Category: Book of the Month

By Helaine Becker, Illustrated by Werner ZimmermannPublished by North Winds PressISBN #ISBN# 978-0-545-98663-2 A Porcupine in a Pine Tree is a nationalistic and delightful take on the traditional “Partridge in a Pear Tree” carol. Your students will be chanting lyrics such as “On the sixth day of Christmas/My true love gave to me:/Six squirrels curling/Five…

By Madeleine Thien, Illustrated by Joe ChangPublished by Whitecap BooksISBN #978-1552852057 This month, I felt inspired by the wonderful Serendipity children’s literature conference, an annual event put on by The Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable with the help of the British Columbia Literacy Council. Serendipity’s theme was “Year of the Dragon”, featuring Asian authors and illustrators.…

By Jon J. MuthPublished by Scholastic PressISBN #9780439339094, 043933909X Jon J. Muth has taken traditional European folklore, set it against an ancient Chinese background, and allowed three Zen monks to lead us on a journey of enlightenment. In this version of “Stone Soup,” the monks, who represent health, wealth and prosperity, come across a village…

By Elisa GutiérrezPublished by Simply Read BooksISBN #978-1-89465-65-1 Picturescape, a beautifully illustrated wordless picture book, was inspired by Gutiérrez’s time as a school tour volunteer at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The plot follows a boy on a school field trip as he experiences the art of twelve renowned Canadian artists. However, the boy is not…

By Anne NewlandsPublished by Firefly BooksISBN #1-55209-046-9 In a lovely and clearly-written blend of Emily Carr’s artwork and biography, Newland combines her own words with selections from Carr’s writings and comments. The book follows Carr’s journey along Canada’s West Coast, where she spent much of her adult life and was inspired by First Nations villages…

By Pamela PorterPublished by Groundwood BooksISBN # 0-88899-695-0 The Crazy Man is a beautifully written free-verse novel that focuses on a tragedy of misunderstanding. Set in 1960’s Saskatchewan, eleven-year-old Emaline Bitterman is living with her parents in a rural farming community when her life is changed by a tragic farming accident. As a result, Emaline’s…