“Letting Charlie Bow Go”
Written by Denise Leduc, Illustrated by
Olha Rastvorova
Published by Lilac Arch Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$15.99
ISBN 9781778286902
Dogs are extraordinary
companions, but there are consequences to owning—and loving—a dog, and one of
the hardest to bear is the fact that most of us outlive our beloved pets. Farewells
are perhaps especially difficult for those families who’ve had a dog grow up alongside
their children. How to imagine the family without the four-legged member that’s
been there from the beginning? When is the right time to say goodbye?
In Letting Charlie Bow Go, a beautifully-produced softcover children’s book by Saskatchewan writer Denise Leduc and illustrated by Olha Rastvorova, the author journeys readers through the life and loss of a child narrator’s dog and best friend, an interestingly-named American Staffordshire: Charlie Bow. The cover illustration—Rastvorova is especially talented with dog images—shows a child hugging a dog who’s obviously loving the affection. Though the dog’s face is visible, we only see the child from the back. What’s remarkable here is that so much emotion’s transmitted through the cover image alone. It’s impossible not to want to read the story inside.
Leduc instantly establishes the connection between the young female narrator and Charlie Bow. “We do everything together,” the girl says. “She sleeps in my bed. Sometimes right on top of me! She is the snuggliest.” The use of “snuggliest” is endearing and gives the child’s diction credibility. We learn that the narrator likes to dress her dog up. “She likes all clothes, except for boots. Charlie Bow does not like wearing boots.” I’ve not known a dog that does! Including this detail also gives the story the ring of truth.
As the book continues we both see and read about the adventures Charlie Bow enjoys with her family, from lake swimming to car rides, including a “road-trip right across the country.” The gorgeous cover illustration shows up again— surrounded by plenty of white space so it really pops and also gives the words room to breathe on the page—when the girl admits that Charlie Bow helps her when she’s sad or mad: “ … she is there wagging her tail and wiggling her bum trying to help me smile.”
The story’s tone changes with this: “She is getting old.” Now Charlie Bow’s tired and “doesn’t want to eat,” so the concerned family takes her to vet Julie (perhaps real-life vet Dr. Julie de Moissac, whom I know), but nothing can be done. “The sun is setting” is an apt metaphor for the dog’s final days.
The remaining pages are dedicated to dealing with the grief that follows the loss of a dear pet, and the final page’s past tense echo of the first page is poetic and bittersweet.
It’s been said that the risk of love is loss and the price of loss is grief, but the pain of grief’s a mere shadow when compared with the pain of never risking love. For all the joy they give us, dogs are worth the eventual consequence of loss—Leduc and Rastvorova make that beautifully and abundantly clear.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
Written by Denise Leduc, Illustrated by
Breanne Taylor
Published by Lilac Arch Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$15.99
ISBN 9781778286919
Some writers make it look easy. Such is the case with Aylesbury, Saskatchewan writer Denise Leduc, who recently published Poppies, Poppies Everywhere!, a well-written children’s story that seamlessly explains the importance of Remembrance Day via a grandmother and her granddaughter, Charlotte.
It’s “a frosty November day,” but young Charlotte wants to go to the playground. “It had monkey bars and slides, her two favourite things!” Her grandma—depicted uncharacteristically and attractively with long grey hair and in trendy, rolled-up, stovepipe jeans—has other ideas. It’s Remembrance Day, and the woman leads Charlotte across the park to purchase commemorative poppies. “You wear it close to your heart,” she tells her still miffed granddaughter. After hot chocolate in a coffee shop—Louisiana-based illustrator Breanne Taylor shows Charlotte kneeling on her chair, as a child might—Grandma explains that they’re going to attend “a ceremony to show we care.”
It’s noteworthy that Leduc’s not fallen for the easy shortcut of naming emotions in this important story. When “Charlotte touched the poppy on her coat,” we know what she is feeling. Through descriptive writing, we experience the collective quiet when the mayor presents at the WW1 memorial: “The mayor stood at a podium and talked into the microphone. Everyone was suddenly so quiet you could hear leaves rustle on the breeze.” When a soldier plays “The Last Post” on his bugle, “Charlotte squeezed Grandma’s warm hand,” and when the chimes rang out the eleventh hour, some people “had a tear or two shimmer on their cheeks.”
These descriptive details elevate the story and demonstrate respect—not only for those who fought for Canada’s freedom, but also for the readers of this book. The writer is essentially saying: I don’t need to spell everything out for the children who read this. They are smart enough to comprehend what Charlotte is feeling. Bravo.
And kudos to artist Breanne Taylor for making the story inclusive: multigenerational characters from various cultures and with different physical abilities are portrayed at the parade and ceremony, where naturally there are “poppies, poppies everywhere!” (I also spotted the dog Charlie Bow, from Leduc’s excellent Letting Charlie Bow Go, at the parade.)
Through the both solemn and joyful Remembrance Day event, Charlotte not only learns why it’s important to honour our veterans, but she also very much feels it. And that is one smart Grandma for gently guiding her through the experience.
After the story’s satisfying ending, the author’s included helpful “Questions for Discussion” to encourage children’s independent thoughts and spark further research into Remembrance Day, ie: “Why are we silent for two whole minutes?” There’s also a page of Remembrance Day Activities, ie: “Find and learn a Remembrance Day poem” and “Thank a veteran.” Such good ideas. Such a smart idea for a children’s book.
Leduc, who moved to Saskatchewan from Ontario, also writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She’s the founder of the registered charity Prairie Bear Books, which “[brings] books to children and youth through community partnerships.” Learn more at www.prairiebearbooks.org.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
__________
“Not Here To Stay”
By Jesse A. Murray
Published by Off the Field Publishing
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$14.99
ISBN 9-781775-194682
Frank Sinatra famously sang “I did it my way,” and Saskatchewan teacher and writer Jesse A. Murray can echo this sentiment when it comes to Not Here To Stay, which echoes the themes of alienation, unworthiness, freedom, loneliness and a fierce desire to be remembered that Murray explored in his earlier self-published poetry collection, I Will Never Break.
The book’s black cover is overlaid with a white cityscape, as if we’re seeing city lights on a dark night. This is symbolic, as throughout this book Murray jumps between dark and light musings—some as short as a single line, several just two or three lines—and in his Introduction he discusses his search to find a place where he felt he belonged as he wrote these poems. “I found myself in many different places, and I always knew that I wasn’t there to stay.” After two months in Nashville, he saw “what it was like for people that followed their dreams.”
This collection reads like an intimate journal. It’s to be noted, however, that Murray includes the disclaimer that “This book is a work of fiction.” He admits that the poems appear chronologically as they were written, and “they are unchanged.” Unedited? Gasp. Many professional writers assert that much of the magic of writing actually happens during the editing, and it’s our responsibility to edit to ensure that readers have the best experience re: our work. First drafts are just the beginning. What daring Murray gives us are the raw goods, even if, as in the first line of the second poem in the book, words are missing: “My mind is like whirlpool,” he writes. During editing we also find grammatical and tense issues, ie: “When we are young,/We drowned in our own problems” (from “Wisdom”).
Stylistically, the poems are centred, many are columnar and contain rhyming lines. Again, the desire (and failure) to stand out underscores the work. In “The World Keeps Spinning” he writes: “No matter what I do, I remain hopeless,/But they don’t even notice.” In the title poem we read: “ …. I just want to be heard” and “I just want to be great”. While many of these pieces reflect dark nights of the soul (again, the cover’s apropos), those white lights also pop through and the narrator’s emotional pendulum swings to the opposite side: “my rock bottom would be success to everyone else” and “I see myself as a star …” Several of the titles read like self-help affirmations, ie: “Go Out And Get It,” “Move Forward,” and “Follow Your Dream”.
Dreams, fresh starts, transience, failed romance … some will relate to the emotional “revolving door,” and reading this may help them with their own self-acceptance and evolution toward contentment, and even joy. That journey begins, however, with an unscathing look at oneself, because “You can’t love anybody,/When you don’t,/Love yourself …”.
Jesse A. Murray has much to say, and this “blacksmith of thoughts”—my favourite phrase in the book—does it his way.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
__________
“Falls Into Place”
By Jesse A. Murray
Published by Off the Field Publishing
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$14.99
ISBN 9-781777-591328
Saskatoon writer and teacher Jesse A. Murray recently released his sixth book, the poetry collection Falls Into Place. While many writers toil several years over a single book, this prolific writer has self-published five poetry collections between 2020 and 2022—this could be a record! As the title suggests, his poems just seem to “fall into place,” and this proved especially true during the global pandemic. “When the pandemic hit, my life changed. My writing changed. I had to work from home … I started to go through all of my piles of writing that I hadn’t looked at in years,” he states, and says that most of the poems in this book were written “before bed”. Transitions also included a new job, a marriage, and impending fatherhood.
I’m familiar with Murray’s work via two of his other poetry collections—I Will Never Break and Not Here To Stay—and find many similarities here. Physically, they’re large poetry collections, and the oft-rhyming poems tend toward introspection—and, specifically, not quite measuring up to the yardstick the narrator’s set for himself. The first several poems hint at a failed romance, and memories of that distant lover “who went away” haunt the narrator: “But I don’t know, what,/I’d actually do,/ If I ever set eyes on you,/ Again.” In his piece “Love Of A Lifetime,” he blatantly spells out grief: “Who knew the love of a lifetime,/Would become the regret of a lifetime.”
Some of the poems are astoundingly brief, and readers might question if indeed a piece like the one below, presented in its entirely, even qualifies as a poem.
Always Easier
…It’s
always easier,
Said
than done …
But Murray, as I’ve learned, is an
individualist when it comes to style and practises re: contemporary poetry. For
one thing, his work is unedited, and this is evident in poems with spelling mistakes
like the ones in “When You Went Away,” where he writes: “The lights are
shinning,/The lights are shinning,/Down on you.”
Several of the poems ask questions, ie: “How are things supposed to look up,/If I’m always looking down?”, “Why do we look at one thing,/And say it’s something else?” and “Why do some minutes feel like days,/And some days feel like minutes?” There’s even one poem—aptly titled “Questions”—that contains only questions, five of them, presented in couplets and ending with “If you could go anywhere,/where would you go?”
This young writer is at his best when he includes concrete images (“When a window is needed,/Put down the bricks,/Grab some glass,/It’s an easy fix”) and metaphor (“I’m a lonely lighthouse”). Many of the poems with repeated lines could be set to music.
There’s much searching across these pages—for love, a home, and for recognition. One hopes the narrator will eventually find what he’s looking for, and take his own advice: “You need to quit searching for things you don’t have,/Quit living in the future, quit living in the past./It’s all about the things you do have.”
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
