28 - Wednesday, December 13, 1989 - North Shore News Santa’s secre list CHILDREN’S BOOKS THAT WILL THRILL | t all started with a rumor drifting down from the Nosth | IGHTNING BOLT i Poets sought B.C. RESIDENTS are urged to enter the American Poetry Association’s contest. The deadline is Dec. 31. The grand prize is $1,000 and the first prize $500, In total, 152 poets will win cash and publica- tion prizes werth $11,000. “Ten Canadians have won prizes in our recent contests, so we are eager to see more work from Canadian poets,”’ said Robert Nelson, publisher for the associa- tion. “Unknown poets are the ones we look for. We want to discover them and give them the recognition they deserve.”’ Poets may enter the contest by sending up to six poems, each no more than 20 lines, with name and address on each page, te Ameri- can Poetry Association, Dept. CT-91, 250-A Potrero St., P.O. Box 1803, Santa Cruz, CA 95061. En- tries should be mailed by Dec. 31. A new contest begins jan. 1. Each poem is also considered for publication in the American Poetry Anthology, a leading collection of poems. Pole: after centuries of effort, Santa Claus had finally found the perfect Christmas gift. Was it true? It would take an ultra-long distance call to Elves- R-Us to find out. So | gave them a jingle. Now person-to-elf conversations are, as you've probably discovered yourselves, tricky at the best of times. What with the usual prob- lems of the Northern Lights singe- ing the lines and reindeer running thoughtlessly all over the cables, you're lucky to hear one word in 10, but the elves sure sounded worried. They were muttering things like “doesn’t need batteries,” “fun,” “reusable,’" ‘‘educa- tionai,” “quiet,” “develops the imagination” and ‘‘severance pay.” But the amazing thing was that they kept exclaiming “Books! Books!’’ { was skeptical but they prom- ised to fax me a copy of Santa’s secret list as proof (yes, elves in- vented the fax machine back in 1704, but for some reason it took a long time to catch on). Anyway, here it is: Santa’s secret book list. Olive The Other Reindeer (San- dhiil; 17 pp.; $10.95) is a soft- covered, magazine-sized coloring book written and illustrated by, respectively, Michael and David Christie of Coquitlam. Santa prob- ably liked this one because it in- cluded an audio cassette of Olive’s song and story. Kids’ Games (Random House; 177 op.; $14.95}, by Elaine Martin, contains hundreds of games, songs and activities parents can play with kids ages three to six or reindeer of any age. Swan Lake (Thomas Allen & Son; &2 pp.; $24.95) is such a beautiful book that Santa kept one for himself. Mark Helprin’s tale, il- lustrated superbly by Chris Van Allsburg, thawed hearts all over the North Pole. The Elves and The Shoemaker (Calico/Fitzhenry & Whiteside; 32 pp.; $17.50) is a children’s classic retold and illustrated by Jada Rowland. Even the wee folk at Elves-R-Us grudgingly admitted tik- ing this one but wouldn’t say why. We can hazard a guess. The Tiny Parents (Bullseye/ Random House; &2 pp.; $3.95) almost seems like a dig at a recent movie. Authors Ellen Weiss and Mel Friedman advise kids in this pocketbook that they can “forget about a norma! childhood when your folks are only 2% inches tall.” While Mrs. Claus laughed her way through this one, the elves didn’t get the joke. Simon and The Wind (Tundra; 22 pp.; ages three plus; $9.95) is another triumph for the only Christmas artist to win Japan's in- ternational competition for children’s book illustrators. As is the case with all of Tundra’s titles, this new Gilles Tibo title is avail- able in both English and French editions (Simon Et Le Vent D’Automne). MIKE STEELE book review Benjamin and the Pillow Saga (Annick/Firefly; 26 pp.; $5.95) is a marveilous and humorous story by one of the few Canadian writers/ artists whose work rivals Tibo’s: Stephane Poulin. In fact, so im- pressed was the Claus family by Poulin’s incredibly detailed, whimsical illustrations that they framed them and hung them on the walls of Claus Cottage. Mind you, they did the same thing with the artwork from... The Lightening Bolt by Michael Bedard and Rigolo Ricci (Oxford; 29 pp.; $16.95) and it's not hard to see why. Santa has a special fond- ness for stories filled with magic, wishes, dark enchantments and Oreo cookies. Well, three out of four isn’t bad. The Troll af Sora (Oxford; 30 pp.; $14.95) by Leslie Watts has many of the same elements (but no Oreos here, either). The Troll grants a young woman’s wish to be young, slender and beautiful — for a price — in this traditional tale of pride and trickery. . Effie’s Bath (Annick/Firefly; 26 pp.; $6.50) just goes to prove that there’s more to hygiene than meets the eye — or Rudolph’s rather sensitive nose, Richard Thompson and illustrator Eugenie Fernandes have transformed a child's bathing routine into a See Give ~G JAPANESE FINE PORCELAIN “You don't need to go to Japan” beautiful candle stand with this advertisement. . Jéapanese Ceramic Wear 7 & Mure! MURATA bog ts cel You can get Murata Art at: 392-394 Powel! Street Vancouver 688-1157 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10am-5pm Sun. 12noon-4pm (until Xmas) “Christmas Deesn’t Have te be the Same Old Thing” For exotic curry spices, mango chutneys hot pickles, papadums, basmati rice from India and Jamaican patties. §.3. FOODS Lid. 148 B. WEST 3ED STREET, N.VAN. 986-3212 Open 7 days a week & (Entrance from the back lane) me Promotional Price $4250. Delivered. Available in Polished Ebony, Ivory & Satin Walnut with Bench. = Coward's Pianos