World Storytelling Day 2025! Three Children's Books to read.

March 20th is world storytelling day! Here are three great books to read, reviewed by Sue Slade and Catherine Walker.

The Pony and the Starling by Jennifer McGrath, Illustrated by Kristina Jones

Reviewed by Sue Slade

The Pony and the Starling by Jennifer McGrath is a beautiful picture book about an unusual and special friendship between a pony and a starling. Inspired by a true story, the story follows a grey pony that spends its days all alone except for the brief appearances of a little girl and her dog when they come to feed it. One day a flock of starlings arrives. Starlings always travel in a group, and you never see a starling all by itself. But when the flock moves on, one starling stays behind, sitting on the fence by the pony. As the seasons change, the girl and her mother watch as the pony and starling spend all their time together forming a special bond. An unlikely friendship is formed. But when winter arrives, a snowstorm hits, covering everything in white. The starling is nowhere to be found and the pony is all alone.

Will a winter storm mean the end of a special friendship?

I love that this adjective-rich picture book leaves the question of where the starling went to the imaginations of the children. It’s the point in the book where I imagine great discussions will take place, and opinions of all sorts will be voiced. Set for ages 3 to 6, I imagine it will take some time before the story can be continued.

After a long, cold, and lonely winter, spring arrives, and for a brief period of time, so does a flock of starlings. The flock of starlings swoop over the field around the grey pony. The pony begins to run and prance with the birds and then they are gone, leaving one.

The illustrations by Kristina Jones beautifully show how alone the pony is in the large open field, and she shows the passage of time by the changing of the seasons as the pony and starling spend all their time together.

The Pony and the Starling is a great read-aloud picture book for World Storytelling Day. It uses many rich and colourful words that sound almost poetic when read aloud. It invites discussion with both the text and the illustrations and will leave the audience with warm fuzzies.

Jennifer McGrath is an award-winning author whose books include Pugs Cause Traffic Jams, illustrated by Kathryn Durst; The Snow Knows, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon, winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award; and the middle-grade books Chocolate River Rescue, winner of the Hackmatack Award and White Cave Escape. She lives in Hillsborough, New Brunswick, with her partner, two dogs and a pony.

Kristina Jones is a freelance artist and illustrator whose first book, The Amazing African Animal Alphabet, was nominated for an IBBY SA Picture Book Illustrator Award. She has worked as a creative arts educator in both Ukraine and Eswatini and now lives in British Columbia.

Publisher: Groundwood Books (February 4, 2025)
Hardcover 10.25″ x 8.63″ | 36 pages
ISBN: 9781773069791

Kuekuatsheu Creates the World / Knekuatsheu ka ushitat assinu Retold by Annie Picard, Illustrated by Elizabeth Jancewicz, Translated by Penash Rich

Reviewed by Catherine Walker

Told in straight-ahead language, the way a grandmother might speak, this picture book is a re-telling of the traditional Innu story of how the world came to be on a turtle’s back.

The book opens with the author, Annie Picard, explaining how, as a child, her grandmother told her Innu legends every night. This creation story is one of those legends.

The story begins after the great flood when the whole world is covered in water. Six animals survive and are floating together in a big canoe. Kuekuatsheu (the wolverine) tells the other animals that if he had some earth, he could create land and rebuild the world.

Each of the animals in succession—first Amishku (the beaver), then Nithiku (the otter), then Muaku (the loon)—attempt to swim to the bottom of the ocean. They all fail. Lastly, humble little Utshashku (the muskrat) offers to try and jumps into the water despite the other animals laughing at his offer. After a very long time his little body floats to the surface; he has drowned. When the other animals pull his body into the canoe they see his little paw is tightly clutching a piece of earth. Kuekuatsheu blows on the earth and it begins to grow. As it gets bigger Missinak (the turtle) offers to carry the land on his back so the world can continue to grow and hold all life, including the animals, tree, plants, and people.

The illustrator, Elizabeth Jancewicz, creates an immersive experience with page-after-page of watery blue skies and ocean. Each of the six creatures is lovingly drawn, with expressive faces and a distinct but true-to-nature personality.

In her forward, the author dedicates this book to all Innu children. She urges them to keep speaking their ancient language of Innu-aimun, an Algonquian language spoken by over 10,000 Innu in Labrador and Quebec. Innu is spoken in various dialects, depending on the community.

Each page spread of the book contains English text and a Mushuau dialect Innu-aimun translation by Penash Rich. (There is a second version of the book with a Sheshatshiu dialect Innu-aimun translation by Anne Nuna.)

This book is co-published by Running the Goat Books & Broadsides and Mamu Tishishkutamashutau Innu Education. It has a sturdy hardcover and hopefully will travel through the hands of many young readers and language learners, all over Turtle Island.

Annie Picard in an Inn woman born in Sept. IIlles, Quebec, in 1977. As a very young child she moved to Sheshatshiu and was cared for by her maternal grandparents. It was from her grandmother that she learned to speak her mother tongue—lnnu-amun—and she learned about the rich culture of her Inu people. As a child, she lived six months of the year in nutshimit (which loosely translated means “back in the country”, a place where traditional Innu culture can be lived, where families are able to reconnect, where the Innu language comes alive, and where the stories that connect people to the places can be told in their full context). One of her best memories of that time is her grandparents telling her legends of her people every night before bed.

Elizabeth Jancewicz grew up in Kawawachikamach and Schefferville, Quebec, and draws much of inspiration from the flora and fauna of that area. After leaving to attend art school in New York, she retains close ties to her childhood by illustrating books and curriculum from First Nations communities in northern Quebec, Ontario, and Labrador.

Penash Rich’s dream was always to become a teacher and she has been working in schools since 1991, first at the Nukum Manishan School in Davis Inlet and now at the school in Natuashish. She teacher Innu-aimun, in the hopes that she can help ensure Innu children do not lose their language.

Publisher: Running the Goat Books & Broadsides and Mamu Tishishkutamashutau Innu Education (October 28, 2024)
Hardcover 36 pages
ISBN: 9781998802203

Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box by Peggy Pilkey, Illustrated by Jennifer DesRoche

Reviewed by Sue Slade

Prince Nicolai, sole heir to the crown, is required by law to become engaged before his twenty-first birthday — a mere week away — or face a penalty for disobeying the law of the land. His parents, wishing to be helpful, write the names of their friends’ eligible daughters on pieces of paper and ask him to draw one.

Prince Nicolai refuses to draw the name of his future wife, his soulmate, out of a hat. With the hope of someday meeting her, the prince had poured his heart into making a wedding gift for his future love. A gift she would love and cherish. With that in mind, the prince plans a party inviting all the maidens of the land, should they be interested in marrying him, to attend and bring an empty box. Prince Nicolai would propose to the box-owner that would best present the gift he had made.

Without giving away all the surprising and fun details, I found Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box to be an entertaining fairy tale that leans more towards modern ideologies and beliefs, than that of traditional fairy tales. Children of all ages will enjoy this tale, especially the surprising twist at the end providing what might be the best happily-ever-after ever.

I loved the inclusion of “A Word About Fairy Tales” at the end of the book. Peggy included a quote by the UNICEF Bulgaria representative, Christina de Bruin: “Creativity and art have an incredible power to transform the world of a child, uplift their talents and even help heal emotional trauma. The universe of fairy tales creates a safe, nurturing environment where every child can feel loved and protected.”

Peggy Pilkey is a writer living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. After discovering a poem she’d written in grade 3 had been printed in the Literary section of her K-12 school yearbook, she began writing nonsense verse and short stories in earnest.

The original text of Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box was longlisted from among hundreds of submissions by the judges of two national “Writing for Children and Young Adults” competitions for unpublished manuscripts- by The Writer’s Union of Canada, 2012 and by the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers, 2018.

Jennifer DesRoche is an artist living and working in Prince Edward Island with her husband and two cats. She takes inspiration from the natural beauty of the island and its islanders.

Publisher: Paeonia Press (November 12, 2024)
Hardcover 38 pages
ISBN: 9781069084712

Sue Slade

Sue Slade has a Bachelor of Child Study from Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax. After working with children and adults with special needs, she now has her midlife dream job of working with books. Sue manages an independent, locally owned bookstore, Dartmouth Book Exchange. Through her charismatic sharing centred around books and community, Sue has created an engaging cornerstone for authors, customers, and book lovers of all ages. Sue is an avid reader and her reviews cross over many genres.

Catherine Walker

Catherine Walkeris a writer/editor living on the South Shore of Miꞌkmaꞌki (Nova Scotia). A founding member of the Little Books Collective, a community-building micropress in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Catherine is the author of two chapbooks: Short Takes: My seven-week career in the film biz (2024) and the call of many sorrows: fourteen poems (2023).