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Our Canadian Girl: Keeley #1
The Girl From Turtle Mountain
It's September 1901, and ten-year-old Keeley and her father are making a fresh start, after the death of Keeley's mother, in a brand new town called Frank that sits in a valley at the bottom of Turtle Mountain in southern Alberta.
From the moment they arrive Keeley knows she’ll love Frank. Not only can she and her dad live together, but in Frank there's room for children to breathe, as her dad would say. There's also room for mischief, and Keeley quickly gets into some, with the encouragement of a schoolmate named Peter. Peter dares Keeley to spend a night in the coal mine, where she discovers another part of Frank that's a little bit scary. Will things turn out as she hopes?
From the moment they arrive Keeley knows she’ll love Frank. Not only can she and her dad live together, but in Frank there's room for children to breathe, as her dad would say. There's also room for mischief, and Keeley quickly gets into some, with the encouragement of a schoolmate named Peter. Peter dares Keeley to spend a night in the coal mine, where she discovers another part of Frank that's a little bit scary. Will things turn out as she hopes?
- GenresHistorical FictionCanada
112 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2004
68 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Ellis
61 books601 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries.
She has won the Governor General's Award, Sweden's Peter Pan Prize, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award.
A long-time feminist and anti-war activist, she is best known for The Breadwinner Trilogy, which has been published around the world in seventeen languages, with more than a million dollars in royalties donated to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. In 2006, Deb was named to the Order of Ontario.
Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries.
She has won the Governor General's Award, Sweden's Peter Pan Prize, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award.
A long-time feminist and anti-war activist, she is best known for The Breadwinner Trilogy, which has been published around the world in seventeen languages, with more than a million dollars in royalties donated to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. In 2006, Deb was named to the Order of Ontario.
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December 29, 2016
Fewer than three stars from me are rare but I acknowledge disliking Deborah Ellis's style. She is award-winning; likely a delight to others but incessantly contriving visual-oriented comedy capers turned me off. It is my firm feeling that the purpose of the "Our Canadian Girl" series of historically-educational oeuvres was squandered in "The Girl From Turtle Mountain", 2004. I felt this style missed the direction these stories were meant to take. Instead of putting readers inside a new town, in turn-of-the-century Alberta and showing us what it was like for settlers there; indulging in shenanigans toppled this specialized Canadian culture into the background. Saying that a town has a mountain and a mine does not furnish the ambiance. She even said "cocoa" instead of "HOT CHOCOLATE"!
No, the antics that drove her novel could have occurred anywhere. Newborn Alberta was only used as the stage for them. I really couldn't read Deborah Ellis again, if this is her form of expression. Just like there are some personalities that are toxic to us, which we recognize by instantly being unable to stand them; so too with writing styles. She has ideas that are good: the strong women such as news journalist Cora, fellow-boarder Violet, who aspires to painting, the independent breadwinners who are Patricia's Grandmothers, and the feminist spirit of boarding house owner Mrs. Greer.
If we allowed Deborah antic after antic; even then, she clearly really just wanted to make jokes and not genuinely resolve a story. In the end, we have no impression that Keeley or Peter have learned that dares are stupid and unworthy of worrying about. We have the impression that they would be at it again, despite Keeley's entrapment in a rock fall. What kind of story resolution, never mind the mismanaged historical portrayal, is that?
No, the antics that drove her novel could have occurred anywhere. Newborn Alberta was only used as the stage for them. I really couldn't read Deborah Ellis again, if this is her form of expression. Just like there are some personalities that are toxic to us, which we recognize by instantly being unable to stand them; so too with writing styles. She has ideas that are good: the strong women such as news journalist Cora, fellow-boarder Violet, who aspires to painting, the independent breadwinners who are Patricia's Grandmothers, and the feminist spirit of boarding house owner Mrs. Greer.
If we allowed Deborah antic after antic; even then, she clearly really just wanted to make jokes and not genuinely resolve a story. In the end, we have no impression that Keeley or Peter have learned that dares are stupid and unworthy of worrying about. We have the impression that they would be at it again, despite Keeley's entrapment in a rock fall. What kind of story resolution, never mind the mismanaged historical portrayal, is that?
Displaying 1 of 1 review