Prairie Willow

by Maxine Trottier, Laura Fernández (Illustrator), Rick Jacobson (Illustrator)

Selected as a Starred Book for the 1998/99 Our Choice Awards by the Canadian Children's Book Centre

Short listed for the Ruth Schwartz award 1999

Notable Book, Social Studies, Children's Books Council Children's Choice selection, Children's Book Council and International Reading Association

Emily's weeping willow becomes a living symbol of the warmth, strength, and history shared by generations of one family.

When Emily's family moves to the ocean of grass called the prairie, she can't help but dream of trees. After building their sod house, ploughing, planting and then harvesting, her Papa tells her there is a little money left over to get something special from the mail-order catalogue. She chooses a willow tree. The Prairie Willow chronicles the life of this little girl and her pioneering family.

Genres: Picture Books, Historical

22 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Maxine Trottier is the award-winning writer of numerous books for young people, including Claire's Gift (winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award), Laura: A Childhood Tale of Laura Secord, the Circle of Silver Chronicles, and The Tiny Kite of Eddy Wing (winner of the CLA Book of the Year Award).

A former teacher and an avid sailor, Maxine has long been fascinated by history. She is now an associate member of La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan, whose purpose is "to honour the memory of these courageous people." While researching Alone in an Untamed Land, Maxine discovered that she herself is directly descended from a fille du roi.

Maxine lives in the small outport of Newman's Cove in Newfoundland, with her husband William and their Yorkie Moon.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pioneer family arrives on the prairie to begin their new life. The prairie is so vast it reminded Emily of a “green-gold ocean.” They begin building a sod house and at night they sleep in their wagon, when Emily dreams of trees. Once the house is finished, they begin to plant ... wheat to sow and a kitchen garden. And when they have a little extra money, they buy a Willow tree. One that will plant its root deep into the soil and become a part of their life.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since the author is Canadian, I assume the prairie here is in Canada, not the U.S. Emily and her parents and little brother move to the prairie, build a sod house, and start a farm. What really made this story for me was the illustrations--so beautiful! Right away, in the first 2-page spread, showing the family standing by their wagon, with nothing but flat land to be seen in every direction, I couldn't believe how Papa could look at his map and say "This is our homestead." How did he know?? It all looked alike! The one thing that puzzled me in the story was this: they purchased and planted a willow tree for their homestead, and, in the picture, it shows the tree growing on flat land with the family sitting in its shade. Yet I always thought willow trees had to grow by water. Can there be a species in Canada that doesn't need so much? The story ended rather strangely too, with time moving on, and Emily growing old and, eventually, dying and being reunited with her brother Jack, who had died during the war. I'm not sure young readers, however, would understand that Emily had died, because it's not stated outright, but implied. An odd story, with the willow as the focus in the end, rather than the people. I give it 4 stars, though, for the beautiful illustrations.

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of immigrants who travel in a covered wagon to the Canadian prairies where they built a sod house. Then they plowed the land and sowed wheat. The book shows what life was like in those days. Then the story takes us through time and tells us a bit about what happened to the family.
What is missing from this book, of course, is that there is no mention of the First Nations people who lived on this land before these immigrants came. Aside from that, these illustrations by laura Fernandez and and Rick Jacobson are really beautiful.