★ My Rows and Piles of Coins

By Tololwa M. Mollel, E.B. Lewis, illus.

When Saruni’s mother gives him five 10-cent coins for helping her at the market, the boy’s imagination runs wild with all that he might buy. A shiny red and blue bicycle catches his eye, and ... Read More »

February 3, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ Share the Sky

By Ting-xing Ye, Suzane Langlois, illus.

Kites soar and dip in this lovely picture book by Orillia, Ontario author Ting-xing Ye and Montreal artist Suzane Langlois. Lilting text and luminous watercolours tell the story of Fei-fei, a young girl who lives ... Read More »

February 3, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books

Snow Day

By Werner Zimmermann

Waking to a heavy snowfall, with its pale, washed light and strange silence, touches even the most jaded Canadian adult. Everything ordinary is muffed and scarfed in plump white billows. If you happen to be ... Read More »

February 3, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Bone Talker

By Shelley A. Leedahl, Bill Slavin, illus.

In celebration of the International Year of the Older Person (1999), award-winning Saskatchewan poet and novelist Shelley Leedahl has written a touching story of an old woman, once active and adventurous, “whose life had wound ... Read More »

February 2, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Gentle Dark: Nighttime Poems & Prayers for Children

By Alyson C. Huntly, Chao Yu, illus.

This collection of poems deliberately sets out to challenge negative associations of the image of the dark. As the author states in her afterword, the association of darkness with evil and ignorance has often led ... Read More »

February 2, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books

Python Play and Other Recipes for Fun

By Robert Heidbreder, Karen Patkau, illus.

This delightful and lively book of poems for younger children is a pleasure to read aloud. Vancouver author, teacher, and Greek and Latin scholar Robert Heidbreder, who wrote the collections of poems Don’t Eat Spiders ... Read More »

February 2, 2004 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Picture Books

Firedancers

By Jan Bourdeau Waboose, C.J. Taylor, illus.

The first stunning image in Firedancers is the hot orange-yellow-red of a brilliant autumn landscape at sunset. The world is on fire with light and colour, sky and trees blending with the clothing and faces ... Read More »

February 2, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ The Mole Sisters and the Blue Egg

By Roslyn Schwartz

Canada used to be a place where children’s writers disappeared. A book or two would be published, full of promise, and then the writer would vanish into utter darkness. I have a little shelf of ... Read More »

February 2, 2004 | Filed under: Picture Books