you turning pages for the first book, the quirky characters are what will bring you back for a second book. Here's hoping there is a second book.