The Story of Canada. Rev. ed.

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

It would be difficult to improve on The Story of Canada as a basic
history and reference book for both elementary- and high-school
children. The exciting, dramatic text should vastly enlarge young
readers’ knowledge and understanding of their nation, and make them
eager to learn more. Illustrations and layout become an integral part of
the learning experience, as two fine writers and a superb illustrator
sweep over thousands of years of history to arrive at Canada’s
Centennial, Lucien Bouchard, 13-year-old Craig Kielburger, and Marc
Garneau’s 1996 second trip into space.

Generalities are nicely balanced by specifics, but even the necessary
generalizations are crisp, clear, and engaging. Specifics, in the form
of short anecdotes or stories, are set off in boxes with colored
backgrounds. These stories include the tale of Marie-Joseph Angélique,
a slave in New France in 1734 who set fire to her master’s Montreal
house in a vain attempt to escape, and the story of Michel Pablo, “the
Man Who Saved the Buffalo.” (Pablo drove a herd of 400 buffalo to
Alberta in 1906 for sale to the Canadian government. Brought back from
the edge of extinction, the buffalo now flourishes in Wood Buffalo
National Park.) The excellent text is complemented by a first-rate
collection of photographs, maps, and original paintings. Highly
recommended.