SaskBooks Reviews

Mark the Manitoba Mooseby Sharla GriffithsPublished by Sharla GriffithsReview by Amanda Zimmerman$17.00 ISBN 9781999560034 Sharla Griffiths, an author and illustrator residing outside of Regina, SK, once again dazzles readers with bold colours, soft landscapes, and lovable characters in her newest picture book, Mark the Manitoba Moose. Revisiting the same recognizable style as her previous books Six Saskatchewan Bunnies and Colour YQR, Griffiths brings an airy feel to this third story, weaving in simple, eye-catching details on every page to surprise and delight. There is a purity – a childlike innocence – in her pictures which easily transports older readers back to more imaginative days. All ages will enjoy this story! However, the winsome illustrations are only a portion of Mark the Manitoba’s Moose’s literary charm. This lighthearted adventure features a very determined moose named Mark in his search for his missing animal friends. As he traipses across one of our prairie provinces, he encounters a variety of beautiful landmarks that locals are sure to know. Nature lovers will be particularly pleased that most of Griffith’s chosen spaces are outside. Mark gathers help from those that live in or near these special places and even brings some of them along with…

Six Saskatchewan BunniesWritten and illustrated by Sharla GriffithsReview by Michelle Shaw$17.00 ISBN 9781999560003 It’s always fun to read a book set in a familiar place, and children, especially, love reading about places they know and can actually visit. So Sharla Griffiths’ new children book is a delight. It’s an entertaining invitation to explore the joys of summer in Saskatchewan along with six little bunnies. The bunnies hop their way through the province, climbing the branches of the Crooked Trees, sliding down the sand dunes at Athabasca Provincial Park and feeding the geese at Wascana Park in Regina. They crawl through the tunnels in Moose Jaw, paint rocks along the riverbank on the Meewasin Trail in Saskatoon, discover the skeleton of a T-Rex in Eastend and lie back in the waving prairie grass, watching the clouds drift across Saskatchewan’s endless sky in Grasslands National Park. The book features 24 full page color illustrations that are interesting and fun. Each destination is helpfully labelled at the bottom of the page and there’s a map of the province at the end of the book showing where the bunnies (and the reader) have travelled. Griffiths also introduces the concept of counting. The story starts…