The Lie That Had to Be

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.

While books like Takashima’s A Child in Prison Camp have exposed
juvenile readers to the treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War
II, much less has been written about Canadians whose heritage was rooted
in other Axis countries. Told from the perspective of 10-year-old Rennie
Trani, The Lie That Had to Be fills one of these gaps. Born in Italy in
1896, “Papa” Trani has operated a family bakery in the Whitney Pier
area of Sydney, Nova Scotia, for 20 years. However, when Mussolini
unites with Hitler in 1940, Papa is arrested and eventually sent to
Ontario’s Camp Petawawa.

Other members of the Italian-Canadian community become targets of
discrimination in the form of hateful epithets, boycotted businesses,
and job firings. Rennie’s best friend, Julie McLean, has become one of
the most anti-Italian children in her school. When Rennie finds herself
accidentally in possession of Julie’s most valued belonging, her
soldier-brother’s ID bracelet, she decides, since the two of them are
“at war,” to bury the bracelet in her father’s garden. Eventually
found out, Rennie must face Julie. Having taken the first steps toward
reconciliation, she returns home to find her father released.

Though the story line occasionally drags, there is much to interest
young readers in this treatment of an overlooked episode in Canadian
history. Recommended.