Cartoons with Math Crossover Appeal

I bought a ukulele after a week of watching Adventure Time videos with my son. Such is the power of kids' cartoons. SOME kids' cartoons, I hasten to add. Many are terrible. Caillou, I'm looking at you here.

I have a friend who managed to get through his kids' younger years while imposing a strict 30-minute daily diet of children's television viewing. I used to admire his discipline but now that my son is 6 years old I regard this as an excessively rigorous rule. For parents.

This is especially true since there are so many math cartoons these days! Creative musical scores, delightfully twisted plots, dark humour, clever pop culture references: these cartoons will have you laughing out loud whatever your age. Here are a few animated TV shows that are a hit with both me and my son:

Clarence chronicles the misadventures of the 4th-grade title character and his friends, Jeff and Sumo. Spoiler Alert! The mystery piñata from the pilot episode is actually filled with bees! Fun fact! IMDb tells me that Jeff's appearance was inspired by Steve of Minecraft fame.

I've loved Gravity Falls from that very first scene in season 2 when the main characters pretend to hork (as my son would say) on each other with silly string.

A big part of the appeal of The Amazing World of Gumball is the choice to have actual kids voice the main characters, Gumball, Darwin, and Anais.

Uncle Grandpa is pleasantly bizarre. Good mornin'!

Samurai Jack is back! New episodes of this smartly animated cartoon are due to air in 2016, though without the talents of Mako Iwamatsu, the original voice for the evil antagonist, Aku. Even so, exciting!

Finally, Adventure Time has the best words. And ukulele songs.

Halifax Public Library Staff Favourites of 2015 - Kids' Graphic Novels

I seem to have lost interest in graphic novels aimed at adults. Since becoming a parent, I have little tolerance for the violence and darker themes that fill many adult graphic novels and comic books. My son loves graphic novels, too, and so I often retreat to the living room after he's gone to sleep to finish the books we started at bedtime. I read Jeff Smith's Bone series well before my son and I made it through to Book 9 together and I've discovered a few gems that he disdainfully rejected on sight, like a steaming plate of brussel sprouts.

One of these is The Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoola and Emily Carroll. This graphic novel offers a satisfying twist on the popular bogey woman from Slavic folklore. I particularly enjoyed the author's sympathetic portrayal of the witch and the invention of a clever and independent young female protagonist who is determined to win over Baba Yaga.

I had more success with Fable Comics. Fable Comics contains a diverse collection of familiar fables like "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" reimagined by such heavyweights as Jaime Hernandez and James Kochalka. Chris Duffy edited this and two other books in a series that illustrates popular children's stories, including Fairy Tale Comics and Nursery Rhyme Comics. We devoured all three.



Kiddo thought Kochalka's The Glorkian Warrior Eats Adventure Pie was hysterical. So much so that I had to switch it out for a more sedate graphic novel to ease him into bedtime mode. We'll come back to that one.

I brought home Sunny Side Up by Jennifer and Matthew Holm just for myself. The book appealed to me for its 1970s nostalgia - not a common theme in kids' graphic novels - as did the story line of a child caught in the middle of a family's struggle with an older brother's substance abuse. In spite of this, it's a generally light-hearted and reflective summer vacation story that will appeal to older kids and grown-ups alike.

You can find even more kids' graphic novels from 2015 on the "What's New" list published to our Discover catalogue.

Pride Lit 4 Kids

The website Bustle published an article featuring a nice selection of children's literature which explores Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Queer/Transgender/Two-Spirited/Intersex themes. As a parent who is always on the lookout for #diversebooks, this was a helpful resource for new and new-to-me books about LGBQTTI issues.

We know that social attitudes are formed very early in life and that parents play a pivotal role in influencing how children respond to the diverse world in which we live. We also understand that sexual orientation and gender identity tend to manifest naturally when kids are very young. So, it's not just a matter of encouraging our kids to be kind and accepting of difference in others, we're also helping LGBQTTI kids to understand and accept themselves within a welcoming family environment.

Halifax Public Libraries is programming a number of events for children and families (adults, too!) as part of July's Pride Month activities. Here are a few more titles to look for this month and year-round!

My Mommy is a Boy by Jason Martinez and Karen Winchester

Be Who You Are by Jennifer Carr and Ben Rumback

Heather has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman and Diana Souza

My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis and Suzanne DeSimone

Ang Ikaklit sa aming Hardin = Ikaklit in our Garden by Bernadette Villanueva Neri and CJ de Silva

King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland
King& King was the subject of a censorship campaign in Efland, North Carolina after Efland-Cheeks Elementary School teacher Omar Currie read the book to his third-grade class as a way to address homophobic and sexist behaviour in his classroom. You can read the most recent development in this story (as of this writing) here.

Backgrounding the News, Part 2: Indian Residential Schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

On June 2nd of this year, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission achieved a historic milestone: after six years of gathering testimony from 7, 000 witnesses, the Commission released a summary from its final report into the history and legacy of the Indian Residential School system in Canada.

The numbers are striking. Over 100 years, 139 residential schools operated across Canada. Before the the last school was finally shut down in 1996, 150, 000 First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students had been made to attend these institutions, leaving an estimated 80, 000 Survivors and 6, 000 dead children. More arresting, however, are the statements made by survivors, in their own words.

Although the full report will not be made available until later in the year, the summary includes 94 recommendations which call on the various levels of government, public servants, teachers, and other Canadians to acknowledge the direct harm done by the Indian Residential School system to First Nation, Métis, and Inuit children and their families. More broadly, the Commission has drawn up the terms by which the relationship among our various peoples can and must go forward.


To better understand the experiences of residential school Survivors and to learn more about what you can do to engage in this process of reconciliation, have a look at these books from Halifax Public Libraries' own collection.

The Education of Augie Merasty: a residential school memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty with David Carpenter

They Called Me Number One: secrets and survival at an Indian residential school by Bev Sellars

Back to the Red Road: a story of survival, redemption and love by Florence Kaefer and Edward Gamblin

Out of the depths : the experiences of Mi'kmaw children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Isabelle Knockwood, with Gillian Thomas

Rethinking the Great White North: race, nature, and the historical geographies of whiteness in Canada, edited by Andrew Baldwin, Laura Cameron, and Audrey Kobayashi

The Comeback by John Ralston Saul

Dreaming in Indian: contemporary Native American voices, edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale.

Indigenous Healing: exploring traditional paths by Rupert Ross

Backgrounding the News, Part 1

Newspapers, magazines, The World at Six, but also: websites, apps, and podcasts: for a news junkie such as myself, there are so many exciting ways to get my fix each day. As independent media critics like Jesse Brown and Elon James White point out, however, the news that is reported by major media outlets is often a distortion of the bigger picture.

For those who want to learn more about the story behind the story, I present this post; one in a series which offers supplementary reading on the major events that made the news.

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Part 1: #BaltimoreUprising

When Freddy Gray was killed in police custody on April 19th of this year, outraged Baltimoreans took to the streets to protest his murder and an overall pattern of police brutality against the Black community. Dismissed as "rioters" and "thugs", representations of the protestors by reporters from CTV, CNN, and Fox News, in particular, have been subject to intense scrutiny by media critics and academics.

A common criticism of the mainstream media is that news coverage frequently lacks context. Editors for the Baltimore Sun, for example, have pointed out that what happened to Freddy Gray is part of a larger problem that includes a history of police corruption and "decades of social and economic devastation" in communities like Sandtown-Winchester, the neighbourhood in Baltimore where Gray lived and died.

To learn more about the overall context in which this story is based, check out these titles from our collection.

Red Summer: the summer of 1919 and the awakening of Black America by Cameron McWhirter

Racialized Policing: aboriginal people's encounters with the police by Elizabeth Comack

Killing Rage: ending racism by bell hooks

The Condemnation of Blackness: race, crime, and the making of modern urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad

News for All the People: the epic story of race and the American media by Juan González and Joseph Torres

Reproducing Racism: how everyday choices lock in white advantage by Daria Roithmayr

Visitor: my life in Canada by Anthony Stewart

The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright: a reader

If you're anything like me, the only station playing on your radio is the CBC. I go back and forth between Radio 1 and Radio 2, depending on the time of day and the day of the week. On Sunday mornings, however, I make sure to tune my battered little portable to 90.5 by 9:00 a.m. for The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright.

Among the fascinating figures interviewed by Enright on his program are politicians, economists, and journalists who are also authors. I've compiled a list of some of the books mentioned in recent episodes - with links to the original podcasts - in case you slept in that morning.

Sunday, March 1
Why debt and deficit are not dirty words - Tim Harford
The Undercover Economist
Harford's newest book is The Undercover Economist Strikes Back.
Prime Minister Harper's think tank army - Donald Gutstein
Harperism: how Stephen Harper and his think tank colleagues have transformed Canada



Sunday, February 15
Remembering David Carr
The Night of the Gun: a reporter investigates the darkest story of his life, his own

Sunday, January 11
Race, fear and the law - Patricia Williams

The Alchemy of Race and Rights

Sunday, January 5
Rebels in Pink: the Gulabi gang's gender revolution in India
Pink Sari Revolution: a tale of women and power in India by Amana Fontanella-Khan
Wally Lamb on the craft of writing and his latest novel
We are Water: a novel



Sunday, December 21, 2014
The secret feminist history of Wonder Woman
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

Sunday, November 30, 2014
"Religion does not beget violence." - Karen Armstrong
Fields of Blood: religion and the history of violence

New Adult Graphic Novels

I'm the type of person who makes a list for everything, ticks off each item as it's completed, and takes great satisfaction in reviewing what I've managed to accomplish by the end of the day. Even so, I think I've overdone it this time. I knew I shouldn't have enrolled in that second MOOC ....

When life gets stupid busy, my concentration is often the first to go. The impressive stack of impressive books that I have heaped up on my kitchen table gets shunted to a chair in the corner, unread. I don't need this added pressure! In these times, I restrict my literary diet to my comfort brain food: graphic novels.

I found a pile of great new titles via the link to "Latest Graphic Novels" listed under "What's New" on the Discover catalog homepage and I am speedily devouring each one. Here are some that I've checked out:

Graphic memoirs and comics with historical themes are my favourite, which is why I was attracted to Strange Fruit: uncelebrated narratives from black history, vol.1 by Joel Christian Gill. It's a collection of stories illustrating lesser known chapters from African-American history. Strange Fruit is handsomely executed by Gill, who is does double-duty as writer and illustrator for this graphic novel.

I am thrilled to announce that Halifax Public Libraries has recently acquired volume 4 of the wry and beautifully drawn sci-fi adventure series Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. I can't say enough about these books. The cast of fascinating characters (Lying Cat!), the high quality of the illustration, and the fast-paced storytelling always lead me to finish a book from this series much faster than I'd really like.

Conventional superhero-type comics don't generally interest me but when I heard about G. Willow Wilson's treatment of Ms. Marvel, I had to place my hold. With artist Adrian Alphona, Wilson has created the kind of superhero the world needs now. Kamala Khan is a believable female character who also happens to be Muslim. In fleshing out the personal and political challenges faced by the protagonist as she first assumes her powers, the creators have crafted a superhero comic with substance.

There has been a lot of buzz in book circles for Fatherland. My own request for this book (more copies on order!) hasn't been filled yet so I'm looking forward to seeing how Bunjevac's striking pictures illustrate this period in the history of the former Yugoslavia.

Black Feminism & #BlackTwitter

In honour of African Heritage Month, I want to draw attention the important work that is being done by Black feminist and womanist writers.

For anyone with a Twitter account, access to the creative and intellectual work being produced by an exciting new generation of Black feminists has never been easier. In a 2013 Salon article, the author and activist Feminista Jones, described the emergence of the #BlackTwitter hashtag as representing "a collective of active, primarily African-American Twitter users who have created a virtual community that participates in continuous real-time conversations." Although Twitter encourages its users to "join the conversation," I've learned more by silently following and reflecting on the tweets and links posted by @FeministaJones, who also led the movement behind #YouOKSis; @ZerlinaMaxwell, the political writer and analyst known for her attacks on rape culture; and from discussions tied to the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, which was created by Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza. News and opinion sites that serve the Black community, like The Root, also maintain a presence on Twitter where they regularly promote the work of Black feminist writers and advocates.

Off-line, there are a wealth of books published by authors of African heritage that deserve attention. You don't need a computer to enjoy them!

Bad Feminist: essays by Roxane Gay
Black Girls are from the Future: essays on race, digital creativity and pop culture by Renina Jarmon
Black Feminist Thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Talking Back: thinking feminist, thinking black by bell hooks