Mariposa Forever

Gerry Meek was a librarian in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Just over 70 years ago, readers were first introduced by Stephen Leacock to a very special place called Mariposa. In this delightfully funny book, which might have been more appropriately titled Mariposa Revisited, the author pays a return visit to Leacock’s famous creation. In the process, the reader is re-introduced to the town and its very unique inhabitants as it exists some many years later. In the intervening time, the town has grown considerably from its former size of 5,000 into a sprawling Metropolitan Mariposa with a population of 24,000, complete with its share of fast food franchises, car lots, tire merchants, and video-rental stores. Also indicative of the change is that although walking, in the past, was often a very dicey proposition, now “only on parade days does a person risk stepping in fresh horse apples.” For the most part, however, Mariposa remains much the same as it was in Leacock’s fertile imagination; only the time has changed. In this special revisit, the town and its remarkable inhabitants are brought to life once more in a highly amusing and entertaining fashion reminiscent of the town’s creator. As we always suspected, Mariposa will never change.

Isaac Bickerstaff is the nom de plume of the Canadian writer and cartoonist Don Evans. He is the author of two previous books.