The Ivory Comb

Jean Free, a library consultant, is a retired public-school teacher and
librarian in Whitby, Ontario.

Fourteen-year-old Jennifer Sawchuck and her young brother have come to
spend the summer after her parents’ separation with her cousin
Samantha, who lives near Winnipeg. After realizing that she and her
cousin are incompatible, Jennifer retreats to the log cabin on her
aunt’s property; there she discovers an ivory comb. She travels back
in time to the 19th century, when the area around the Red River
settlement at Fort Garry was inhabited by Métis, fur traders, and early
homesteaders.

Howard appears well versed in local history and manages time-travel
episodes in a believable, realistic fashion. She re-creates the smells,
sounds, and events of the past era in a credible way, and she has a good
eye for detail. The novel poses an interesting contrast in Native and
non-Native lifestyles. Events such as skinning and hunting buffalo,
making pemmican, coping with devastating spring floods, and attending
community wedding celebrations are absorbingly recounted.

As a novel, the book conveys information at the expense of
characterization. Samantha and Jennifer are highly stereotyped, and
conversation is frequently awkward and stilted. The Ivory Comb may be
most useful as a background novel for students in grades 6 to 8 who are
studying the history of the area.