Interview with a Stick Collector

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Ah, the joy of sticks! Hide the toy trucks, bury the video games, turn
off the “home theatre,” and for some reason most young boys can
still find endless hours of amusement with a simple twig from a tree. In
this picture book, a young lad imagines himself surrounded by a scrum of
reporters as he gives an interview about his life with sticks. He
explains where he finds them, how he chooses them, and how he uses them.
Whether there are pirates to defeat or monsters to beat, the young hero
has a special stick. Sometimes, his mother borrows a stick or two for
her tomato plants and his dumb dog, Elvis, pilfers one, but this young
lad has plenty to spare.

A thrice-published poet, Carole Langille writes prose that has a
definite lyricism, with lines like “I remember when Mom and my brother
and I were walking on the beach and I saw a stick coming out of the
ground. It had a thin trunk, bending and curved without any bark, and it
looked like a deer singing.” Sydney Smith’s entertaining drawings
support the text admirably. Unfortunately, the book suffers from
“low-budget blues” and will have a hard time attracting readers with
its muted colours. But do not let this one slip past unnoticed—it
deserves a second look. Recommended.