Pelly

Kelly L. Green is co-author of The Ethical Shopper’s Guide to Canadian
Supermarket Products and associate editor of the Canadian Book Review
Annual.

Sandra and her father, Wesley, have left their home in Big River to move
to Saskatoon so that Wesley can take a course in carpentry and try to
find work. Sandra has had to leave behind not only her friends, but the
beloved grandmother who has taken the place of the mother who died when
she was a baby. In Saskatoon, Sandra immediately becomes fascinated with
the pelicans that summer on the lake. She tames one with bread crumbs
and bits of fish obtained from the local fishmarket. Pelly, as Sandra
nicknames her, becomes Sandra’s anchor and friend as well as her link
to Big River, Grandma, and nature. It is Sandra’s importance to Pelly
and her survival, however, that makes this a special book.

Dave Glaze has captured the stress of middle childhood in his somewhat
sad tale of loss, recovery, and letting go. His minimalist prose style
works well with the book’s story and themes. Sandra is a strong
character, who has had to be independent even though she has good
relationships with the people who love her. Her struggle to convince her
loving father about the existence and importance of her friendship with
the pelican will ring true to anyone who has not been believed as a
child, or who has doubted a child and been proved wrong.

My only criticism of this book concerns its subplot—a group of
children conspiring to kill a pelican for money. I found these children
to be portrayed stereotypically as “bad,” and felt that they should
either have been developed further so that the reader could understand
their motivations a little more clearly, or left out of the story
altogether. The story develops slowly, and the action (like the prose)
is sparse, but these are not criticisms. This book will appeal to a
child who has experienced some of the problems Sandra encounters.
Recommended.