Book Review: Eagle of the Sea – by Kristin Bieber Domm


Book: Eagle of the Sea
Author: Kristin Bieber Domm
Illustrator: Jeffrey C. Domm
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Date: March 1, 2011
Genre: Children's picture book; age 4 - 8; Preschool - 3 
Pages: 32
Price: $9.95
My rating: An informative story about the bald eagle

On a weekend away with my husband last autumn I purchased this little book in a gift shop. Just look at the sharp eye of the eagle on the cover of Eagle of the Sea written by Kristin Bieber Domm. Her husband, Jeffrey C. Domm is an accomplished illustrator, and his illustrations in this book are fabulous.

Eagle of the Sea is written in first person so the reader is told the eagle’s story from its own experience. The eagle tells what it looks like and how those features are of benefit, where it lives, how it hunts and brings up its young with its mate. Included are many fascinating facts about eagles, such as why it’s called the bald eagle. Many people don’t realize that “bald” is the word for “marked with white.”

Where I live I can see at least one eagle almost every day, often more. In fact, while writing this post I stopped to take my little dog outside for a few minutes. Instead of letting her run loose behind our house as I occasionally do, I felt this time I should keep her on leash. I’m glad I did! While Meyya was snuffling around in the grass, an eagle soared overhead, coming in closer and closer. I’m sure she had an eye on all eight pounds of little Meyya. To the eagle she would be the equivalent of a good-sized rabbit!

In Eagle of the Sea there is information about eagle watches here in Nova Scotia where this amazing bird is protected so that we now have a thriving population of them. They are an awe-inspiring bird, and easily recognized by their call, size, flight habits, and more. Kristin Bieber Domm has included all a young reader will want to know about eagles, and the illustrations by Jeffrey C. Domm are amazingly life-like.

You can find Eagle of the Sea by Kristin Bieber Domm on my BUY THE BOOK page. I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Goodreads, and sometimes Chapters.Indigo.

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Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Normal Norman – by Tara Lazar

Book: Normal Norman
Author: Tara Lazar
Illustrator: S.britt
Publisher: Sterling Children's Books
Genre: children's picture book; age 4 & up; Preschool & up 
Date: March 1, 2016
Pages: 40
Price: $14.95
My rating: Funny with lots of encouragement to love 
your differences

Normal Norman by Tara Lazar is a book about defining the word normal, and in a very funny way.

The narrator of this story is a junior scientist who is narrating for the first time. She wants it to go well, so she introduces Norman. Norman is an orangutan, an average, ordinary, common creature – or so she thinks.

The junior scientist measures him and finds he is normal in size. Then she discovers Norman eating a snack, but he doesn’t eat bananas, he’s eating pizza. When she peels a banana for him he freaks out! He thinks it’s cruel! It gets more and more abnormal from there.

This is a funny story. Children will love that Norman is a purple orangutan who wears eyeglasses, which should have been the first clues to the narrator that Norman is far from being a normal orangutan. Norman also doesn’t want to sleep in a pile of leaves and branches like orangutans do, and he has a favourite stuffed toy.

The junior scientist narrator is distraught. Nothing is going as planned. Then Norman has an idea.

Children will love Tara Lazar‘s ending for Normal Norman. It’s funny and unexpected. The illustrations by S. Britt are fun and fabulous, making Norman a memorable character.

You can find Normal Norman by Tara Lazar on my BUY THE BOOK page. I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Goodreads, and sometimes Chapters.Indigo.

Would you like to leave a comment for me, or for the author and/or illustrator?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: The King of Keji – by Jan L. Coates


Book: The King of Keji
Author: Jan L. Coates
Illustrator: Patsy MacKinnon
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing Ltd.
Date: September 1, 2015
Genre: children's picture book; age 5 - 8;  K - 3
Pages: 32
Price: $12.95
My rating: lovely story of discovering treasures hidden 
in plain sight

The King of Keji by Jan L. Coates is another book I purchased at the children’s book fair in 2016. Personal note: When Nova Scotia’s Kejimkujik National Park was in its early development stage my dad was one of the skilled workers on site making that happen. I was a young girl then and one weekend my mother, sister, and I went along and stayed overnight with Dad in one of the cabins a short but safe distance from the construction.

In The King of Keji we meet Jacob, a young boy who is tired of being second to his older brother. His brother is always king of the castle which makes Jacob the dirty rascal – a nursery rhyme game – so his grandfather teaches Jacob about being a king in nature. Gramps takes Jacob to Kejimkujik National Part for a weekend of camping, hiking, and searching for hidden treasure. Hidden treasure is different from buried treasure, so Jacob learns to look for the things hidden in plain sight, things he would otherwise easily overlook.

They discuss what treasures a king would have and thought of a sceptre, antiques, turquoise, diamonds, jade, emeralds, and several more. Jacob finds a long piece of driftwood that works well as a sceptre and they set out. While hiking, Gramps takes pictures of the things they find. Some of the treasures were the emerald-green leaves of an ancient hemlock tree, the diamond sparkle of the lake, the jade colour of frogs sitting on moss-covered rocks, and the gold and ruby colours of the sunset that night. Jacob feels like a king with all that treasure – even though they took nothing away with them except pictures – and learns how to be more observant and respectful of his surroundings.

The King of Keji is a story very well told, full of description and the allurement of a nature hike in one of Nova Scotia’s beautiful provincial parks. The illustrations by Patsy MacKinnon are full of nature’s colours. The reader gets to appreciate the variety found in Keji park from the huge trees along the hiking trails, to the animals that live there and in the salt marsh, to the glorious sky as the sun is setting.

The King of Keji by Jan L. Coates encourages readers to be more aware of what’s around them in nature, and to appreciate the treasures already provided for us.

You can find The King of Keji by Jan L. Coates on my BUY THE BOOK page. I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Goodreads, and sometimes Chapters.Indigo.

Thank you for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Missing Nimama – by Melanie Florence

Book: Missing Nimâmâ
Author: Melanie Florence
Illustrator: François Thisdale
Publisher: Clockwise Press
Date: October 16, 2015
Genre: picture book; ages 8 & up, gr 3 & up
Pages: 32
Price: $19.95
My rating: Sensitively told story bringing awareness of 
a tragic reality

This book has been written with heart. Missing Nimâmâ by Melanie Florence is a sensitive and beautiful story about a young indigenous girl whose mother went missing. Although her child cannot see her, the mother is always present in spirit, watching as her nimâmâ (Cree for mother) brings up her daughter in her place. The story is told from the voice of the child, often in conversation with her nôhkom (grandmother), and then her mother’s viewpoint – back and forth. That style of writing creates a tenderness and wistfulness that is both touching and enlightening. The illustrations created by award-winning illustrator François Thisdale are soft and realistic, adding dimension and texture to the story.

I think I first learned of this picture book, Missing Nimâmâ, when I heard the author being interviewed on CBC radio. It came up at another time, too, and I knew I had to read it. It gripped me. The topic it addresses is a horrible and shameful one – the disappearance of many indigenous women in Canada, and also in the US. It is alarming the large number – hundreds – of missing, and believed to be murdered, aboriginal girls and women in North America. Far too many are unsolved cases that should never have happened and many could have been prevented, or not ended as tragically had there been timely attention given.

After reading all of that you may wonder, how is this a children’s book? The author, Melanie Florence, has masterfully written a sweet story that is very suitable for children. She introduces the reader to a few of the traditions of a Cree family, and inserts some Cree words, making it interesting on more than one level. The child’s grandmother speaks of her own daughter as being “one of the lost women”, and helps the little girl remember her nimâmâ fondly throughout her growing-up years. The ending brings it to a satisfactory conclusion, and yet, it does not end. It’s quite sad when the reality of it hits you, and yet it’s so compassionately told that you want every child to be given the chance to understand.

Missing Nimâmâ, written by Melanie Florence and illustrated by François Thisdale, won the 2016 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, was selected for an honorable mention as an OLA Best Bets 2016 Honour Book, and is a 2017 Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award finalist. It’s a very deserving book.

You can find Missing Nimâmâ on my BUY THE BOOK page. I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Goodreads, and sometimes Chapters.Indigo.

SPECIAL NOTE: Melanie has agreed to an interview! Come back Thursday, April 27, to enjoy the interview and leave a comment for a giveaway – a copy of Missing Nimâmâ – courtesy of Clockwise Press.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Watersong – by Tim McCanna


Book: Watersong
Author: Tim McCanna
Illustrator: Richard Smythe
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: Children's picture book
Date: January 2017
Pages: 32
My Rating: a pleasant experience of one of nature's songs

Watersong is one of those amazing books in which the marriage of words and illustrations deliver a complete and brilliant story.

In fifty-six words (only two of them repeated once each), and in rhythmic rhyme, Tim McCanna created a story of what one can experience of nature’s breathtaking power. Through onomatopoeia – in this case rain sounds, such as drip drop plip plop – the reader follows a fox through the forest as rain begins falling, intensifies, increases into a storm from which the fox seeks shelter, then the rain tapers off and turns back to a sunny early summer day. It’s all through scant words on each page and well-suited illustrations.

The illustrator, Richard Smythe, used soft watercolour to create the pleasant hues of summer in the forest, river, and meadow during and after the rain. His illustrations perfectly reveal what the words are saying, while the words precisely describe what the illustrations are showing. It’s beautifully done, truly a water song.

Reading Watersong slowly and thoughtfully, the reader can imagine being there and hearing the rain in its different moods. It’s a lovely book.

You can find Watersong by Tim McCanna on my BUY THE BOOK page. I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Goodreads, and sometimes Chapters.Indigo.

Your comments for author and/or illustrator are appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Heroes of Isle aux Morts – by Alice Walsh

Book: Heroes of Isle aux Morts
Author: Alice Walsh
Illustrator: Geoff Butler
Publisher: Tundra Books
Date: February 15, 2001
Genre: picture book; age 8 - 12 yrs, gr 3 - 7
Pages: 32, hardcover
Price: $5.50, varies
My rating: a well-told true story with fabulous illustrations

Heroes of Isle aux Morts by Alice Walsh is an amazing true story about a very hazardous rescue that happened in July 1828 off the coast of Newfoundland before it was a province of Canada.

Early one morning Anne Harvey woke to the sound of a ferocious storm and above the wind a distress signal. Then she saw a flare light up the sky, meaning there was a ship in trouble and without help its passengers would surely drown. Many ships had been driven onto the rocks in storms, and Anne and her father knew there wasn’t much time for a rescue. The island where the family lived was called Isle aux Morts, meaning island of the dead, because of so many people losing their lives off their coast.

Anne, her father, her younger brother, and their large Newfoundland dog, Hairy Man, loaded into a dory and launched into the waves. Newfoundland dogs are known for their brave deeds, and what the family did to save those people made them, and especially Hairy Man, heroes. It’s an unbelievable story, and yet it’s true. History notes how King George IV, king of England, recognized the family as heroes for saving the lives of one hundred and sixty-three passengers, one by one, in treacherous conditions.

Heroes of Isle aux Morts is a must-read story of the ship the Despatch, the Harvey family, a Newfoundland dog, and a historical rescue at sea. Alice Walsh, formerly from Newfoundland, wrote a breath-taking story of drama and bravery. The illustrations by Geoff Butler are fantastic, showing how rugged and dangerous the rescue was that dark, stormy day.

You can find Heroes of Isle aux Morts by Alice Walsh on my BUY THE BOOK page. I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Goodreads, and sometimes Chapters.Indigo.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Fire Pie Trout – by Melanie Mosher

Book: Fire Pie Trout
Author: Melanie Mosher
Illustrator: Renné Benoit
Publisher: Fifth House Publishers
Date: May 20, 2014
Genre: picture book; gr 1-2; age 6-7
Pages: 32
Price: $19.95
My rating: an believable true-to-life story

Fire Pie Trout by Melanie Mosher is a wonderful maritime story, another book I purchased at the children’s book fair in 2016.

It’s early morning before the fog is all burned off and little Grace and her grandfather are going fishing. Grace packed their favourite lunch for them – pizza, which her grampie calls fire pie.

This is a realistic story that shows Grace trying to keep up with her grandfather’s long strides. The grass is slippery and wet in the fog, and Grace ends up slipping and falling, so she just rolls down the hill and waits for her grampie.

Gramps shows Grace how to fish, then sits on the bank and lowers his own line into the water. Grace doesn’t want to bait her hook with a worm, so she releases the worm into the grass when her grampie isn’t looking. She begins to worry to her grandfather that maybe she is too young to fish. She’s thinking about it’s being dark, that she’s not allowed to watch scary movies or stay home all alone, so … maybe she is too young to fish, too. Then she secretly releases another worm instead of baiting her hook with it.

In the meantime her grampie has caught two big trout while encouraging her to keep trying. The fog is gone, the sun has warmed them up, and then – after setting free a third worm – Grace has an idea! It involves pizza and Grace realizes she is NOT too young to fish after all.

This is a nicely told true-to-life story with an amusing ending that young readers will enjoy. Some will see themselves in Grace who is a bit nervous, but then discovers how clever she can be.

Fire Pie Trout by Melanie Mosher is a lovely story of a special outing for a grandchild with a loved grandparent. It has beautiful illustrations by Renné Benoit who very effectively captured the look of fog over the water, and the joys of fishing in it.

You can find Fire Pie Trout by Melanie Mosher on my BUY THE BOOK page.

I also post my reviews on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Chapters.Indigo, and Goodreads.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂