I Used To Be A Fish

I Used To Be A Fish is a story about a boy who used to be a fish, written and illustrated by Tom Sullivan. In the story, the boy imagines human evolution starting from a fish, then into a salamander, then into monkeys, and then eventually humans. I think that this story is educational to a degree, but inaccurate because evolution doesn’t exactly work like that. Personally, I really liked the pictures and how the faces always looked a bit terrified because it made it funny in a way. The fish in the beginning was my favourite because of how cute it looked with it’s tiny fins and huge eyes. I really enjoyed the story because of how lighthearted and funny it is, I think that it would be a nice story for younger kids to teach them the very basics of evolution. 

Bat’s Big Game

“Bat’s Big Game” is a book about an indecisive bat, retold by Margaret Read Macdonald and illustrated by Eugenia Nobati. The story followed a bat when he can’t decide on a team during a soccer game between animals and birds. The bat first joins the animal team, convinced that they would win. As the game progresses, the birds are leading and the bat switched teams and joined the birds instead, but the victory didn’t last too long as the animals then started beating the birds and of course, Bat switched teams again, desperate to win. Soon enough, the game stopped and the players noticed how Bat had played on both animals and birds teams. They told him that to play on a team, he would have to stick with them whether they were losing or not, so he left the field and started practicing his soccer skills. I think that this story is telling people that to play a game, you have to have commitment and how winning isn’t the most important thing. Others around my age tend to be more competitive and victory-driven which could potentially an issue because winning really doesn’t matter as long as you’re enjoying yourself. And although it’s nice to be a bit competitive sometimes, being the best isn’t that important, and this story represented that.

“Enemy Pie”

“Enemy Pie” is a book about friendship written by Derek Munson and illustrated by Tara Calahan King. The story is about a boy and his dad making a pie for the boy’s “enemy”. The story has a good message about how you shouldn’t be too quick to judge or dislike people when you don’t know them. The boy in the story disliked Jeremy- his enemy, because they weren’t too familiar with each other, hence his dad baking a pie that would get rid of enemies. In my opinion, I think that it’s a very good book because of the message that it sends. Sometimes people judge and make opinions about people they don’t know too well just by looking at what they do or what they look like, either in a positive or negative way. “Enemy Pie” is telling kids not to be too quick to decide that you dislike someone, especially if you’re not particularly close to them, which I think is a good thing for younger kids to learn because they could grow up to be rude or judgmental to people who are actually really nice. Like the boy in the story, people should try to get to know someone before they start disliking them, then maybe you could become friends! Unless you know for a fact that who you’re talking to is a bad person, I don’t think think you should hate them. “Enemy Pie” is a good book with a good message.

The Sweetest Fig

“The Sweetest Fig” is a book written by Chris Van Allsburg. The story was about a snobby dentist who helped an old lady, but instead of getting money, he got two magical figs. The book followed the dentist- Monsieur Bibot, as he found out about the figs abilities to make dreams a reality. “The Sweetest Fig” reminded me of Beauty and the Beast in a way, getting something magical from an old lady and being “cursed”. But, in this case Bibot was turned into his dog after it ate a magic fig and not turned into a beast. I think that this story is trying to tell people to not be greedy and consumed by desires because something bad may happen. Personally, I really liked the plot twist in the story because of how unexpected it was, I wouldn’t have guessed the the dog would eat the fig. I had a feeling that Bibot would try gain wealth from the fig, since that’s how his character was portrayed; a snobby, money-driven person. I wouldn’t say that this was my favourite book ever, but it was still good, in my opinion it was too easy to guess that the dentist would try to be greedy with the figs. With that said however, the story does tell us the consequences for being too greedy, it won’t be good.

“Stolen Words”

Stolen Words is a powerful story of a grandfather and his granddaughter, written by Melanie Florence and illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard. The story followed a grandfather, who had been a victim to residential schools when he was young, and his granddaughter. The granddaughter asked him how to say “Grandfather” in Cree, to which he explained to her how his Cree words were “stolen” from him. Although this story was short, it was very moving. The story told us about how much the residential schools affected the children who went there, and in this case, it was the grandfather. Stolen Words really made me think about how the First Nations’ felt when the children were being taken and forced to learn another culture and to forget their own. This story made me ask a few questions like “Why did they think the schools were a good idea?” and “Did they ever think about the outcomes?”. During the last part of the story, when the granddaughter gave the book to her grandfather gave me mixed emotions. I was happy for the grandfather, for he was learning his language again, but I also felt upset. I thought about how none of this would’ve happened if the Government just left the Indigenous alone, they wouldn’t have had to relearn their language or their culture. What was the motive of the Government to force this on the children? The story left me with a bittersweet feeling, and although things are currently being fixed, I still can’t push aside the fact that people went through all of that. This book really shows how much residential schools have damaged their people, and I’m glad that a book is spreading awareness for all of that.