This Land: A Cross-Country Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“When I was a child growing up in Alberta and B.C., fiction was
something that happened somewhere else. Almost all the stories I read or
that were read to me took place in American small towns or the English
countryside,” states Kit Pearson in her introduction to this anthology
of Canadian fiction for young adults. The aim of this collection is to
put Canada on the literary map by introducing Canadian readers to
writers and writing from one end of the country to the other.

Pearson, an award-winning children’s author herself, has gone to
great pains to present a balanced portrait. Her selection has been
dictated not only by geographic regions, but also by the genders and
cultures of the characters. Without deliberately meaning to, the
collection also traces developments in Canadian children’s literature,
starting with a 1920s selection from Emily of New Moon by L.M.
Montgomery, through mid-century selections from George Clutesi and James
Houston, to some of the hottest children’s authors of today, including
Julie Lawson, Paul Yee, Tim Wynne-Jones, Budge Wilson, and Jane
McNaughton.

The genres represented in the book span the full range of young-adult
literature: humor, historical adventure, animal stories, coming-of-age
tales, and folktales. All the fiction is of exceptional quality. Unlike
Pearson’s generation, young readers of today can find plenty of fine
writing that reflects Canadian values and identity. Highly recommended.