Under The Iron Bridge by Kathy Kacer

Fifteen-year-old Paul Ritter lives in the Unterbilk suburb of Dusseldorf with his parents. His mother is an obstetrician at St. Martin's hospital in the city center while his father is an orthepedist who specializes in bone and joint disorders. It is August, 1938, and Hitler now rules Germany with an iron fist. He has annexed Austria and will likely take over other countries too. In Dusseldorf, flags with swastikas fly over every building. Hitler's picture can be found in businesses, department stores and even Paul's classroom. 

Most boys Paul's age belong to the Hitler Youth. It was the best thing his friend Harold Becker felt he had done. But Paul doesn't want to join. "The Hitler Youth was the official organization of the Nazi party and brought boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen together and trained them to eventually become part of the military that served Adolf Hitler." Paul once belonged to the Boy Scouts but that group has now been banned. 

As they walk home from school, Paul confronts Harold, questioning him about Hitler's views on the Jewish people. Harold doesn't like what Hitler says but isn't really concerned. However, Paul's parents have taught him that all people are equal and that what is happening to the Jewish people is wrong. 

The next day, Paul's teacher, Herr Bentz, continues to indoctrinate the class with false ideas about the Jewish people. Paul knows these ideas are false because he has a good friend, Analia Morgenstern who lives in the Kasernenstrasse district of Dusseldorf. Paul and Analia have been friends since childhood: she attended his school and they often ate lunch together. But with the new laws, Analia has had to leave school. In class, one boy, Ernst Wagner states that he would turn in his own parents if necessary. Each day students speak up, informing on those who help Jews or criticize Hitler. After Herr Bentz corners Paul, questioning him as to why he hasn't yet joined the Hitler Youth, he reluctantly decides to join. 

The meetings are held every Saturday morning across the Oberkassel Bridge, in a fairground. Paul finds the entire experience disturbing: lots of swastika flags and the message that they are being prepared to be soldiers. As Paul and Harold return home from the meeting, they argue about the merit of joining the Hitler Youth. Harold believes that Hitler has done so much for Germany but Paul responds that he jails those who don't agree with him and treats the Jewish people badly. When the two boys witness their classmate Ernst's parents being led away by the Gestapo, they realize he has done exactly as he bragged he would do in class, he has reported them.

On the weekend, Paul's parents decide he needs to join the Hitler Youth in order to protect himself and his family. Paul finds the meetings draining emotionally. Then one weekend, the boys in their group are forced to jump over a fire to prove their bravery. Although Paul, who is athletic is able to do this, Harold is not and his leg is badly burned. But Paul's success only serves to attract the attention of the youth leader, Franz as well as their school bully, Ernst. 

Paul's life changes unexpectedly through a chance meeting the following weekend. Distraught over what he's experiencing in the Hitler Youth, Paul rides his bike to the beach at Lake Kaarst where he has fond memories of times spent with Analia. There he overhears a song against Hitler and eventually meets a group of young people who turn out to be resisters. They tell him their group is part of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group with members throughout Germany. They are doing what they can to resist and to stop Hitler.

Paul meets brother and sister, Luka and Kikki who are in charge of this group and decides that he too wants to join. Paul decides not to tell his parents that he's involved in the Edelweiss Pirates. However, as the situation in Germany rapidly deteriorates, Paul finds himself drawn further into resistance and less able to pretend he's a Nazi. He is forced to make a choice: follow the Nazis and their brutal regime, or begin to really help people like Analia.

Discussion

Under The Iron Bridge focuses on one group of Nazi resistors, the Edelweiss Pirates. It's likely the Pirates, which were mostly found in western Germany, began sometime after membership in the Hitler Youth was made mandatory in 1936. Almost every city in western Germany had some time of resistance group, although they sometimes had different names.

The pressure on young people to conform to Nazi ideals was tremendous. Boys were expected to join the Hitler Youth, while girls were expected to belong to the League of German Girls. As Kacer writes in the novel, "The girls underwent physical training that included long hours of marching and hiking, just like the boys. Hitler wanted young German girls to be strong and fit, even though they weren't being groomed to be soldiers." As Kikki tells Paul, they are to be mothers who pass on Nazi values to their children. While many German youth held similar views to the character in the novel, Ernst Wagner, who turns in his own parents to the Gestapo, there were young Germans like Paul's friend, Harold who simply went along with what was happening because they were probably too afraid to resist.

Initially Paul believes "It was better to be seen going along with the others than to keep resisting." He is afraid that he will be informed on by one of his fellow students. However, as the situation for the Jewish people in Dusseldorf becomes more threatening, Paul finds it harder to "go along". When he and his Hitler Youth group are pressed into forcing Jews to scrub the pavement, Paul does nothing. This is especially painful, because within this group is his dear friend Analia. He experiences shame that she likely believes he holds the same views as the other boys.

The Pirates offer Paul a chance to act according to his conscience. At first these acts are small, but dangerous; painting slogans on a Nazi building. This earns him the Edelweiss pin. "His cheeks glowed and his eyes sparkled as he thought of Analia. There was no question that a part of him was doing this for her. But he was also doing it for the old Jewish man who had very nearly been beaten, and for all the other Jews who had been humiliated that day on the streets of Dusseldorf. And above all, he was doing this for himself, affirming hid desire and responsibility to be a good and moral person, no matter what the risk."

Paul proves that he's up to the risk, when he drops food off for Analia and her family, when he partakes in a mission to wreck the Gestapo cars, and when he distributes pamphlets at the train station. But he takes the biggest risk of all, in saving Analia during what comes to be known as Kristallnacht, "Night of Broken Glass". 

Kacer realistically portrays the different responses of German youth to Nazi ideology. through the characters of Paul, Harold and Ernst. Paul has been taught that all people are equal and knows the Nazi views of Jews is wrong. Harold also believes what is being taught to them is wrong but he struggles to reconcile what he knows to be right with his participation in the Hitler Youth. Deeply conflicted he tells Paul, "But what are we supposed to do?....We have to be part of the Hitler Youth. We have to obey the rules. You saw them take away Ernst's parents. I don't want that to happen to my family --or yours!" While Harold believes resistance is impossible, Paul is not so sure. He's not willing to accept that they can do nothing. And then there is Ernst who represents most German youth. Ernst is an avid Nazi. In class when Ernst Wagner states that he would turn in his own parents, Paul notes that only a few students looked uncomfortable with this idea

Under The Iron Bridge is another excellent novel by Canadian author Kathy Kacer. In her Author's Note at the back of the novel, Kacer informs readers on many different topics and events covered in her story including Kristallnacht, The Hitler Youth and the Edelweiss Pirates. The novel takes its title from the iron bridge the Pirates used as a secret meeting place from which to plan their acts of resistance. Look for more outstanding novels from Kacer in the future.

Book Details:

Under The Iron Bridge by Kathy Kacer
Toronto: Second Story Press    2021
222 pp.

Yara's Spring by Jamal Saeed and Sharon McKay

Yara's Spring is a heart-breaking fictional story of a young girls life in Syria during the Syria War and her journey to freedom.

Yara's story begins on March 11, 2011. Ten-year-old Yara lives in Bustan al-Qasr, in the middle of Aleppo with her mama and baba and her Nana. Baba's brothers and sisters had left Syria years ago and her mama has only one brother, Sami who lives in Damascus. On this morning, Yara gets up and runs errands for her Baba who is a baker. Their bakery sits in front of their two story family home. Yara's best friend, Shireen lives across the street. After delivering bread to their neighbours in need, Yara returns home to find her Uncle Sami visiting. Sami works as a high school teacher in Damascus, and Yara loves him dearly. 

Uncle Sami tells his mother, Nana that a revolution is coming, that they need democracy, a chance to choose their own leaders. He tells her the "Arab Spring" is coming. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia and then to Egypt and now has come to Syria. Schoolboys wrote graffiti on the walls of the school in the city of Dara'a. The words were about President al-Assad, so the principal called the police. who then arrested the boys. Sami tells Nana, that it is like what happened before. Yara doesn't know what Sami is referring to and he refuses to elaborate.

Shireen comes to get Yara for dance class. As they leave, they see her father getting into a car to go to a funeral. Shireen's mother, Roja and her twin brother, Ali watch him leave. At dance class after they watch the senior girls rehearse, Nana gives Shireen a whispered message that sends her running out of class. Nana tells Yara that Shireen's father has been arrested at the funeral. The man who died was a rebel, who belonged to the Kurdish Future Movement which Shireen's father supported. He is now a political prisoner, worse off than a criminal as there will be no lawyer or trial for him. Nana explains to Yara that Shireen's family will suffer too: Roja will not be able to continue working at the university.

A year later, Yara's mother gives birth to a baby boy, Saad, at home due to the war that is raging in Syria. Shireen's father continues to languish in prison. Another year passes, it is now 2014. The war continues on as Yara celebrates her fourteenth birthday. Aleppo is now a divided city, with West Aleppo controlled by the government of President al-Assad and East Aleppo where Yara and her family live, under rebel control. As a result, East Aleppo is bombed frequently. Yara's mama had wanted to move, but Nana and Baba were against leaving behind the bakery they had built. 

On her birthday, Yara is playing with two year old Saad, now a happy, active little boy. On the roof, as Yara is helping hang the laundry, Nana gives her a small paper bag of candies. On the opposite rooftop, Shireen and Ali wave their happy birthday greetings to her. Ali had  wanted to join the rebels but Roja refused to allow it, scolding him about ending up in prison like his father. Suddenly, Yara sees six helicopters coming and as they fly over her home, they drop their bombs. The rooftop collapses, sending Saad flying past her, while Yara tumbles through the air and is buried in the rubble of her home. After being rescued, Yara learns her baba and mama have been killed in the bombing, but Saad is safe, having landed in Roja's laundry basket. However, he is so traumatized, he stops speaking. Nana is injured and Yara sees her being taken away in an ambulance to a hospital.

Yara and Saad are taken in by Roja. After several days, Ali goes to search the hospital but cannot locate Nana. Determined to find Nana, and believing her to be still alive, Yara insists on continuing the search. Meanwhile, Shireen shows her family's passports to Yara, but tells her that they will never leave Syria while her father is in prison. Shireen points out to Yara the difficulty in leaving the country: getting to Turkey means getting past ISIS, Iraq requires a visa and Hezbollah in Lebanon makes that route unlikely as well. But Yara suggests they could travel to Jordan where her Uncle Sami lives in Damascus.

Remembering that her parents kept their papers in a tin box under the big table in the bakery, Yara and Shireen struggle their way into the ruins of Yara's home. With the help of Ali, Yara manages to pull out the red tin that contains their passports. And waiting outside the ruins of their house is Nana, thin and limping because of her wounded leg. Back in Roja's home, the tin box is opened revealing a horde of jewelry and American money as well as photographs from Nana's past. The box also contains Yara's family's passports, their Syrian National Identity Cards and their family registry document.

The next day, Nana tells Yara's the story of her past, a story identical to the one being played out again with Yara's generation. Nana also tells her that she spent time at the home of a man, Rifa'at, who helped her after the hospital she was at was bombed. Rifa'at also helps people escape Syria. And that is what Nana is determined to do, along with Yara and Saad. She plans to hire Rifa'at to take them to Damascus, where they will journey on to Jordan. It is a dangerous journey that will require every bit of courage and determination Yara has to survive.

Discussion

For young readers wanting to understand the impact of war, Yara's Spring offers a realistic portrayal through the eyes of a young girl caught up in the Syrian conflict. Jamal Saeed, himself a political prisoner in Syria for over ten years, has experienced the tragedy of war in his home country of Syria and his first-hand experience is evident throughout this novel. 

To help orient his young readers, Saeed offers two maps at the front of the novel, one showing Syria's placement in the Middle East and a second map showing the major cities in Syria and Yara's journey from Aleppo, south to the Azraq Refugee Camp where the story begins. This is where the reader first meets Yara, an exhausted, emotionally traumatized refugee, struggling to come to terms with everything she has experienced on her flight out of Syria. She is haunted by what has happened, her conscience troubled in a way no young person should have to experience. As she sits down to rest, in a part of the refugee camp that's private, she tells her story in a flashback.

Saeed is able to capture the war and refugee experience from many different perspectives. There is Yara's Uncle Sami, who was filled with hopeful expectation at the coming Arab Spring, only to have it turn to fear. In Nana, there is the fear that what happened before is now happening again and she is determined to save what's left of her family. There are the rebels who patrol the streets in East Aleppo, seeking "men and boys of fighting age" to come out and join their cause. "...Tell them that only by fighting will their lives have meaning. Tell them that they will go to paradise if they are killed fighting for our faith." There are Shireen and Ali who desperately want to fight for a better future for the country. There is Umm Fadi, the woman who lives upstairs in the safe house in Damascus who is blindly devoted to President al-Assad and who believes he is protecting Syria and that the bombing of Aleppo is justified, "The people in those areas are not only hiding terrorists, they are allowing their children to be used a human shields! It is not the President's fault..."

Yara's Spring highlights the resiliency, courage and determination of those in Syria who decide to leave. Yara embodies all of these qualities but Saeed also portrays the toll the war has had on her. After the death of her parents, sights and smells in her ruined home trigger panic. While staying at Hafa's compound in Ar Rastan, the smell of the food and spices, suddenly triggers a flashback. "Suddenly overwhelmed, she closed her eyes and once again heard the chu-chu-chu of helicopter blades. The sound of the explosion, the sensation of flying through the air, of her limbs trying to detach themselves from her body, of a scream caught in her throat, of being buried alive. No, no, no!"

It's no surprise Yara has anxiety and likely post traumatic stress. Yara must also come to terms with the fact that she killed a man when Ali was kidnapped and she experiences deep conflict over leaving Syria. She believes she is a coward, not a warrior like Ali and Shireen who have remained in Syria to fight on for their country. However, Mr. Matthew, Matthew McGonagall, Yara's case counselor points out to her that she has protected Nana and Saad and that this required great courage. He also reminds her that the fate of Syria does not depend on her choice to emigrate to Canada.

Yara's Spring is also a portrait in compassion and charity amidst the ruins and violence of war. When Yara and Saad are left alone, Roja, herself in dire circumstances, doesn't hesitate to take the two children into her house. When Yara's group is traveling south through checkpoints, they encounter unimaginable brutality. At one checkpoint, while Yara's group has their documents checked they witness a young boy being handcuffed and forced from his father who begs for his sons life. In an act of courageous kindness, Nana intervenes, pretending to be the father's neighbour and to bribe the terrorists with American money and save the boy's life. These acts of kindness are not just restricted to Yara's group either. After almost dying in the mountains, Yara and her group are rescued by a monk who takes them to a Catholic monastery. There Father Ricardo and the nuns care for Yara, Nana and Saad. He tells her that they help all regardless of religion and offer her safety. It is a wonderful tribute to the few Christians who remain in the Middle East, often at great risk and persecution.

Jamal Saeed and his co-author Sharon E. McKay have crafted a book that feels realistic in its portrayal of the Syrian conflict, of the plight of Syrian refugees, while also ending on a hopeful note. Yara, in her heart hopes to return some day to her beloved Syria. Yara's Spring is well written and a must-read for young Canadians, to help them understand the backstory of Canada's Syrian refugees.

Book Details:

Yara's Spring by Jamal Saeed and Sharon E. McKay
Toronto: Annick Press    2020
298 pp.

A Year of Borrowed Men by Michelle Barker

A Year of Borrowed Men is based on the experiences of the author's mother during World War II in Germany. At the time, Michelle Barker's mother Gerda, was a young girl. Her father was forced to fight for the Germany army, leaving her mother to care for five children and no one to run the farm. At age thirteen, Gerda's only brother was too young to run the farm. Because many German farms were in this same situation, prisoners of war were sent to the farms to help run them. They were expected to be treated as prisoners of war. However, Gerda's mother believed in treating the prisoners of war kindly. They were well-fed and befriended by her family. The prisoners were housed in the family's barn which was cold and damp.

At the end of the war, Gerda and her mother and sisters were forced to leave their family farm which was located in the German village of Beelkow. The area was taken over by Poland and native Germans were expelled from the land. Gerda's family settled in the village of Ermsleben, in what had become East Germany. Eventually Gerda escaped from East Germany in 1953 and travelled to Canada. Gerda's father and brother did not survive the war.

Discussion

Although A Year of Borrowed Men has received many nominations for awards, some reviewers have taken issue with how Barker has presented the events that her mother Gerda experienced during the war. The main objections regarding the subject matter of the picture book are that it portrays the French prisoners of war as well-fed and happy, Germans as "suffering" and that the story is without much context, that while the events in the story were occurring, Jews, Catholics and those who opposed the Nazis were being exterminated across Europe.

The author's family farm in Germany

It is true that the story is without much context, but this is a picture book for very young children told from the perspective of a young girl. It's theme is primarily that of friendship and how friendship is possible in the worst of circumstances - even during a war as horrific as World War II. During World War II, not all Germans were Nazis - a fact many people are unwilling to recognize -  not all Germans wished for war nor wanted to fight for Germany and many saw fathers, brothers and uncles conscripted into fighting. Ultimately, the author's mother lost her father and brother in a war the family did not support. Not being Jewish does not invalidate their suffering nor their loss. At the end of the story, the family loses their animals, but Barker makes no note of the family having to leave their farm. It isn't even explicitly mentioned in a short note at the back.

 A Year of Borrowed Men is done in the style of the picture books created from the Little House on the Prairie novels with pencil crayon and watercolour illustrations in a soft tone, that convey a somewhat soothing and idyllic setting. The style of illustrations are entirely appropriate for a children's picture book. It does not appear the illustrator was deliberately attempting to portray the French prisoners as well-fed. Instead this was merely her style of illustration.

It's possible a more detailed Author's Note, setting the context for the story may have been helpful,  but unless this book is read by older children, it's not likely to help very young readers whose parents may not want to share such information at this point. Perhaps Gerda's story would have been better told as a piece of historical fiction written for older children where the context of events transpiring outside the world of the family farm could have been treated. Otherwise, treat this as a short story about the possibilities of friendship in the most unlikeliest of circumstances.

The author's website has more information and pictures related to the story in A Year of Borrowed Men.

Book Details:

A Year of Borrowed Men by Michelle Barker
Toronto: Pajama Press      2015

Boy From Berlin by Nancy McDonald

Boy From Berlin is Canadian author, Nancy McDonald's debut novel about a Jewish boy and his family who flee the Nazis. The novel opens in 1938. Eight-year-old Heinz (Kafer) Avigdor lives in Berlin with his papa, Rifa, his mother Else, his older sister Ellen whom they call Bibi, and older brother Peter.

One night Heinz suspects something unusual is going on: most of the servants including Nanny are given the evening off and their beloved Aunt Charlotte pays a surprise visit. Peter and Ellen are doing their homework in the nursery, giving Heinz the opportunity to eavesdrop on his mother and aunt. From their conversation, he learns that his parents are planning to leave Berlin that very night. They believe the situation will only grow worse. Heinz's mother begs Charlotte to come with them but she refuses, saying that her work is too important.

At dinner that night, Father announces that they are leaving for the Hague, where he has been offered a new job. Both Peter and Ellen protest, unhappy that they will be missing their science and art shows. Heinz startles everyone by asking if they are Jewish - a question that is not answered. They pack their suitcases with Heinz taking his Peter Rabbit toy he has named Funny Bunny Blue.

As they drive through Berlin, Heinz recalls that things have changed subtly in the past weeks and months: his parents no longer go out to restaurants and cabarets, his mother's prized artwork has been disappearing of their walls and he has seen her sewing an emerald necklace into the lining of a dress. Their leaving in the dark, without saying good-bye to Aunt Charlotte, Nanny or any of their friends seems equally strange.

They travel all night stopping at a gasthouse to freshen up and get something to eat. Father warns both Peter and Heinz to tell anyone who questions them that they are travelling to the Hague for their mother's aunt's funeral. At the gasthouse, first Heinz and then his father encounter Captain Rolf Konig who questions them about where they are going and why. Captain Konig's interest is unsettling and their suspicions are confirmed when leaving: Frau Klein warns Rifat and Else that the captain has taken down their vehicle registration and called the Gestapo.

The Avigdor's continue driving towards the German border with Holland, but soon are stopped by two German soldiers in a black car. The soldiers are suspicious of Rifat leaving the country as he is in charge of one of the largest aeroplane parts companies. When his father is ordered to open the boot (trunk) of the car, Heinz, sensing his father might need some help, runs out and asks for his stuffed toy, corroborating his father's story about going to the Hague for a funeral.

The soldier, touched by Heinz's sweet disposition and youth, discreetly tells Rifat that he is being watched for at the border and that should he try to cross he will likely be arrested. The soldier then lets them go. Back in the car, Rifat reveals that they will have to cross the border through the fields. After eating the food from Frau Kein's basket, Heinz and his family begin their journey to cross the farmers' fields and into Holland. Burdened with heavy suitcases, the trek is tiring.  Heinz stumbles and sprains his ankle. Once again they encounter what appears to an obstacle to their crossing the border into Holland, when they are discovered by the farmer. However, the man is sympathetic to their plight and not supportive of Hitler, and willing to help them. After spending the night resting, the farmer offers to drive them across the border hidden amongst  bales of hay. But this also goes awry when Rifat is discovered. Heinz, once again hoping to help his father, bravely jumps out of the hay. They are fortunate in that Rifat is able to bribe the border guards with his valuable stamp collection.

Safe in Holland, the Avigdor's rebuild their life. But soon war will overtake them once again, meaning difficult decisions will have to be made if they are to save themselves.

Discussion

Boy From Berlin is an exciting, well-written middle school novel that will appeal to young readers, especially boys. The story is based on the real-life events experienced by Heinz Avigdor, the late husband of the novel's author, Nancy McDonald.

McDonald, who has worked as a journalist reporting on various television programs and as a freelance journalist, first met Heinz Avigdor when he was working as a producer on CTV's W5 and she was a journalism student at Western University in London, Ontario. The two fell in love and married. After Heinz's death in 2015, a bereft McDonald discovered copies of letters written by his father, Rifat. McDonald knew little about Heinz's early life as he rarely spoke of his childhood. McDonald knew little about why her husband's family left Germany or how they escaped from Holland to England. Her research led her to Rome to meet surviving cousins, to Berlin to visit the family home that had survived the war, to the Hague and the harbour at Scheveningen where they made their escape to England, and back to Toronto to meet Heinz's brother-in-law and sister-in-law. As she gathered information about her husband's family, McDonald thought she might write a family history but instead, the story of a boy from Berlin began to take shape.

The novel, although only 129 pages in length is filled with many suspenseful moments such as when the Avigdors are attempting to escape Germany and they encounter German soldiers. The war catches up with them in Holland, and they barely escape, again under tense circumstances, as the country falls to the Germans. These moments of tension engage the reader and lead up to a suspenseful climax.

A subplot explores the relationship between Heinz, his older brother Peter, and their father Rifat. Heinz feels that his father favours his older brother Peter, who like their father has a mind for math and science.  Peter garners their father's praise for his ability to work with his hands, constructing model airplanes and putting together a crystal radio. In contrast, Heinz is told he is being babied. However, Heinz proves to be intelligent, quick thinking and resourceful in ways that are different from Peter. Eventually Heinz's father comes to recognize this asking him to care for his mother and Bibi on the voyage to Canada and telling  him, "...I'm very impressed by how brave and resourceful you can be."

Boy From Berlin is an engaging short novel that will appeal to younger readers. McDonald is working on a sequel to Boy From Berlin which will be published in September 2019.

Book Details:

Boy From Berlin by Nancy McDonald
Toronto: Iguana Books    2018
129 pp.

House of Dreams by Liz Rosenberg

Lucy Maud Montgomery is perhaps best know for her  novel, Anne of Green Gables that told the story of a red-haired orphan, Anne Shirley who is adopted by  siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Published in 1908, the novel is set in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island during the late 1800's. Based on many events in her life, the novel was immediately popular. L.M. Montgomery went on to author many other novels, including Emily of New Moon, The Blue Castle and The Tangled Web and a large number of poems and short stories.

In House of Dreams, Liz Rosenberg delves into the life of Maud as she preferred to be called. Maud was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. Her father, Hugh John Montgomery was the son of Senator Donald Montgomery and her mother was Clara Woolner Macneill, whose family was one of three founding families of Cavendish, P.E.I.

The Montgomerys and Macneills could not be two more different families. Maud's great-great-grandmother Mary Montgomery was responsible for the family settling on the island. As the story goes, profoundly sea-sick, Mary refused to return to their boat marking the end of their voyage. Maud's paternal grandfather, Donald Montgomery was a Conservative who served in the provincial legislature for over forty years, and had a career in the Senate too. In contrast, the Macneills were Liberals. Maud's maternal great-great-grandmother was not happy to be settled on Prince Edward Island. In protest, she refused to take of her bonnet.

Maud at age 6

Maud was born almost nine months after her parents married. Hugh John and Clara struggled to make a living from a small country store they operated. Neither were adept at managing a small business and the store failed. Clara soon became ill with tuberculosis, and John Hugh moved his family to Cavendish where the Macneills could care for their daughter. Sadly Clara died in September of 1876, when Maud was not quite two years old.

Although Maud worshiped her father, he struggled to support her and increasingly left her in the care of her strict Scottish grandparents, Alexander and Lucy Macneill who had a farm just outside of Cavendish, on the north shore. John Hugh eventually moved to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, abandoning Maud when she was just seven-years-old  and beginning a new life, remarrying later on and starting a new family. Instead of being angry with her father, Maud continued to adore him.

Maud's grandmother, Lucy Macneill was to play an important role in her life, advocating for her granddaughter, and paying for her education, when Alexander refused to support her.  The Macneills were staunch Scottish Presbyterians, who took few trips and kept to themselves. They did visit relatives at Park Corner, John and Annie Campbell. Maud's cousin Frede Campbell would become Maud's closest friend. The Macneill home was cold in the winter so Maud had to sleep downstairs but in the spring and summer, her favourite seasons, Maud was able to live upstairs. She had her own bedroom, and a den which "became her essential and cherished place to dream and work." Throughout Maud's life, her "moods soared or plummeted according to the seasons." It is likely Maud suffered from seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Maud at age 28.

Rosenberg traces Maud's life through her youth, adult life and into old age. Maud was able to attend Prince of Wales College and earn a first class teacher's license. She also attended Dalhousie University in Halifax. Her adult life was filled with many troubles and much literary success. Maud seemed unlucky in love; she was courted by John Mustard whom she had no intention of marrying,  became engaged to her cousin Edwin Simpson whom she felt she could never marry, had a romantic relationship with the already engaged Herman Leard during this time, broke off her engagement and eventually married Ewan Macdonald, a minister who unbeknownst to Maud had serious mental health issues. However, in 1908, her novel Anne of Green Gables, which had been repeatedly rejected by publishers only a few years earlier was published by L.C. Page of Boston, Massachusetts. This marked the beginning of Maud's extensive literary career.

Sadly Maud's life was not always happy. She had a difficult marriage to Ewan Macdonald, who had serious mental health issues. Maud and Ewan moved to Toronto after their marriage where they had two children and a baby that was stillborn.  Her oldest son Chester was a difficult child and grew into a man with serious problems. Despite her many personal challenges, Maud continued to write. Her books were enjoyed around the world and her successful literary career allowed her to earn enough to live comfortably.

Lucy Maud Montgomery will be forever remember for Anne of Green Gables, but House of Dreams shows there was much more to her story than just this one novel.

Discussion

House of Dreams is Liz Rosenberg's revealing biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery presents many details of her life, gleaned from the extensive primary sources. Rosenberg used Maud's many journals, daybooks and letters to family and friends as her primary source material. Sadly almost all of Maud's early writings, poems and journal entries were destroyed before the age of fifteen by the author herself, something she later regretted. Despite this Rosenberg is able to piece together Maud's early life for her readers.

While some might know that L. M. Montgomery had an unsettled life, many probably did not know just how troubled her personal life was. Her journals paint a picture of a woman suffering from depression and anxiety, who may have had manic episodes and who was prone to debilitating bouts of deep despair.

Her youth and early adult life were certainly difficult as Maud had an intense desire to be a writer, but this dream was definitely not supported by her stiff-necked grandfather, Alexander Macneill. Maud was an excellent student but did not have the finances to fully achieve the education she desired. A good education would have allowed her to support herself and write. Instead her grandfather refused to help in any way refusing both money and transportation and it was her grandmother who gave Maud the necessary money to attend school. Maud showed resiliency and determination, often taking two years course load in one because she did not have the financial means to attend for two years.

Green Gables Heritage- farmhouse

Rosenberg demonstrates that many events and people in Maud's life were the germ for the characters in her novels. "Everything in Maud's early life led to the writing of that book, but she had to overcome a hundred obstacles to achieve it."

Maud grew up in a family of storytellers so it's not surprising she felt compelled to write her own. Her grandfather Alexander and her great-aunt Mary Lawson were especially influential as they had reputations a great storytellers. Anne was also influenced by one of her teachers, Miss Hattie Gordon who encouraged her Cavendish students to write.

Maud took everyday events of her life and worked them into her most famous novel, Anne of Green Gables. The novel grew out of an idea Maud had had a few years earlier about an elderly couple who decide to adopt a boy but end up with a girl instead. Maud "...transformed her own history of abandonment into a story of rescue. Maud put herself into the fictional Anne: her own vivid imagination; a passionate love of nature; her habit of naming inanimate objects; the imaginary cupboard friends; her hungry affection for books; her own vanity, pride, stubbornness; and a deep, abiding attachment to those she loves."

The fictional Avonlea was based on Cavendish, the Lake of Shining Waters was the pond at her cousin's home in Park Corner. Rosenberg writes that "Anne's house, Green Gable, was loosely based on a house belonging to two other cousins, David and Margaret Macneill."  Maud took some of the characteristics of her father John Hugh and her grandmother, Lucy Macneill for Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. However, although Matthew Cuthbert shared John Hugh's shy disposition, he was a devoted father to Anne, unlike Maud's own father. And Marilla's "keen sense of humour and understanding" was very different from Maud's grandmother.

"Anne of Green Gables is a book about creating lasting family. It is a celebration of place, a story about belonging.No one but Maud Montgomery, with all her checkered history and heart-hungry longing, could have created it."

Although modern readers mostly focus on the love story between Anne and Gilbert in Anne of Green Gables, it is as Rosenberg points out and as Canadian author Margaret Laurence has stated,  really the growing love between Marilla and Anne that dominates this first novel. Anne and Gilbert's relationship blossoms into love in a later novel.

House of Dreams will appeal to keen fans of Anne of Green Gables. Reading Liz Rosenberg's biography will give readers a true sense of L. M. Montgomery's life and how her own story shaped those she created. Julie Morstad has produced lovely line drawings done in ink which can be found at the beginning of each chapter.What this books lacks are photographs of Anne and her family, and perhaps  Nevertheless, House of Dreams is well written, definitively researched and engaging. Rosenberg includes an Epilogue in which she explores the circumstances surrounding Maud's death. There is also a Time Line of L.M. Montgomery's life, Source Notes and a Bibliography.

Fans interested in further exploring the life and writings of Lucy Maud Montgomery are encouraged to check out the University of Prince Edward Island's  L.M. Montgomery Institute at

https://lmmontgomery.ca/about/l-m-montgomery/

The Canadian Encyclopedia has a detailed entry on Lucy Maud Montgomery.

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/montgomery-lucy-maud

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry on Lucy Maud Montgomery.:

 https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/montgomery_lucy_maud_17E.html

Images of Lucy Maud Montgomery are from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography:

age 6: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/montgomery_lucy_maud_17E.html#lg=1&slide=6

age 28: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/montgomery_lucy_maud_17E.html#lg=1&slide=11

Green Gables Heritage Park - farmhouse image: http://cavendishbeachpei.com/members-operators/green-gables-heritage-place/

Book Details:

House of Dreams: The Life of L.M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg
Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press   2018
339 pp.

I Am Algonquin by Rick Revelle

I Am Algonquin is the first book in a trilogy by Canadian author, Rick Revelle who is a member of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation.

The novel tells the fictional story of Mahingan and his family who are members of the Omamiwinini (Algonquin People) in the fourteenth century before the arrival of the Europeans. Mahingan, born in 1305, is from the Kitcisipiriniwak tribe (People of the Great River) - one of the eight Algonquin tribes of the Ottawa Valley. Mahingan and his family are living through a period of cold winters and cool summers creating hardship for the Algonquins.

The novel opens with Mahingan and a small hunting party that includes his two brothers Kag (Porcupine) and Wagosh (Fox) on a trip north to find game for their starving village. Each of the five family units have sent a hunter north to the Land of the Nippissing. The lack of snow this winter has made the hunting of the monz (moose) and wawashkeshi (deer) difficult. Kag is a fierce warrior while Wagosh, who is younger, is a good tracker and hunter but untested in battle. The other hunters include Monz and Makwa, both of whom are married to Mahingan's sisters. Also with the hunting party are Kag's twin sons, Agwingos (Chipmunk) and Esiban (Raccoon).

Six days into the hunt they slay a deer caught in the ice and then soon their dogs pick up the scent of a moose. Mahingan's group quickly kills the moose but immediately face another danger - warriors from the Nippissing. They are hunting in Nippissing territory and the moose is meat that would sustain both tribes in this difficult winter. Although Mahingan's party manages to defend themselves, killing and wounding several of the Nippissing, they lose Makwa who is killed by a blow to the head.

Pulling five toboggans laden with moose meat along with a travois pulled by dogs, Mahingan's hunting party begins the long journey home. They must keep watch in case the Nippissing decide to pursue them and they must also bury Makwa. After burying their warrior, Mahingan and his party are set upon by ten mahingans (wolves) but are able to ward them off after killing four of the pack. Mahingan's party eventually reach their village with the much needed food, to be greeted happily but also with the news that two of their village have died.

The village protector is Mahingan's younger brother Mitigomij (Red Oak) who was born with a club foot. As a result, he has become accomplished in all forms of weapons including the spear, war club, knife and sling shot. His constant companion is a black panther Makadwa Waban (Black Dawn) whom he rescued when he was twelve-years-old. A brutal encounter with four warriors of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) when he was sixteen, resulted in death for three and the mauling of the fourth by the black panther. It is an encounter that will have serious future repercussions for the Omamiwinini.

Weeks after they return, Mitigomij spots six canoes making their way up the river. Mahingan learns they are Hochelagans whom he believes have come to scout the location of the various villages of the Omamiwinini. Mahingan, believing an attack in imminent, organizes a plan that involves moving the women, children and young boys to safety, calling in warriors from surrounding family units, and preparing an attack to kill the Hochelagan warriors so they cannot return to their tribe. Asiniwabidi (Stone Elk) returns from scouting to reveal that there are more Hochelagans than originally thought and that they have raided the Otaguttaouernin and have captured Kwingwishi, the young woman Mahingan's brother, Wagosh wants to marry. With forty-eight warriors the Omamiwinini soundly defeat the Hochelagans, freeing the captured Otaguttaourenin and torturing and killing the Hochelagan warriors.

Mahinigan and his tribe are now safe for some time to enjoy the spring and summer. The summer gathering of the various Omamiwinini family units sees Wagosh marry Kwingwishi while Mahingan learns his wife is pregnant. During this time Migadinan-andeg (War Crow), chief of the South Nippissing Band challenges Mahingan's people to a game of lacrosse to settle their dispute over hunting rights. The game sees no winner but  Mahingan offers Migadinan-andeg a wampum belt offering peace and an agreement regarding each other's hunting grounds. After the Nippissing leave, Mahingan receives word from a Wabanaki (Abenaki) warrior that the pijaki (buffalo) will soon be arriving in their territory.This is an unusual event as buffalo are not native to this area. The two tribes work together to kill many buffalo for meat and hides, meaning their tribes will not starve during the winter. On their way home from the Wabanki grounds, Mahingan's party are attacked by a small group of Haudenosaunee, resulting in the death of Makons.

After safely returning to their village, Mahingan's nephews, the twins Agwingos and Esiban undergo the Wysoccan journey. While this is occurring, Migadinan-andeg and his Nippissing warriors return to seal the peace pact and celebrate with a great running race. Shortly after this, Wabananag gives birth to a son, Anoki.

But late in the summer, a forest fire devastates the Omamiwinini lands, forcing Mahingan to relocate their village on the larger island in the river. Unaware of the significant danger posed by the Haudenosaunee warrior Panther Scar whom Mitigomij spared years ago, and believing the other families would gather for the summer meeting, Mahingan along with his brothers, Mitigomij and Kag and a group of warriors travel to the Ouendat to trade. A brutal attack by the Haudenosaunee led by Mishi-pijiw Odjishiziwin - Panther Scar and Corn Dog (Mandamin Animosh) wipes out the remaining warriors left at Mahingan's village. Wabananag manages to hide Anoki in a small cave before she is captured along with the other women and children. Black Panther and Corn Dog split up, with Corn Dog intending to raid Algonquin settlements to the north.

When Mahingan returns to his village, he finds it burned and many dead and mutilated warriors. Wagosh is found dead in the forest and is buried. Although Mitigomij was attacked by Corn Dog, he survived after being saved by his black panther. He returns to the village where he finds Mahingan preparing to make war. Determined to avenge the destruction of his people, Mahingan rallies a large force that includes the Nippissing, the Omamiwininini, and the Ouendat, to fight the Haudenosaunee. He also enlists the help of the Innu and Malecite.  After days of pursuit, Mahingan eventually catches up with Panther Scar at the portage and a final battle between the two settles the score in his favour. While Kag is able to free his wife, Kinedigokesi he informs Mahingan that his wife Wabananag is still alive, setting the stage for the next novel.

Discussion

Canadian author Rick Revelle decided to write I Am Algonquin because there were few if any novels about the First Nations people of Canada and he wanted young readers to learn about the culture and beliefs of the people who lived here well before any European set foot on the continent.  Revelle's great-great-great-grandfather moved his family from the Algonquin reserve in Quebec to Bedford Township near Kingston, Ontario, an area that was part of the traditional lands of the Algonquin nation well before the colonization of North America. Revelle's Algonquin ancestry naturally led him to focus on his Algonquin culture. 

The novel is set in the early fourteenth century and therefore required extensive research by the author as little is known about the Algonquin people prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Revelle's goal for this novel, is that readers will "learn something that you didn't know about the Algonquins and their Allies, and that it will help in a small way to bring attention to the Algonquin language."   I Am Algonquin is overwhelmingly achieves both these goals.

Revelle details almost every aspect of life in an Algonquin family unit including hunting, food preparation and storage, games, birth and death rituals, the roles of men, women and children within the family unit and war craft. Readers also come to understand the relationships between the various nations in the pre-colonial era. All of this is done in a most effective way by Revelle, who incorporates these details seamlessly into his story along with many words from the Algonquin language. One of the more interesting rituals is that of the Wysoccan journey to manhood where childhood memories are erased by ingesting a herb that induces madness. The drug is administered over a period of days and results in memory loss. The loss of childhood memories allows the young men to be trained in the ways of a warrior.

Two aspects of life during this period stand out. The first is the unrelenting struggle to survive in the harsh wilderness of Ontario by what is essentially a stone-age culture. Mahingan states, "We were constantly struggling to have enough to eat and always battling the elements to stay warm or dry. Add the constant threat of our enemies and it was a life of never-ending vigilance." He believes, "The lives of the Omamiwininini people were always in the hands of Kitchi Manitou. Our lives seemed to be always a battle against starvation, grief, and the constant fear of our enemies."

The second is the constant threat of war and the brutality of these conflicts. Revelle captures all of this in his story. "These battles were always brutal because of the weapons we used -- arrows and lances that tore as they entered the body. Hand-to-hand combat with knives that ripped and cut. War axes that broke bones and caused tremendous head wounds." Surviving a battle wounded meant bleeding to death or dying from infection. A warrior captured alive was tortured and forced to run the gauntlet, and often brutally maimed and murdered. When the chief of the Hochelagans is captured Mahingan describes his fate. "The Hochelagan was a brave man. Not once did he cry out in pain. when he reached the end of the line he was bloodied from cuts and his feet were seared from the coals. We then gave him to the women, who took him and finished the job of torturing him until he died. The women cut out his heart at the end, and it was given to the man who had captured him."  If anything, this novel should dispel the myth that the life of the indigenous peoples in Eastern North America was one of peace and fraternity. Defending their hunting and territorial rights was essential and the consequences of war were immediate and devastating as Revelle's novel demonstrates through the character of Mahingan. The attack by the Haudenosaunee result in the decimation of Mahingan's warriors and the captivity of their women and children. 

But I Am Algonquin is not just a novel filled with the rich details of life in 14th century Ontario; there is also a strong storyline that continually holds the interest of the reader with frequent conflicts between nations, attacks involving dangerous animals, storms and a forest fire. The story follows Mahingan as he returns from an adventure-filled hunting trip that saves his village from starvation to battles with the  Haudenosee and the Hochelagans, a peace settlement with the Nippissing, the birth of his son, a forest fire and a devastating encounter with the Haudenosee that results in a cliff-hanger ending.

Revelle crafts a varied cast of characters for his novel. Mahingan, leader of his family unit is intelligent, wise, and courageous but fatally misjudges the effects of the forest fire and the Haudenosee. Perhaps the most unique character is Mitigomij, Mahingan's brother who despite a club foot, is a warrior of renowned skill. The novel is populated with a large number of supporting characters who help flesh out the story including two fierce women warriors.

Despite all of these very positive attributes, unfortunately the writing in I Am Algonquin is sometimes repetitive, at times awkward and is marred by numerous grammatical errors including the use of wrong words, mixed tenses and switching points of view. This poor editing and proofing will hopefully be corrected in the second novel and in the more recently published third novel. Canadian literature needs more stories about the First Nations people, especially before the arrival of the Europeans in order learn about their rich culture and history. These stories need to be told in an engaging way that captures the imagination of young readers but must also be well written and edited. A novel such as I Am Algonquin is the perfect vehicle to inform a new generation of Canadians about our Indigenous Peoples.

Book Details:

I Am Algonquin by Rick Revelle
Toronto: Dundurn Press     2013
275 pp.

Mary Anning's Curiosity by Monica Kulling

Kulling begins her book with the story of Mary Anning surviving a lightning strike when she was a baby. The book focuses on Mary's hunt for fossils in the large cliffs by the sea near Lyme Regis, where she and her family lived.

The ammonites and other curiosities that she, her brother Joe and their father found were sold to tourists to supplement their income.  Mary's father worked as a carpenter but his true love was hunting for fossils. He believed that the Black Ven cliffs held the remains of a giant creature, which the townsfolk called a crocodile.

Mary Anning's father suffered a terrible fall that resulted in a serious back injury and eventually led to his death from tuberculosis. Mary decided to give up school and search for fossils full time, believing that this was the only way she could save her family from the poorhouse.

Their major competition came from Captain Cury whose real name was William Lock. When Joe spotted the eye socket of an enormous creature in the shales of the Black Ven, Mary and Joe become determined that Captain Cury will not steal their find from them.

Discussion

This delightful little storybook, (it's only 115 pages) for younger readers, tells the story of 19th century British fossilist, Mary Anning. The richly detailed cover, portraying the fossils in the ground and Mary Anning with her hammer, invites younger readers in to discover the remarkable story of a young girl whose discoveries helped shaped the budding discipline of paleontology. Melissa Castrillon's fine pencil drawings accentuate the smaller details of the story.

Canadian author, Monica Kulling was inspired to write about Mary Anning after reading Tracy Chevalier's novel,  Remarkable Creatures, a fictional account of Mary Anning written for teens and adults. After reading and researching more about Anning, Kulling decided she was an inspiration for children because she persevered through very difficult circumstances and because she discovered some of the first dinosaur fossils. And of course, the fact that children are naturally curious about dinosaurs, makes this an obvious choice for a childrens book!

Kulling fills her account with fascinating details. For example, the fossils of ammonites, which are extinct but resemble modern day Nautilus molluscs were often found and sold by Mary Anning and other fossil hunters. Kulling relates that many people thought these ammonite fossils were the remains of the snakes that St. Hilda turned to stone in England.

The title, Mary Anning's Curiosity is a double entendre, the word curiosity being a common word used by the English for fossils, and of course also referring to Mary Anning's curosity in the cliffs that contained the usual finds she and her family dug up.

The book contains an extensive Author's Note that supplies extra details for adults and teachers, and there are booklists for both teachers and younger readers as well. A great short read for interested younger readers or teachers in the classroom!

Book Details:

Mary Anning's Curiosity by Monica Kulling
Toronto: Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press 2017
115 pp.

Nowhere Wild by Joe Beernink

Nowhere Wild is the gripping survival story of two young people caught in a deadly post-apocalyptic world. Set in northern Manitoba, Beernink weaves two narratives together into a gritty, heart-stopping climax.

Thirteen-year old Isabelle (Izzy) Chamberlain and her older sister Angie have been living in Thompson when a influenza pandemic strikes. Fifteen-year-old Jake Clarke is alone at a lake in northern Manitoba, unaware of what's been happening to people in the cities and towns. Izzy and Jake tell their stories in alternating narratives. Izzy's story begins in the winter when Jake is struggling to survive with his dying grandfather, Amos. The two narratives catch up when Jake discovers Izzy the next summer on his journey to Laroque to look for his missing father.

When Izzy and her sister Angie are attacked in the house they are ransacking for clothing and wood, Angie yells at Izzy to flee. She escapes, unable to help her sister. Seeing Rick, the older man who has been helping them, Izzy tells him Angie has been attacked. Rick immediately goes to the house but after a series of gunshots returns and tells Izzy that her sister is dead and that they need to return to the bush to be safe. 

They travel through the north part of Thompson, where Rick and his wife Lois and son, Brian once lived. Rick and Izzy's families were very close; her father and Rick were close and Brian was like a big brother to Izzy.  Izzy's parents died four months ago from the flu; first her father, then her mother. Izzy and Angie were taken in by Lois who was now divorced from Rick. But then she died and Rick returned to his ex-wife's home. In July, Izzy and Angie left Thompson with Rick. Food became scarce, so along with many others they had headed south to Winnipeg. Meeting survivors from Winnipeg heading north they learned of gangs who stole and killed. When their group was attacked by these gangs, Rick took them into the bush where they remained for the rest of the summer. In September when the weather cooled and they ran out of food, Izzy, Angie and Rick returned to Thompson.

With Angie dead, they now head into the bush. Rick grabs the cross-country skis, snowshoes and the deer carcass and they head out of town into the woods.Impatient, Rick blazes through the bush not caring whether Izzy can keep up. Sleeping in a thin tent, cold and hungry, Izzy and Rick make their way to a large lake which is now frozen over. In a blinding blizzard, Izzy almost becomes lost but the two eventually arrive at a dilapidated cabin that was once frequented by Rick's grandfather. While Izzy spends several days cleaning the cabin and gathering firewood, Rick sets traps and hunts for food. He begins talking about staying at the cabin permanently, referring to Izzy as Isabelle and then begins to make Isabelle a bed. However, to Izzy's horror the bed he makes is for both of them. Reluctantly Izzy agrees to share the bed not really realizing what is about to happen. Then one night as a storm rages, Rick rapes Izzy. As the rapes continue nightly, Izzy finds herself trapped in a cabin, in the middle of the bush, entirely dependent upon Rick for her survival. Devastated she realizes that when she and Angie were in the bush the previous year, Rick was raping her sister. She comes to the realization that she will have to escape, otherwise she will be trapped for good.

To that end, knowing she will never be able to fire one of Rick's guns, Izzy makes herself a slingshot and becomes adept at using it. She is so good that one day she is able to kill a hare for dinner. However, when Rick returns to find her cooking the delicious hare and he has only a small ptarmigan, he becomes enraged. He beats Izzy, throws her dinner into the fire and burns the slingshot. This only makes Izzy more determined to leave. Izzy finally decides she can no longer go on when Rick murders a man who suddenly appears at their cabin and who understanding what is happening to Izzy, attempts to take her to safety.

Meanwhile, during the summer before winter sets in, Jake Clarke sets out to learn what has happened to his father, Leland Clarke. Jake, his mother and his father, along with his eighty-year-old grandfather, Amos, had been flown in the previous June to spend a week at a cabin on a northern Manitoba lake. Their pilot, Jim Bridger, never showed up and the radio had been silent for days. Unusual for the start of the summer season. By late August they realized that no one was coming to get them. When Jake's mother cut herself while filleting a fish, her hand soon became infected and she developed sepsis. Jake's father decided to go for help - a journey of one hundred and fifty kilometers to Laroque. Leland told Jake he would return in three weeks but he never did. His mother died three days after his dad left. Amos, who is Cree, tells Jake that years of hard living after the death of his wife, Beth, have left him with little time left - maybe until spring. Eleven months later, having survived the winter, Jake is burying his grandfather and heading south to find his father.

Using maps and following the route planned out by Amos, Jake begins his journey remembering the advice of his grandfather not to travel too quickly. He explained to Jake that he will need to portage over land once the rivers turn north, to get to Sand Lakes Provincial Park and into the Churchill watershed. Fighting hordes of mosquitoes, the exhaustion of portaging, and a lack of food, Jake works his way slowly south. Along the way through ridges and small lakes, Jake remembers his father's survival checklist: shelter, fire, water, food and his grandfather's tips on traveling in the unforgiving northern wilderness.

Jake's travels on the river do not last very long however when disaster strikes. He runs into a log jam causing his canoe to sink. Without a canoe, Jake must now travel through the bush on foot which is not only more difficult but takes longer. One day in early summer, Jake hears gunshots which lead him to Izzy's cabin. Hidden in the bush,he witnesses Izzy attempting to escape using what Jake recognizes as Bill Six Rivers canoe. To his horror he witnesses Rick's vicious assault on Izzy. Unable to process what he's seen and unwilling to accept the possibility that he might have to kill a man, Jake decides to move on quickly. However, unable to get the memory of Izzy's beating out of his mind, Jake knows he has to return and help the girl whom he believes will not live much longer. When he reaches the cabin, Jake watches as Izzy tries to drown herself in the lake. Grabbing the canoe he quickly enters the lake, pulling a drowning Izzy to safety. Rick is not content to lose Izzy and despite shooting at Jake, the two manage to make it to safety. But they know Rick will not give up Izzy so easily. Can they make it back to Laroque before Rick tracks and finds them?

Discussion

Nowhere Wild is an exciting story about the struggle of two teens to survive in the harsh post-pandemic Canadian wilderness. Jake Clarke must survive a 260 kilometer journey through the bush relying on his wilderness skills to find food and shelter. Jake's narrative is filled with detailed descriptions of bush skills, encounters with wildlife and travel. His ability to overcome the difficulties he encounters will determine whether or not he survives the journey back to Laroque. Jake draws on his Cree heritage and his experience working with his father's venturing business to help him survive. Until he meets Izzy, Jack has no idea what has happened to people outside the bush.

The situation with Izzy forces Jake to confront the possibility of having to kill a man in order to save someone's life. Jake has to make a choice between being home in Laroque in ten days time or going back and rescuing a girl he doesn't know. What he does know is that "His father had asked him, all those months ago, to do him proud --to do what needed to be done." and the fact that the girl knew what was going to happen to her if she was caught by the man, trying to escape. Despite this, Jake struggles with the possibility of having to kill a man. "Deer and bears were animals -- food. To be respected, no doubt -- but food just the same. Deer blood was no more disgusting to him than oil to a mechanic. But human blood - that blood would stain. It would leave a deep, dark patch on his soul."

Two weeks after their escape, Jake realizes that Rick has not given Izzy up. Not knowing all the details of Izzy's relationship with Rick, he questions her as this will influence whether or not he needs to use his gun. Later as they are being pursued by Rick, Izzy asks Jake for the gun. Jake tells her "Even if you could handle this gun, shooting a man is not like shooting a deer, Iz." Jack wants to be the one to fire his father's gun but he still holds out hope that it won't come to that.

Izzy Chamberlain must survive the brutal abuse at the hands of Rick until the summer and she can make her escape. Izzy is a resourceful young girl but unlike Jake, because of what she has experienced she appears to have no qualms about the possibility of killing Rick. She realizes that he will never let her go.

Beernink builds his story to a heart-pounding conclusion. Not including a narrative by Rick places the reader in the same situation as Jake and Izzy; they have no idea where he is or if he's even following them and what he's thinking. Yet the confrontation with Rick is not unexpected and in that regard he's a very predictable antagonist. A map showing the location of Izzy and Rick's cabin and the route travelled by Jack south towards Laroque and Thompson would have helped place the setting of the novel. Details are never really given about the flu pandemic except that almost everyone who contracts the illness, dies, leaving a world that collapses economically and socially. 

This novel cannot be recommended for teens because of the sexual violence and gun violence it contains. This survival story could have been written without the overt violence and been just as impactful. Joe Beernink, who is a software developer living with his family in Seattle, grew up in southwestern Ontario. Nowhere Wild is his debut novel.

Book Details:

Nowhere Wild by Joe Beernink
Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd       2015
296 pp.

Blank by Trina St. Jean

Blank is a novel about a young girl's attempt to come to terms with her life after a brain-altering injury leaves her unable to remember who she is.

Fifteen-year-old Jessica Grenier wakes from a coma having no memory of who she is or how she happened to be in the hospital. Jessica describes her parents as the Woman and the Man and her younger brother, ten year old Stephen, as the Boy or  Little Man. Jessica refers to herself as the Girl. The day of Jessica's accident, April 26, is designated as the Very Bad Day, the day she was attacked by a bison bull named Ramses on her family's bison farm. She spent eleven days in a coma and has been awake now for nine days.

In the hospital Jessica looks at the pictures her mother brings in but they stir no emotion in her. She states, "...my old life is a long blank that my brain no longer fills for me." She understands what she is told but she feels nothing. "I may finally be awake, but I am hollow."

Jessica's doctor, Dr. Lavoie whom she nicknames Super Doc because he saved her, tells her although most people with her type of injury regain their memories, but he has no way to be certain this will happen to her. Dr. Lavoie encourages Jessica to continue on with her rehabilitation. A day or so later Jessica does have a few memories of the accident but these upset her so much that she becomes enraged, breaking a cup and stamping on the pieces. As a result of this, Dr. Lavoie arranges for Jessica to see a neuroscientist, Dr. Kirshbaum, who will help her manage her impulses and her anger. She's already receiving physical therapy from Ruby, who is teaching her to walk again. Super Doc encourages Jessica to give herself time to heal.

One day Jessica decides to pay a visit to the TV lounge at the end of the hospital wing. There she meets a girl with dark purple hair and a nose ring whom she dubbs Nose Ring. When she returns to the lounge, she and Nose Ring watch a soap opera about a woman who has amnesia and doesn't remember her fiance. When Nose Ring asks Jessica the reason for her stay in the hospital, she doesn't tell her about the accident. On another visit, as they are watching the soap opera, Nose Ring remarks that it would be nice to have amnesia. "Think about it. How many people get a chance to start fresh like that?" This leads Jessica to ask what she's done in her life that she would want her "whole miserable past erased". At this point Nose Ring tells Jessica her name is Tarin and she is visiting her grandmother who had a stroke.

Jessica gets a visit from her three best friends whom she knows are called the Pink Posse from their get well card. The visit is awkward though because although Jessica can remember their names, Cybil, Kerry and Megan, she cannot really remember her friendship with them. All of this makes Jessica feel deeply lonely. After another CT scan, Dr. Lavoie announces that Jessica is ready to go home. He tells her and her parents that her memory loss is not only due to emotional trauma but also due to some physical damage to her brain and that it might be permanent. Although this makes Jessica feel relief, her mother seems to have difficulty with the fact that Jessica might not return to her old self some day.

When Jessica returns home she struggles to come to terms with the person she is now compared to who she was before her injury. Her room is filled with her collection of porcelain frog figurines which she hates and eventually breaks. None of this feels familiar to Jessica who wonders, "If I lie here long enough, ... will her soul slip back into this empty shell I'm walking around in?" As Jessica struggles to put her life back together she wonders about the person she was and the person she is now. Can she come to terms with the fact that her past is gone but more importantly can she learn to live in the present, accepting who she now is?

Discussion

Blank focuses on the very personal struggle of the main character, Jessica, to restart her life after a serious head injury.  Admittedly,  Jessica's accident seems a somewhat strange and readers picking up the novel might conclude that this is a story about a gunshot injury given the cover and the title. When Jessica returns home, her room feels like that of a stranger. This leads her to try to understand who the Girl was by going through her cell phone texts and facebook posts. But although this leads Jessica to determine that the Girl was someone who liked animals, artsy photographs and motivational sayings, she finds the Girl's life remarkably bland. To Jessica, a picture emerges of the Girl as a "goody-two-shoes" and this annoys her. Jessica is also worried that as she learns more about who she was, she may not like that person. It is because of this fear that she delays looking at a personal journal her mother gives her.

It is obvious though to Jessica that her behaviour is different from before her accident; she's more impulsive and is interested in different things. She's rude towards others and she misses the comfort of having her life figured out. "I want to be her little girl again, have her take care of me and tell me everything is going to be all right. But the sad truth is, I am not her daughter at all. I'm a rude, crazy stranger who is posing as her darling Jessica."

With the help of Dr. Kirschbaum, Jessica is asked to focus on the positive things in her life. Jessica also begins to tackle certain things head on - she goes to visit Ramses, she meets Tarin again and tells her the truth about what happened to her, and she also asks her father to tell her about the accident. Ultimately it is Jessica's desire to understand what happened to her that is the impetus for her coming to accept her life as it is now. Part of that acceptance comes from learning what really happened during the accident and coming to realize that she needs to give herself a chance to make a good life for herself.

St. Jean realistically portrays Jessica's journey towards understanding what happened to her and her struggles to cope. The story feels realistic as to the effects of the injury on Jessica, her family and her relationship with her friends. Jessica also realizes that although there are some things from her past she no longer likes, she is willing to restart her friendship with her best Megan and to reconsider going to a support group.

Blank is part of the extensive canon of young adult literature on teens with amnesia that seems so popular these days. At times the pacing is slow but the mystery of Jessica's accident and her determination to discover why the seemingly good Girl did such a stupid thing are what keep the reader engaged. Overall, Blank is a good debut novel for Trina St. Jean, who hails from the lovely hamlet of Wandering River in northern Alberta. Look for more well written stories from this bright, new Canadian author!

Book Details:

Blank by Trina St. Jean
Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers    2015
301 pp.

The End of the Line by Sharon E. McKay

This touching short novel by Canadian author Sharon McKay tells the story of two elderly brothers who risk their lives to save a little Jewish girl from certain death after the Nazis overrun Holland.

The story begins in the fall of 1942 in Amsterdam where a young mother and her five-year-old daughter Beatrix are on the run from the Nazis. Beatrix is warned by her mother to never tell anyone that she is Jewish. Fleeing from the home of Mrs. Dahl, where her husband had brought them to hide,  the mother is on her way to meet a stranger, a woman who will take her daughter to a safe place. To get there they must take the tram.

Two brothers, sixty-five-year old Hans and sixty-three-year old Lars Gorter live alone together in the house they once shared with their mamma and papa. Hans and Lars, like many older Dutch, had lived through the Great War and also endured years of economic depression. In 1940, the Germans swiftly overran Holland but the Dutch people were determined to resist the Nazis and had remained loyal to their queen who was in exile in England. When the Germans invaded, Mrs. Vos, an elderly neighbour of the Gorters fled to their home.

Hans and Lars both work on one of Amsterdam's many trams, with Hans operating it and Lars collecting tickets from the passengers. In occupied Amsterdam, they, like other tram workers, have been told to report suspicious passengers to the authorities - now the Nazis. Both brothers decided they would do no such thing. They knew all their regular passengers on their tram; the nun with her winged hat, the elderly man and the students. So when Beatrix and her mother board the tram, Hans doesn't recognize them.

Their tram is stopped by a Nazi soldier who boards and begins asking the passengers for their identity papers. The young mother's papers identify her as a Jew and therefore not allowed to ride the trams. As she is taken off, the German soldier begins telling the child that she must come with them. Lars, has seen the woman's identity papers, knows that she is Jewish and knows that if the child goes with the Nazis she will not survive. And so he speaks up and tells the soldier that the little girl is his niece. No one believes him but to distract the soldier, Hans releases the tram brake and it lurches forward throwing the German off his feet and into the lap of the nun. He leaves the tram angry but the little girl is forgotten. The little girl's mother along with others from the tram are loaded onto an army truck and the little girl sits there alone.

At the end of the day Hans and Lars take little Beatrix home intending to take her to Mrs. Vos. But before they can leave the station she needs to use the bathroom. The brothers are helped in this tricky situation by a well dressed woman who, when she leaves, wishes Beatrix a good evening and walks off with a man dressed in the uniform of an SS officer.

When they arrive at Mrs. Vos's home, she tells them to take Beatrix to their house where she will meet them. When she comes to Hans and Lars home she begins to question Beatrix about where she is from and where she was going. Lars explains what happened on the train and how the Nazi's took Beatrix's mother away. Based on what she has seen over the past weeks, Mrs. Vos believes that Beatrix was being taken someplace safe to be hidden and after hearing more of their story, she helps the brothers brush her hair and has them feed her. Based on her appearance, Mrs. Vos is certain Beatrix is loved because despite evidence that the child is starving, she is clean and her clothes well mended. 

Knowing that the neighbours have seen Beatrix enter Hans and Lars home, Mrs. Vos visits each of them assuring their inhabitants that their personal secrets are safe with her and encouraging them to welcome Hans and Lars long-lost niece. The one neighbour she feels she can trust is Mrs. Lieve van der Meer. Mrs. Vos's visit with Lieve reveals that she has lost her entire family in the bombing of Rotterdam by the Nazi's and that her husband is away doing "war work".  Mrs. Vos is right about Lieve van der Meer, who offers to teach Beatrix the Catholic faith on Saturdays and for her to attend Mass with them on Sundays. Beatrix must appear to be Catholic if she is to survive the war. And so begins the story of how two shy, kindly brothers who as the result of a brave act,  save the life of a little girl.

Discussion

The End of the Line is about strangers and how the most unlikely of people can make a difference in times of crisis and danger. McKay tackles the subject of the Holocaust and the occupation of Holland in a gentle but authentic way for younger readers, while still portraying the terror and difficulties the Jewish population faced and the suffering the Dutch people experienced. McKay portrays life in Amsterdam through the latter part of the war. 

At first Hans and Lars find the Nazi's annoying until they begin to see what happens to the people on who ride on their tram. By the spring of 1943, Mrs. Vos and the Gorter brothers fully comprehend the ruthlessness of the Nazis, who have no qualms murdering even children. Hans and Lars decide the best way to protect Beatrix is to hide her in plain sight - on their tram. It is a bold move but one that works. Lars becomes an expert in studying the people who ride the tram and begins to know those who may need help, such as the young woman disguised as an old lady. He does what he can to help those who need a chance. The winter of 1944 sees everyone starving as the Nazi's seek to punish the Dutch for refusing to run the trains. McKay describes the hunger and privation Lars and Hans, Beatrix and Mrs. Vos experience. McKay relates all these experiences in a thoughtful manner that manages to capture the fear and uncertainty without being overly graphic.

The End of the Line is written in third person omniscient which means the readers have the opportunity to understand the story from the perspectives of all the characters. Hans and Lars who are bachelors have no idea how to care for a little girl but their fear of little girls is easily surpassed by their fear of what will happen to Beatrix should the Nazi's find her. The reader experiences Beatrix's terror when she reaches the end of the tram line and is alone with two complete strangers in the cement tram depot with it hanging lights. "She gazed up to bald, dim lights hanging from a vaulted ceiling. Her eyes widened, her lips quivered, she crossed her legs. This was a scary place." When Mrs. Vos is combing Beatrix's hair she notices how thin she is and realizes that she might be starving. She also realizes that despite being on the run, Beatrix's mother has managed to keep her child clean and her clothes neat.  "The child was clean, her hair soft. Even from this distance she could see that the child's clothes were well mended and clean too. Keeping clean on the run, surrounded by war, without a home, must have been very, very hard. 'This child is loved,' she whispered." We are as moved as Mrs. Vos is, fully understanding the tragedy that is unfolding.

This is an excellent short novel for those who are interested in the Holocaust and the experience of Dutch Jews and the Dutch people during the Second World War.  After liberation by the Canadians, McKay reveals what happened to Beatrix, her mother Judith, Lars, Hans, Mrs. Vos, Lieve van de Meer and her husband in the years following the war.  The Afterword explains Hitler's plans for Holland and its people whom he considered to be one hundred percent Aryan (with the exception of the Dutch Jews of course), the different sides in the war and also how total strangers worked together to save many children from the war.

Author Sharon E. McKay was born in Montreal, Quebec and now currently resides in Prince Edward Island. Her novels, Charlie Wilcox and Thunder Over Kandahar are two of her more popular novels. She continues the tradition of excellence in Canadian fiction for young adults and children with this latest novel.

Book Details:
The End of the Line by Sharon E. McKay
Toronto: Annick Press     2014
120 pp.

Kid Soldier by Jennifer Maruno

Fifteen year old Richard lives with his widowed mother in a dilapidated home in the Stoney Creek area. He's still in school but since they badly need money and Richard covets the bike in the window of Cupola's Bike Shop, he sets out to find work. Eventually his goal is to travel the world but first he wants that bike. It is 1939, and Canada is in the throes of the depression with many men unable to find work.

Richard, whose father died when he was young, is an enterprising young man, who is willing to work hard. Despite his much younger friend, Tommy's reservations about strange Mr. Vogel, Richard goes to work for Vogel helping him harvest peaches on his farm.

From there he finds work helping the town baker, Mr. Black make his deliveries. Richard soon befriends the Black family with his hard work and willingness to help. It turns out that Mr. Black is a veteran of the First World War.  Black worked in the signal corps and he encourages Richard to sign up for the army training camp he will be attending. He peaks Richard's interest by telling him about learning wireless telegraphy, and how this might be his way to getting into the Navy to travel the world. Richard comes to see the demonstrations and finds himself pushed into attending the camp.

Richard is able to enroll in the camp, despite the fact that he's underaged. After completing the camp he becomes determined to enlist some day. That time comes sooner than later when World War II breaks out. Richard enlists at Camp Niagara and is sent first to Kingston and then onto England via the Empress of Britain where he begins training. From this point on the story focuses on Richard's experiences in England and the eventual discovery that he is too young to serve.

Discussion  

Kid Soldier is a gentle story about a young teen who enlists at the start of World War II so that he can experience travel and adventure. Although Maruno's story is an important one, the bland cover and a narrative that has little action will likely not engage young readers. A book's cover should be an invitation to read, but the cover of Kid Soldier does nothing of the sort.

Richard Fuller is a truly honorable character who has a keen sense of duty and is not quick to form an opinion about those he doesn't know. When Tommy speaks badly of Mr. Vogel, suggesting he is strange for crying, Richard decides to forego expressing his opinion. Vogel offers him a chance to work and despite Tommy's reservations and refusal himself, Richard accepts, deciding he will see for himself what the farmer is like. Richard eventually learns the reason for Mr. Vogel's tears, suggesting that we can never truly know what burdens another person carries.

Although Richard doesn't seem to have a good relationship with his mother, Maruno's narrative suggests that she too is like Vogel with many burdens. Since the death of his father, Richard's mother has struggled to survive; her life is filled with endless work. Richard's dream of the bike in the store window is soon forgotten as he signs over some of his army pay to go back home. This is yet another example of his caring and responsible attitude towards others, but especially his mother.

This novel will likely appeal to boys who enjoy war stories told in a slow paced narrative style. Kid Soldier provides an glimpse into the life of young Canadian men just before the start of the second World War that is both informative and detailed.

Book Details:

Kid Soldier by Jennifer Maruno

Toronto: Dundurn Press   2013

198 pp.