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Canada
This is a series of short books -- length
73 pages and approximately 12,000 words long-- each of which features
a ten-year-old girl. All these stories are interesting or exciting
and certainly hold the reader's interest, but each book also illustrates
an aspect of Canada's history. There is a map at the front, and
then a short introduction giving the historical background and
then we are plunged straight into the story. There are black and
white illustrations and a Canadian time-line at the back. The
books are all by leading Canadian authors for young people. Although
the intended age range is 8 to 12, they would also form a quick
and easy introduction for anyone wanting to learn something about
Canadian history.
More about this series can be found by going to the website http://www.ourcanadiangirl.com/
The books can be ordered online at http://chapters.indigo.ca/Default.asp
The background, Montreal in 1885.
Marie-Claire lives with her family in one of the poorest parts
of Montreal. Her father has an accident and so cannot work. Her
mother now has to take in sewing while Marie-Claire herself has
to stay off school to help with the housework and look after her
young brother and sister. There is tragedy with the death of baby
Philippe and then there is a smallpox epidemic. To make things
even worse Marie-Claire quarrels with her cousin. But the dark
spring does not last forever and hope arrives with the summer.
Brings out the squalour and poverty -- and also the indomitable
courage -- of the poorer classes of Montreal in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century.
The background, Victoria, British
Columbia in 1896. The life style of wealthy Victorians is contrasted
with the conditions of the Chinese immigrants.
Ten-year-old Emily's father works in a bank and Emily lives in
a big house. Emily longs for a bicycle and is always hoping for
one at Christmas or on her birthday. Then Emily accidentally breaks
a valuable vase. In an attempt to escape punishment she secretly
glues it together but it is later found broken again and the Chinese
cook Hing is blamed and dismissed. When Emily hears of this she
is determined to find Hing and she crosses the James Bridge into
the Chinese section of the city. She finds him and sees the poverty
in which he is living. She has been longing for a bicycle whereas
Hing has been longing for his family to join him from China, but
he cannot afford to pay the head tax for them. Can Emily help
him?
Penelope. Terror
in the Harbour, Sharon E. Mackay, Penguin (Canada), 2001, 66 pages.
ISBN 0-14-100329-4
The background, Halifax, Nova Scotia
1917, and a disaster in the harbour. Two ships (one of them loaded
with a stock of highly explosive materials designed for the war)
collided and nearly two thousand people were killed. The land
around the harbour was destroyed and fires spread through the
rest of the city.
Penny lives with her widower father and looks after her two younger
sisters while trying to keep up with her schoolwork. One morning
while hurrying to get her sisters ready for Mrs Hanson, the woman
who looked after them during the day, and herself ready for school,
Mrs Hanson's son Billy rushes up to her and tells her that ships
have crashed into each other down in the harbour. Penny looks
out of the window and sees smoke rising from the harbour, but
she is late and she returns to dressing her sisters.
She puts them both in the pram and is wheeling them up the road
when there is an explosion. Penny is lifted up and thrown to the
ground. When she manages to raise herself to her feet she finds
her sisters trapped under the pram. But they are unhurt, unlike
the many people who have been injured by flying glass.
All around her buildings are unstable and in danger of collapsing.
Fire is raging through the city. Penny joins the crowd and starts
to push the pram and her sisters up Citadel Hill to a place of
safety. And all the time she is wondering if her father -- who
had his offfice down by the harbour -- is safe.
The background. 1783 and the American
War of Independence. Slaves ran away from their American plantations
to join the British. They did not take part in the fighting but
they worked with the soldiers and their wives, setting up camps,
cooking, sewing and washing. After the War the British gave them
certificates to show that they were free. When this story starts
Rachel's stepfather has been shipped to Nova Scotia and Rachel
and her mother are waiting on the docks to join him.
There are plenty of books about slaves escaping to Canada but
very few about what happened to them once they got there. That
is one thing which makes this book particularly interesting.
Rachel soon finds that life in Canada is very different from what
she had expected. She had thought that Titan, her stepfather,
would have a house ready for them. Instead all there is is a hole
in the ground waiting to be roofed. And Rachel has never experienced
such cold. To make matters the food is sparse -- just a little
cornmeal. Rachel's mother sometimes wonders if they were not better
off on the plantation. And they may be free and in Canada but
Rachel soon finds that there are still plenty of people around
who despise black people. Then comes the snow, and the birth of
Rachel's little brother.
But Rachel is a girl of spirit. She even makes attempts to learn
to read and write. And then she makes a good friend who helps
her -- Anne-Marie, an Indian girl.
Anne-Marie gives Rachel a pair of Indian boots, shows her how
to take care of the baby, and sends her aunt, a healer, to tend
to Rachel's sick mother. And the harsh winter does not last forever.
Spring and the warmer days arrive in due course and, with them,
Rachel's determination to really make Canada her new home.
8 -- 12
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