The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2005, Side 41

Vol. 59 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
167
head. To the young reader she is perfectly
believable.
Halla tells Mr. Walters the Sea Shrew’s
further prophesy:
“ If she can live between worlds for ten
years, This daughter of hers can live.
Otherwise, mother and daughter will
go the way of the human husband...”
Mr. Walters has a unique solution to
the prophecy.
To prepare Thora for life on shore,
Halla fashions Thora’s hair into a ponytail
to hide her blowhole, a wet suit to hide her
scales and wind-surfing slippers to hide her
purple feet. Improbable? Not to the
young reader. One of the key themes in
the novel is friendship. Ricky and Lynne
Rukle and Holly de Mare join in Thora’s
Grimli adventures. They accept her half-
mermaid features and enjoy her tales from
her adventures around the world. None of
them have ever been out of Grimli.
Gillian Johnson has written a cleverly
illustrated, very humorous novel geared for
the 8- 12 age group. Thora’s misuse and
misspelling of words is delightful - Thora
wants to do “inner decorating” so she picks
out “wall paper” wall-to-wall carpeting to
place, on her walls. A sign in town reads,
“Trespassers will be prosletscd”. Thora
sees an “arrow plane’ in the sky and talks
about her “frosted” family. She walks
along the “bored” walk in Grimli. Young
readers will also identify with the reference
to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in
the school office. Thora wonders if this
book is about Mr. Walter’s friend, a hairy
potter from Cape Town? Having read
Anne of Green Gables, Thora asks if stu-
dents will get a slate to write on. Thora has
never been to school. Thora mixes her new
friends a tonic water drink. “She stirred in
scoops of vanilla ice cream to remove the
bitterness and brightened the whole thing
up with slices of canned beetroot” In the
supermarket Holly points out fish fingers.
Thora’s response is “But fish don’t have
fingers...and if they did, I certainly would-
n’t want to eat them! And look over there.
Rock cakes. Yuk!”
There are local references to the New
Iceland town of Gimli, Manitoba that add
interest but still keep the story universal.
The Allbent Cinema that the Greenberg
sisters own is in an old Lutheran church.
On the map of Grimli the reader finds the
“bored” walk, Viking Motel, To Airport
sign and Viking statue. The local police-
man is on horseback dressed in his red
serge.
Johnson’s illustrations are excellent.
They tell a story by themselves and define
the suitable short chapters for emergent
readers. Thora a Half Mermaid Tale is
Gillian Johnson’s first chapter book. She
has written and illustrated the following
picture books: My Sister Gracie (2000) and
Gracie’s Baby Chub Chop (2004).
Johnson is also the illustrator of Bun Bun’s
Birthday (2001), Princess Bun Bun, (2002),
The Cat and the Wizard (2003), Eugene’s
Story (2004) and James the Dancing Dog
(2004). Coming soon is another chapter
book about Thora entitled Thora and the
Green Sea Unicorn.
Gillian Johnson grew up in Winnipeg
and now lives in England and Tasmania,
Australia with her husband Nicholas
Shakespeare and their two sons Max and
Benedict.
Rev. Stefan Jonasson
ARBORG UNITARIAN CHURCH
GIMLI UNITARIAN CHURCH
9 Rowand Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 2N4
Telephone: (204) 889-4746
E-mail: sjonasson@uua.org