JAMES MCKAY: A MÉTIS BUILDER OF CANADA Agnes Grant Winnipeg, Pemmican Publications, 1994. 94pp, paper, $12.95 ISBN 0921827-38-5. CIP Reviewed by Donna J. Adrian Volume 22 Number 5 1994 October This enlightening story of James McKay reads like a good children's novel. It paints a portrait of a Métis man who contributed greatly to the native and Métis society of the nineteenth century. James McKay was a Métis guide who spent most of his life in Manitoba, guiding sealers, surveying the prairies with the Palliser Expedition, trading with the native peoples, and serving as Speaker of the House for the new province of Manitoba. His greatest accomplishment was helping the federal government negotiate Treaties I to IV with the native people, especially with Yellowquill. Agnes Grant a teacher with Brandon University Northern Teacher Education Program, gives us insight into the lives and experiences of the early settlers, clearly portraying the hardships of life on the prairies during the nineteenth century. The reader experiences the difficulties of portaging, sees the prairie grass and the herds of buffalo, and hurts with the sting of the mosquitoes. There is also a good chapter on the life of the Métis. There are some photographs, but the book would have been improved if a few drawings, e.g., the way the voyageurs carried their 80 kilogram packs or a Red River Cart, had been included. There is no index. Recommended for Canadian history courses and especially for Métis and native collections. Grades 5 to 8 / Ages 10 to 13 Donna J. Adrian is a library consultant with the Laurenval School Board in Rosemere, Quebec