Thora's Island Home. Sylvia Sigurdson. White Rock, BC: Eyja Publishing. 107pp, paper. ISBN 0-9699080-0-8. Grades 3 - 6 / Ages 8 - 11. Review by Katherine Matthews

excerpt:

Thora decided that she would have to tie the cow's tail. She took a rope from the wall and tied it to a nail directly behind the cow, then fastened the other end to the cow's tail, which now stood out like a horizontal ramrod behind the cow. This time, when she resumed the milking, not one drop came, and the cow stood defiant and still. Then she heard Hannes' belligerent voice behind her saying accusingly, "Cows hold back their milk when provoked. Your awkwardness is the cause of the problem."

The year is 1931, and twelve-year-old Thora arrives on Hecla Island, in Manitoba, from her home in Iceland. Thora has been sent to live with her uncle, foul-tempered and irritable, and her aunt, sickly and bedridden. Thora's life in Canada begins as a trial; rather than finding her a help, her uncle considers her a nuisance. She makes a friend, Signy, but her uncle won't let them see each other.