Summer of the Mad Monk

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Taylor’s fifth novel, and her first without any element of fantasy,
evinces the fine quality found in such earlier works as Julie and The
Doll. Set in rural 1932 Alberta, the book’s principal storyline
involves the well-read Philip “Pip” Tyler, the 12-year-old son of a
struggling Depression farmer, who convinces himself that the nearby
community’s new blacksmith, a Russian called Raspinsky, is really the
Mad Monk Rasputin. When Pip discovers that Raspinsky is hiding an
injured man in his shop, he theorizes and then concludes that this
person is the Tsarevich Alexei, who somehow escaped the Russian royal
family’s execution. Pip, having decided to help Raspinsky and the
mysterious man, dreams about the day he will be welcomed to the restored
Russian court by a grateful Tsar Alexei. The vivid life of the
imagination that Pip enjoys is balanced by the harsh reality of his
continually having to cope with the tormenting of the town bully, Pete
McKnight, the 14-year-old son of the Pioneer elevator agent, whose
“higher” social standing in the community causes him to treat the
children of poor farmers with contempt.

In addition to devising a strong story with good characterization,
Taylor also graphically re-creates the devastating wind and dust storms
that relentlessly struck the drought-ridden prairies during the
Depression, and she reveals the emotionally eroding effects that these
storms had on homesteaders like Pip’s parents. A “must” read for
students in Grades 4 to 7. Highly recommended.