Ticket to Curlew

Curlew #1

by Celia Barker Lottridge

Winner of the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People


It is 1915, and Sam Ferrier and his father arrive by train in Curlew, Alberta, to build a new home for the family. When they finally reach their parcel of land, Sam can see nothing but endless stretches of grassland and blue sky. It is nothing like their old home in Iowa, and he wonders why his restless father ever decided to bring the family to this lonely, barren land.


In time, though, the house is built, and the rest of the family joins them. Gradually Sam discovers that there is much more to the flat and featureless prairie than he realized -- gleaming white skulls, torrential thunderstorms and, best of all, a new friend and a brave, resourceful horse named Prince.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Historical, Fiction, Canada

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this in school. All the kids despised it so much it's name unofficially became a swear word. Sorry Celia.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. WHY are these silly "non-story" stories required reading for kids? It's no wonder I would always go elsewhere for good books when I was a child. Read this because my firstborn had to for school.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great bedtime read aloud because nothing really happens. My kids went nuts for it ages 3-8. Their rating was only 4 stars because they wish the story didn’t end. It’s basically Little House on the Prairie but with a male lead character and in Alberta.

[Frankslycreative · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter heard this book as a read aloud in her grade 5 classroom and thought I would enjoy it. I did! I like how it reminded me of Little House on the Prairie, but the details were what a boy would notice and so Canadian. I recommend this book to read with your kids. It is simple and sweet.

[Leslie Basky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good historical fiction for grades 3-5. Settlers moving from USA to Alberta. Sorta like Little House on the Prairie without the references to savages...

[Umair Sial · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was decent. It was about a boy and his horse primarily and how he gets it, then loses it and the delight he has when the horse returns on his own accord. There were definitely ways to add to it such as the little forest Sam found. I expected more of story about that. I liked the description of how the times were and how people lived then. The author really paints a picture of how the situation was and how people lived.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked how the story depicted what life was like on the prairies when the settlers just came to Canada. However, there was no plot so I got bored of it real quick. I kept reading it, hoping for something to happen but was sorely disappointed in the end.

[Annie Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! A review will soon be posted on my blog of this book and its sequel, Wings to Fly.

[Michael Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young young age

[Rhys F · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t like the ending. I wanted to know what happened when Pa came home and saw the horses. I did like the character of Prince the horse.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: I have read this book before and read it aloud to the 10 year old this time as part of our history curriculum.

Set in 1915, Alberta, this is a quiet story of settling the Canadian West. An American family decides to make the move when they hear about the free land. Sam and his father have come up first to build a house before Mama and his two younger siblings arrive. First living in a tent, Sam learns the stark, never ending reality of the prairies where the only reference point as he wanders off is their tent. He discovers buffalo wallows and buffalo skulls, starting to collect them. After the family arrives his experiences broaden as they meet their closet neighbours 4 miles away, an immigrant family who doesn't speak English and lives in a soddy. Sam tries to figure out the way to befriend the boy his age; Sam also finds a friend in the horse, Prince, that they buy specifically for the children to ride to school (4 miles the other way) and for Sam get about on when he has free time.

Following the simple lives of these prairie settlers, Ticket to Curlew shows the terrible forces of nature they had to struggle with from flash thunderstorms and snow storms where one needed to tie a rope around oneself just to get to the barn to the hidden dangers lurking in the tall prairie grasses. But it also explores the beauty of the land when out of nowhere amidst the grasses appears a pond and the beautiful blue skies. A quiescent story that looks back at the simple life of children on the prairies, settler life and the love of a boy and his horse. Winner of the CLA Book of the Year Award.

[Aaryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think people should re-read or at least rethink about this book. I read it in Grade 5 and absolutely hated it. The class itself was very boring and the book was very uneventful as well. But, nowadays, I long to be back in those days and I think I love this book because of the nostalgia so, if you are like me and read this book in your elementary years, I think you should re-read this to bring back the nostalgia.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. New life, new friends. Same and his family must have been having a hard life when they moved to curlew. They were from Iowa. I never been to Iowa, but it must have been hard living in Iowa, and then moving into another new land, Curlew.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Use this book for our CDN Immigration unit in Social Studies.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam and his father come up from Iowa to Alberta to set up a homestead. The rest of the family come a couple months later. This is an interesting story of pioneer life in 1915.