“If you lie down in a field, she will find you there”
By Colleen Brown
Published by Radiant Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$20.00
ISBN 9-781989-274941
Colleen Brown’s If you lie down in a field, she will find you there underscores that “perception is everything”. The Ontario-raised writer and artist’s memoir contemplates the mystery of her mother via disparate childhood memories and family vignettes, many of which are recalled by Brown’s much older siblings. In delivering these random remembrances, Brown effectively gives the woman’s “perfectly human and unremarkable” life the warm spotlight it deserves; this comes in stark contrast to the “death porn” the media spouted after her mother’s murder by a serial killer. The book is a construction, “a way to make sense of a life,” and it bucks against the “narrative pull” associated with writing about violence. Don’t expect a straight line or an ordered chronology. Do expect to be engrossed by this jigsaw of a memoir that’s often poetic, frequently philosophical, and presents a yearning for “wholeness”.
Brown was eight when her mother, Doris, died “suddenly, out of sequence, shockingly and violently”. The killer’s confession came two years later, and he’s been in a psychiatric institution since 1978 under a “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder” ruling (reviewed annually). There are no details about the wheres and hows of the tragedy. As Brown—a visual artist currently in Maple Ridge, BC as the 2023-26 Artist-in-Residence—explains: “My mother’s life and death must be held separate for her life to exist as a story.”
This non-narrative is located in and near Guelph at “the House, the Cottage, the Store,” and these settings provide a loose frame from which the everyday-type memories hang. The author’s sister, Vicky, remembers that Doris used Nivea cream to wash her face. Pages later, Vicky also recalls that their mother “always washed the floors on hands and knees”. Brother Jim relays how Doris “had a little difficulty driving sometimes, particularly on the country roads,” and there is levity in recollections of her driving mishaps. Jim’s next contribution to the collective story is about the family’s dog having puppies. “Mom was so happy with those pups,” he says, and siblings Laura and Colleen build on this anecdote with their own memories about the family’s animals. But it’s not all sweetness. Jim also recalls their father having Doris committed to “Homewood,” and the author writes “I learned that husbands putting wives into mental institutions was popular at the time”. The “post-war, upwardly mobile family” ran a sporting goods’ business that afforded them a succession of homes, from “an apartment above the store” to a “big place in the country”—but they lost the business.
This beautifully-produced book’s many subjects include feminism, mental health, and forgiveness. Front and centre, however, are the memories of a mother the author “did not know existed”. Brown writes with an artist’s sensorial discernment about the domestic—the chenille bedspread, the new mixer with the “glossy mustard base”—and the natural world—rain “pointing in the dust and sand”—and in curating these various details and anecdotes, she greatly reduces the “dark matter” her family’s experienced.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
“Alphabet in the Park”
Written by Ashley Vercammen, Illustrated
by Evgeniya Filimonova
Published by Home Style Teachers
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$20.00 ISBN 9-781778-152900
I’ve reviewed a number of children’s alphabet books across the decades, so I’m always impressed when a writer puts an original twist on the traditional “A is for Apple” text. Saskatchewan’s Ashley Vercammen and her illustrator, Evgeniya Filimonova have done just that. Their 2022-released Alphabet in the Park contains a rhyming narrative, it’s interactive, seasonal, and it offers some original ideas re: ways to explain—and show—the twenty-six letters that form the English language. The letters actually become characters, playing along with the children in the book.
This unique story is set in a park, and it’s winter. From a visual perspective, this makes for many pages with snowy white backgrounds, which in turn make the illustrations stand out. On the left side of each page spread a single letter takes its turn in a solid bold colour. In choosing a winter theme and selecting one orange-haired girl to appear in several of the scenes, readers get a sense of continuity. The cast of characters is culturally inclusive, which is always a bonus in children’s stories.
Young readers are welcomed to add their own message to the beginning of the book, and there’s another page at the end of the book for their input. Spelling is presented as “playing,” and what child doesn’t like to play? The orange-haired girl (with pink earmuffs) and her brown-skinned friend start the story with a snowball toss and an invitation: “Do you want to play a game? Let’s find all the letters. Try to spell your name!”
Some of the pages ask readers questions about the illustrations. The A page reads: “What is near the alligator? It has been playing there all day. I found the letter “A”, hopping on one leg!” I love this use of personification. Who says a letter A can’t hop, or the blue letter B can’t cross a yellow bridge? The letter J is wearing a scarf, and the letter K is on a swing set next to a boy in a snowflake-patterned coat who says he could “swing all day!”. Imagination is key here, and there’s a wonderful synchronicity between the words and simple images.
Vercammen doesn’t stick to true rhymes, which is also welcoming. For example, she rhymes D with “freeze,” F and “left,” X and “tux”. And again, her letters of the alphabet get up to all kinds of winter fun in the park on playground equipment and with natural elements (ie: a snowy hill and a snow fort). The letter N is outfitted with twiggy arms and a carrot nose, and voila: a snowman. The letter Q becomes a snowball with ease. And look at that letter S—on the hockey ice “she has already scored twice!” and a few pages later, W is curling!
Vercammen’s got a great thing going here, and with the numerous other books she has written and published with Home Style Teachers. To see all the books on this young, hard-working Saskatchewan writer’s growing and impressive list, visit www.ashley-vercammen.ca/.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN PUBLISHERS GROUP WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
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“Dentists Are No Big Deal”
Written by Debbie Kesslering and Ashley
Vercammen
Published by Home Style Teachers
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$25.00 ISBN 9-781778-152986
Writer and publisher Ashley Vercammen has teamed with another Saskatchewanian, Debbie Kesslering, of Viceroy, on a new title in Vercammen’s “No Big Deal” series of illustrated books for children. Vercammen is also a Registered Behaviour Technician, and it’s this position and her “belief that, with practice, some scary things can become No Big Deal” that are the impetuses behind the series. Kesserling, a mother of four who’s worked with “many World Class Dental Therapists, Dentists, Hygienists and Assistants,” dedicates the story to her “fellow ‘sugar bug catchers’”.
The brightly-illustrated tale begins with young, bespeckled Nora waking with a smile to her dad’s announcement that on this “special day,” the girl’s going for a dental check-up. Nora knows that visiting the dentist is “no big deal,” but she’s not sure what the check-up’s about. Her father reminds her that “every morning and night we brush our teeth so we don’t get sugar bugs. But they are very sneaky!”
What’s unusual—and wise—is that the father and daughter go through a pre-appointment practice session, and Rosie, “a bright red teddy bear,” gets to play along too. A “plastic dentist equipment” set is used to go through the procedure. Now I don’t know if such a set has in fact been manufactured to help children battle the dental heebie jeebies, but if not, what a grand idea! When Nora puts on the glasses “to protect [her] eyes from the light,” her reaction is “I look like a rock star!”
The story’s upbeat tone is supported by the characters’ consistent smiles, brightly-coloured rooms, and pleasant landscapes viewed beyond windows. I noted that for some of the attributions, the writers used Nora “Cheered!” Incorporating positive similes is another way to reinforce the feel-good tone, ie: Dad says that the moving dentist chair is “like a ride at the park!” Dad, as make-believe dentist, makes his daughter giggle with a silly face and speaks “calmly,” and Nora’s sure to be clutching Rosie through every step of the rehearsal. Another way Dad prepares Nora for the dentist is to use counting, so she’ll know when something new is about to happen. When it’s time for an x-ray, a timer is set. The polisher is also given an upbeat spin: “It’s like a toothbrush that shakes and tickles your teeth!” Nora says, and even Fluoride is given a child-friendly twist. “I want bubble gum flavoured!” Nora says. And, of course, no child’s visit to the dentist is complete without a “prize”.
The authors take Nora, Rosie and her father right through the actual dental visit, as well, and as you might guess, because the child has been so well-prepared, the appointment certainly is no big deal.
There are currently two sets of toddling twins in my family to buy books for. I believe they and their parents will really appreciate receiving this fun and practical gift. It dispels fear, promotes good dental hygiene, and might even make going to the dentist something to look greatly forward to.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL
BOOKSTORE OR FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN PUBLISHERS GROUP WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
