Born That Way / Susan Ketchen

ISBN 978-088982-254-2 • pb • 192 pp • $12.95 • Novel • Ages 12 to 15 • April 2009

Sylvia is fourteen and she wants a horse but a few things are getting in her way. For one, she seems to be stuck in the body of an eight-year-old. Sylvia has an undiagnosed medical condition which makes her very short, with funny ears and strange hands. The kids at school call her Pygmy Chimp. Grandpa has secretly promised to buy her a horse as soon as she grows as tall as his shoulder. Sylvia does everything she can to increase her height, including adhering to an unconventional stretching regime. She also sets out to demonstrate her responsible pet-care abilities by bringing home several live barnacles in sea water. Anyone would think barnacles were a pretty safe choice — who would guess that they are hermaphrodites?

Sylvia’s ensuing Google research on barnacle care leaves a damning trail in the family’s computer history file. Her mom decides Sylvia needs therapy to resolve her puberty and gender-identity issues. Sylvia does find support for her quest. In lucid dreams, a grumpy unicorn offers her advice. Sylvia meets others who are equally obsessed with horses and so discovers she is a member of the herd of horsewomen. However, her greatest challenge comes when, on the brink of having her wishes fulfilled, she must reconcile the attainment of her childhood dreams with the emerging powers and responsibilities of womanhood.

Susan Ketchen was born in Nanaimo, B.C. She holds an M.Sc. degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has successfully pursued an alarming number of not overly long careers and now resides on a small Vancouver Island hobby farm with her husband, two horses, two cats and a flock of chickens.

Susan is a member of the B.C. Horse Council, the Comox Valley Dressage Club, and the Comox Valley Writer’s Society. She is a monitor with the Wildlife Tree Stewardship Program, giving her an official excuse to spend many hours staring out the window . . . at the eagles perching and nesting at the edge of the property. She attends meetings of the Psychiatry Journal Club. She is interested in animal training and teaches her horses to recognize a remarkable number of words, play the piano with their noses, and identify flash cards. She has given up trying to master dressage but still enjoys her riding lessons immensely. She is inspired by her surroundings, by the animals domesticated and wild, and by the many interesting people in her life. Her favourite places to come up with new ideas are the barn, the pasture, and the shower. She has never received creative inspiration while vacuuming.

Kaleidoscopes and Butterfly Dreams / Nancy Hundal

ISBN 978-088982-256-6 • pb • 112 pp • $12.95• Novel • Grades 5 to 8/Ages 10 to 14 • June 2009

Change. Krista hates it, but it’s everywhere: new town, new house, new kids. And what’s worse, the town is ugly, the house is shabby and every kid is skinny and already has a best friend. Whereas Krista is lonely and . . . round. Forced to leave her best friend and fancy home behind, Krista struggles to fit into a town with no place for a book-loving city kid whose worst fear is appearing lakeside in a bathing suit.

Krista wants to find a real friend to share her secrets with, not just the retired gym teacher or a seven-year-old with endless snoopy questions. Will that ever happen, when her only activity is going door-to-door, selling broccoli-flavoured diet bars called Weight Wackers?

In a story filled with kaleidoscopes and butterfly dreams, Krista comes to learn that home is more a state of mind than a place. And in a town filled with things that will never change and things that never cease changing, she learns that a true friend can come in any size or at any age.

Nancy Hundal grew up and still lives amongst the blues and greens of Vancouver, Canada; she spent summers in the tans and mustards of Alberta. Libraries, kaleidoscopes and friends are a few of her favourite things. She is the author of nine picture books; one of these, I Heard My Mother Call My Name, won the B.C. Book Prize. You can visit her online at www.nancyhundal.com

The Oyster Who Looked At the Sky / Darcy Dobell, illustrated by Marion Syme

ISBN 978-088982-250-4 • 32 pp • $16.95 • CL • September 2008 • Children's picture book • Ages 3 to 7

Gentle humour characterizes this story of a wilful small oyster who breaks with family tradition in order to remain true to her own adventurous nature. As she discovers the world around her, and gradually inspires her family to see it for themselves, young readers will delight in a series of playful shifts in perspective that ultimately bring the small oyster's big vision back home. Beautifully illustrated with vibrant artwork that evokes all the magic of the West Coast, this book celebrates the natural curiosity of children in a way that will inspire readers of all ages to see the everyday world as an extraordinary ground for imagination and transformation.

Darcy Dobell is the author and editor of many science books and magazine articles for children and students. Sometimes she believes she is a scientist who writes, and sometimes a writer who studies science. The Oyster Who Looked At the Sky is her first picture book. Darcy and her family live in British Columbia, dividing time between Vancouver and Lasqueti Island.

Marion Syme spent several years working with Parks Canada, creating educational material to help people understand and appreciate the natural world. She graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and has shown her art locally. When she isn't creating art she hikes and kayaks with her family in Tofino, BC. She tries to see the interconnectedness of all things. The Oyster Who Looked at the Sky is the first children's book she has illustrated.

"Marion Syme captures the essence of coastal BC in pen and ink and lively colours like no one else. Her images evoke the movement of water, the mewing of oyster catchers, and the tranquility of a dripping rainforest, all in her uniquely whimsical fashion."
— Josie Osborne, Curator, Tofino Botanical Gardens Gallery

"This story is great! I've purchased thousands of picture books during the
last 20 years and I trust my initial reaction. I like it and I'd buy it for my school and library customers."
— Maria Martella, Owner, Tinlids

Elf the Eagle /Ron Smith; Illustrated by Ruth Campbell

Finalist for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize, BC Book Prizes 2008

ISBN 0-88982-241-7 • ISBN13 978-088982-241-2 • 40 pp $19.95 • cl • October 2007 • Full colour illustrations
• Ages 5 to 8

Elf The Eagle Study Guide

This delightful book tells the story of Elf, a baby eagle who worries about many things, including the distance from his nest, high up in a tree, to the ground, way, way down below. He also worries about his sister, Edwina, who is older and more adventurous than he is, and who spreads her wings and flies out of their nest, which frightens Elf a great deal. Eventually, when his baby down grows into strong, black feathers, Elf ’s parents stop bringing him food, and tempt him with tasty morsels that they keep just out of reach. Elf gets very hungry and one day he accidentally tumbles out of his nest. As he starts to fall, his parents yell at him to flap his wings. He does, and he is flying! At the story’s end, Elf can’t wait for dawn to break so he can fly all the way to the sun.

With beautiful, full-colour illustrations by Vancouver artist Ruth Campbell, Elf is an inspiring story, told with gentle humour. It will delight children, who will relate to Elf ’s fears and will realize, as he does, that they too will grow into their wings and fly, when the time is right.

Ron Smith lives on Vancouver Island in a house by the sea, where eagles soar and nest in the trees near his home. He is the author of three collections of poetry and a book of short stories. He is the founder and publisher of Oolichan Books. Elf the Eagle is his first book for children.

Ruth Campbell is a painter born and raised in Montreal. She has degrees in arts and law, and is also a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. She lives in Vancouver with her husband, Robin, and their small family of four cats and two dogs. She is the illustrator of Words, a children’s picture book.

“With wide eyes, lopsided wings, and unsteady feet, Elf the baby eagle hesitates at the edge of the world. He doesn’t know yet what his parents and sister are trying to teach him: that he belongs to the air, and the air to him. Perhaps you know someone like this? You’ll love this delightful tale. Join Elf as he learns to fly. Fly with him as he grows beyond fear and discovers joy.”
— W. H. New

For more information on eagles, please visit the following websites:

• Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival
• American Bald Eagle Information
• American Eagle Foundation

Other Oolichan titles by Ron Smith:

• What Men Know About Women $17.95 pb • $27.95 hc
• Enchantment & Other Demons $12.95

Jake, The Baker, Makes A Cake / P. K. Page, illustrated by Ruth Campbell

ISBN 978-088982-245-0 • 40 pp • $19.95 • cl • May 2008 • Full colour illustrations • Ages 6 and up

Jake, the Baker, Makes a Cake is a fable for children told partially in verse, and written so that it can be acted as a stage play. Jake the Baker loves Rose, the beautiful daughter of his cranky boss, Mr. Jeremiah. Mr. Jeremiah believes only in the value of money, and wants Rose to marry a rich man. When he sees Jake singing and laughing as he works, Mr. Jeremiah decides he wants to feel that way too, and offers to buy happiness from Jake. Jake is shocked, at first, and tells Mr. Jeremiah that happiness is not his to sell. But later, when Mr. Jeremiah promises Rose in marriage to the son of the town’s mayor, a very rich man, Jake is heartbroken. He decides to take Mr. Jeremiah’s money in exchange for happiness, so that he can be rich enough to marry Rose. Then, the strangest thing happens. Mr. Jeremiah is suddenly happy and carefree. Jake is miserable. Nothing goes well for him. His cakes don’t rise, he is angry all the time, and he even snaps at poor Rose when she asks him what’s wrong. Eventually, Jake realizes that he has traded away his happiness for money, and that it has cost him everything he loves. He vows to return the money to Mr. Jeremiah, who is reluctant to accept it. In the end, Mr. Jeremiah takes the money because he wants Jake to bake an award-winning cake, and Jake can only bake it if he has his happiness back. And what he cake he bakes!

Teachers and parents will be able to use this book to discuss values with children. Can happiness be bought? What happens when you trade what you love for money? Then the children can have fun acting out the play.

Iconic Canadian writer P. K. Page is also an artist who paints under the name P. K. Irwin. She is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, travel, short stories, and children’s books. She has won numerous prizes, including the Governor General’s Prize for Poetry, has eight honorary degrees, is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of British Columbia and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Ruth Campbell has degrees in arts and law, and is the illustrator of three previous children’s books. She lives in Vancouver with her husband, Robin.

Mush and the Big Blue Flower / Laurie Payne illustrated by Ruth Campbell

ISBN 0-88982-242-5 • ISBN13 978-088982-242-5 • 112 pp $21.95 • cl • September 2007 • Children’s chapter book/fantasy • Ages 4 to 8.

Mush is a Gypsy word meaning ‘friend.' Mush and the Big Blue Flower is the story of a little boy who is persuaded that he has lost his voice. Unwilling to return to his mother without it, he goes looking for it. He meets a rather strange cast of characters and befriends a magical flying teapot who becomes his guide and transportation as he travels around looking for his voice and other senses, which the odd individuals he meets persuade him he is missing. Deeper and deeper into the lands of magic he travels, becoming more and more confused. For it seems that, although the people he meets are most friendly and determined to help him, they are all so dangerously misguided that time and again Mush is only able to escape danger at their hands with the help of the teapot and its counter-spells. A final terrifying confrontation puts Mush to the ultimate test. Despite his terror, he manages to summon enough courage to surmount his fears and in the process clears the way for a happy reunion with his voice and his other senses.

With playful humour and a delightfully loopy cast of characters, Mush and the Big Blue Flower tells how we all lose our voices, along with our ability to dream and to believe in the magic of imaginative play, as we emerge from childhood. It also tells how, with courage and the determination to be free, each of us can rediscover our own authentic selves.

Laurie Payne was born and raised in England. He lived in the UK, Australia, and the United States before settling in the Shuswap valley in British Columbia in the 1960s. He is an artist whose work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Bau Xi Gallery in Vancouver. He is also a sculptor, potter and writer. Mush and the Big Blue Flower is his first children’s book.

Ruth Campbell is a painter born and raised in Montreal. She has degrees in arts and law, and is also a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. She lives in Vancouver with her husband, Robin, and their small family of four cats and two dogs. She is the illustrator of Words, a children’s picture book.

Words / Mark Ellis & Ruth Campbell

0-88982-227-1 • 40 pp • $19.95 hc • August 2006

Words is a story of a child who can't read "because the words dance around and won't stay still." This tender and inspiring tale challenges the cultural assumption that every child can access written language. As many teachers, librarians, and parents know, a number of children have difficulty reading. With understanding and empathy, the teacher-librarian in Words encourages the child to read, and eventually to write her own stories.

Written in lyrical language, rich in images, Words contains gorgeous full colour illustrations by Vancouver artist Ruth Campbell.

• Click here to download study guide (PDF)

Mark Ellis lives in Marlborough, England. Over the years he has lived and worked in India, Thailand, North Africa, and many European countries. Married to an American for 35 years he has also spent a lot of time in Canada and the United States. For most of his life he has worked in the field of education as an English language specialist. He is the author of five novels.

Ruth Campbell is a painter born and raised in Montreal. She has degrees in arts and law, and is also a graduate of the Emily Carr College of Art & Design. She lives in Vancouver with her husband, Robin, and their small family of four cats and two dogs. Some of their pets are featured in Ruth's illustrations for Words.

Emily Carr’s Woo/ Constance Horne. Illustrated by Lissa Calvert

0-88982-149-6 • 72 pp • $9.95 pb

Emily Carr, an artist who is very fond of animals, has traded a puppy for a two-year-old Javanese monkey. Emily’s sisters disapprove of this new pet, but Emily is determined to keep the monkey, which she names “Woo” because of the sound it makes. Woo has many adventures (and gets into a lot of mischief) while she lives with Emily Carr.

Constance Horne lives in Victoria, BC. She is also the author of The Jo Boy Deserts & Other Stories, Nykola and Granny and Trapped by Coal. Emily Carr’s Woo was short-listed for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Prize, B.C. Book Prizes.

Lissa Calvert is a Victoria wildlife artist who has illustrated many books.