Laura Secord

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

More than 35 Canadians have been profiled in The Canadians series. The
books’ handy size, copious illustrations, easy-reference timelines,
maps, index, and frequent chapter divisions make these biographies
user-friendly for preteen readers. Authored by well-known historians,
they are also reliable academic tools,

Joseph Brant chronicles the life of the famous Mohawk chief, warrior,
and diplomat. Brant was born in 1742 in Canajoharie on the Mohawk River
in New York. During the American Revolutionary War he sided with the
British and tried but failed to form an all-Aboriginal Confederacy.
While facts and dates fill every page, the author includes many exciting
moments, such as when Brant, returning from England, defended his ship
from a Yankee privateer: “Brant aimed [his rifle, a gift from the
Queen] at the officer directing the privateer’s gunners. A sharp
report rang out and the officer toppled from view. Another loaded rifle
was passed up and the same process repeated. In all, they picked off
five of the enemy.” Brant died in 1807 at his home in London, Ontario.

It was a conversation with Brant, who boasted of Canada’s bounteous
land, that tempted Laura Secord’s father, Thomas Ingersoll, away from
America. Laura (1775–1868), who was loyal to the British Crown, lived
with her husband in Queenston, a village on the Niagara River. After
overhearing some American officers one night in June 1813, she made a
brave 32–kilometre walk to warn the British of an impending attack.
The authors use many imagined conversations between Laura and her family
to bring the times to life, creating almost a novelized version of the
historical events. In keeping with this “lighter” approach, the
illustrations focus on clothing and social activities. Both books are
recommended.