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This Is Sadie – In Real Life

: One of the books I’m most excited for is Sara O’Leary and Julie Morstad’s latest collaboration, This Is Sadie. It comes out next week, and it’s one of the sweetest stories I’ve ever read.

Sadie is a little girl with a big imagination. We thought it would be nice to see if we could find real-life counterparts to scenes from Sadie’s adventures.

As an Alice in Wonderland fan, my favourite spread is when Sadie throws a Mad Hatter-worthy tea party. This girl is very Sadie-like with her pretty dress and, of course, the bunting in the background (we at Tundra love bunting!).

tea party collageCredit: Genevieve McKeiver

There’s no basket on this shiny red bike yet, but the resourceful Sadie would definitely be able to come up with a solution!

bikes
Credit: PublicDomainPictures (pixabay)

Sadie’s room is whimsically decorated with a mushroom lamp, bunting, and her plush fox family. Who wouldn’t want to curl up with a book in a room like this?sadie bedroom

Credit: piperandpoppies (bedroom); milkmagazine.net (table/lamp – click through the photos); Red Red Completely Red (blanket photo) and Elizabeth Hartman (blanket pattern); Stuffed Safari (fox)

Sadie also builds herself a blanket tent where she can hang out with her foxes and plan some more adventures. This little guy already has the tent and animal pals covered!

tents

Credit: Karen (artmarble)

So cute! I think it might be time to makeover my own bedroom.

If you’d like to see more real-life Sadies, please check out thisissadiebook.tumblr.com or the Sadie pinterest page. And if you have a Sadie in your life, please feel free to email a photo to ThisIsSadieBook@yahoo.com so that you can be added to the website!

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Authors for Indies Day

authorsforindiesCanadian Authors for Indies Day is happening on Saturday, May 2, 2015, and several of our authors are popping into independent bookstores across the country!

British Columbia:

Edie's Ensembles  We Are All Made of Molecules If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur

Newfoundland:

The Swallow

Nova Scotia:

Frankenstink

Ontario:

Julia Child  Nancy Knows  Millhouse  Best Friends through Eternity Audrey-cow For Those About to Write  The Pocket Mommy

For a full list of participating authors and bookstores, please check out the Authors for Indies website.

AuthorsForIndies-Globe-Apr25-v4

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Tundra Reading Club: Outstanding in the Rain Reviews

Hi everyone!

It’s time to share the Reading Club reviews for Outstanding in the Rain!

TundraReadingClub

Outstanding in the Rain
A Whole Story with Holes
Written by Frank Viva
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-101-91768-8
“Creator Viva hints on the cover that this is not your ordinary picture book by segmenting the first word of the title into two parts via color: out in gold, and standing in turquoise … Viva takes readers on a wild trip to an amusement park with the city skyline behind…. The excitement of the story is enhanced by changing perspectives; sometimes the illustrations are close-ups, and other times they are broad abstracts…. A must have because of the originality of the concept, the unusual palette, and the thrill of the reading experience.” – Starred Review, Booklist

  • Suzanne at Squish! loved the overall design, especially “[t]he satin-y matte dust-jacket,…retro vibe of the stylized illustrations and limited colour palette…”
  • Carole at Barda Book Talk calls it a “fun-filled ride.”
  • Bonnie at Adalinc to Life likes the oronyms and suggests that “[a]ny budding linguist” will enjoy reading this book.
  • Carrie at I Can Has Books? was “completely amazed at how beautiful this book is.”
  • Cindy at Cindy’s Love of Books thinks “kids would get a kick out of reading this story or having it be read to them.”

If you read the book as well, please let us know what you thought about it in the comments below! Did anyone know what an oronym was?

As of May, our Reading Club will be on hiatus until further notice. Thanks to everyone who signed up and/or participated these past four months!

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Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards Shortlist

We are very excited to announce that two of our titles have been nominated for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards! Congratulations to Cybèle Young, Dan Bar-el and Tatjana Mai-Wyss!

Picture Book Category:

Nancy KnowsNancy Knows
Written by Cybèle Young
Hardcover | 40 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-482-4
“Nancy Knows is a great example of the power and charm of simple storytelling. Young’s prose is clear; each brief sentence is composed of carefully chosen words that inspire readers to take their time and savour the story (a fitting approach for a book about memory). But it is Young’s artwork that elevates the narrative to extraordinary heights…. Young once again works her magic, combining intricately detailed miniature paper sculptures (which represent memories) with soft, pencil-sketched outlines of Nancy and her surroundings. The effect is utterly mesmerizing.” – Starred Review, Quill & Quire

Middle Reader Category:

audreyAudrey (cow)
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Hardcover | 240 Pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-1-77049-602-6
“Animal Farm meets The Great Escape…. The back-and-forth among the characters is over the top … but Bar-el pulls it off with great charm. The result is purely delightful, as are Tatjana Mai-Wyss’s appropriately vintage-looking spot illustrations. The short first-person passages help move the story along, ending with a comedy-of-errors that culminates in Audrey happily living out her days at an animal sanctuary. Bar-el manages to gently and thoughtfully introduce kids to the concept of the abattoir while also underscoring that a farm’s very purpose is producing food. At its heart, Audrey (Cow) encourages kids to think even as it entertains – the mark of wonderful children’s literature.” – Starred Review, Quill and Quire

About the Award
The award, made possible by the Ruth Schwartz Foundation, is presented annually to the authors/illustrators of two outstanding works of Canadian children’s literature – a picture book and a young-adult/middle-reader title.

Ruth Schwartz was a respected Toronto bookseller who ran a bookstore in the Park Plaza Hotel. She made a special effort to promote Canadian-authored children’s books. In 1976, after Ruth Schwartz’s death, her sister, Sylvia, established an award in her name. In honour of the late Sylvia Schwartz, the family recently added her name to the award.

The award is administered jointly – the Ontario Arts Council oversees the jury process and publicizes the award and the Ontario Arts Foundation publicizes the award.

The winners are selected by two juries of young readers, which this year are students at Alexander Muir / Gladstone Avenue Junior and Senior Public School in Toronto and will be announced there on Friday, May 15, 2015.

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Help stop Frankenstink this Earth Day!

StopFrankenstink

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 is Earth Day and we have some helpful discussions and activities to help you stop Frankenstink from crawling into your life:

  1. What are some objects around your home or the classroom that might “stink”?
  2. Do you have anything accumulating under your bed? Describe the “garbage” you might find there.
  3. Do you know where your community recycling center is located? Or your community garbage dump? Have you ever visited either of these locations?
  4. What do you know about Earth Day? Find out more here: earthday.ca and earthday.org.
  5. Collect different materials around your home or classroom that are unwanted and ready to be disposed of. Create your very own Frankenstink sculpture out of these found materials. Describe your monster orally or in writing. Alternatively, use scrap pieces of paper and material, markers, crayons and paint to create a two dimensional Frankenstink.
  6. Share a picture of your Frankenstink to rlight@eastlink.ca – and tell us how you will dispose of its different parts responsibly.
  7. Consider your own home or classroom. Where might a Frankenstink grow? From what?
  8. Design a poster warning of the dangers of slobby behavior and how it may lead to the creation of a dreaded Frankenstink!
  9. Download and print this Frankenstink! draw-and-color booklet on recycled paper.
  10. Hang this Frankenstink! poster in your home or classroom to remind you to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

FrankenstinkFrankenstink!
Garbage Gone Bad
Written by Ron Lightburn
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 4-8
ISBN: 978-1-77049-694-1
“This fantastic tale of what could happen if we don’t clean up our garbage…. The rhyming text, which should be read aloud to achieve the full effect of the story, provides an opportunity for early readers to have fun playing with juicy words … guaranteed to garner a giggle. Frankenstink! Garbage Gone Bad will appeal to children who hate to clean up as well as those who love all things disgusting. The comic book style illustrations do a good job at punctuating the horrific fun of the story, and a glow in the dark cover is a bonus available in the print version of the book.” – Recommended, CM Magazine

RonLightburnComicAuthor and illustrator RON LIGHTBURN began his artistic career in elementary school with his handmade comic books, like the one featured on the right. He has since won many awards and honors, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Illustration. He has created artwork for book covers, magazines, calendars, posters and advertisements across North America and has become internationally renowned for his range of illustration styles and his storytelling skills. Ron lives in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, and his picture books have been published in nine countries. Frankenstink! Garbage Gone Bad harkens back to the monster movies and comics of his youth. Visit his website at www.thelightburns.com.

EVENT REMINDER: Ron Lightburn will be at Wolfville Memorial Library on Saturday, April 18th, 2015 at 2:00 pm!

Tundra Book Group