Winning a Governor General's award for children's literature is high acclaim. Having a member of Monty Python read your books set to children's operettas is a whole other honour. In Glen Huser's latest picture books "The Golden Touch" and "Flowers, Time for Snow", Glen Huser's words are read by the renowned British comedy group's Terry Jones and recorded on CDs. The CDs are included in the books.

Both titles retell Greek myths: The Golden Touch tackles the story of a foolish king whose lust for gold almost cost him his family and his life; Flowers, Time for Snow recreates the legend of Demeter and Persephone and why we have different seasons each year.

Libraries have inspired almost every author in the world. Alberta-raised Glen Huser is just one of millions whose lives were shaped by libraries. He was a teacher and librarian for most of his life, in Edmonton, until he moved to Vancouver in 2008 to teach writing at UBC. He recalls:

"My hometown of Ashmont was very small. As a teenager, I was always looking for chances to get away to the "big city"; - Edmonton - where I could catch the latest Elvis Presley movie, and browse through its gigantic library (even if I wasn't allowed, as a non-resident, to check any of the books out). Libraries intrigued me, and when I found out there were a number of boxes of books stowed away in the attic of the Ashmont Municipal Building, I convinced the town officials to let me set them out again in what had once been a makeshift library with rough wooden shelving and a barrel-shaped, wood-burning stove. One general merchant even donated some paint for the shelves. Convincing a couple of friends to help me, we painted the shelves - two coats in fact, which never quite seemed to dry - and the book covers were always encrusted with bits of apple green paint. My friends and I "played librarian"; - but mainly the old, donated book-of-the-month club selections and ancient encyclopedia sets provided me with reading material for my mid-teen years."

In 2011, he wrote:

"A few weeks back, an Ontario school made the news with its innovative initiative of taking all of the books in its library and replacing them with computers. The books were portioned out to classrooms. I couldn't help shaking my head as I recalled working in schools in Alberta in the 1960s and early 70s when classroom collections of books were being consolidated in school libraries (learning resource centers). It seems that the old saw about everything going around coming around is as much in place today as it ever was.

"A library landscape devoid of books is, to my mind, a pretty sad prospect. I realize that research tools are abundantly available on computers now and works of fiction and nonfiction can be accessed on various e-readers. But a room filled with computers and plastic tablets strikes me as about alluring as a garden full of artificial flowers. I love the feel of a book to my hands - its size and shape and heft, the texture of the paper - even the smell of most books. Illustrations in books involve a fusion of ink and paint and paper that is pleasing in a way that a photographed screen representation can never capture. Shelves filled with books have always struck me as displays of treasure - treasure filled with the mystery and promise of life and the universe.

"I think the Ontario school that went totally cyber was a secondary school. We can hope a little more thought was given to their elementary sites. As a teacher-librarian committed to reading to children, I find it difficult to imagine sharing a plastic e-reader with a group of kindergarten kids in a story corner. For years, I had a collection of pop-up books that I shared with students on special occasions. They loved the paper sculptures that sprang to life as pages were turned.
But even in secondary schools, I believe real books have a place alongside virtual books. Kids of all ages should have the option of taking a break from omnipresent screens to curl up in a comfortable spot with a book that offers small satisfying sounds as pages are turned - sounds like a whispering of the winds of thought. They should be able to enjoy the feel of their fingers resting on paper, the companionable comfort of a volume resting open, inverted over a thigh as the reader rests his eyes for a few minutes or chats with a friend. Even unopened, books are a kind of pleasing embellishment to any room. I dread the day when all ornamentation in the spaces in which we live will be turned on with the flick of a switch - and we'll see plastic walls with electronic visuals of the décor du jour."

Glen Huser has won many important awards for his young adult novels. The Runaway, set in 1923, describes the adventures of Leroy "Doodlebug" Barnstable, on the run from two abusive cousins, as he spends time with an itinerant Chautauqua outfit.

His YA novel Firebird Firebird explores a period in our history -- one year in particular (1915 - 1916) -- when a massive number of newcomers were deemed "enemy aliens," arrested and put into internment camps set up all across Canada. Alex Kaminsky, a fourteen-year-old Ukrainian immigrant boy searches for his brother only to find him near death in Castle Mountain Internment Camp near Banff.

Spanning generations and geography, Huser's novel Burning the Night (NeWest Press $19.95) portrays a small-town young man, Curtis who moves to Edmonton where he forms close ties with his elderly, blind Aunt Harriet. He learns of Harriet's intended husband who died in World War I and the artsy friends in her past. It inspires Curtis to realize that he wants to get into the arts and find fulfilling love. Curtis also discovers he is a gay man.


BOOKS:

Burning the Night: A Novel (NeWest Press, 2021) $19.95 9781774390115

Firebird (Ronsdale 2020) $12.95 9781553805878

The Golden Touch (Tradewind, 2015) $20 9781896580739

Flowers, Time for Snow (Tradewind, 2014) $18.95 9781896580265

The Runaway (Tradewind, 2011) 978-896580-21-0 $12.95

Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen (Groundwood, 2008) $9.95 9780888997333

Stitches (Groundwood, 2003) 0888995784

Touch of the Clown (Groundwood, 1999) $8.95 0888993579

AWARDS:

Stitches
- Governor General's Literary Award 2003: *Winner*
-CCBC Our Choice 2004: *Selected*
-Cooperative Children's Book Center Choice 2004: *Selected*
-SSLI Book Awards 2004: *Honor Book*
-OLA Red Maple Award 2005: *Nominated*

Touch of the Clown
-R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature 1999: *Nominee*
-OLA Silver Birch Award 1999: *Nominee*
-Golden Eagle Award 2003: *Nominee*
-OLA Red Maple Award 2000: *Nominee*

Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen
-Governor General's Literary Awards (text) 2006: *Finalist*
-Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize 2007: *Nominee*
-Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award 2007: *Shortlisted*
-Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award 2008: *Shortlisted*
-Maine State Library Cream of the Crop List 2007: *Selected*
-OLA Best Bets - Top 10 Fiction for Young Adults 2007: *Selected*
-CCBC Our Choice 2007: *Starred Selection*
-OLA Red Maple Award 2008: *Nominee*
-SSLI Honor Book Award 2007: *Selected*

[BCBW 2022]

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Firebird by Glen Huser (Ronsdale $12.95)

Review by Sage Birchwater, BCBW 2020

In Glen Huser’s young reader/adult “crossover” historical novel, Firebird, he offers a sobering look at racial prejudice in Canada more than 100 years ago.

After Canada entered World War One as an ally to Great Britain in August of 1914, many immigrants who had fled to Canada years before to escape poverty and oppression in Eastern Europe were dubbed enemy aliens. Many were arrested and imprisoned in 24 makeshift, forced labour camps across the country.

On the strength of the War Measures Act, passed by parliament on August 22, 1914, over 8,500 men were confined until 1920. More than 100 died from disease and malnutrition in the harsh living conditions. Some were shot trying to escape. Many more suffered psychological damage that lasted long after the ordeal was over.

In Huser’s novel, set in rural Alberta in 1915-1916, thirteen-year-old Alex Kaminsky and his older brother Marco, orphans from Ukraine, had been living with their uncle on a small farm east of Edmonton when war was declared.

One tragedy follows another and in December of 1915, Alex, now fourteen, suffers serious burns escaping a house fire that claimed the life of their uncle. Marco is away working as an itinerant farm labourer, and when he fails to show up for Christmas as he promised, Alex is worried.

Alex gradually recovers from his injuries through the kindness of neighbours. But a new threat looms when he is treated hatefully because of his Ukrainian heritage. The animosity intensifies when news is received that a beloved young soldier from the family with whom he is staying has been killed in action while fighting in Europe.

The emotions of the family members are well depicted as they deal with the tragedy and their resentment toward Alex grows. Alex is given refuge by the village postmaster and storekeeper who realizes his innocence and reaches out to help the young man as he sets out on a perilous quest to find his brother.

Eventually Alex learns that Marco has been imprisoned in Castle Mountain internment camp in Banff, Alberta. [Huser notes that the site of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp has been set aside as a national shrine, a memorial to remember the shameful treatment of innocent men, mostly of Ukrainian heritage, caught up in the hysteria of the First World War.]

Huser charts a thread of human kindness and generosity that helps change Alex’s fortunes. Difference-makers include the small-town postmaster, a Ukrainian hobo who helps him jump a freight train, a kind-hearted carpenter and his family, a school teacher in Edmonton and the teacher’s benevolent aunt in Calgary, who all reach out to allow Alex to achieve his goal and find his brother.

The author’s background as an educator and his intimate understanding of the psychology of youth and life in small towns on the Canadian prairies combine to give authenticity to the story. Huser portrays the triumph of human decency through the eyes of children unfettered by prejudice. He conveys the narrowness of powerful individuals consumed by the smallness of their own self-importance and how these shortcomings diminish those around them.

Lastly, he paints a delightful portrayal of the heroic: that is, bending the rules and reaching beyond the limitations of personal circumstances, or boxed-in institutional normalcy, which is what it takes sometimes to make a difference. Firebird illuminates the irrationality of war and the shallowness of racial discrimination and profiling.

Few can disagree that this is a lesson that every society has to learn and relearn, generation after generation.

978-1-55380-587-8

Sage Birchwater writes from Williams Lake.