Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast

by Natalie Hyde, Matt Hammill (Illustrator)

While Canada cannot lay claim to wonders like the Great Pyramid of Egypt, Stonehenge of England, or ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, Canada is by no means lacking for stories of intrigue and adventure. From buried treasure to ice mummies to bootleggers to shipwrecks, curious readers need look no further than Cryptic Canada to discover seven of this country’s most engaging unsolved mysteries.

Beginning with the ongoing hunt in Nova Scotia for the legendary treasure of Captain Kidd and his crew, moving to the discovery of the mummified Franklin Expedition in Nunavut by modern-day scientists, and ending with an exploration of the Great Lakes Triangle phenomenon (with several other exciting stories in between), this book has something for every adventurous reader.

Each chapter, bursting with illustrations by Matt Hammill and color photographs, ends with an interview with an expert in the field, who answers questions kids will be eager to ask after reading about each mysterious case.

Genres: Canada

48 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2011

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natalie Hyde, she presents in her 2011 Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast a decent but also not overwhelming number of “unsolved” Canadian themed and based mysteries stretching all across the country (from ice mummies to shipwrecks). And with a rather pleasant sense of personal surprise and appreciation, I have equally noticed that not only are the thematic details and the contents featured by Hyde in Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast both educationally enlightening and interesting, there is also much information presented that I personally do not know, there is also much textually featured and introduced by Natalie Hyde in Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast that is new and not previously known to and for me, like for example that the discovered ice mummies from up North of the ill fated Franklin Expedition likely died from lead poisoning due to unsafe food cans (with basically every meal consumed by Lord Franklin and his men aboard their vessels being and bringing a mega serving of major toxicity), that the now rather unassuming Saskatchewan city of Moosejaw during the Prohibition of the 1920s was basically known as Chicago North and with a similarly sinister reputation for gangsters and organised crime and that due to the many unexplained shipwrecks, with boats and ships also often simply disappearing, a large part and area of the Great Lakes has amassed a dark reputation akin to the infamous Bermuda Triangle and is casually even known as the Great Lakes Triangle. Engagingly penned is Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast (and with Mark Hammill’s illustrations and the many photographs providing a generally nicely rendered visual accompaniment to and for Natalie Hyde’s printed words, although that personally, I would if truth be told rather prefer no illustrations and considerably less photographs for Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast as in particular some of Mark Hammill’s rather caricature like pictures do at least for my eyes and my aesthetics at times feel rather visually distracting and as such taking my eyes and my mind away from Natalie Hyde’s featured text).

And generally speaking, Natalie Hyde’s words for Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast, they are also more than sufficiently reading interest retaining both for myself as an older adult reader and equally so for my inner child, even though I do think that occasionally, Hyde does seem to try to eschew good and straight forward organisation in favour of annoyingly bombarding her young readers (her intended audience of older children from about the age of eight or so onwards) with too many bits and pieces that do not always seem to make total sense, and indeed that even with my textual enjoyment of Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast, I am certainly not willing to give more than three stars to a completely non fiction tome that does neither include ANY secondary sources nor a detailed bibliography with suggestions for further reading and research.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

During my short trip to Ottawa, Canada, I shopped at a bookstore and I wanted to bring home a souvenir for our girls that would be both interesting and educational. When I saw this book, I hoped I'd found one that fit the bill.

Our oldest has been borrowing books from series such as You Wouldn't Want To... and Top 10 Worst... from her elementary school library. I thought this book would fit right in.

I loved the idea of combining historical facts along with a description of mysterious or dramatic events or phenomena. I knew that we would all learn more about Canada. My only real disappointment was that none of the mysteries centered on Ottawa itself; I'd hoped to find one of the stories center on the city, since that's the location I visited.

Nevertheless, I thought the book was an entertaining and informative. As far as being a titillating read, it was only moderately successful. Each topic was fairly detailed, so we only read one each night. The historical background was fascinating and we really enjoyed reading this book together.

[Sue Slade · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son received this book for Christmas. I picked it up and flipped through looking at the pictures, and in short order, it drew me in and I read it cover to cover. Wow, I didn't know we had a Stonehenge in Canada, even older than the ones in Europe or that we had our own Great Lakes Triangle that has even more ship and plane disappearances than the Bermuda Triangle. This was a very fascinating read of mysteries that are right here in Canada.

[Trinity Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids book I love even as an adult!

[Jessicadebiasio · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not my favourite type of book but this book was still very good. Canada has a large number of mysteries that I had never even heard of. The one that interested me the most was the Great Lakes Triangle. The Great Lakes Triangle is almost like the Bermuda Triangle but in Canada, it had a past that interested me and just learning about something as famous as the Bermuda Triangle in Canada! I learned a lot of interesting facts about Canada's history and about our mysteries, I really liked it.

[Sara C. Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! I want to go to Oak Island! Ice mummies are cool!

[Rosalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information. I found the Great Lakes triangle to be especially intriguing. As one of the the 2014 Forest of Reading books I'm looking forward to see what the kids think.

[Raegan Rocco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It's so informative and interesting. The photos are great and I learned some amazing facts about my own country!

[Karen Upper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This nominated title was short listed for the Forest of Reading Silver Birch nonfiction list and is Very informative. The information provided is easily accessible for all readers!

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information!