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Read Up On It Home |
English Titles
![]() | The Auction Jan Andrews Illustrations: Karen Reczuch Toronto: A Groundwood Book, Douglas & McIntyre, 1992, 32 p. ISBN 0888991681 Ages 6 to 10 |
As they prepare for an auction to sell the family farm, Todd and his grandfather console each other by reminiscing about the time before Todd was born. Todd has heard these stories before and he and his grandfather find solace in remembering them. The stories how Gramps chose this bit of prairie, how he cleared the land, the day they got electricity are enhanced by the realistic and colourful illustrations which, together with the text, paint a picture of life some 40 years ago. The real drama in The Auction, however, occurs in the present. This is a contemporary story about accepting change.
![]() | Belle's Journey Marilynn Reynolds Illustrations: Stephen McCallum Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers, 1993, 32 p. ISBN 0920501907 Ages 4 to 8 |
This charming picture book depicts a time — probably the 1920s — when rural children regularly rode horses as a means of transport to and from school, and in this case, piano lessons. In the story, a little girl named Molly and the old family workhorse named Belle are caught in a sudden prairie blizzard on the way home from Molly's weekly piano lesson in town. The bitter cold and fierce wind penetrate the text and illustrations (marvelously rendered in pencil crayon and watercolour) as the faithful Belle relies on instinct and perseverance to find the way home. A heart-warming tale of days gone by.
![]() | Breakaway Paul Yee Toronto: A Groundwood Book, Douglas & McIntyre, 1994, 144 p. ISBN 0888992017 Ages 12 to 16 |
Kwok-Ken Wong, an 18-year-old growing up on a poor mud flat farm in Vancouver in the dirty thirties, is at odds with the world. He doesn't fit in at school where he is the only Chinese student. He is ill at ease in Chinatown because his family doesn't live there anymore. His authoritarian parents are always nagging him about schoolwork, farmwork and pigslop work. On top of everything, his dreams of soccer glory and a scholarship to university are thwarted at every turn. The myriad of detail in this realistic story, about Chinese-Canadian culture, Vancouver's Chinatown, and the Fraser River farm, heightens the impact of its theme of racial intolerance. A story of yesterday with a message for today.
Catch Me Once, Catch Me Twice Janet McNaughton St. John's, Nfld.: Tuckamore Books, 1994, 169 p. ISBN 1895387388 Ages 12 to 15 |
![]() | The Cremation of Sam McGee Robert W. Service Illustrations: Ted Harrison Introduction: Pierre Berton Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1986, ©1907, 32 p. ISBN 0919964923 Ages 11 and up |
A victim of 19th-century gold fever, one Sam McGee left the warmth of Tennessee for the promise of gold and the reality of cold in the Yukon. The fulfillment of his dying wish to be cremated is the task of his partner, who relates the tale. The lure of the Yukon, so central to Service's poem, is also evinced in this publication by the 12 wonderful paintings by Ted Harrison which accompany the text. The hauntingly beautiful paintings speak volumes about life in the North and reflect the poetic images of a gold-hungry southerner lost in a cold and desolate landscape.