Tug

April 4, 2022
On Canada’s west coast, a redheaded, pink-skinned child—the book’s narrator—joins Dad and a friendly terrier for a trip hauling logs to a sawmill using a boom boat. Ritchie writes in a cadence that appreciates every detail: “The boom boat pushes the logs in place. Then the deckhand uses his pike pole to pull them together. He’s making a log boom.” A brief storm, a lost cedar, and an encounter with a “deadhead” that represents a possible collision provide moments of drama as the craft pulls the massive raft of lumber, but Dad knows his stuff, and eventually, it’s land ho—as the narrator notes, “the smell of the sea is gone. Now I smell the sawmill.” Digitally enhanced pencil and ink cartooning skillfully balances human moments with specific tasks and sweeping landscapes (including a wonderful bird’s-eye view spread), inviting readers to savor people, process, and place. Back matter provides additional factual detail. Ages 3–6.

May 1, 2022
A child and father spend the day together on a tugboat, guiding a log boom to a Vancouver sawmill. After the boom ("a collection of floating logs") is assembled, the father and child set out, pulling the massive boom behind them. They steer wide around a tanker; encounter a swell that lifts the boom, causing the loss of a log; spot a deadhead (a partly submerged log); and hurry to reach the river before the tide turns, pulling "anything that isn't anchored or tied up...out to sea." The first-person narration is simple and specific, introducing young readers and listeners to terms of the trade (a helpful glossary is appended). The eye-catching large-format ink and pencil illustrations, colored in Photoshop, use a blue, green, and brown palette. It's an outing full of fun, but the child is truly helpful, too, and is duly appreciated by Dad: "Thanks, buddy!" The story ends with the narrator declaring, "Maybe I'll drive the tug one day." Front endpapers feature a large map of the rivers and inlets around Vancouver; back endpapers provide a diagram of the different elements of the boom. An appended "Dear Reader" letter from the author provides additional information and raises questions about climate change and sustainability. Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2022
A child and father spend the day together on a tugboat, guiding a log boom to a Vancouver sawmill. After the boom ("a collection of floating logs") is assembled, the father and child set out, pulling the massive boom behind them. They steer wide around a tanker; encounter a swell that lifts the boom, causing the loss of a log; spot a deadhead (a partly submerged log); and hurry to reach the river before the tide turns, pulling "anything that isn't anchored or tied up...out to sea." The first-person narration is simple and specific, introducing young readers and listeners to terms of the trade (a helpful glossary is appended). The eye-catching large-format ink and pencil illustrations, colored in Photoshop, use a blue, green, and brown palette. It's an outing full of fun, but the child is truly helpful, too, and is duly appreciated by Dad: "Thanks, buddy!" The story ends with the narrator declaring, "Maybe I'll drive the tug one day." Front endpapers feature a large map of the rivers and inlets around Vancouver; back endpapers provide a diagram of the different elements of the boom. An appended "Dear Reader" letter from the author provides additional information and raises questions about climate change and sustainability.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)