The Lost Sketch

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

First in the Adventure.Net Series, The Lost Sketch is a lively mystery
tale for preteens. The series will follow Rick and Willow as they travel
across Canada with their parents.

During a short canoe trip in the Algoma wilderness north of Lake
Superior, the siblings discover the remains of a boxcar in the woods
and, inside it, a rough oil sketch. Willow knows that in the early
decades of the 20th century, Algoma was the favorite haunt of some young
landscape painters known as the Group of Seven. Rick considers the
painting junk, but Willow dares to imagine that they may have found a
sketch by one of the famous group.

Determined to explore this exciting possibility, the two consult an art
restorer, who pours cold water on their hopes by saying that amateur
painters used that boxcar in the 1960s. Rick believes him, but Willow
feels that the evidence, including an old postcard, points to Group of
Seven artist Arthur Lismer. After consulting an expert at the Art
Gallery of Ontario, the mystery comes to a surprising and dramatic
conclusion.

The Lost Sketch is well written, informative, and full of suspense. The
form, unusual for fiction, includes an author’s note on the Group of
Seven, and a large number of factual insets about the group set off by
small visuals, web addresses, and special formatting. Highly
recommended.