The Penguin Book of Canadian Biography for Young Readers: Early Canada

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

This junior-high- to high-school-level book features biographies of 41
“movers and shakers” of early Canadian history, figures
representative of the “thousands of others” who helped to shape
Canada’s destiny. While the stories of many of the great Canadians
profiled here have been told before at similar reading levels,
Hancock’s book includes women, Natives, and people of color that
previous compilations have tended to ignore.

In dealing with some of the more controversial issues, the author has
attempted to be even handed and factual. She presents the historical
figures as real human beings, rather than larger-than-life heroes. For
example, she does not gloss over Sir John A. MacDonald’s abuse of
alcohol and the bribery scandal, or the fact that Louis Riel was
committed to a mental hospital. Her book, which concludes around the
time of the Riel Rebellion, leads the reader to assume that it is the
first in a series. Recommended for school and public libraries.