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The Town That Floated Away
"This is a romp...lively, inventive, and, above all, good-natured...one is happy to float along at the whim of its winds and waters.Virginia Potts is shrinking! Does this have anything to do with the fact that Wellington. Virginia's home town, has just floated away -- without her? And does the wayward town's disappearance -- last sighted heading due north -- have anything to do with recent occurrences, such as cats that refuse to come down from rooftops, the mayor's memory lapse concerning the Golden Rule of Spring Break or perhaps the free lemonade given out by the profit-powered Madame Galosh? Virginia must find out -- before her town freezes over and she shrinks to nothing but dust...
Based on a popular radio play written for CBC Radio that became a successful CD. The Town That Floated Away is a wonderfully inventive romp, where the adults are goofballs and it's only wise and resourceful kids who can save the proverbial day.
Based on a popular radio play written for CBC Radio that became a successful CD. The Town That Floated Away is a wonderfully inventive romp, where the adults are goofballs and it's only wise and resourceful kids who can save the proverbial day.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
8 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Birdsell
18 books15 followersSandra Louise Birdsell (née Bartlette) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage.
Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.
Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.
The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.
She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.
Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.
Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.
The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.
She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 8, 2025
I am proud of Sandra Birdsell, who loyally showcases our home province. Having written some disturbing content, I was surprised she wrote the zany, “The Town That Floated Away” in 1997; like “Alice In Wonderland” reimagined the Manitoba way. I love humour and originality that are bonkers, if they are put across well.
I can give no more than three stars because to me, the premises and world traits herein seem to be random and chaotic nonsense. At least praising a creative use of our ice and thawing seasons and our St. Boniface community spirit, spared a plummet as far down as two stars.
I could not abide a faulty message. I considered the core of this story and it was depressing. Everyone agrees the Parents deprived their child of normal clothes, play, and exposure. To never travel a rowboat’s ride away was appalling. A child feeling sick for missing family was realistic. How the authoress twisted that made me angry.
Would a girl go nowhere to cheer up, or make her dream come true, while she had to stay in her legendary St. Boniface? Should the concluding message be that her prison warden Parents were right? Would a girl realistically shun her dream and not have her St. Boniface trip ever, in a happy way, that was not under duress?
I like the galoshes factory maven admitting she should swerve to other customers in drier seasons. Upsetting an ecosystem by flushing multiple toilets, was fucked up and not in an admirable, inventive way. I smiled at the concept of weather working against direct wishes.
I thought it was negative for a girl’s life to hang on an island fitting in its old place. A good children’s message is that families will be okay any way we need to be.
I can give no more than three stars because to me, the premises and world traits herein seem to be random and chaotic nonsense. At least praising a creative use of our ice and thawing seasons and our St. Boniface community spirit, spared a plummet as far down as two stars.
I could not abide a faulty message. I considered the core of this story and it was depressing. Everyone agrees the Parents deprived their child of normal clothes, play, and exposure. To never travel a rowboat’s ride away was appalling. A child feeling sick for missing family was realistic. How the authoress twisted that made me angry.
Would a girl go nowhere to cheer up, or make her dream come true, while she had to stay in her legendary St. Boniface? Should the concluding message be that her prison warden Parents were right? Would a girl realistically shun her dream and not have her St. Boniface trip ever, in a happy way, that was not under duress?
I like the galoshes factory maven admitting she should swerve to other customers in drier seasons. Upsetting an ecosystem by flushing multiple toilets, was fucked up and not in an admirable, inventive way. I smiled at the concept of weather working against direct wishes.
I thought it was negative for a girl’s life to hang on an island fitting in its old place. A good children’s message is that families will be okay any way we need to be.
August 26, 2024
Eager to escape her overprotective parents, Virginia agrees to let her friend Richard cheat the annual school trip raffle so she wins - but when her entire town ends up split off of land and drawn out to sea, she worries her once peaceful life may be gone for good! Birdsell and Flook offer young readers an interesting premise with some decently zany antics, sadly rendered bland by its weak magic realism and lackluster resolution. How will the town find a way back home in time to find Virginia?
September 30, 2018
Kind of cute, but a little strange. Not really what I was expecting.
January 4, 2015
Loved this book as a kid. I thought it was a great tale of adventure. Bought it and re-read it as an adult, and while it was cute, it's not something I would pick to read to a kid over all of the other possibilities out there. It's not as good as many other kid's books, and as an adult it was hard to get past some of the "science" that was complete nonsense, and it wasn't as adventure-y overall as I remembered.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews