The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona

Krystyna J. Higgins is the former book review editor for the Catholic
New Times.

This story was inspired by accounts of a real tornado that struck near
Cremona, Alberta, in 1965. In this fictionalized version, young Matthew
goes out to repair fences with his dad on their dairy farm. Matthew’s
father is, the boy boasts, “the strongest man this side of
Cremona”—strong enough to swing Matthew over fences or carry him
safely through a herd of cows. That strength is unexpectedly challenged,
however, when the stormy day suddenly spawns a twister that bears down
on them in the open field. “Dad seemed small now” to the terrified
boy, but Dad’s quick thinking nevertheless saves them in the nick of
time. Shaken but safe, they return to the house to find that Ma, too,
has survived. The farm buildings, however, have been devastated. With
hard work and a good deal of help from generous friends and neighbors,
they begin to repair the damage. At the end of the long day Matthew
realizes that his father’s love for him is “more than strong
enough.”

Georgia Graham is a western Canadian artist who has illustrated several
children’s books. This is her first book as an author. As is sometimes
the case with an illustrator-turned-author, the pictures in this book
are much stronger than the text. They consist of glorious double-page
paintings, remarkable in their evocations of the spaciousness of the
landscape and the lowering prairie skies.

The text, however, looks almost apologetic, confined to a tiny typeface
set into the only white space in the pictures—usually the clouds. The
storyline is certainly exciting, as father and son try desperately to
outrun the approaching tornado. But the sensibility of the boy seems
psychologically unconvincing. The danger that threatens them supposedly
makes him unaware of his father’s vulnerability, and yet it is his
dad’s speed and resourcefulness that save them. At the end of the
story, then, Matthew’s admission that his “dad wasn’t bigger than
the tornado, his legs weren’t faster, and his arms weren’t
stronger” does not ring true, given the outcome.

The theme—a child’s inevitable realization that parents are not
omnipotent—is a valid one, but Graham’s prose fails to achieve her
aim. Recommended for the beauty of the illustrations but with
considerable reservations about the text.