January 2018 - Page 4 of 14

Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen: The Story of Six Novels, Three Notebooks, a Writing Box, and One Clever Girl
by Deborah Hopkinson (Author) and Qin Leng (Illustrator)

Booktalk: It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is one of our greatest writers.

But before that, she was just an ordinary girl.

In fact, young Jane was a bit quiet and shy; if you had met her back then, you might not have noticed her at all. But she would have noticed you.

Jane watched and listened to all the things people around her did and said, and locked those observations away for safekeeping.

Jane also loved to read. She devoured everything in her father’s massive library and before long, she began creating her own stories. In her time, the most popular books were grand adventures and romances, but Jane wanted to go her own way…and went on to invent an entirely new kind of novel.

Snippet: Each December, Jane’s family
turned their old barn into a theater
staging well-known dramas
and comedies (Jane’s favorites)
to entertain their neighbors and friends.

Jane loved painting sets,
creating costumes,
and making stories come to life.

Kisimi Taimaippaktut Angirrarijarani / Only in My Hometown
by Angnakuluk Friese (Author), Ippiksaut Friesen (Illustrator), and Jean Kusugak(Translator)

Booktalk: The northern lights shine, women gather to eat raw caribou meat and everyone could be family in this ode to small-town life in Nunavut, written in English and Inuktitut.

Sisters Angnakuluk Friesen and Ippiksaut Friesen collaborate on this story about what it’s like to grow up in an Inuit community in Nunavut. Every line about the hometown in this book will have readers thinking about what makes their own hometowns unique. Use this book as a writing prompt and create your own hometown story.

Snippet: