{"id":15484,"date":"2018-02-21T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=15484"},"modified":"2018-02-19T12:01:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T20:01:20","slug":"camosun-instructor-laurie-elmquist-shows-the-importance-of-letting-go-in-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/02\/21\/camosun-instructor-laurie-elmquist-shows-the-importance-of-letting-go-in-new-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun instructor Laurie Elmquist shows the importance of letting go in new book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Camosun writing instructor Laurie Elmquist\u2019s new book Where\u2019s Burges<\/i>s?<\/i> paints a world that children can relate to and that will take adult readers back many years, suddenly immersed in the world of nine-year-old protagonist Reece. Children\u2019s literature is an underappreciated genre, which is unfortunate when works like this are out there. Elmquist writes with both the psychology of a developing brain and the innocence of youth in mind.<\/p>\n

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In the book, Reece has lost his frog, Burgess, and is also coping with his parents\u2019 trial separation. Elmquist tackles some of the hardest situations that can come up in a child\u2019s life: loss, love, and social insecurity, to name a few. She says a lot with relatively few words here, and she does so with a crippling innocence that breaks the reader\u2019s heart. After anyone learns about these topics through the pain they cause, they\u2019re never the same. And that\u2019s okay; it\u2019s supposed to happen. It\u2019s growing up.<\/p>\n

The double meanings, similes, and metaphors Elmquist uses are gut-wrenching. Where\u2019s Burges<\/i>s?<\/i> will teach children readers realities of the world, but they are told in such an eloquent Elmquist way that they\u2019ll want more when the book is done.<\/p>\n

Amidst the sadness of this book, the family keeps living and loving; the strong connection shown between Reece and his sister is one of cynical kindness, as bonds so often are between siblings.<\/p>\n

I was shocked at how incredibly real this story was, and I empathized with Reece as he learned the value and purpose of letting go and moving forward.<\/p>\n

The illustrations in the book are excellent and put on the page exactly what was in my mind; they\u2019re also a nice break from the text when young readers might need a breather, which they will, because this book is tough on the heart. But it\u2019s also enduring and memorable. It has the perfect amount of complexity. It is a wonderfully modern story of how connection can combat devastation.<\/p>\n

Elmquist is a true children\u2019s writer. She doesn\u2019t just ease children into literature with this book; she eases them the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Camosun writing instructor Laurie Elmquist\u2019s new book Where\u2019s Burgess? paints a world that children can relate to and that will take adult readers back many years, suddenly immersed in the world of nine-year-old protagonist Reece. Children\u2019s literature is an underappreciated genre, which is unfortunate when works like this are out there. Elmquist writes with both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-february-21-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t