My Home Bay

While Gwyn's little sister Linden is excited and seemingly happy about the family moving from Vancouver, British Columbia to Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Gwyn does not want to move, to leave her friends, her home (she asks her parents for three promises, learning to play a musical instrument, a treehouse and a horse). Will Gwyn get her three wishes? And will Mahone Bay ever feel like and be home?

Anne Laurel Carter's evocative [b:My Home Bay|2277942|My Home Bay|Anne Laurel Carter|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1211498002s/2277942.jpg|2284053] poignantly and realistically captures the angst, sadness, and yes, the anger and frustration many children can and do feel when faced with and confronted by the concept of having to move. Permanently show more relocating to a different street, a different city, a different province, a different country can be a traumatic experience for children, especially because they generally have neither much choice nor input (the family decides to move, to immigrate, to emigrate, and the children are for the most part not only expected to accept this, but to not make a fuss, to not pout, to appear happy and accepting). Gwyn's parents might to a point understand her reluctance, but when she is unhappy during their cross-country drive, her father loses patience and simply cannot understand why she has sulked from west coast to east (he thinks that she has sulked long enough, not really comprehending that Gwyn cannot just extinguish her sadness or will it to go away, that her sadness is both internal and external).

At least Gwyn's parents do seem to make somewhat of an effort to ease the transition for their daughter. They keep their promise of a musical instrument, and Gwyn and Linden do get a treehouse (constructed in Gwyn's favourite pine). As the months go by, Gwyn also begins to slowly appreciate Nova Scotia and its natural beauty, especially the salt marsh; Mahone Bay really does more and more become "my home bay" to Gwyn. However, she still has not received her third request, her third wish (a horse), which, at Christmas time, turns out to be an aquarium full of sea horses. And I have to admit that the sea horses, although providing a cute and even slightly humorous ending for [b:My Home Bay|2277942|My Home Bay|Anne Laurel Carter|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1211498002s/2277942.jpg|2284053] also somewhat irritate me personally, because the parents have basically taken their promise of a horse and changed it into sea horses, using semantics to show that they have, in fact, kept their word to their daughter.

The illustrations by Alan and Lea Daniel, although bright and lushly descriptive, are not really my cup of tea. They do provide a lovely and for the most part successful mirror of the narrative, but for me, there is a bit too much of an emphasis on human characters, on people, and not enough attention directed at and towards Nova Scotia's natural beauty (I would definitely have appreciated more seascapes). I still highly recommend [b:My Home Bay|2277942|My Home Bay|Anne Laurel Carter|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1211498002s/2277942.jpg|2284053] (especially to and for children who have experienced or are experiencing the trauma and excitement of moving, of relocating to a new home). However, if I were reading this story with or to children (especially if they were slightly older), I would likely also discuss the third promise with them (and ask wether they thought that the parents giving Gwyn and Linden sea horses for Christmas instead of a real horse was keeping their word, was keeping their promise). show less