Canadian Children’s Literature for the Theatrical

Didja miss me?

Didja even realize I was gone?

Well our annual trip to Stratford, Ontario has come and gone.*  Time to reenter the real world once more (sort of . . . I’m still on maternity leave, after all).  It’s funny but the minute I got back, New York experienced a small earthquake.  I’d been reading the earthquake heavy Tall Story by Candy Gourlay so quakes seemed a perfectly appropriate welcome committee.  As for Canada, it has once again outdone itself.  I appreciated that at the height of August they were willing to place snow in their snow dumping areas (hence to the photo to the right taken on Saturday).  I also appreciated that my mom, dad, brother, and sister all descended on the town to take care of the Baby Bird while my husband and I saw some Shakespeare (it’s what Stratford’s known for).

Of course the whole time I was there I was thinking about children’s books.  And why not?  Canada has its own fair share of children’s book publishers.  And they’re not all putting out books that look like this:

So I stopped in the local used bookstores as well as the theater gift shops to get a sense of the local literature.  One used bookstore offered an interesting and very Canadian array of titles.  There’s your standard biography . . .

. . . your local authors (the predecessor to this book actually made it to #76 on the Top 100 Picture Books Poll, so I was pleased to meet its sequel in person) . . .

. . . and your terrible terrible ideas (somehow this one didn’t make it to the States):

Then there were the new books.  The biggest gift shop the theaters of Stratford offer had a lovely bookselling portion.  It was there that I met with several interesting surprises.  First off, this section of stuffed swans (they may look like they are wearing shades, but they are not), and various books on dance, princesses, and Shakespearean tropes.  And right there on the upper right hand side?  Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Dan Santat.  What a lovely surprise!

The fiction was fascinating as well.  R.J. Anderson’s Faery Rebels wasn’t surprising since she lives in town.  Plus fairies = A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet looked pretty perfect too.  Again, though, I was disappointed not to see Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies! present.  Seems like a shoo-in inclusion to me.

I found this last cluster of books even more baffling.  I loved Keeper, but there are remarkably few mermaids in Shakespearean plays.  In any case, it was a fascinating collection.

And that is that!  I’ll spend the rest of the week catching up with the news.  In the meantime, don’t be intimidated by the earthquakes!

*Someone pointed out to me the irony of this trip.  Each year we leave New York City to see theater in Canada.  I guess I’d find it weird too if the shows weren’t always so doggone fantastic.

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