> SMALL PRINT
Summer is here and stories about the outdoors are apt, but under Covid-19, what do they mean? Deborah Underwood’s “Outside In”, illustrated by Cindy Derby (Harcour t Houghton Miffli n, 32 pages, $24.99, ages 3-7), resonates even in the shadow of lockdown. “Once we were part of Outside and Outside was part of us,” begins this story aimed to tempt kids to explore nature. Instead, Underwood’s take on Outside shows ways nature reaches indoors — through sunlight, our clothes, even the water from our taps. We might forget we’re part of nature, but Outside reminds us. A perceptive mix of poetry, art and environmental awareness. Akiko Miyakoshi’s “I Dream of a Journey” (Kids Can, 32 pages, $18.99, ages 3-7) suits shut-in fatigue. “In my dreams I set off on a journey …” says a bear hotelier, and he dreams of travelling to places his guests have been, to beaches and windswept dunes. When he wakes from his colour-filled sleep, he’s back in his own hotel. There’s something eerie yet familiar in Miyakoshi’s muted art, the bear’s timid wanderlust, and travel that can happen only in dreams.
Deborah Hodge celebrates the real “Outside” in “West Coast Wild Babies,” with lose-yourself-in-them illustrations by Karen Reczuc h (Groundwood, 32 pages, $19.95, ages 3-6). Hodge describes some of the Pacific coast’s many baby creatures — gray wolves, orcas, harbour seals, oystercatcher s and more. Reczuch’s pellucid colours show the scene with idealized serenity, heightening natural beauty, baby life and security.
Ibram Kendi’s “Antiracist Baby,” illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky (Kokila, 24 pages, $11.99, all ages), brings the issue of antiracism to babies and all readers in a jaunty, challenging board book offering nine steps to acting for racial equity. Kendi’s words are few but his content is deep: “open your eyes to all skin colours … use your words to talk about race …” With its acknowledgement that “Antiracist Baby is bred, not born,” this timely book can be a first step in discussing our own society.
Andrea Curtis explores nature in urban spaces in “A Forest in the City,” illustrated by Pierre Pratt (Groundwood, 40 pages, $19.95, ages 10 and up). In a direct, informative text, she tells us of urban trees and the perils posed by city soil, pollution and neighbourly peccadilloes. Pratt’s illustrations balance the staid text with playfulness and humour, showing trees’ glorious greenery among and around humans’ busy ways. Pratt’s art conveys the joie-de-vivr e trees bring; Curtis’s text provides the science.
In Rebecca Stead’s “The List of Things That Will Not Change” (Wendy Lamb, 224 pages, $22.99, ages 10-14), set in New York, Bea tells the story of her father’s wedding to his gay partner. To do it, she takes us back to the time of her parents’ divorce, her ensuing life i n two homes, her bad spelling, and her efforts to befriend her step-sister. Stead is a marvel at ravelling up her tale through interlocking pieces, past and present. Bea’s slow revelation of what’s in her heart happens with colourful, precise incident, each page deepening emotional intensity.
First Nations sleuths the “Mighty Muskrats” travel from their reservation to the city in Michael Hutchinson’s “The Case of the Missing Auntie” (Second Story, 181 pages, $10.95, ages 8-13). While they contend with city ways, they try to find out what happened to Grandpa’s sister, scooped by the government and adopted years ago. This quick, engaging mystery (indeed, the series) is a real gift to Canadian readers, most particularly for the Indigenous familial culture and social and historical realities it portrays.
A strong sense of place and down-toearth narrator characterize Riel Nason’s “Waiting Under Water” (Scholastic, 216 pages, $8.99, ages 9-12). Loving her home on the Bay of Fundy, Hope is terrified when her family decides to move to Toronto. Her nervous tic worsens as departure day approaches, and in a refreshing plot twist, her parents change their plans.