Canadian Explorers

Christine Linge MacDonald, a past director of the Toronto & District
Parent Co-operative Preschool Corporation, is an elementary-school
teacher in Whitby, Ontario,

This handy little volume profiles five important adventurers who
explored Canada: Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, Pierre de la
Verendrye, Samuel Hearne, and David Thompson. Part of the Scholastic
Canada Biographies series, the volume’s large type and generous line-
and word-spacing further Scholastic’s goal to provide “books ...
designed for young Canadians to read themselves, and for all Canadians
to enjoy.” A large part of the enjoyment may result from the work of
illustrator Tony Meers, whose warm, richly coloured illustrations bring
the brief fact-filled tales to life. The sea spray on Cartier’s face
and the starry sky above Thompson using his sextant contribute a great
deal of the book’s emotional impact. Trottier’s narrative is
straightforward and orderly, but emotionally flat. Nonetheless, she
efficiently condenses the very complicated backstories to support her
primary focus: the life-and-death adventures of daring explorers. Their
daring encounters with the unknown are hinted at by the drawings of the
highly individual maps each man used, and the personal tools upon which
each depended for his survival. Recommended.