Kimmy & Mike

Kimmy and Mike are set a task by their mother. “Get something for the pot.” This simple request leads to a whirlwind round the world tour searching for fish that their mother will find acceptable. In approximately 36 hours, the two have circled the globe catching a submarine and a giant squid, meeting pirates off the coast of Somalia, a merman, and a talking iguana, chopping their way through a 100-mile iceberg and digging their way through the Isthmus of Panama because the canal is closed. In the Pacific, they meet their mother who couldn’t wait for them to get back as their father “came over all sooky” because his dinner came from KFC. She sends them home by the Panama Canal while she darts round Cape Horn and stops in at Rio for bingo. Kimmy and Mike arrive home by curfew. Having won the jackpot in Rio, Mother arrives home the next day with her punt, or rodney, full of fish which are already all salted and dried.

And so that’s the story of Michael and Kim,

In Newfoundland and Labrador, they’re average, but then
If it came to a racket I know that I’d druther
Tackle those two than tackle their mother!

Dave Paddon is originally from Labrador. He has his ear tuned to the rhythms and dialect of Newfoundland. He is a creator and performer of recitations, rhyming stories to while away a long, dark evening. The exaggeration of events - Kimmy and Mike scull their boat from Newfoundland to France in two hours - contributes to a tall tale that entertains. Just a note: fried squid rings are not cut from the arms of a squid but from the body. However a 30-foot body/head would engulf the punt.

I would advise a reader wishing to read the story aloud to practice beforehand as the Newfoundland rhythms and double negatives can trip up the tongue. (A short glossary is provided.)

The illustrations by Lily Snowden-Fine, are pleasantly colourful with a taste of folk art. In all the illustrations, Mike is dressed in a square collared sailor shirt, white with blue piping. Though common dress for Victorian little boys and contemporary Asian schoolchildren, this shirt seems unlikely for a Newfoundland fisherman. The illustration for the pirates Kimmy and Mike met “off the coast of Somalia” seems to owe more to the Pirates of the Caribbean than to real Somali pirates who are African. This choice seems a little tone deaf to the racial dynamics of today. This is the only illustration that offers the opportunity of showing people of colour. Representing them as pirates and then having Kimmy beat them up are also problematic. When Kimmy and Mike find the Panama Canal closed, Kimmy digs through the Isthmus of Panama with an oar. The illustration has Mike in the lead in what seems to be a tunnel through which it would be difficult to get a 16-foot punt. Verisimilitude is not always required, but these do not seem to be thoughtful choices.

A good book to be read aloud, Kimmy & Mike celebrates the strengths and traditions of Newfoundland and Labrador.