Morning on the Lake

Ted McGee is an associate professor of English specializing in
children’s literature at St. Jerome’s College, University of
Waterloo.

Restraint is the hallmark of this deceptively simple first-person
account of a day in the life of a boy and his grandfather. “Morning”
takes them to the centre of a misty lake, where they encounter a family
of loons. In “Noon,” they climb a hill leading to the
grandfather’s “special place”; there they encounter an eagle, “a
sign of honor and wisdom.” “Night” describes a walk in the woods
culminating in a standoff with a pack of wolves.

In each episode, the boy faces physical and emotional challenges,
developing in the process strength and wisdom, particularly in relation
to the representatives of the natural world: the loons and the lake, the
eagle and the hills, the wolves and the forest. The still water that
runs deep throughout the story is the bond between grandparent and
child. Complementing the simplicity of the narration and the reserve of
the grandfather are the muted colors and soft backgrounds of the
illustrations, which keep the focus sharply on the principal characters,
both human and animal. Highly recommended.