Yes! Even More Canadians!: Hysterically Historical Rhymes

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

This small book of social and political verse features wicked wit
partnered with priceless cartoons by Aislin. With the exception of
“The Loon,” a satire on Canada’s coinage, each rhymed narrative
verse is named after an individual, personalities such as Sir John A.
MacDonald, Leonard Cohen, Grey Owl, Joey Smallwood, Rene Lévésque,
Norval Morrisseau, Glen Gould, Leonard Cohen, and Wayne Gretzky, to name
only a few from an all-star cast of 27.

Gordon Snell, a popular children’s author, poet, and broadcaster,
lives in Ireland with his wife Maeve Binchy. Aislin is the pen name of
Terry Mosher, political cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette. His witty
cartoons, syndicated around the world, are perhaps the best part of this
book.

History teachers who work with intermediate grades might find that
these “historical rhymes” work well to catch students’ attention.
Try “Billy Bishop, 1894–1956,” the rhyming tale of an unruly
student who became an ace fighter pilot during World War I and later a
popular celebrity who played an important role with the Royal Canadian
Air Force in World War II: “His fame and talents were well suited / To
get Canadians recruited / And Billy Bishop would be partial / To
recognition as Air Marshal. / No fitter honour could be found / To
praise the boy from Owen Sound.”

File this collection of satiric rhymes and Aislin cartoons under comic
relief.