Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"From here we're goin' up to Canada, so, um, where the, you know, where the beer runs frothier and the boots shag shaggier, and the bear rugs are still growling, and the different colored money makes sense." --Ani Difranco

It's getting toward the end of the year, and like everyone else I'm struggling to distill a Best of 2002 list from the four score and seven great ones I've had the good fortune to read so far this year. Two superb books that I've loved and reviewed in 2002--and which are both current BBYA nominees--cannot make my list because they were actually published in Canada back in 2001:

Froese, Deborah. Out of the Fire. Sumach Press (1-894549-09-0)
http://richiespicks.com/users/stories/picks/out_of_the_fire.html
Walters, Eric. Northern Exposures. HarperCollins Canada
(0-00-648531-6)
http://richiespicks.com/users/stories/picks/northern_exposures.html

"Think I'll go out to Alberta
Weather's good there in the fall
I got some friends that I could go to working for.
Still I wish you'd change your mind
If I ask you one more time
But we've been through this a hundred times or more"
--Ian Tyson (Canadian folksinger)

And here I am now, getting ready to rave about an extraordinary new novel that will be published in March...except, it has already been in bookstores for months--if you happen to live on the far side of the 49th parallel. In fact, TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HEARTLESS GIRL just won The Governor-General's Award which is clearly a big deal in Canada. (Psst! Betsy! Could you please email me to let me know who and what the Governor-General is?)

"Up among the firs where it smells so sweet
Or down in the valley where the river used to be
I got my mind on eternity
Some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me
And I'm wondering where the lions are...
I'm wondering where the lions are..."
--Bruce Cockburn (Canadian folksinger)

I've been able to comprehend the fact that I have only rather pricey access to British and Down Under releases until they are picked up by a US publisher. I did spring for a copy of the "untranslated" second Harry Potter before the first one was released here in the States. But I could have enjoyed SECRET SACRAMENT years earlier if I'd lived in Auckland City...and there are a dozen Pamela Allen books that I've still never, ever seen!

"Just before our love got lost you said,
'I am as constant as a northern star.'
And I said, 'Constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar.'
On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada"
--Joni Mitchell (Canadian folksinger)

But in contrast to books published eight or ten time zones away, it seems so strange to have books available next door and not available here. Why should that be? And then I think, "Gosh, that's all I need: concurrent protests out in my goat pasture from the anti-globalization folks and the US publishers." But then I consider how bizarre it was forty years ago that we had to wait for new Beatle songs that were already out in Britain. That's certainly not the case anymore with music.

"Take off! To the Great White North!
Take off! It's a beauty way to go.
Take off! To the Great White North!"
--Bob and Doug McKenzie (Canadian wiseguys)

You've got to hear my NORTHERN EXPOSURES story: I read the book, booktalked it, and immediately loaned it to the quarterback of the football team who thought it sounded great. Andrew brought it back and told me that it was the best book he'd ever read. So I decided that I should have another copy to lend out, expecting that Andrew's enthusiasm would create a demand to read it--which it has. I find it on Amazon and order a copy. I open the package and discover that they'd instead sent me a cassette entitled O Holy Night: The Original Soundtrack as Recorded by Steve Green on "25 Songs of Christmas, Vol. 2." I arrange with them for a return shipping label and for them to send me the copy of NORTHERN EXPOSURES. Instead, they send me a second copy of O Holy Night: The Original Soundtrack as Recorded by Steve Green on "25 Songs of Christmas, Vol. 2." (This time they tell me to return the two cassettes, credit my charge card, and delete NORTHERN EXPOSURES from their system.)

So, onward (finally) to TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HEARTLESS GIRL:

"Tessie walked slowly in front of Seth and Mary and Dolores, her tail wagging, tongue hanging out of her mouth. Noreen watched the little procession come up the street and thought life was so strange you couldn't bet on anything. Who knew she'd be standing here on a broken-down sidewalk beside a seriously depressed ex-high-school teacher in a crappy little town, watching a badly dressed farmer unload something from the back of his truck--all the while hoping, whatever it was, this surprise of his would help turn things around for everybody before it was too late."

Noreen, who is seventeen and newly-pregnant, is a human demolition derby who has stolen her latest boyfriend's money and truck. Running away from her latest disaster, she finds herself in the small prairie town of Pembina Lake. There she becomes the catalyst for change among all the story's other impeccably drawn characters, ranging from five year-old Seth to septuagenarian Dolores. The old café in town where newly-arrived Noreen takes shelter from the storm is symbolic of the characters in Pembina Lake--they too are going to rot away and collapse if this obnoxious teenager doesn't tear at their edges as she does with the café wallpaper.

This is a remarkable story with just a couple of settings, amazing dialogue, and portraits of a small town that frequently made me shiver the way I did when first reading Steinbeck's 1930's descriptions of Salinas.

The Governor-General, whoever he or she is, certainly nailed this one!

"I am a child, I'll last a while.
You can't conceive
of the pleasure in my smile."
--Neil Young (ancient Canadian rocker)

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com