A Ride for Martha

Joan Buchanan is a children’s storyteller and author of Taking Care of
My Cold and What If I Were in Charge?

Authentically set on Saltspring Island in the early 1900s, A Ride for
Martha features Ida and her little sister, Martha, who set off with
friends Sarah and Lizzie to join a post-clamming picnic. Ida tires of
carrying Martha, and when they reach the beach leaves her to play by
herself in a small canoe, resulting in a near-catastrophe.

Sea, land, and wildlife are integral to the story; Sarah and Lizzie see
deer, seals, eagles, herons, and ducks. Despite its treatment of
realistic peer competition and an older sister’s grumpiness about
having a younger sister tagging along, the book stresses a natural
gentleness and cooperation between friends. Girls of African, English,
and Cowichan/Scottish descent are simply best friends, without an issue
being made of their differences.

Alderson uses language skilfully and playfully, as evidenced in the
girls’ poem: “... A quickly ride, a jiggly ride, / A tricky ride, a
giggly ride, / please, pretty please with honey on top, / Martha needs a
ride!” Characters ring true, and unobtrusive details add texture.

Blades’s warm, historically accurate watercolors are a perfect match
for the fine text. She captures the wildlife and landscapes well; one of
my favorite pictures is a two-page spread depicting an eagle’s
perspective: the tiny figures of the girls on the beach, arbutus trees
on points of land, and, farther in the background, whales, forest, and
green mountains. Highly recommended.