The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr

Like many other children during World War II, Jimmy and his brother Ronnie are sent away from London - in this case to a remote village in Wales. Jimmy is desperate to return home. He wants to protect his brother and he has great difficulty accepting the kindness offered by Gwen and Alun Thomas. Luckily they stay very patient with him even though he is rude and surly. Wandering on his own he climbs a tree on the outskirts of the village and he finds a human skull. Jimmy has a wild imagination and he is sure there must be a murderer on the loose in Llanbryn. 

One of the other evacuated children is a girl named Florence. Back in London Florence was shunned for her poor family and ragged clothes but her foster family in this little village also show her wonderful kindness and like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon Florence emerges as a very different girl to the one Jimmy previously knew and shunned. Thank goodness Jimmy is able to accept Florence as a new friend because she is a very smart girl and she helps Jimmy solve the mystery of the skull and she also shows him that it is important to be kind - to his brother and to Mr and Mrs Thomas.

Teacher-Librarians will cheer when Florence takes Jimmy and Ronnie to the library so they can research human bones and the time it takes for a body to decay - all of this information is crucial as they edge closer to a solution to this mystery. 

Author blurb: When Jimmy is evacuated to a small village in Wales, it couldn't be more different from London. Green, quiet and full of strangers, he instantly feels out of place. But then he finds a skull hidden in a tree, and suddenly the valley is more frightening than the war. Who can Jimmy trust? His brother is too little; his best friend has changed. Finding an ally in someone he never expects, they set out together to uncover the secrets that lie with the skull. What they discover will change Jimmy - and the village - forever.

Read more plot details in each of these reviews:

This is a well-constructed mystery, with a most enjoyable and interesting storyline that contains lots of diverting paths that join up beautifully. Kids' Book Review

Many topics are addressed as Jimmy’s story is revealed, such as: bullying, bigotry, anxiety, loss, the burden of secrets kept, and changing friendships. All are sensitively explored as the adventure unfolds. The totally credible characters capture reader empathy as the issues are explored honestly, but ultimately the book leaves the reader with understanding as prejudices are overcome, lies are uncovered and the mystery of a death that has shadowed a life for years is explained and resolved. Historical Novel Society

Overall, this is a thrilling and touching story about change, family, and friendship, and also about giving people the chance – to support you, and surprise you. Setting the “mystery” storyline aside briefly, I feel that the story is a good look at the evacuee experience, showing both positives and negatives from both sides.  Libraries 4 Schools

I have a Pinterest collection of Middle Grade Novels set during World War II - here is the section about evacuees. 

I spied this book at a recent charity book sale. I recognised the name Lesley Parr and I now discover that this is her first book. I previously read:

Last year I visited Wales and I made a collage of all the books I have read that are set in Wales:

Birdie by JP Rose

"Slowly she opened one eye. She peered in the flickering light and gasped. Then she rubbed her eyes as quickly as she could with her sleeve, in case she was seeing imaginary things. She blinked and blinked again, but this time there was no mistaking it. There, right in front of her was a pony. A pony, just standing there!"

Birdie is an orphan living in an orphanage. She was left on the doorstep of a church with a note containing her name - Birdie Bagshaw and a bunch of turnips. Unlike nearly every other orphanage story I have ever read Birdie is happy and she is given care and love and even good food keeping in mind that it is just after the war and so food is scarce.

Then a distant relative locates her, and she is sent away from the orphanage in Leeds to a small mining village to live with her great aunt and uncle - people she has never met.

Right from the beginning Birdie is taunted and treated cruelly for being different. You may have guessed why if you look closely at the cover of this book. She runs away from school on the first day and finds herself under the ground in a coal mine that is due to be closed down. That is where she finds the pony. Her uncle later explains:

"I wanted to explain to't lass how brave they are. They're unsung heroes. Folk forget that without them, coal industry would have come to a standstill. And them horse and ponies gave their all. Many a man I've known has been saved by a pony."

Birdie is so worried about the pony. 

"She'd wondered what he was doing: was he sleeping, eating? Was he just wandering around in the dark tunnels. Or worse still, was he lonely like she was? Was he dreaming of faraway fields, of the sweetness of cherry blossoms, of wildflowers up to his knees, moving in the wind. Because there'd be no sunshine for him, no crisp air. Down in the mine, down in the centre of the earth, there was no day or night, only an everlasting darkness."

I almost read this book in one sitting. It is a measure of how much the story absorbed me that I rushed home from a morning appointment in order to keep reading. There are some wonderful moments in the final pages of this book and the ending will melt your heart. This story is a personal one for the author who was also a 'child of colour' living in Manchester in the 1970s. Like Birdie she was put into foster care and like Birdie she lived in a small mining village. There are also back notes about pit ponies, the history of coal mining in the UK and the special children's homes that took in children like Birdie:

"During World War Two, there were around two thousand babies born to white British women and African American soldiers, who'd been stationed in the UK ... Many of them were rejected by their families and society, not only for having a child 'out of wedlock', but for having a relationship with a person of colour."

Birdie will tug at the heart strings Books for Keeps

A superb historical adventure with a delightful heroine. ... Despite it’s often bleak setting, reading Birdie is like being wrapped in a warm blanket – warm, cost and entirely satisfying. Love Reading for Kids

Bookseller blurb: When Birdie is sent to live with her great-aunt in 1950s Yorkshire, she befriends the village's last remaining pit pony. A story of hope and courage, exploring themes of family, racism and identity. Birdie Bagshaw has never known her parents. Having grown up in a children's home for mixed race children in 1950s Leeds, now she has come to live with her great-aunt in the Yorkshire Dales. From her arrival, Birdie is treated like an outsider by the local children. When their bullying drives Birdie to hide in the nearby coal mine, she finds an unexpected rescuer in the form of Mr Duke, the last remaining pit pony in the village. As the weeks pass, Birdie forms a special bond with the spirited little pony. But his future is in danger, and Birdie comes up with a daring plan to save his life in return.

This BookTrust review has more plot details.

J.P. Rose was born in Manchester but was raised in Yorkshire after her adoption. Growing up she suffered extreme racism, though she continued to be proud of her diverse and rich Jamaican, Nigerian and Anglo-Irish heritage. She trained as an actress but eventually moved into writing, and she is now the author of numerous novels for adults. 

King of the Sky by Nicola Davies illustrated by Laura Carlin

"King of the sky would go to Rome by train, then race back a thousand miles and more!"

Blurb: Starting a new life in a new country, a young boy feels lost and alone - until he makes friends with an old many who keeps racing pigeons. Together they pin their hopes on a race across Europe and the special bird they believe can win it: King of the Sky (Re Del Cielo).

June 13th is Pigeon Appreciation Day and my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has been gathering books from her extensive and rich library collection ready for a display. Take a look at this Pinterest collection of pigeon books. 

King of the Sky was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2018. 

This touching, quiet tale about a boy who is a long way from home is full of the atmosphere of a dusty, rainy ex-coal-mining town, lit with accents of yellow hope. Davies considers the strangeness of new places, especially their smells, and the simple acts that can make us feel part of a new community. Book Trust

This book is outstanding in every way. Deeply emotive hand-lettered text, joins with delicate soft-coloured fine illustrations by multi-award winning Laura Carlin, to make this a highly collectable children’s book. Filled with beauty and strong messages, there is nothing to fault here. It’s one of those books that draw a sigh of utter satisfaction from the reader as it is pressed to their chest. Kids' Book Review

Carlin’s smudgy, near-transparent mixed-media illustrations, depicting soot and sun and shadow, capture the essences of the old and new homelands, and a number of wordless spreads emphasize the differences, and distances, between them. Quiet, tender, and profound, this window into immigration offers an intimate understanding of just what it means to come home. Horn Book

With a group of older students you could compare the way Laura Carlin depicts the coal mining town in this book with the work of Sydney Smith in his book Town is by the Sea. 

The word choices in this book are truly special:

"Little houses huddled on the humpbacked hills. Chimneys smoked and metal towers clanked."

"Mr Evans' face was crumpled and he could hardly walk but when his birds flew he smile like springtime."

"Its head was whiter than a splash of milk, its eye blazed fire."

Last week I talked about The Remarkable Pigeon by Dorien Brouwers and in that post I mentioned King of the Sky which I had read many years ago in the wonderful city library in Austin Texas so I was pleased to be able to borrow this from a library this week. Here are some varies of pigeons:

When you look inside this book the end papers are sure to make you gasp! They echo the chart above and are filled with pigeons of every colour. 

Sydney Smith nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen by IBBY Canada

Sixty-two candidates from 33 countries have been nominated for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Here are all the name. You might recognise some:

Argentina: Author María Cristina Ramos; Illustrator Gusti

Australia: Author Margaret Wild; Illustrator Tohby Riddle

Austria: Author Heinz Janisch; Illustrator Linda Wolfsgruber

Belgium: Author Thomas Lavachery; Illustrator Carll Cneut

Brazil: Author Marina Colasanti; Illustrator Nelson Cruz

Canada: Author Angèle Delaunois; Illustrator Sydney Smith

China: Author Jin Bo; Illustrator Xiong Liang

Colombia and Venezuela: Illustrator Ivar Da Coll

Croatia: Illustrator Dubravka Kolanović

Cyprus: Author Anna Kouppanou; Illustrator Dora Oronti

Estonia: Author Andrus Kivirähk; Illustrator Piret Raud

France: Author Marie-Aude Murail; Illustrator Gilles Bachelet

Germany: Author Andreas Steinhöfel; Illustrator Nikolaus Heidelbach

Greece: Author Maria Papayanni; Illustrator Iris Samartzi

Hungary: Author András Dániel; Illustrator László Herbszt

Iran: Author Jamshid Khanian; Illustrator Pejman Rahimizadeh

Italy: Author Roberto Piumini; Illustrator Beatrice Alemagna

Japan: Author Joko Iwase; Illustrator Ryoji Arai

Republic of Korea: Author Yi Hyeon; Illustrator Suzy Lee

Latvia: Illustrator Aleksejs Naumovs

Lebanon: Author Fatima Sharafeddine; Illustrator Sinan Hallak

Lithuania: Illustrator Kestutis Kasparavičius

Netherlands: Author Tonke Dragt; Illustrator Sylvia Weve

Poland: Author Marcin Szczygielski; Illustrator Iwona Chmielewska

Russia: Author Sergey Makhotin; Illustrator Julja Gukova

Slovenia: Author Peter Svetina; Illustrator Damijan Stepančič

Spain: Author Jordi Sierra i Fabra; Illustrator Elena Odriozola

Sweden: Author Annika Thor; Illustrator Anna Bengtsson

Switzerland: Author Franz Hohler; Illustrator Catherine Louis

Turkey: Author Behiç Ak; Illustrator Mustafa Delioğlu

Ukraine: Author Halyna Malyk; Illustrator Kost' Lavro

United Kingdom: Author Marcus Sedgwick; Illustrator David McKee

USA: Author Linda Sue Park; Illustrator Kadir Nelson

In this post I plan to focus on Canadian illustrator Sydney Smith. In a previous post I talked about Footpath or Sidewalk Flowers.

Town is the Sea by Joanne Schwartz illustrated by Sydney Smith (2017) winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2018.

Opening lines: From my house, I can see the sea. It goes like this - house, road, grassy cliff, sea. And town spreads out, this way and that. My father is a miner and he works under the sea, deep down in the coal mines.

Publisher Blurb: Stunning illustrations by Sydney Smith, the award-winning illustrator of Footpath Flowers, show the striking contrast between a sparkling seaside day and the darkness underground where the miners dig. This beautifully understated and haunting story brings a piece of mining history to life. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a mining town will enthral children and move adult readers, as a young boy wakes up to the sound of the sea, visits his grandfather's grave after lunch and comes home to a cosy dinner with his family, but all the while his mind strays to his father digging for coal deep down under the sea.

Reviews:

A quiet book that will stay with readers long after they have closed it. Kirkus Star review 

This is, in short, a magnificent book. The kind that every reader will interpret in a different way. Only the best books can do that. Only the best books are capable. SLJ Elizabeth Bird

The combination of small, private moments and sweeping landscapes complete with shimmering water show off the simple grandeur of the natural environment and the boy’s experiences. Quill and Quire

My thoughts: The art in this book is all about light and dark. I love the way the sunlight shimers on the surface of the sea and the contrast Sydney Smith creates when he shows  us, in four double spreads, the dark beneath the sea where the miners are working. I held my breath through this book. One of my early school libraries was in a coal mining town. It was utterly terrible when a coal mining accident in that town took a father away from two precious children and their beautiful mum. Above ground the light forms shadows, below ground light comes from miner lamps. Above ground the young boy is free to run and play and swing and walk to the shops. Below is danger. When the father arrives home it is a moment of great relief but there is also the thought of tomorrow when his father will work again and the thought of the future when the boy himself will have to enter those deep dark tunnels.

Here are a set of teaching notes from Amnesty International.  Here is an interview where Sydney and Joanne talk about their book.

I Talk like a River by Jordan Scott illustrated by Sydney Smith (2020)

Opening lines: I wake up each morning with the sounds of words all around me.

Publisher blurb: After a day of being unable to speak when asked, and of being stared at, a boy and his father go to the river for some quiet time. "It's just a bad speech day," says Dad. But the boy can't stop thinking about all the eyes watching his lips twisting and twirling. When his father points to the river bubbling, churning, whirling and crashing, the boy finds a way to think about how he speaks. Even the river stutters. Like him. "I talk like a river," he says. An incredibly moving picture book that offers understanding rather than a solution, and which will resonate with all readers, young and old.

Reviews:

Again, Sydney Smith's illustrations do the impossible: They show how the narrator feels about his stutter. NPR

An important and unforgettable offering presented with natural beauty and grace. Horn Book

An astounding articulation of both what it feels like to be different and how to make peace with it. Kirkus Star review

Deft poetic language pairs with the resonant watercolors of Sydney Smith to create a book that is more than a memoir and more than conveying a message. This is pain, turned into art, and written for young children. Incomparable. SLJ Elizabeth Bird

My thoughts: When Elizabeth Bird said teachers and Teacher-Librarians should just read this book to a class with no agenda, no pointing out the message, and especially not mentioning this book is for a particular child - I cheered.  I have such a powerful memory of the day I read The Mouse with the too long Tail to a class. A young boy in the class had been born without fingers on one hand. I didn't connect this book with "Ben" I just read it aloud. At the end, he was sitting right in front of me, this young boy sighed. He had seen so much in this story - a celebration of difference. I hope this book is shared in families and in classes and that the sharing is done slowly. I am certain this book will touch the hearts of many children and adults. 

Listen to this podcast where Sydney and Jordan discuss their book. You can see the art here. Here are a set of teaching notes from the US Publisher.

Sydney Smith is a Canadian children's book illustrator. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. You can follow Sydney on Instagram @sydneydraws.  Here is an interview with Sydney. In the interview Sydney mentions Felix Hoffman. You can see some illustrations by Felix Hoffman here. Take a look at some art here. 

I suppose I take the text seriously these days. I allow myself to get carried away and invest all my time. I understand more about the dynamics between the images and text, visual literacy, pacing, and the role illustrations have in telling a story. I have learned that there are ways of storytelling that I gravitate toward, and that only comes with the experience of taking on different stories and approaching them all differently.