The Big Bed
Bunmi Laditan
Illustrated by Tom Knight

Farra, Strauss and Giroux
$16.99
cloth
32pp
9780374301231

This toddler has an answer to everything. She’s even found a way to make her bed-wetting accidents seem desirable. Her solution to the too- small bed: Daddy gets to sleep on his very own “sleeping rectangle” beside the big bed. And he’s even welcome to join his wife and child in the morning, as long as he’s not too rambunctious. The Big Bed is sure to amuse both children and parents. But be forewarned, fathers: if your own toddler decides to use the same ironclad logic employed in The Big Bed, you might find yourself sleeping alone.

***

On the first page of Nothing Happens in This Book, Judy Ann Sadler dares to ask, “This book looks boring, doesn’t it?” Intrigued by the question, we can’t help but press on. The next page reveals a strange little man with a long, pointy, red-tipped nose and a tiny green baseball cap. But instead of encouraging us to explore the book that he currently inhabits, this creature does everything he can to dissuade us from reading further. Which, of course, only makes us want to turn the next page, and then the next. Until, before we know it, there’s a lot happening in Nothing Happens in This Book. A whole circus, in fact.

Nothing Happens in This Book
Judy Ann Sadler
Illustrated by Vigg

Kids Can Press
$16.00
cloth
40pp
9781771387378

The final page of this wide-format picture book folds out to reveal a wonderful parade with skateboarding frogs, cartwheeling clowns, gorillas playing tubas, and an octopus with a concertina. The strange little man turns out to be the ringleader
who makes all the action happen. This is a fun book to read aloud and to discover with a child, and an excellent demonstration of the truth behind that old adage, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

***

Adults may know that the expression “blue moon” comes from the infrequent but predictable occurrence of two full moons in a calendar month. But to the protagonist in Sara O’Leary’s The Boy and the Blue Moon, this astronomical phenomenon signals the beginning of a fantastical journey. “On the night of the blue moon anything can happen,” says the boy to his cat, whose fur promptly changes from black to midnight blue.

The Boy and the Blue Moon
Sara O'Leary
Illustrated by Ashley Crwoley

Henry Holt and Company
$17.99
cloth
40pp
9781627797740

The journey begins on a meandering, moonlit path through the forest, all shadows and light in blue and white. By the shores of the blue lake, the boy and cat continue in a boat, and then soar into the stars. Surrounded by the universe, they eventually land on the moon. There, the boy and his cat dream of a new life before deciding to return home. The spectrum of blues infusing the story bring on a feeling of calm, while the plot takes us on a trip to the stars. Illustrations by Ashley Crowley make us like the small boy with his tousled hair, his passion for space, and his willingness to believe in magic. O’Leary has given us a lovely book to read before bed about a boy, his cat, and the kind of adventures we can take in our imaginations.

***

It’s easy to commiserate with Jane on the first page of Susan Hughes’s Walking in the City With Jane. The little girl with red hair dreams of escaping the confines of her school desk and stuffy classroom to explore the world around her. When she moves to New York City after high school, Jane Jacobs falls in love with the mysteries and delights of the Big Apple – everything from the secret codes embossed on manhole covers to the oases offered by public parks. In New York City, she develops the concept of a city as an ecosystem whose diversity of use and population is essential to its survival. Her ideas about healthy cities lead to her activism, her arrest, and her eventual triumph over the four-lane expressway Robert Moses had planned to run through her neighbourhood.

Walking in the City with Jane
A Story of Jane Jacobs
Susan Hughes
Illustrated by Valérie Boivin

Kids Can Press
$19.99
cloth
36pp
9781771386531

In 1968, Jacobs moved to Toronto, a city on which this outspoken and indefatigable fighter for livable cities had a profound effect. Today, in cities around the world, volunteers lead Jane’s Walks and provide an opportunity for city dwellers to explore their urban environments. Jane Jacobs’s spirit persists to this day, inspiring city residents to work and fight for urban spaces that reflect and encourage diversity of use and population. Valérie Boivin’s charming illustrations reveal the cities’ “sidewalk ballet” – Jacobs’s term for the spectacle playing out on healthy city streets. And Hughes’s text shines a light on this urban activist.

***

It takes a lot of guts to go against the status quo, and it’s always great when a writer manages to encourage kids to stand up for what they believe in without coming off as preachy or condescending. Andrée Poulin succeeds in doing so with her latest book for children, That’s Not Hockey!, in which she tells the story of the great Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante. Plante ended his career in 1975 with seven Vezina trophies for best goaltender and is credited with helping Les Canadiens win six Stanley Cups.

That’s Not Hockey!
Andrée Poulin
Illustrated by Félix Girard

Annick Press
$21.95
cloth
32pp
9781773210513

But Plante’s trip to the top was tough from the start. So poor that his first hockey stick was fashioned from a tree branch and his goalie pads were made from old potato sacks and wooden slats, Plante is signed by the pros only to discover that his unique offensive goaltending style means taking constant pucks to the face. When he creates the first goalie mask, fans, coaches, players, and owners alike taunt and ridicule him. Plante stands his ground and changes the face of hockey forever. Poulin’s taut storytelling style makes this picture book accessible to even the youngest readers while giving us a complete plot populated by well-rounded characters. Félix Girard’s drawings give us a glimpse into life in Quebec during Plante’s post-war heyday. mRb