Across Canada: Puzzles, Games and Activities from Sea to Sea

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Jeff Sinclair’s latest volume of puzzles, quizzes, and activities has
a Canadian theme. The puzzles include word scrambles, word finds,
crosswords, mazes, and pictures with hidden or changed items. There is
also a “salmon and logs” version of snakes and ladders. In addition
to the puzzles, each of the 13 provinces and territories has a page of
interesting facts. Some of the facts are common, some little known
(e.g., Did you know that 50 percent of all the polar bears in the world
live in Nunavut?).

Sinclair has a great sense of humour, and he expresses it in both his
illustrations and his writing. Sinclair’s bears and seals wear
sunglasses, his beaver snowboards, and his caribou pans for gold. One
can imagine sitting with a giggling youngster looking at the moose
toasting marshmallows or the turkey in the convertible chasing the cat.
Even when his creatures aren’t doing anything—as with the moose
lounging at the top of the Manitoba page—their expressions alone will
make you smile.

Sinclair’s text can be as much fun as the illustrations. Reading the
wrong answers to the Great Canadian Trivia Test is as entertaining as
taking the test. Who charted British Columbia? “a) Capt. James Cook,
b) Capt. James T. Kirk, c) West Coast Wally.”

Overall, children from the early elementary grades to junior high will
enjoy Across Canada. The puzzle answers are intended to be written onto
the pages, so parents rather than school and public libraries will want
to purchase it. Highly recommended.