Winds Through Time

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.

This collection of Canadian historical fiction consists of 15 original
short stories ranging in length from 6 to 16 pages. About half of the
authors, such as Joan Weir and Shirlee Smith Matheson, may be familiar
to adolescents; others such as Kathleen Cook Waldron and Lynne Bowen
write principally for younger or older audiences. Two-thirds of the
stories are set in the 20th century and the rest in the 19th. Gender
distribution of the adolescent central characters, aged 10–16, is
almost equal. Nine of the pieces are set in British Columbia and the
rest in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Informative
historical notes and author biographies conclude the volume.

Most of the stories in Winds Through Time fail to engage readers. This
is largely because the authors’ intent to inform readers about history
overwhelms plot, character development, and/or mood. There are some
exceptions. Linda Holeman’s “A Horse for Lisette” serves as a fine
example of what good historical fiction can be; middle-school readers
will unconsciously absorb some social history about the Red River
Settlement of 1832 while sharing 13-year-old Lisette’s concern that
she will be married off to an “old” man she does not love.
“Polly’s Frippery,” a time-travel fantasy, does not belong in a
collection of “historical fiction.” Not a first-choice purchase.