Pajama Press

“This book is a good example of how spare language and imagery can highlight social issues in a way that young children can understand. I’d read this book again to study how the author uses words to create compelling images. The illustrations evoke a strong sense of atmosphere, as well as providing more to think about in showing details of Kato’s life in Africa.”

Click here to read the full post at That’s Another Story.

“…a simple and poignant story.  Told in a clear, clean prose, the story is about Kato who goes to fetch water and do chores, but also finds something special to give the aid worker that gives out new shoes.

The art is digital.  It has a mixed media collage look to it…There are several terrific perspective spreads…I would use this with preschoolers to second graders, because of the simple storyline, but older children could be introduced to a study on Uganda with this title.”

Click here to read the full review.

“Alma Fullerton and Karen Patkau’s A Good Trade starts out simple. Kato, a young boy wakes on his mat in Uganda. He carries his gerry cans to the well for water, splashing his bare feet. Questions start to form in the reader’s mind. Why are the cattle-spotted fields guarded by soldiers? What is this “aid worker’s truck” Kato peeks into? He spies a single white poppy and makes a trade for what he’s seen: a pair of runners. The beautiful pictures and the one-sentence-per-page provide great starting points for discussing life in Uganda, world help organizations, and inequity in general.”

Click here to see the rest of the Books with Sole(s) list.

While perusing the internet this morning, we came across a beautiful book trailer for Alma Fullerton’s picture book A Good Trade. Created by Sarah from Hugh Cairns V.C. School in Saskatoon, this trailer manages to perfectly capture the essence of this book. Take a look.

Click here to see our book trailer for A Good Trade.

Pajama Press is pleased to announce that three of our Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 titles have been nominated for this year’s Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading^®awards.

A Good Trade by Alma Fullerton, illustrated by Karen Patkau, has been nominated for the Blue Spruce Award™. Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean has been nominated for the White Pine Fiction Award™. One Step at a Time: A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has been nominated for the Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award™. At the Festival of Trees in May 2013, Skrypuch’s Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War was declared an honour book for the Red Maple Non-Fiction Award™.

The Forest of Reading^® is a reading program run by the Ontario Library Association.Each year, over 250,000 participants read a shortlist of books in their age category and vote for their favourites.

Pajama Press extends our most sincere congratulations to Alma Fullerton, Karen Patkau, Jill MacLean, and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. Our warmest thanks go to the Ontario Library Association for promoting reading through this exciting program.

“Patkau’s bright illustrations originally caught my eye. I grabbed this lyrical book to teach my children about a corner of the world they have no other way to experience. Fullerton shows life in this war-torn part of the world in an age-appropriate way.”

— Kristin W. Larson

Click here to discover the recommended activities to teach this book.

Click here to see the full list of Perfect Picture Books.

In a recent article titled “Lost Childhood,” School Library Journal contributor Kathleen St. Isaacs highlighted books “about child refugee experiences and children who’ve found safe havens, but have haunting memories.” The selections are “emotionally rich narratives, often with a political subtext.” They include two books published by Pajama Press:

A Good Trade by Alma Fullerton, illustrated by Karen Patkau

“Gr. 1–3—On his daily trek to get water, a Ugandan boy sees a treasure in an aid truck—bright new sneakers—and finds just the right thing to exchange. Colorful illustrations full of details of daily life in a war-torn country will show well when the spare text is read aloud.”

One Step at a Time: A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way

“Gr. 4–6—A seven-year-old Vietnamese refugee, newly arrived in Canada and unable to understand the language, faces a painful operation to straighten an ankle bent by polio. Tuyet’s poignant story was begun in Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War (2012) but readers don’t have to have read that to enjoy this story of healing.”

Learn more about School Library Journal here.

“Something for the Young’Uns: Books with International Appeal”

“A Good Trade, by Alma Fullerton. This is the story of Kato, a young boy growing up in a Ugandan village. His daily routine includes chores and a long walk at dawn to the water hole.
One day, the routine is disrupted: an aid worker brings a life-changing gift of shoes for all
the village children, and Kato feels compelled to give her something precious is return. A good story to use when discussing life in rural Africa.”

—Margriet Ruurs

For more information about The International Educator, visit the TIE Online website.

On March 18 we announced that A Good Trade had been selected for The White Ravens 2013, a list of outstanding international books for children and young adults. Today we bring you the review A Good Trade received in the White Ravens catalogue:

“Kato lives in a small village in Uganda. He wakes early because his daily chores include trekking to the well outside the village and fetching the water his family will need during the day in two large jerry cans. On his way back, he spots an aid-worker’s lorry that carries wonderful gifts. Kato would love to offer the aid-worker something in return—and in the family garden, he finds just the right thing: a beautiful white poppy. In this deceptively simple and positive story of a little boy’s daily life in an African village, readers will discover subtle hints and overt references to the effects of civil war both in the quiet text and the brightly coloured digital illustrations. Thus the book will serve as a wonderful incentive to discuss this serious topic with younger and older children alike. (Ages 6+)”

Click here to learn more about the White Ravens.

Congratulations to Alma Fullerton and Karen Patkau, whose picture picture book A Good Trade has been selected as a title for The White Ravens 2013.

The White Ravens is a list of outstanding international books for children and young adults. It is selected annually by the International Youth Library in Munich, which receives submissions from over 40 countries.

An online catalogue of this year’s selections is forthcoming. To learn more about The White Ravens, visit the International Youth Library website.