Navigating shyness a bonding experience
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2025 (454 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
EVEN the most outgoing child can become inexplicably shy, and those occasions can be embarrassing and paralyzing. California children’s author Sandra V. Feder understands the distress unknown or uncomfortable situations can cause, and represents typical examples in her latest picture book, Shy Me (Groundwood, hardcover, 32 pages, $22), part of that publisher’s Emotions and Me series.
Feder’s spare text, paired with Toronto illustrator Ashley Barron’s colourful cut-paper collages, show a realistic-looking child trying to figure out how to get over these awkward moments, which often make them feel isolated. Children aged 3-6 will see themselves on these pages.
Supportive adults can use the story as a vehicle to find solutions that work for each child on an individual basis. Reading it together will be a bonding experience and also an opportunity to let a child know that, shy or outgoing, they’re just fine being who they are, the way they are.
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You don’t have to believe in ghosts to get spooked by Matteo L. Cerilli’s middle-years novel Something’s Up with Arlo (HarperCollins, 304 pages, paperback, $18).
Emily Nero is an outcast, both at school and at home. She’s just enrolled in a preppy middle school and assumes that her best (and only) friend, Arlo, will be beside her, as he has been all her life. But Arlo is a ghost that suddenly starts to act out, and Nero’s efforts to navigate new relationships are threatened.
This is a tender story about a young teen searching for her place in the world and understanding that people show love in different ways. It’s also about letting go, because change is something no one (and nothing) can stop.
Spine-tingling sentences such as “A tiny giggle crept through the house, trailing along the floorboards like mice creeping through her bones” complement unexpected plot twists to make this novel a thrilling page turner.
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Benny On the Case (Simon & Schuster, 288 pages, paperback, $24) showcases a character with mosaic Down syndrome, a variant of the commonly known chromosomal abnormality.
Prolific author Wesley King’s middle-years story takes place in his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where Benny and his mom live in the seniors’ home she owns. They both face challenges when Benny decides to attend a “normal” school and is bullied, and when the seniors’ home hits a cash crunch.
When residents’ belongings disappear, Benny and his friend Salma investigate the mystery the police won’t — with surprising results.
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Victorian England is a favourite setting for writers dabbling in fantasy and magic. For the downtrodden in To Steal From Thieves by M. K. Lobb (Little, Brown, 400 pages, hardcover, $26), life is a hardscrabble struggle.
Teen alchemologist Zaria is determined to steal jewels displayed at the world’s fair so she can escape the Dark Market. She teams with another underworldly type, Kane, himself on the hunt for a valuable necklace. They work together, but each plans to double-cross the other.
Fancy phrases, florid descriptions and social commentary make this story a learning experience for kids in grades 7-10.
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Don’t want your children to take part in sex education classes, perhaps with the hope they won’t copulate if no one tells them how? Spoiler alert: they’ll figure it out anyway.
First Times: Short Stories About Sex (Groundwood, 172 pages, softcover, $10), edited by Karine Glorieux and translated from French by Shelley Tanaka, collects “often imperfect, but always honest stories by young people of first sexual encounters.”
To be blunt, the writing, suitable for older teens, is explicit. The lesson for moms and dads: Knowledge (and conversation) is power, to keep kids safe.
Harriet Zaidman is an award-winning children’s writer and reviewer. Her novel, What Friends Are For, will be released in the fall.
