You Asked Us-About Canada

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Why does snow squeak when you step on it? How many soldiers are needed
to form a Canadian Forces firing squad? Is it illegal to drive in Canada
with bare feet? Was the tune for Canada’s national anthem pilfered
from a Mozart opera? If these kinds of questions keep you lying awake
late at night, then this book may provide the answers. For more than
five years the Toronto Star has been publishing Walter Stefaniuk’s
twice-weekly column, “You Asked Us.” For this book, Stefaniuk has
culled nearly 300 entries from his column, organizing them into 20
chapters and preserving the column’s original question-and-answer
format. All are linked by a central theme of Canadianism.

Some of the entries are actually useful to know; others are frivolous
but fun. Either way, Stefaniuk dignifies every question with a
thoroughly researched and detailed answer. This is trivia writing at its
best.