Children's Books discussion

This month, we will be reading books about Canada, or books by Canadian authors.
You may wish to look at this website: CCBC Book Awards (http://bookcentre.ca/programs/awards) for ideas; these are all books written by Canadian authors. They have a literature award, picture book award, non-fiction award, mystery award, science fiction and fantasy award, historical fiction award, a teen award, and a couple of awards for books written in French. Our fellow children's book aficionado, Manybooks, may also have suggestions to make.
I plan to read The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands, which won a John Spray Mystery Award in 2016 (one of the awards listed above).
I hope that you all can find some of these award-winning books in your libraries.

Have a lot to suggest! Unfortunately, there are more US books in Canadian libraries than vice versa.

I have a humungous amount of read and reviewed Canadian based picture books, but I am going to wait a few days before listing them.

I would be remiss if I did not first and foremost list my absolutely favourite Canadian author, L.M. Montgomery. And basically, I would recommend most of her fiction, and not just the Anne of Green Gables series (and I would also recommend many of Montgomery's short stories but with the caveat that they are not always meant for children but can for the most part be read by older children above the age of ten or so). But yeah, no list of Canadian fiction for children is in my opinion complete without listing L.M. Montgomery.

I have read most of Montgomery's fiction, but have not gotten around to actually reviewing all that many of her novels, as I read most of them years before joining Goodreads. I do highly recommend her and for her short stories, I for one absolutely love the series edited by the late Rea Wilmshurst (which titles I will list, as they are not nearly as universally known as L.M. Montgomery's novels)

Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans
Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side
Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories
After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed
Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence
Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement
Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea
At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales

From L.M. Montgomery's fiction, I of course recommend Anne of Green Gables and its sequels, although I personally actually have always enjoyed Emily of New Moon (and its sequels), The Story Girl (and its sequel The Golden Road) and for a stand alone one of Montgomery's last novels, Jane of Lantern Hill a bit more than the Anne series.

I also recommend Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea (with the caveat that the last story in Further Chronicles of Avonlea is really and truly disgustingly racist towards Native Canadians).

Similar to the Dear America series, the Dear Canada series also features historical and fictional diaries (and thankfully, has not had the controversies with regard to cultural appropriation that the Dear America series has sometimes engendered).

There are now well of over third entries and of the ones I have read, I have liked most of them and some of them I have indeed very much loved. They are now also available as e-books, and the authors are for the most part well-known Canadian children's authors such as Jean Little, Janet Lunn etc. I am going to list the titles of the Dear Canada books I have reviewed so far, but I would and do recommend the entire series (including the short story collections for Christmas and stories of arrival).

To Stand On My Own: The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 1937
If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor
Winter of Peril: The Newfoundland Diary of Sophie Loveridge (did not really like this one as much)
All Fall Down: The Landslide Diary of Abby Roberts

And once again, just like with L.M. Montgomery, I have actually read many of the Dear Canada series, but before joining GR, and thus I have not reviewed them and will need to reread them, however, I do very much recommend the series a a whole.

Not particularly pleased that GR ate my last post!! So I am going to simply list those Canadian Middle Grade books I have read and often enjoyed in the past by title (do not feel like writing about them again, sorry, but you can easily click on the title for both book descriptions and my reviews, and many of these books do not have all that many reviews anyhow).


Booky: A trilogy
That Scatterbrain Booky
As Ever, Booky
With Love From Booky
Travels with My Family
OCDaniel
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
The Sparrow's Fall
Jeannie and the Gentle Giants
Adeline's Dream
The Ghost of Northumberland Strait
This One Summer
Pit Pony
The Island Horse
Two Much Alike
It Takes Two
Tumbleweed Skies
The Hungry Year
The Perilous Year
Kimberley of Millpond
A Pioneer Story: The Daily Life of a Canadian Family in 1840 (illustrated but too long to consider a picture book in my opinion)
Hannah Waters And The Daughter Of Johann Sebastian Bach

Mary Anning's Curiosity (author is based in Vancouver even if the book is about Mary Anning)
This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! (and the sequels, but I would suggest NOT reading the updated and changed editions as it really feels weird to read with especially the first three or four books, a decidedly late 70s, early 80s school story, with superimposed emails, computers, cell phones etc.).

Am hoping to read the following Canadian middle grade books this month.

The Contest
Finding Grace
Home Free
There You Are
Connecting Dots
Lucy Maud and Me
The Margaret Trilogy
Before Green Gables

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Beverly wrote: "Thanks for all the suggestions!"

Hope those interested are actually able to find some of these, as unfortunately, with Canadian children's literature, there are a lot more American children's books in Canadian libraries than vice versa (and while I am sure that most libraries will probably have Anne of Green Gables, with many of the other books I listed, I am unfortunately not so sure).

Perfect! I have After Many Years on my nightstand. I got it for Christmas, packed it before reading it, and haven't gotten around to putting it on the shelf with the other short stories. My personal favorite LMM novel is The Story Girl. I adore Anne and she's very dear to my heart but Sara's stories mesmerized me.

I also enjoy the Dear Canada books. My favorite so far is Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope because it reminded me of Anne of Green Gables. My other favorite is Whispers of War: The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt. I've read that one several times and have it on my keeper shelf. Another really good one I enjoyed is Where the River Takes Me: The Hudson's Bay Company Diary of Jenna Sinclair. It's another one set on the U.S./Canada border and very interesting. There's a lot of great details about native Pacific Northwest culture.

Buffalo Hunt from the Our Canadian Girl series. It's not as well written as the American Girl books but similar.

Mystery at Chilkoot Pass takes place in the Klondike.

A book I read and enjoyed as a kid is The Root Cellar though I don't recall it being set in Canada!

Calico Captive was another childhood favorite set in New Hampshire and Quebec during the French and Indian War. a teenage girl is kidnapped from her home in Charleston, New Hampshire by the Abenaki Indians in 1754. This is a real life harrowing event that was based on the life of one of my ancestors from Deerfield, Massachusetts and doubtless countless other children.

Great authors to read include Jean Little, Kit Pearson and Julie Lawson. Also Maxine Trottier. I read Sister to the Wolf.

There are a few other books set in/about Canada that I know I've read, they just didn't show up in the library catalog under Canada--juvenile fiction.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Perfect! I have After Many Years on my nightstand. I got it for Christmas, packed it before reading it, and haven't gotten around to putting it on the shelf with the other short sto..."

The Root cellar is definitely set in Canada, at least part of the story is.

It'll be interesting to see what's avl. in my new home in Missouri, so far south of the border.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Perfect! I have After Many Years on my nightstand. I got it for Christmas, packed it before reading it, and haven't gotten around to putting it on the shelf with the other short sto..."

I also have very much liked Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope and Whispers of War: The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt, although my favourites (and ones I do have to reread in order to write a review) so far are Alone in an Untamed Land: The Filles Du Roi Diary of Helene St. Onge, Banished from Our Home: The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard and No Safe Harbour: The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn.

Cheryl wrote: "It'll be interesting to see what's avl. in my new home in Missouri, so far south of the border."

I am assuming that you will at least find some L.M. Montgomery books, at least I am hoping you do.

How do you like Missouri so far?

Although the author is I think American, I am currently reading a new middle grade biography on L.M. Montgomery, House of Dreams: The Life of L.M. Montgomery. Have not read all that much of the book as of yet, but am kind of annoyed at the rather sloppy writing style and occasionally groan-worthy grammar and syntax gaffes (Liz Rosenberg really could do with an editor).

(Not in MO yet. Getting close!)

Cheryl wrote: "(Not in MO yet. Getting close!)"

Hope that moving will not be too much of a pain.

Manybooks wrote: "I also have very much liked Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope and Whispers of War: The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt, although my favourites (and ones I do have to reread in order to write a review) so far are Alone in an Untamed Land: The Filles Du Roi Diary of Helene St. Onge, Banished from Our Home: The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard and No Safe Harbour: The Halifax
.."

I haven't been able to get my hands on those yet. The books aren't available here in the U.S. except secondhand. I traded a friend for some and got some used on Amazon. I like the ones best that don't correspond with any of the Dear America books. I enjoy learning something different. I've read about half of the series so far. Here's the website for those who want to explore
http://scholastic.ca/dearcanada/

Tomorrow I'll try to find some of the others I've read. There's no a whole lot at the library yet Montreal is only about 5-6 hours away and Prince Edward Island was about a 2-3 day drive from Massachusetts. I think we traveled 3 days there and 2 back exploring a bit along the way.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I also have very much liked Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope and Whispers of War: The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt, although my favourites (and one..."

What I like about the series is that it is not afraid to tackle some of the not so stellar moments in Canadian history, such as with Banished from Our Home: The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard, the expulsion of the Acadians.

If you are looking for a fun and informative book on Canadian place names, I recommend Susan Hughes' Let's Call It Canada: Amazing Stories of Canadian Place Names, not spectacular, but a great introduction to Canadian place names and their often interesting stories of origin.

ALL of the picture books listed in the following comments are as far as I know either Canadian or penned by Canadian authors. As there are quite a lot of them to add (all ones I have read and reviewed and often but not always much enjoyed), I am just going to post the link as it would take too long to cut and paste reviews for about sixty odd picture books.

For those of you interested in these books, unfortunately, they are often not all that available outside of Canada.

Lumberjack

Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: L'alfabet di Michif / Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet

When We Were Alone

If You're Not from the Prairie...

Qu'Appelle

The Secret of Your Name: Proud to Be Métis

Fairy

Prairie Summer

Melted Star Journey

A Pod of Orcas: A Seaside Counting Book

The Way to Slumbertown

Lucy Maud and the Cavendish Cat

The Summer of the Marco Polo

Du Iz Tak? (illustrator is from Vancouver)

The Chinese Violin

A Walk on the Shoreline

A Walk on the Tundra

A Fiddle for Angus

Up Home

Free as the Wind: Saving the Horses of Sable Island

How the Devil Got His Cat

A Pioneer ABC

The Wicked Fairy Wife: A French Canadian Folktale

At Grandpa's Sugar Bush

The Sugaring-Off Party

Brave Jack and the Unicorn

The Flying Canoe

House Calls: The True Story of a Pioneer Doctor

A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841

A Pioneer Christmas: Celebrating in the Backwoods in 1841

Santa Is Coming to Canada

Spin to Sea

Discovering Words

Discovering Numbers

Charlotte

Mayfly

Baseball Bats for Christmas

Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt

Thanksgiving Day in Canada

Thanks For Thanksgiving

Kate & Pippin: An Unlikely Love Story

Kate & Pippin's Family: The Unlikely Love Story Continues

Looking for Loons

The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk

The Wildlife ABC: A Nature Alphabet Book

Is This Panama?: A Migration Story

Garden of the Spirit Bear: Life in the Great Northern Rainforest

Winterberries and Apple Blossoms: Reflections and Flavors of a Mennonite Year

The dot com Leprechaun

My Home Bay

Oma's Quilt

East to the Sea

Return to the Sea

Full Moon Rising

The Imaginary Garden

Life in the Boreal Forest

Once Upon a Northern Night

A Coyote Solstice Tale

Uumajut: Learn About Arctic Wildlife!

Uumajut Volume 2: Learn More About Arctic Wildlife

While I did enjoy the sense of time and place in Lucy Maud and Me, I certainly did not love the book, and probably appreciated it more because I am such a fan of L.M. Montgomery's fiction. Yes, the author does realistically portray and feature how L.M. Montgomery seems to have been at the end of her life, but there is a bit too much showing and telling and too little story and finer nuances (and especially the death of the main protagonist's friend Peter from polio and the subplot with the grandfather's housekeeper do feel rather tacked on). NowI did quite enjoy Lucy Maud and Me, but I do wonder if readers not into Montgomery (or those who have actually never heard of her) would find this book all that engaging. Still three stars, but really mostly recommended for fans of L.M. Montgomery (but with regard to setting and description, Mary Frances Coady does truly bring 1940s Toronto quite to life).

Holly Farb and the Princess of the Galaxy by Gareth Wronski
The author lives in Toronto, so I am going to guess that the Earth-bound parts of the story are set there. However, when Holly is mistaken for the Princess of the Galaxy, and kidnapped by a bunch of space pirates, most of the rest of this humorous, action-packed story takes place on spaceships and other planets. This book probably will not win any of Canada's prestigious book awards, but it is a fun, delightful read for those who like science fiction and space opera.

Beverly wrote: "Holly Farb and the Princess of the Galaxy by Gareth Wronski
The author lives in Toronto, so I am going to guess that the Earth-bound parts of the story are set the..."

It does sound like fun!

Finding Grace


(view spoiler)[It is the mid 1950s (in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and lonely eleven year old Hope King spends her days (when she is not taking swimming lessons or at school) both reading and writing heartfelt, often sad letters to her imaginary friend Grace (not only to pass the time but also because she needs to confide her worries, her annoyances, her personal anger issues regarding her single mother's depression and often strange, sometimes even rather nasty behaviours to someone, even if it is only a supposedly imaginary friend and companion). When her grandmother (with whom Grace and her mother Flora have been living in cramped quarters ever since Flora lost her job for repeatedly not showing up for work and thus being unable to afford to pay rent) suddenly dies of a stroke, a long-held and devastating family secret is revealed, namely that Hope's imaginary friend Grace is actually not so imaginary after all, but her fraternal twin sister, given up for adoption after she contracted polio as a two year old (and convinced that most of Flora's mental health concerns, that her strange and frustrating behaviours are in fact primarily because she is missing Grace and needs to find out how she is faring, Grace suggests that the two of them travel to Harrison Hot Springs, where Grace supposedly now lives with her "Aunt" Eve after her adopted parents were killed in a car accident).

Becky Citra's Finding Grace is part of Second Story Press's Gutsy Girls series, but it is not only main protagonist Hope who can and should be considered as gutsy and brave (for while Hope might originally not appear as all that personally strong and sure of herself, when the proverbial excrement is hitting the fan so to speak, when she discovers that she has a twin sister, it is indeed she who both suggests to and even demands of her mother that they go and find Grace and that she also has a right to know and meet her adopted out twin sister). And although Hope's grandmother might well be majorly eccentric, with an often cuttingly sarcastic edge to her, until she dies, she often and in fact generally speaking acts as Hope's primary and main caregiver (even amply providing for Hope and Flora after her death with a life insurance policy, not to mention that it is only because the grandmother has kept contact with Grace's adopted parents and asked for yearly photographs of Grace to be sent to her that Flora and Hope even know where to look for Grace). Furthermore, Grace herself, is shown and portrayed by Becky Citra as an outgoing and sociable, generally happy-go-lucky girl who does not allow her painful leg (due to her bout with polio) to interfere with having fun (whilst Grace's Aunt Eve is like Hope's grandmother tough but fair-minded, an intelligent business woman, who until Flora redeems herself by becoming active and saving Grace's life, also serves as quite the character foil to the latter, as Flora, until the potential tragedy of Grace drowning finally forces her to throw off her depression and spring into action, would usually rather remain in bed bemoaning her setbacks, her life's many disappointments).

From a personal reading pleasure point of view, Finding Grace has proven to be a most enjoyable read (with Becky Citra's allusions to especially L.M. Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill providing the sweet icing on an already most delicious cake for me). And although especially at the beginning of the novel, Flora's behaviour both grated on and often much infuriated me, the fact remains that the author has portrayed psychological depression and how depression has the tendency to paralyse and emotionally stagnate its sufferers realistically and with both compassion and empathy (making Flora appear as fragile and emotionally labile but also never losing track of the inconvenient and annoying truth that until Hope and Grace's mother throws caution to the wind to save Grace from drowning, Flora is often rather majorly inconsiderate and self-absorbed, self indulgent, her mental health challenges notwithstanding). (hide spoiler)]

QNPoohBear wrote: "Perfect! I have After Many Years on my nightstand. I got it for Christmas, packed it before reading it, and haven't gotten around to putting it on the shelf with the other short sto..."

I also need to read After Many Years, but I fo not think I will enjoy it as much as the Rea Wilmshurst edited short stories, as I also did not all that much enjoy The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories (too much love and matchmaking).

I'm halfway through After Many Years. Many of the stories were published in the Western Christian Advocate and are moral tales for the young. Reading them after reading Louisa May Alcott's "moral pap for the young", they're more palatable. Some of the stories were reworked as chapters or ideas for later novels like Jane of Lantern Hill and Anne of Windy Poplars. They're not any better or worse than what I remember the short stories in the Rhea Wilhurst volumes. These stories are part of the same project. They were uncataloged and undiscovered for many years.

The Contest

(view spoiler)[Now even though that upon having now reread Caroline Stellings' The Contest multiple times, I do indeed realise that especially the presented villains (such as Tiffany and some of the contest girls intent on bullying and verbally haranguing Rosy and Lydia in order to intimidate them) are perhaps more than a trifle too type-cast and rather frustratingly stereotypical, and whilst I also do cringe a bit at how Rosy supposedly considers herself as oh so fascinating and somehow "exotic" simply because she is part Mohawk (as this in my opinion tends to kind of flatten Rosy as character), the entire premise of an Anne of Green Gables look-alike contest and that this novel, that The Contest actually takes place not only in my home province of Ontario but also in my home city of Hamilton (and that especially Caroline Stellings' realistic and in one's face sense of place is not only spot on so to speak but totally and utterly relatable and believable) makes me totally love love love The Contest (and with enough passion and feeling for a full and sparkling five star ranking).

Rosy is poor (and her family, her single hard working mother often has to struggle to make both ends meet), but what truly and glowingly shines in Rosy's life, what Caroline Stellings has portrayed so wonderfully and heartfeltedly is her always always supportive family and neighbours (as The Contest truly does celebrate the perhaps a bit trite but indeed very much true philosophy that it takes an entire village to raise and support children, with everyone in Rosy's working class and often struggling North Hamilton neighbourhood offering their support and help in order for her to be able to attend the Anne of Green Gables Look Alike Contest in Rockton, Ontario). And if one then compares Rosy's life of poverty but imbued with support and help from her family and friends to that of Lydia, who although she comes from a wealthy family and background is generally totally alone and miserable (not to mention clumsy and perhaps even neurologically challenged to a point), with a mother who resides in England and does not really even want to visit and see her daughter and a surgeon father who is overly critical, always busy and at least at the beginning of The Contest much more interested in spending time with his nasty and horrid trophy girlfriend Tiffany, one realises (or one should understand) that it is Lydia who not only physically very much resembles Anne of Green Gables but who also is internally and spiritually (as Rosy begins to understand) very much like Anne of Green Gables, or at least how Anne Shirley is portrayed as being at the beginning of Anne of Green Gables, that Lydia is very much is like an orphan feeling as though she belongs to nobody and by letting Lydia win the contest, Rosy not only has acted with much forbearance and maturity, she has also made Lydia's father lastingly proud of his daughter and has with Lydia found a true friend and kindred spirit (and really, Rosy also ends up kind of winning the contest as well, considering that Lydia insists that Rosy take the prize, the offered Anne of Green Gables boxed set, which is for me, the absolutely sweet icing on the cake with regard to The Contest, as Rosy does not only obtain her dream to finally own a set of Anne of Green Gables books of her own, she has also been given this by Lydia, by a true and indeed loyal friend, and thus Rosy's act of kindness, her basically throwing the contest to let Lydia win has proven to be a boon and a celebration for both girls). (hide spoiler)]

Well, our new home won't let me get a library card with just a PO Box so I have to wait until we find a home. And apparently the library doesn't belong to any sort of consortium, so I may be limited to their own rather small collection. (I will check with the university's library, though, where my son is attending school.)

Cheryl wrote: "Well, our new home won't let me get a library card with just a PO Box so I have to wait until we find a home. And apparently the library doesn't belong to any sort of consortium, so I may be limite..."

Too bad, and what a pain for you! Hopefully, you can get a university library membership of some kind.

The Margaret Trilogy

(view spoiler)[Bernice Thurman Hunter's The Margaret Trilogy (A Place for Margaret, Margaret in the Middle, Margaret on her Way) is a simple, sweet, heartfelt story of how young Torontonian Margaret is sent from her 1920s urban family home to reside with her mother's sister and husband on their farm in order to recover from consumption, from tuberculosis (and of course, Margaret stays on, as aside from sporadic visits with her family in Toronto, she happily and even ecstatically remains with her aunt and uncle until at the end of the series, Margaret is, after years of studying and perseverance even in the face of opposition, on her way to study to become a veterinarian at the University of Guelph).

Now although personally, I do at times have to question a bit how quickly and yes even rather painlessly Margaret surmounts homesickness and missing her family, the loving, evocative (and very much realistic with regard to both time and place) descriptions and depictions of early to middle 20th century Southern Ontario rural life, as well as the close and lasting bond fellowship that Margaret forges with not only her aunt and uncle but also of course with their humungous but gentle Clydesdale draught horse Starr are indeed and truly just lovely, lovely, lovely (although it is also and yes indeed very much majorly cheering and heartening that the author, that Beatrice Thurman Hunter, describes and portrays Margaret as a flawed main protagonist and heroine, that she is presented as having both a rather volatile, sometimes even nasty temper and some major issues with unreasonable bouts of recurring jealousy, which she, which Margaret even readily admits as being her one and most problematic character flaw and something that definitely does accompany her throughout ALL three novels, and is thankfully and realistically also not made to somehow magically disappear at the end of Margaret on her Way but has most certainly become noticeably mitigated and lessened by the end of the third novel, and mostly due to the fact that Margaret indeed realises and accepts her problems with having a jealous and envious nature and is not only able but also willing to constantly work at and on improving this).

An absolutely and very much warmly recommended historical fiction novel (especially to and for girls from about the age of nine to say fourteen interested in horses and perhaps even in studying to become a veterinarian) the only reason why I am ranking The Margaret Trilogy with four instead of five stars is that personally (and from a having grown up with horses point of view) I do tend to find some of Beatrice Thurman Hunter's descriptions and depictions of Margaret's relationship with Starr a trifle overmuch exaggerated and even a bit fantastical (with Starr sometimes acting almost human and not totally equine enough for me). (hide spoiler)]

There You Are

(view spoiler)[Although from a general and reading pleasure point of departure, I have most definitely very much appreciated Joanne Taylor's There You Are as an evocative and for the most part quite enjoyable foray into 1950's Nova Scotia (and specifically the Margaree Valley of Cape Breton), much of the storyline of There You Are (and even though the author certainly has been able to realistically and glowingly depict and portray time and place) does tend to feel somewhat frustratingly emotionally stagnant and predictable (even derivative), mostly because ALL of the featured and presented characters, and even the main protagonist of There You Are (eleven going on twelve year old Jeannie Shaw, who spends most of the novel either looking for a true and lasting friend or feuding with her desk-mate Cap until she finally realises that he is indeed very good and proper friendship material) tend to present themselves as annoyingly one-dimensional and as such, they also do not really mature and develop all that much during the course of There You Are either (leaving Joanne Taylor's novel, her featured narrative, as a bit of a personal disappointment especially with regard to emotional development and depth).

And furthermore (in my humble opinion), even the main crisis event of There You Are, the disappearance of and subsequent search for Jeannie's younger sister Pearl and her cousin Ella, and albeit I did and do very much appreciate reading about the close neighbourhood and family ties and that when the two girls go missing, the ENTIRE therefore community pitches in to help in whatever way possible and necessary (from helping with regard to the search itself to preparing meals), sorry, but that whole entire scenario of the two little girls disappearing and going missing, this has been used so very much and often in especially children's literature adventure and coming of age type of stories that author Joanne Taylor really and truly needed to add something sparkling and novel in and to her There You Are (which for and to me personally, simply has not really been sufficiently the case, not to mention that the entire episode of Essie and her bout with polio feels totally and majorly tacked on and is thus just an undeveloped and fizzling out plot twist that definitely also makes me wonder whether Joanne Taylor simply felt as though she needed to add a bit about polio for historical reasons but then just did not really incorporate Essie's character and her polio affliction into the main storyline of There You Are all that well). (hide spoiler)]

Before Green Gables

(view spoiler)[I have always absolutely adored L.M. Montgomery as an author (and even though Montgomery's Anne Shirley is perhaps as a literary character not quite as dear and as close to my heart and soul as for example her Emily of New Moon and The Story Girl, still both the Anne of Green Gables series and Anne herself do rank amongst my personal all time favourites). Therefore, I have, ever since the publication of Budge Wilson's prequel Before Green Gables waffled between on the one hand wanting (and even desperately needing) to read this imagined prequel and on the other hand not being all that keen on even trying (as I could neither imagine Budge Wilson even remotely capturing the sweet and utter magic of L.M. Montgomery's text, her narrative nor, considering that if one reads between the lines of Anne of Green Gables, Anne's life before she was adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert was pretty sad and miserable, did I really desire to read a disillusioning sob-fest of a novel that wallowed and revelled in misery after misery after misery).

And while I have now indeed finally read Before Green Gables, I do have to admit that ALL my trepidations regarding it were (and remain) very much and disappointedly sadly justified, as for one, Budge Wilson (in her striving to make Anne Shirley appear as extraordinary and special) has rendered her into something of a freak (a prematurely adult-like child and so precocious and removed from reality at times that she, that Budge Wilson's Anne at least to and for me no longer even feels all that much like a kindred spirit anymore) and for two, that Before Green Gables is (and just as I had feared and dreaded) so chock full of one tragedy after another (death, destruction, alcoholism, domestic violence, neglect, you name it) that even though L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and its sequels are both dark and light, both airy and sad and as such are meant to be read and enjoyed by both children and adult, in my opinion, with Budge Wilson's Before Green Gables, the majority of the thematics are really so very much entirely depressing and adult in content and theme (and therefore not all that child friendly anymore, and sometimes in my opinion actually rather massively off-putting so to speak). (hide spoiler)]

I also just read Acadian Star, but sorry, I really disliked this novel, as it showed little to no sense of time and place and the writing style is really grating (with very undeveloped characters and even once Meg travels back in time to 18th century Nova Scotia, there is very little actual history and Acadian culture described and shown).

Am still planning to read a couple more books on the Acadian Expulsion, like Winds of L'Acadie and Lightning and Blackberries which look to be much better and with more historic details (and hopefully with considerably less simplistic and annoyingly over emotive writing).

Lightning and Blackberries

(view spoiler)[Set in (taking place in) 18th century Nova Scotia (or rather in what is now considered the province of Nova Scotia), in Joanne K. Jefferson's Lightning and Blackberries, the main protagonist, seventeen year old Elizabeth Evans, is depicted and shown as rather a tomboy, and as such, she is of course also facing arch-typical squabbles with her mother, who wants and desires her now seventeen year old daughter to no longer focus so much on helping to run the family farm, but to start thinking instead of marriage and "womanly" pursuits such as managing a household, sewing, cooking and the like, a very much common and perhaps even at times over-used thematic in historical fiction geared towards children. And precisely because it is indeed so very common a theme, a bit more nuance and less predictability would have definitely been welcome, as while Lightning and Blackberries is indeed readable and relatable to a point, ALL of Elizabeth's struggles with her mother and her annoyances with especially the latter's demands that Elizabeth cast off her tomboyishness basically have been used ad nauseam in pretty much similar manifestations in both the recent and not so recent past, and it does and can get a trifle tedious to basically keep reading the same type of historical fiction story lines over and over and over again (especially because some of Elizabeth's behaviours and how she approaches and reacts to her mother and her mother's demands also tend to for a novel set in the 18th century feel a bit too modern and anachronistic). For albeit I definitely find Elizabeth an engaging protagonist and character, if I look at Lightning and Blackberries from a historical point of view, from how life generally was for women and girls in the 18th century, I do tend to much wonder and question whether Elizabeth Evans would have even been able to publicly have such an uncompromising attitude towards the Yorkshireman her father hires to take care of the farm and equally towards her mother, as in particular many of the words coming from Elizabeth's mouth do at least to and for me sound rather 20th/21st century, and not all that 18th century).

Now the main crisis so to speak in Lightning and Blackberries, namely when Elizabeth gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon Marie-Madeleine and her father (two Acadians hiding out in a cabin in defiance of the Acadian Expulsion order), while the secret friendship that emerges between the two girls is sweet and tenderly depicted, and while I also from an emotional (and yes from a modern point of view) both agree with and appreciate how Elizabeth slowly gains the understanding that her family's farm (which used to belong to Marie-Madeleine's family) is actually their property now as the result of an injustice, of the farm being inappropriately wrenched from its rightful owners (the Acadians), sorry, but even that (positive albeit rather predictable attitude) is in fact and indeed also more than likely totally unhistoric (in other words anachronistic and modern) in nature, as in the 18th century, the British (and probably often United Empire Loyalist) farmers and settlers who were granted the Acadians' land would not all that likely have felt shame or trepidation with regard to this (and might even have very well believed and bought into the official philosophy that the Acadians were as Francophones a threat and as such deserving of being deported). And furthermore, with Lightning and Blackberries, I do find it more than a trifle frustrating and ironic that although young Elizabeth Evans has such a very much modern and avant-garde attitude towards a woman's place in society and that the Acadians should not have been expelled and deported, she is still seemingly at complete ease with the truth that the Evans Family still owns a slave (Sadie), a slave who is obviously more of a friend and confidante to Elizabeth, but a slave all the same. Still and even with my criticisms and issues regarding Lightning and Blackberries, this is a readable and entertaining foray into the history of the Maritimes (although personally, I would have appreciated a bit more actual historic details regarding Acadian culture and the specifics of their deportation, and most definitely less possible anachronisms and attitudes that while commendable are for a historic novel set in 18th century Nova Scotia not all that plausible). (hide spoiler)]

Wild One by Jane Whittingham

Just saw this picture book today on display at my library. I didn't realize until after I had looked at it, that it was first published in Canada. A little girl acts like various animals throughout her day. It has sort of scribbly, but exuberant, watercolor and ink illustrations. Perfect for toddlers and young pre-school children.

While I enjoyed Anne, Shieldmaiden of Green Gables for about the first ten pages or so, the book really fell pretty massively apart very soon and lastingly, and considering all the violence and gratuitous talk of sexual assault, this Viking based mash up of L.M. Montgomery's classic and loved Anne of Green Gables is also in my opinion not even suitable for younger readers anymore either. Not recommended!

It's embarrassing to admit how much I learned from the simple non-fiction book Canada, part of the "One World, Many Countries" series that's probably aimed at 7-9 yo children. Good series for homeschoolers and school libraries, I believe, with straightforward text, bright pictures, and several appendices to teach children 'the parts of a non-fiction book.'

Cheryl wrote: "It's embarrassing to admit how much I learned from the simple non-fiction book Canada, part of the "One World, Many Countries" series that's probably aimed at 7-9 yo children. Good ..."

I hope my local library has a copy, as while I am interested, the retail price is a bit steep.

After Many Years switches from cute children's moral tales to silly romances about halfway through. UGH The romances are pretty awful but some were reused later in her novels. Does anyone remember if there is an LMM story or novel .... spoiler for one of the stories in this collection

(view spoiler)[where a woman helps fix up a house for a man and he surprises her with a proposal of marriage at the end? I feel like I read that plot somewhere before but I'm too lazy to go downstairs and look through ALL my books to find out. (hide spoiler)]

QNPoohBear wrote: "After Many Years switches from cute children's moral tales to silly romances about halfway through. UGH The romances are pretty awful but some were reused later in her novels. Does ..."

Too bad, silly romances and matchmaking are the two things that sometimes drive me a bit batty with L.M. Montgomery.

And that story sounds like one I read in Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence, although in that story, a man and a middle aged spinster aunt work together to beautify a house (a ploy by the man and the aunt's niece to soften up the aunt who is against the two of them marrying because she hates men, due to having been jilted, which though later does not turn out to be the case at all, I think it was called Miss Sally's Letter).

Manybooks wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "It's embarrassing to admit how much I learned from the simple non-fiction book Canada, part of the "One World, Many Countries" series that's probably aimed at 7-9 yo ..."

Oh, it's not aimed at residents, even very young ones, at all. I mean, the kind of things I learned you take for granted, for example that Montreal is very heavily influenced by the French language and architecture (I always assumed Quebecois were alone in their special status).

Cheryl wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "It's embarrassing to admit how much I learned from the simple non-fiction book Canada, part of the "One World, Many Countries" series that's probabl..."

Actually, aside from Quebec, there are pockets of French in many provinces, and New Brunswick is actually the only Canadian province that is, at present, officially bilingual.

See that! Too many of us Americans know far too little about Canada!

Cheryl wrote: "See that! Too many of us Americans know far too little about Canada!"

Although true, I would also bet that many of us Canadians also know far too little about the USA, especially at the local and state level. I thunk it would be nice if both countries strove to be a bit more inclusive and less on a high horse.

Has anyone read Fog Magic? It is enchanting if you read it from the perspective of your inner child. I always longed for something like that to happen to me. I still do! It takes place in Nova Scotia.

Winds of L'Acadie is kind of fantasy novel-it has a time travel element. I enjoyed the history behind it a lot more than the plot.

The Hollow Tree is an interesting look at the Revolutionary War with some great historical details and a compelling plot. I read this one more than once, I think.

I enjoyed the Suzanna Snow Mysteries by Angie Frazier. They're written for 9-12 year olds and not adults but there's local color about the town on the shore, adventure and a mystery.

I also really liked Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance but don't remember it being specifically set in Canada.

I'm going to pick up a few more books on Canada at the library this week.

We read Fog Magic in the Newbery club. It didn't engender much discussion; it seems that readers either 'feel' it or don't. It def. belongs on this list, though!

As does The Root Cellar; thank you for reminding me. That seems to have more universal appeal as it's not too subtle, but more of a straightforward time travel adventure.