Beaver the Tailor.
Houses of Adobe.
Uncle Ronald.
Fast Break.
Cathedral Grove.
Word of Mouth.
Bluebloods and Rednecks.
The Gallant Cause - Canadians in the Spanish Civil War,
1936 - 1939.
Selkie.
Beaver the Tailor.
Houses of Adobe.
Uncle Ronald.
Fast Break.
Cathedral Grove.
Word of Mouth.
Bluebloods and Rednecks.
The Gallant Cause - Canadians in the Spanish Civil War,
1936 - 1939.
Selkie.
The Spirit Lives: Planning for Success.
Bonavista North CD-ROM.
Klondike Gold Rush CD-ROM.
Northwest Passage CD-ROM.
Do It Yourself! A look at author and publisher Joan
Payzant.
The Secret of the White Buffalo.
The Jumbo Book of Science: 136 of the Best Experiments
from the Ontario Science Centre.
Bulletin Board.
Lars Klinting.
Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1996.
40 pp., boards, $14.95.
ISBN 1-55054-249-4.
Grades 1 - 2 / Ages 6 - 7.
Review by Heather Henry and Alice Reimer.
**** /4
excerpt:
Beaver sews on the ribbons. It's almost done. He just has to try it on ...Beaver the Tailor, the sequel to the popular Beaver the Carpenter, was originally published in Swedish by the author/illustrator Lars Klinting. Beaver the Tailor, like its predecessor, is an engaging story, a beautifully illustrated picture book, and a simple how-to project all in one.Too long!
Beaver cuts off a piece and sews a new hem.
Now it's ready, and just the right length.
Beaver notices that his ratty old apron has got to go. So, being a practical fellow, he decides to sew himself a new one. The story follows Beaver's follies and adventures in the classic heroic tradition. At one point he pricks himself, at another he realizes he's made the apron too long - but our hero overcomes with sheer hard work and perserverance. The illustrations are a delight. Beaver's messy workroom covers a two page spread filled with the kind of detail children love - a tiny picture of a teddy bear above the cluttered sewing table, a rubber duck tucked away on top of a wall cabinet, and Beaver himself, off in a corner, digging through some drawers. The pictures also do a large part in telling the story. After Beaver pokes himself, the next illustration shows Beaver holding up the finished apron with a bandage on his finger and a teardrop in his eye. Beaver is a solidly engaging character both in words and pictures. Finally, the story is also a guide to how to sew a simple apron.
Care is taken over details such as washing and drying fabric before sewing, and basting before using the machine. Explanations are given for these procedures in an appendix narrated by Beaver and even here the writing is wonderful. Beaver admits that basting is boring and then explains why it must be done. Beaver the Tailor is perfect for a one-on-one teaching situation. The story is easy to read out loud and the pictures are evocative and expressive. Plus, not only can children learn how to sew, but there are some lessons suggested by the story that an adult can expand upon - like the value of a clean workroom, or being careful with pins and needles.
Finally, the book teaches important values - that no one is perfect, and that anyone can achieve their goals if they stick to them.
Highly recommended.
Heather Henry is a mother and seamstress. Alice Reimer is a highschool English teacher.
Bonnie Shemie.
Toronto: Tundra Books, 1995.
24 pp., hardcover, $13.95 / paper, $6.95.
ISBN 0-88776-330-8 hardcover.
ISBN 0-88776-353-7 paper.
Grades 4 - 7 / Ages 9 - 12.
Review by Jennifer Sullivan.
*** /4
What was life like for the first people who roamed the mountains and plateaus of the American Southwest? Houses of Adobe, part of Bonnie Shemie's Native Dwellings series, provides an interesting and informative picture of life here hundreds of years ago. Like the other volumes in the series, illustration and text complement each other to produce a comprehensive look at this enduring and fascinating architecture.
In Houses of Adobe, Shemie describes the surprisingly sophisticated Native architecture of North America and the ingenious people who created it. The great houses of Chaco Canyon, for example, were built around 900 AD. "The biggest, Pueblo Bonito, had 800 rooms and 32 kivas, and could house a thousand people. Skillful masons built walls that were four feet thick at the base and rose as high as four stories." Another example of human ingenuity were the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde who lived high above the ground; their airy abodes protected them from enemies as well as environmental dangers such as intense heat, cold, and storms. Captured throughout the book is the author's admiration for the architectural marvels and the resourceful people who designed them.
Shemie's architectural training is evident in the detailed and well-proportioned drawings - the coloured illustrations in earthy tones give a real sense of the landscape. Black-and-white diagrams and full-page colour illustrations create a nice balance between text and illustration.
The book is well organized. It progresses chronologically, and shows a clear development in the sophistication of the architecture. Headings in bolded black print at the top of the page clearly divide the book according to topic while coloured maps on the inside of the cover pages help to situate the Four Corners Region within our own geography. Though architectural terms like pueblo and kiva are sprinkled throughout the book, each word is well-explained, often with the help of a clearly-labelled diagram. A short bibliography at the beginning of the book lists additional sources of information for those interested in learning more about the Southwest and Native American architecture.
Houses of Adobe is also available in French under the title Maisons d'adobe. This book, in conjunction with the others in the series, is an excellent and affordable resource for libraries and the home.
Recommended.
Jennifer Sullivan works within the Canadian Children s Literature Service of the National Library of Canada.
Brian Doyle.
Toronto: Groundwood, 1996.
138 pp., paperback, $9.95.
ISBN: 0-88899-267-X.
Grades 4 - 8 / Ages 9 - 13.
Review by Irene Gordon.
*** /4
Twelve-year-old Mickey lives with his mother and abusive father in Ottawa in 1895. Finally his mother sneaks Mickey out of the house and sends him by train to stay with her brother Ronald who lives on a farm north of the city with his identical twin cousins who keep house for him. Uncle Ronald is a gentle and kind man. He and the cousins offer Mickey the first security he has known although he misses his mother. Shortly after his arrival, Mickey's mother manages to escape as well and arrives at her brother's home, but not before being badly beaten by her husband.
In addition to the tragic story about Mickey and his mother, the novel contains comic elements in its description of the community's battle with the tax collectors and descriptions of some of Uncle Ronald's neighbours.
While this reviewer thoroughly enjoyed Uncle Ronald, I wonder how appealing the book will be to young readers. The device by which the novel is introduced (Mickey at age 112 recalling the events of his twelfth year) may put off a lot of young readers and some of the humour may appeal more to adults than to children. Undoubtedly it is a book that will be enjoyed by a certain group of young readers, but librarians may have to introduce it to children they think might enjoy it because I don't believe it is a book which sells itself at first glance.
Recommended with reservations.
Irene Gordon is a teacher-librarian who has spent the past 13 years working in a junior high school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is presently co-editor of the MSLA Journal.
Coldwell, Michael.
Toronto: James Lorimer and Company, 1995. 92pp., paper, $8.95.
1-55028-514-9.
Grades 7 - 9 / Ages 12 - 14.
Review by Jennifer Johnson.
** /4
excerpt:
"There are three days in my life that really stand out as the worst. The first worst was the day my parents told me they were getting a divorce ... The second worst day came only six months later when I got a new mother - a stepmother ... It was about a month after they got married that the third worst day hit. Sharon came home and announced that she had been assigned to a special project at work ... Sharon dropped the bomb: the job was halfway across the country."Thirteen year old Jeff Lang introduces himself with this litany of complaints about his life. As though the divorce of his parents wasn't bad enough, he has to adjust to a step-mother who is different in every way from his sports loving Mom. When a move from Toronto to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, becomes a fact, Jeff thinks his life will never be right again. Jeff's love for basketball is what leads him out of home and into the community. Sighting a basketball court, he hits the hoops and is in turn discovered by the local core of neighbourhood players. Jeff is absorbed into the gang but finds that although he matches the players on the court, he is still very much the new kid on the block when he gets set up for a detention on the first day of classes. School dynamics escalate as Jeff finds that Russell, one person to whom he can relate with candour, is targeted by the basketball boys. Problems abound for Jeff as he finds that he is pinched between parental expectations that include Russell and hanging with the hoops group which mixes theft and drinking with their basketball. Jeff does find a way for himself and ends up using his skills on the court to break away from the pattern of the streetwise ball player. In reaching out beyond the confines of the group, he finds that he is part of a new and surprising configuration, with Liz and Russell. As part of a threesome called "The Geeks," he competes for a money prize. This consolidates his new alliances at school and moves him into negotiations at home which clear the way for him to visit his Mom and make peace with his new family.
Fast Break works well as a story of challenge and personal growth where the arenas for conflict are the very familiar home, school and neighbourhood. Jeff is likeable and realistic, chaffing at the changes which he has to face at the beginning of his adolescence. Author Coldwell creates an appropriate voice for Jeff with lots of attitude and snarling back talk on the home front. The challenges facing Jeff are, however, laid on a bit too heavily. With a father barely able to express his own emotions, the family readjustments, and the social stresses of a move, Jeff should not also have to contend with the overstated horror of a math teacher on top of everything else.
A concern over the book is that the cover illustration does not reflect the age of the students in the story. Both boys appear to be somewhere between 10 and 12, rather than the 13 and 14 year olds in the story. As well, the age designation on the back provided by the publisher is for ages 8 to 13. This seems young for a book which includes theft, drinking and some fairly ugly taunting. Although readers love to read about characters slightly older than themselves, this designation does not, when coupled with the cover illustration, indicate clearly enough the subject matter within. While the book would probably be of interest to early adolescents, the cover will not be an asset, nor would it feature easily as a choice to a reluctant reader of older adolescence, again because of the juvenile look of the cover players.
An addition to the Lorimer series "Sports Stories," Fast Break adds basketball and a likeable character named Jeff to the expanding genre of sports writing. More careful attention to audience and book design is needed to ensure that the book is found by its most relevant audience.In Fast Break Jeff work out his moves on the court and off to make a new life for himself.
Recommended with reservations.
Jennifer Johnson works as a librarian in Ottawa, Ontario.
Jan Peterson.
Vancouver, BC: Oolichan Books, 1996. 133 pp., softcover, $19.95.
ISBN 0-88982-160-7.
Grades 7 and up / Ages 12 and up.
Review by Marsha Kaiserman.
*** /4
excerpt:
"Before the Clayoquot Sound protests, before Carmanah, before the Walbran and Meares Island logging conflicts, and before provincial or federal governments took an interest in Canadian forests, one little thirty-acre stand of giant trees in the centre of Vancouver Island became the focus of British Columbia's first fight for the preservation of forest. Residents and visitors alike all agreed the old-growth forest at Cameron Lake in Central Vancouver Island should be exempt from the logger's axe. The cast of characters involved in the history of the preservation of Cathedral Grove (MacMillan Park) includes some of the province's first movers and shakers in the forest industry. Today over a quarter of a million people from around the world annually walk beneath the giants and experience the coastal forests of British Columbia as they must have been before settlement. This is a testimony to the political foresight of countless people who worked and lobbied to bring politicians on side to have the park preserved for future generations."Cathedral Grove is a book of many ironies. It is a story about a valuable piece of timber land that is preserved for almost fifty years by the timber industry and is eventually donated to the Province by H. R. MacMillan of MacMillan Bloedel fame. What is remarkable is that MacMillan donated this property at the end of the second world war when the commercial value seemed unlimited. Here is a book that has as its preface its own review (see above). Finally, here is a story about forest preservation printed on paper made from trees.
It is clear that Jan Peterson loves Cathedral Grove, the park, and wants us to know and love it as she does. Having written two books on the Albernis, near where Cathedral Grove is located, she is able to provide a local perspective on the preservation of this old-growth forest. Unfortunately, as is seen in the excerpt, Ms Peterson does have a tendency to write in cliches. Nevertheless, this is a minor quibble.
Cathedral Grove, the book, contains many black and white pictures of the forest, some dating to the turn of the century. For those who plan to visit Cathedral Grove, the forest, there is a section on the trees and plants, with illustrations. I recommend both the forest and the book.
This book is highly recommended for those people, including children, interested in learning more about their history and, especially the history of the Canadian forests.
Recommended.
Marsha Kaiserman is Head of Conferences Cataloguing at Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) in Ottawa.
M.A.C. Farrant.
Saskatoon, SK: Thistledown Press, 1996.
196 pp., paper, $13.95.
ISBN 1-898449-60-X.
Grades 9 and up / Ages 14 and up.
Review by Katheryn Broughton.
**** /4
excerpt:
"....but I got a real talent - I was born with it. Like some people are good at playing the guitar or being hairdressers. Me, I got talent when it comes to guys. Zeroing in on the assholes. Always falling for a good looking face or a smooth line ... What's the matter with me anyhow? How come it keeps happening? Because I'm always hoping the next guy will be okay. So wake up and smell the smoke, Sybilla, when has that ever happened? Miss Walking Disaster. That's me."
Author M.A.C. Farrant demonstrates her considerable writing talent in Word of Mouth, a collection of stories divided into two seemingly unrelated parts.
Part I consists of one story, "Sybilla," which features the musings of the title protagonist who insists that the reports in her files at the welfare office and in social services' evaluations are simply untrue - her real story is hers, as she herself tells it.
Sybilla's clear eye evaluates her present situation - on welfare with two children - as she looks back at her early life with her alcoholic mother. She was grossly neglected until taken into care at the age of eight. Her experience with a supervised "home" did little for her, so she left, and hooked up briefly with each of the two men who fathered her children. Her hopes of, at last, being part of a family faded quickly. From here on, she is alone.
Sybilla is feisty and not without a sense of humour, despite the bleakness of her situation. When her social worker pushes her to give her baby a name ( aside from The Baby) and rejects several outrageous suggestions from Sybilla, she says "'How about Pepsi?' That was my last suggestion. I said it for a laugh. 'Pepsi Williams, after my favourite pop.'"
Likeable, despite her understandable antisocial attitudes, Sybilla is as doomed as her mother and is unlikely to be able to give her beloved children a better start than she herself had.
This story should be studied at the grade nine or ten level primarily for its literary excellence; and, secondly, because the protagonist is as susceptible as many teenagers to the lure of love through early parenthood. The story would make a wonderful film: the settings are vividly evoked, and Sybilla herself would provide a great part for a young actress.
In Part II, three related stories depict dysfunction at a higher economic level and from three different points of view. "Refusal," is told from the point of view of an unnamed female child. The child remembers her glamorous, amoral mother who often disappeared for long periods of time. She thinks of her as "the slapping woman." When her mother leaves permanently, Billy, "the Father", takes care of her with single-minded devotion. Eventually, she comes to live with Billy's sister, Alice, while Billy visits every weekend.
Alice's point of view is heard in "Secrets."
There's not a thing that was more important than my children should be safe. As far as I'm concerned it's all births, deaths and funerals, with a few weddings thrown in to keep things lively. The odd Christmas that stood out, the odd birthday. But mainly it's men and women getting through the years best they can. And disappointment. Many disappointments.Alice includes her niece as one of her children; she was a gift from her brother.
In "Navigation," the unnamed daughter has grown up and from her adult perspective, she speaks of her father. Billy made his living as a captain on the ferries working out of Vancouver. She sees his way of surviving through the image of navigation. "Don't rock the boat" is his motto.
The title of this book comes from a quotation by author Grace Paley. The quotation may also provide the reader with the connection between the two sections: "...word of mouth is sound made in the echo of God ... ear to mouth, mouth to ear, it soon became the people's knowledge."
Highly recommended.
Katheryn Broughton was born in the prairies and taught high school English and library skills for nineteen years in North York, Ontario. She has edited a book of short stories (entitled Heartland) for senior students. These days she writes about old houses for the historical society newsletter (which she edits) in her home town, Thornhill, Ontario.
Charles D. Anderson.
Burnstown, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, 1996. 263 pp., softcover,
$19.95.
ISBN 1-896182-45-3.
Grades 10 and up / Ages 15 and up.
Review by Marsha Kaiserman.
*** /4
excerpt:
"As Buell ceded the floor of the hustings, the poll was declared open for voting and Gowan's Orangemen set to work in earnest. As suspected Reform supporters approached the hustings, the Tory scrutineers blocked the entrance and began to harass and intimidate them with exhaustive questioning as to their eligibility. When it became apparent that this harassment would not dissuade Reform voters, Gowan's men increased the pressure. Buell and Howard supporters, intent on voting, were surrounded, crowded up against the hustings, punched, poked and occasionally stabbed with penknives and hatpins. In a final, humiliating manoeuvre, Orangemen would encircle the suspected Reform voter, grab his underwear and hoist the poor man's pantaloons up to his shoulders, all the while laughing uproariously."To the few Canadians familiar with their own history, the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 are remembered mostly for William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau. Some of us, when prompted, may even remember the term "Family Compact", coined by Mackenzie to describe the ruling and cultural elite of Upper Canada. To those of us lucky enough to read Bluebloods and Rednecks, there is more to this period than we were ever taught.
Charles Anderson has focussed his book on the Johnstown District, made up of the counties of Leeds and Grenville and containing the towns of Brockville, Prescott and Ganonoque. He begins by describing the protagonists, American Loyalists, post-revolution Americans, Irish immigrants, British Reformers, the various churches and representatives of the British Crown, and their inability to share political and economic power. This led to the election abuses of the 1830's, where Canadian politics resembled the worst of American politics, right down to stealing votes; and, ultimately, to rebellion.
Anderson gives us all of the local heros and villains, including Ogle Robert Gowan, founder of the Loyal Orange Lodge in North America, Member of Parliament for Leeds and self-proclaimed hero of the Battle of the Windmill. Gowan more than any other person benefitted from the Rebellion, yet we are rarely taught about him or his influence on the development of Canada. This deficiency in our education has led to serious underestimates of the mood and behaviour of the Johnstown District in current events.
Charles Anderson has written an excellent piece of work, almost worthy of a doctoral thesis. There is the right mix of primary and secondary references, the obligatory photos and illustrations and footnotes. There is one major fly in the ointment, however. This book could have used a good editor. There are a number of typographical errors, including a misspelling of Papineau's first name, in the Index of all places. While I could have forgiven these errors as minor, I cannot forgive the fact that James McGill, founder of McGill University, is identified as Andrew McGill. As an Old McGill Graduate, I am appalled.
This book is highly recommended for those people, including children, interested in learning more about their history and, especially for those living in Ontario and the Johnstown District.
Recommended.
Marsha Kaiserman is Head of Conferences Cataloguing at Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) in Ottawa.
Mark Zuehlke.
Vancouver: Whitecap Books Ltd. 1996. 296pp., harcover, $26.95.
ISBN 1-55110-488-1.
Grades 10 and up / Ages 15 and up.
Review by Joan Payzant.
**** /4
excerpt:
More than two hundred Canadians were scattered throughout the various International Brigades. By June, their numbers were likely to exceed five hundred. Within the Lincolns, they organized an unofficial Canadian section called the Mackenzie-Papineaus, in honour of William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau, leaders of the failed 1837 Rebellion against British rule in Upper and Lower Canada. The group immediately nicknamed itself Mac-Paps. Upon forming their own unit the Canadian ringleaders cabled Prime Minister King - grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie. The cable read: "We implore you from the depths of our hearts to do everything possible to help Spanish democracy. In so doing you are serving your own interests. We are here for the duration until fascism is defeated." King never replied.Author Mark Zuehlke describes his book as a work of "historical literary non-fiction." Using the participants' own words taken from letters, diaries, interviews, magazine articles and books, he presents an excellent account of this tragic period when about 1600 Canadians fought in Spain. Half of these men were killed on the battlefield.
1996 marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War, and at last the few living survivors got some recognition. How did they happen to join the fight when it began in 1936? The Gallant Cause explains how conditions in Canada led to so many of its citizens enlisting.
During the Depression, unemployed Canadian men lived and worked in government Relief Camps for a pitiable allowance of twenty cents a day. Living conditions were poor and a sense of hopelessness prevailed. Unions were organized in some of the camps, with those in British Columbia becoming especially vocal about the unemployment situation. An "On to Ottawa Trek" resulted in hundreds of men riding the rails, their destination Ottawa. But in Regina, by order of the federal government under R.B. Bennett the trains were stopped. A few of the men were allowed an audience with Prime Minister Bennett, but negotiations went nowhere. Meanwhile the men left behind in Regina were involved in a terrible riot when police suddenly attacked, armed with rifles and bayonets. 250 people were injured, most of them the trekkers of the "On to Ottawa" march.
New immigrants to Canada, many of whom had come from Fascist Italy or Germany equated the attitude of the Canadian government to that of the countries which they had quite recently left. Small wonder that the unemployed listened to the socialists and communists in the unions of the relief camps, and when the Spanish Civil War began in July 1936, their sympathies lay with the people of Spain and their Popular Front party. A Canadian Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy was formed. "United Church minister Ben Spence, who was also a prominent Ontario CCFer, was elected the committee's first chairman. Its secretary was Communist Party member Norman Freed. Vice-chairmen were Tim Buck and Ontario CCF leader Graham Spry."
Meanwhile in Spain an International Brigade was organized to fight General Francisco Franco's fascist forces. Volunteers from Canada immediately left for Spain. Zuehlke presents their stories individually and chronologically, giving a clear picture of the desperate struggles of the International Brigade against the ruthless forces of the facists, who were heavily supported by Hitler and Mussolini. Canadian Norman Bethune, who started a battlefield blood donor service; William Krehm, a young Jewish socialist; Hans Ibing, communist immigrant from Germany; Thomas Beckett, chairman of the CCF youth movement; Lionel Edwards, an unemployed accountant from Calgary; Henning Sorenson, linguist and guide for Dr. Bethune; Hazen Sise, son of the President of the Northern Electric Company; these were just a few of the Canadians who saw action in Spain and left written accounts of their experiences.
An International Non-Intervention Committee, and the Foreign Enlistment Act prohibiting travel to Spain soon cut down on relief troops for the International Brigade. Descriptions of their few triumphs and many failures make heartrending reading, at the same time telling of unbelievable heroism. In October 1938 the International Brigade was withdrawn from combat and disbanded. The financial problem of getting home to Canada was solved by two familiar Canadian names - Matthew Halton and Garfield Weston. The Canadian government was unwilling even to shoulder this burden for its citizens who had fought so bravely to battle Fascism.
This is an inspiring story of courage but a disillusioning account of the coldness and lack of vision of both Conservative and Liberal governments in Ottawa. Fortunately the horrors of fascism were recognized before WW II when Canadians fought with the backing of Ottawa, instead of its opposition.
Photographs from the National Archives of Canada, a complete bibliography and index add greatly to the professional quality of The Gallant Cause.
Highly recommended.
Joan Payzant is a retired teacher-librarian of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Anne Cameron.
Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1996.
192 pp., paperback, $17.95.
ISBN 1-55017-152-6.
Adult.
Review by Joan Payzant.
* /4
excerpt:
Selkies or Sealkies or Silkies are capable of leaving their seal skins behind and walking on earth as women or men. They often live with or marry humans, and have children who are both human and not. The women are beautiful, the men have enormous organs, and both female and male have almost insatiable sexual appetites.
Maybe I'm a prude, maybe I'm squeamish, but I don't recommend this book.
Why do so many Canadian women writers feel compelled to chronicle dreary subjects? Abuse of women and children, drunkenness and poverty are depressing enough when confronted with them daily in the news media and yet this seems to be an all-pervasive presence in modern Canadian fiction by women.
Besides the maudlin theme, Anne Cameron's Selkie is poorly structured, featuring disorienting lack of continuity, sudden flashbacks, unexplained occurrences such as warm rain pouring through the ceiling of a house, and not until close to the end of the tale does she introduce a selkie. This disjointedness, hopping around from sordid reality to wildest fantasy, from past to the present and then a leap into the future, creates a story that just doesn't work for me.
Perhaps I am biased. Having just finished Susan Howatch's masterful series, six Church of England novels, I found the contrast in writing ability between Howatch and Cameron phenomenal. Although the advertisement at the end of Selkie states that "Anne Cameron's novels and short stories have won her a devoted following," I would not be among them.
Not recommended.
Joan Payzant is a retired teacher and teacher/librarian, living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Ottawa: Aboriginal Business Canada, 1996. CD-ROM $25.00.
Sponsored by Canadian Bankers Association and Aboriginal Women's Council, with support from Aboriginal Business Canada (Industry Canada). Co-ordinated by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education.
Grades 9 to adult / Ages 14 to adult.
Review by Harriet Zaidman.
** /4
The Spirit Lives: Planning for Success is a CD-ROM published by the Canadian Bankers Association in conjunction with the Aboriginal Women's Council, Industry Canada and several other organizations. It is a multimedia teaching resource designed for potential Aboriginal entrepreneurs. It incorporates video material from the series The Spirit Lives: Aboriginal Entrepreneurs in Canada which was a project of the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education in Association with Kwakiutl District Council and Wawatay Native Communications Society.
The CD-ROM recommends a 486 DX and runs on Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. Eight megabytes of RAM are necessary, although it will operate more slowly on a platform less than the one suggested. It is easily installed. On a system that fills its basic requirements, the CD-ROM operates well, but not swiftly.
The information contained on this CD-ROM would be equally well-suited to a booklet format. The interactive portions of The Spirit Lives offer lessons, puzzles, games and a variety of scenarios in which an entrepreneur's chances of success are affected by the choices made. However, these are not essential elements that would make it a worthwhile purchase. The organization of this CD-ROM is polished, but offers more bells and whistles than are needed.
The CD opens with a picture of the narrator, who guides the user through the program. She offers useful explanations in clear audio. But, when the user wants to access different functions such as the Daytimer or the Venture planner on a regular basis, the narrator cannot be deleted.
Clicking on the right mouse button makes a menu pop up, from which the user can select the Land of Enterprise, the Venture Planner, the Daytimer or the Glossary. By left-clicking on the Land of Enterprise, the user is taken to a Main Regional Map, and can then select from seven areas: the Information Centre, Skills, the Library, Planning, Opportunity and Characteristics. By clicking on any of these areas, the user goes further into the program. For example, choosing the Information Centre provides the user with information on bank loans for small businesses, the Indian Act, and video clips from Aboriginal entrepreneurs. The Library leads to information on taxation, copyright, collateral security, women entrepreneurs and gives examples of venture plans. The information is basic. Choosing Skills offers the user the CEO Game, a timed exercise in which the player must choose the right individuals to fill four corporate positions. The CEO must choose the right combination of people and decide the salaries, hours of work and the nature of the employees' personalities. The Opportunity area leads to a laboratory, with a microscope, binoculars, etc., where the user can "examine" his or her potential.
These time-consuming gimmicks will only assist a potential entrepreneur at the earliest stages of their venture-building. The Daytimer and the Venture Planner offer blank pages on which the entrepreneur can jot down ideas or notes. The Daytimer offers hints, and the Venture Planner organizes the user's business plan, listing everything needed from the Introductory Letter to the Financial Plan, Management and the Conclusion. But clicking on each of the items listed in Venture Planner leads only to a blank page for writing. A notebook would serve the same purpose, and is easier to flip through.
The most interesting and positive feature of this CD-ROM for Aboriginal entrepreneurs is the video clips and sound bytes from Aboriginals who are engaged in business. The user finds that they come from a variety of backgrounds and have developed a wide variety of businesses, some of which are related to life on reserves. An individual might develop ideas from watching these clips. A serious entrepreneur would leave this CD-ROM behind very quickly, though, because the demands of setting up one's own business require far too much time and effort to spend time waiting for the computer to access a few lines about cash flow, the Indian Act or a page of notes.
This CD-ROM would be most applicable for a school situation where students are at the initial stages of imagining how to set up a business.
Recommended with reservations.
Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg.
Valleyfield to Cape Freels
"Home is important to people here and emotionally home is heart and soul. The way of life is precious to them. Women especially do not want to be uprooted. When something or someone from outside our community tries to destroy what's important to us, tenacity becomes the mainstay of how we act. We stick our heels in, and say, I won't leave my home and culture. In adversity, I'll show my colours and stay. Most people feel the same way - I think we'll hang on, I'm sure we will. "
The imposition of the Northern Cod Moratorium by the government of Canada in July of 1992 threatened the survival of the fishing industry and the many Newfoundland coastal communities which depend on the fisheries. The band involved approximately 40,000 fishers and plant workers with over sixty percent of these workers in Newfoundland. Many felt that this signaled the end of rural Newfoundland. But Bonavista North communities of Valleyfield to Cape Freels like others in rural Newfoundland communities have displayed the fighting spirit that reminds us they are used to hardship and challenge. They have a long history of adapting to changes in such a way as to protect a fisheries tradition which is a whole way of life. How can we explain more fully their resistance to change imposed from without? How can we understand the dynamic relationship between economic and social relations in these communities in ways that make sense of their history -- and help them and us plan for the future?
Enter an interactive world with the Communities Alive - Bonavista North high quality educational software CD-ROM. Bonavista North contains numerous archival and current photographs of the communities, maps and detailed statistical information on the state of the fishery and other industries. Demographic statistics provide up to date information of the communities in addition to a well researched text with the addition of an extensive bibliography for further reference.
Understand the fabric of rural Newfoundland fishing communities and the complex weaving of social and economic factors within these communities that creates a strong sense of belonging among both the people who live there and the fishing industry which forms the backbone of their existence. Learn why the cod moratorium which is one of the greatest regulatory changes to Newfoundland society did not achieve the expected results of a reduction in the fishery.
Bonavista North contains five units or
chapters:
Fisheries Policy: Newfoundland and Labrador - considers
the various changes in fisheries policy and why these changes had little impact
on controlling the numbers in the fishing industry.
Bonavista North: History and Current Circumstances - examines the close association of the area with the fishery, the various survival strategies the communities used to adapt to the harsh environment and the current socio-demographic profile of the communities.
Belonging to and Identification with the Community - presents qualitative and quantitative data on the importance residents place on the communities in which they live and the rich nature of their existence within the area.
The Fishery in Bonavista North - examines how the fishery forms the backbone of work activity with these communities. This unit considers the levels of fishing activity as well as the views of harvestors and plant workers on regulations, the fishers union and community commitment to the fishery.
Changing Conditions in the Fishery - examines how the moratorium affected the lives of fishers in the area, how the compensation packages touched the fishers and others in the communities and how residents feel about the general management of the fishery.
Future of the Fishery and the Communities - looks at the strong relationship between the future of the fishery and the future of the communities, it explores ways in which proper management of the fishery creates conditions for the survival of not only the fishery but also the communities themselves.
Changing Conditions in the Fishery - examines how the moratorium affected the lives of fishers in the area, how the compensation packages touched the fishers and others in the communities and how residents feel about the general management of the fishery.
Looking to the Future - considers positive and constructive directions that fisheries policy can take. It discusses how we can achieve a sustainable fishery in sustainable communities.
Other Products
Klondike Gold Rush
Northwest Passage
A Newfounde Isle
Signal Hill
Bonavista North
Coming Soon
Settlers of Upper Canada
The Golden Age of Piracy
System Requirements
PC Compatible 486 or
Pentium
Windows 3.1 or Windows
95.
4 MB of memory; VGA (or
better) display.
2xSpeed CD-ROM disk
drive.
Sound Card
recommended.
Note: (Microsoft and Novell Network version available on request).
See our Web Site for further information on all these software products
A multimedia excursion through the peculiar and fascinating events of our past
"Wealth-laden gravel in new El Dorado. Gold for the digging! No piece of news the wires can flash will set more hopes to work than this; for gold means money, ease, comfort, freedom from thousands of cares..."
Gold was discovered in 1896 in the Yukon. By 1898 thousands of adventure hungry, gold crazed migrants swarmed into the Klondike Goldfields; a grueling trek through hundreds of kilometers of wilderness in the desolate arctic. For three years Dawson City was a thriving metropolis where gold dust was the primary form of currency and fortunes could be gained or lost by a lucky claim or an unlucky round of cards. By 1899 almost all had departed, most no richer than when they arrived. The legacy of gold in the land of the midnight sun, however, is still apparent to this day in Dawson City, and the tales of grizzled prospectors remain strange, horrifying and entertaining.
The Klondike Gold Rush contains five units or chapters:
The Yukon and its Peoples - discusses the climate and geography of the Yukon and the interior of Alaska, and the first peoples who migrated from Asia across an ancient land bridge near the Bering Strait.
A Lusterless Klondike - Russian and English Fur Traders - details the exploration of Alaska and the Yukon by Russian and English fur traders in the early nineteenth-century. It concludes just after the Russian sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 and the sale of the Hudson's Bay Company lands to the new country of Canada in 1869.
Pioneer Prospectors and the First Golden Discovery - explores the shift in economic focus from fur trading to mineral prospecting in the Yukon River valley in the 1880's. The unit also covers nineteenth century gold prospecting techniques, law and order in the Klondike region, and the discovery of gold on Bonanza Creek which sparked the gold rush.
Trails to the Golden Mecca of the North - recounts the commercial frenzy on the west coast of North America as tens of thousands of ill-prepared dream-deluded, would-be millionaires prepared to journey to the gold fields. You can also enjoy the many exciting tales of fantastic luck and outstanding achievement of the gold-seekers, the darkly humorous incidents of failure -- and sometimes death.
Dawson City -- The New Eldorado - describes the evolution of Dawson City from a tent town at the swampy confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers in 1896 to a ramshackle, poorly planned metropolis of over 40,000 people -- the largest Canadian city west of Winnipeg!
Open new worlds of understanding, discover the mysterious, bizarre unexplainable and sometimes horrifying behavior of the earliest explorers of North America. Understand how the cruel, daunting polar environment lured many to their doom in the lonely wilderness, or imagine the outrageous excesses of Dawson's golden demigods and demi-monds.
Enter a truly interactive world in the History Alive Series of high quality educational software products. Each module contains over one hundred archival photographs, drawings, paintings and ancient maps; numerous modern slide shows; sixteen beautiful interactive modern maps and timelines; an extensive gallery of interesting personalities; over sixty-five revealing and poetic excerpts from the original journals of explorers, fur traders and gold-seekers; narrations, animations, sound effects and historical folk songs; and 50,000 words of rich, well researched text with an extensive bibliography for further reference.
Carve through the vast database with powerful interactive tools -- skim the unit summaries, read it like a book, search with key words and an electronic index, enter spatially through interactive maps, and temporally through interactive timelines. Use the "Themes" button to view history from the perspective of cannibalism, death in the north, inter-racial conflict, the environment, the economy and more (over twenty different themes are designed for each module). Learning and understanding history has never been so exciting or alive.
Other Products
Klondike Gold Rush
Northwest Passage
A Newfounde Isle
Signal Hill
Bonavista North
Coming Soon
Settlers of Upper Canada
The Golden Age of Piracy
System Requirements
PC Compatible 486 or
Pentium
Windows 3.1 or Windows
95.
4 MB of memory; VGA (or
better) display.
2xSpeed CD-ROM disk
drive.
Sound Card
recommended.
Note: (Microsoft and Novell Network version available on request).
See our Web Site for further information on all these software products
A multimedia excursion through the peculiar and fascinating events of our past
The Quest for the Northwest Passage through North America to the Orient has dominated the psyche of European, especially British, adventurers, explorers and merchants since John Cabot's first voyage to the New World in 1497.
The imagined wealth of Cathay drove countless glory seekers and gold diggers to frozen Arctic graves. From Martin Frobisher's 'Asian' gold rush on Baffin Island in 1576, Henry Hudson's frosty abandonment in Hudson Bay in 1610, to the mysterious demise of the John Franklin expedition in 1845, the Quest for the Northwest Passage is one of the most enduring, enigmatic and engaging stories in North American History.The Northwest Passage contains five units or chapters:
First Polar Voyagers - describes the history and lifestyle of the first, and most successful, explorers of the Arctic -- the Native peoples.
First European Explorers - tells the (mythical) story of Brendan the Bold, an Irish monk who sailed the North Atlantic in the 6th century; the Viking colonization of Vinland; John and Sebastian Cabot's expeditions to the New World; and a general overview of living conditions for sixteenth century mariners on transatlantic voyages.
Elizabethan Adventurers - details the outrageous schemes of some of the swashbuckling privateers of Elizabethan England -- specifically Martin Frobisher's 'Asian' gold rush on Baffin Island in 1576.
Hudson's Bay - explores the crazy, seemingly ludicrous and ill-conceived attempts of English navigators to locate a secret sea route west from Hudson Bay during the seventeenth century.
Fur Traders and Overlanders - studies the early fur trade and Hudson's Bay Company activities (as they relate to the quest for a sea route to the Orient) during the eighteenth century. You can also enjoy the tales of overland adventurers Samuel Hearne and Alexander Mackenzie traveling in the lands west of Hudson Bay.
The Royal British Navy - shows how following the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Navy devoted excess ships and sailors to the most organized, politically motivated and systematic search for the Northwest Passage ever -- and how ill-conceived notions of cultural superiority and the attempt to blindly-bulldog through the Arctic Archipelago led to the horrifying demise of the unfortunate mariners who scoured the Arctic for the chimera of the Northwest Passage.
Open new worlds of understanding, discover the mysterious, bizarre unexplainable and sometimes horrifying behavior of the earliest explorers of North America. Understand how the cruel, daunting polar environment lured many to their doom in the lonely wilderness, or imagine the outrageous excesses of Dawson's golden demigods and demi-monds.
Enter a truly interactive world in the History Alive Series of high quality educational software products. Each module contains over one hundred archival photographs, drawings, paintings and ancient maps; numerous modern slide shows; sixteen beautiful interactive modern maps and timelines; an extensive gallery of interesting personalities; over sixty-five revealing and poetic excerpts from the original journals of explorers, fur traders and gold-seekers; narrations, animations, sound effects and historical folk songs; and 50,000 words of rich, well researched text with an extensive bibliography for further reference.
Carve through the vast database with powerful interactive tools -- skim the unit summaries, read it like a book, search with key words and an electronic index, enter spatially through interactive maps, and temporally through interactive timelines. Use the "Themes" button to view history from the perspective of cannibalism, death in the north, inter-racial conflict, the environment, the economy and more (over twenty different themes are designed for each module). Learning and understanding history has never been so exciting or alive.
Other Products
Klondike Gold Rush
Northwest Passage
A Newfounde Isle
Signal Hill
Bonavista North
Coming Soon
Settlers of Upper Canada
The Golden Age of Piracy
System Requirements
PC Compatible 486 or
Pentium
Windows 3.1 or Windows
95.
4 MB of memory; VGA (or
better) display.
2xSpeed CD-ROM disk
drive.
Sound Card
recommended.
Note: (Microsoft and Novell Network version available on request).
See our Web Site for further information on all these software products
by Charmagne de Veer
There's a lot of people out there who dream about writing a book someday; there's some people who actually do it; there's a few who even get published ... and then there's Joan Payzant!
Payzant, who has been reviewing materials for CM since 1971, wrote Who's a Scaredy-Cat! - A Story of the Halifax Explosion in 1985. Then she spent seven years sending it out to numerous publishers, only to meet rejection.
"But I knew from having been a school librarian that it would be popular at the annual anniversary of the terrible Halifax disaster of 1917," says Payzant. "Finally, when the 75th anniversary was about to be celebrated, I decided, like the little red hen, that I would publish it myself, even though I am still of the opinion that this is a very conceited way to go."
Understanding that people do judge a book by its cover (and how it looks overall), she hired an illustrator and a designer to put the book together. Then, with $5000 she borrowed, she managed to print 1500 copies.
Who's a Scaredy-Cat! was published in July 1992 by Payzant's own company, Windmill Press. That first run was sold in five months. The book is now in its fourth printing and is on the Nova Scotia Department of Education School Book Bureau list.
"I'm selling several hundred copies each year. Hard to explain the publishing industry!," says Payzant.
To order copies of Who's a Scaredy Cat! - A Story of the Halifax Explosion, contact:
Windmill Press
37 Summit Street
Dartmouth, N.S.B2Y 2Z9.
C.J. Taylor.
Montréal: Tundra Books, 1993. 24pp., laminated boards,
$13.95.
ISBN 0-88776-321-9.
Reviewed by Patricia Fry.
Volume 22 Number 2.
1994 March/April.
C.J. Taylor's reputation as an artist and a writer will continue to grow with the publication of her fifth book, The Secret of the White Buffalo. This is the retelling of an Oglala legend, and information on the Oglala Sioux can be found on the last page. Apparently, it had long been one of Taylor's ambitions to retell and paint a legend about a woman, as she does in this book.
In this legend, the Sioux have endured a long, cold winter and they are anxious for spring to arrive and the buffalo to return. They have grown quarrelsome and there is much strife within the communitity. Two scouts who are sent to search for the buffalo find, instead, a beautiful woman dressed in white. She sends a message back to the camp that when the tribe has completed a task requiring them to work in harmony together, she will visit. She is White Buffalo Woman and the gift she brings is the peace pipe.
The pipe is described in great detail with explanations for each of its symbols and its four colours. After the gift is presented, White Buffalo Woman leaves the camp. The people watch astounded as she transforms herself into a magnificent white buffalo and, just as miraculously, the long sought for herd of buffalo appears on the plain. The pipe remains as a reminder to the people that only through peace can they solve problems and prosper in harmony together, both within their own tribe and with other tribes.
The peace pipe is one of the best-known symbols of Native American culture. It creates an instant bond between people as a symbol of friendship and is widely reputed to promote goodwill and health. Each tribe had its own origin legend for the peace pipe and it is no surprise that the Sioux, who depended on the buffalo for life, would combine their legend with a buffalo. A white buffalo, actually an albino, is so rare that its appearance in a herd inevitably took on religious significance, and this legend therefore has unusual sacred power.
Taylor's illustrations are powerful. There is a full-colour painting to balance each page of text. My favourite is the one showing White Buffalo Woman sitting in the ceremonial tent and holding the smoking peace pipe, with the smoky wisps of the four colours trailing off to curl around a symbol.
There are several paintings that show Taylor's unique way of presenting Native People against vast landscapes, unforgettable individual faces in relationship to nature.
Highly recommended.
Grades 4 to 9 / Ages 9 to 14
Patricia Fry is a librarian at Erindale Secondary School, Peel Board of Education, in Mississauga, Ontario
Carol Gold with Mary Donev, Stef Donev and Hugh Westrup.
Illustrated by Pat Cupples, Linda Hendry and Tina Holdcroft.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1994. 192pp., paper, $10.00.
ISBN 0-921051-82-4
Reviewed by Pat Steenbergen.
Volume 22 Number 4.
1994 September.
Carol Gold, author of Scienceworks,1 Foodworks,2 How Sport Works,3 and other science books for children, is the co-ordinater of the Ontario Science Centre. In The Jumbo Book of Science she combines the best of the three titles mentioned above. Once again, children are stimulated to use an entertaining hands-on approach to discover answers to 136 fascinating scientific enquiries.
The Jumbo Book of Science is organized into seven sections, such as "Body Science" and "Science That Grows on You." An index is also included. The clearly written text is complemented by lively black-and-white illustrations. This format provides the young reader with factual information in an entertaining way. Each experiment or activity clearly lists the necessary household materials and the step-by-step procedures required to demonstrate the scientific concept being explored.
A young reader's curiosity in science will easily be stimulated by the activities m The Jumbo Book of Science. The numerous questions posed such as "How do airplanes fly?" and "Where does the wind come from?" expose the child to a wide range of scientific principles. This book allows eight-to twelve-year-olds to enjoy hours of f m exploring basic science.
Recommended.
Grades 3 to 7 / Ages 8 to 12
Janice Foster is a teacher-librarian with the Fort Garry School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba
The new features, according to the CyberSchoolBus producers, will make the site more interactive, the projects will make greater use of e-mail and there will be more dialogue among students around the world as well as between students and experts in the field. For example, a new curriculum on infectious diseases, planned for the end of March, will take place in collaboration with the World Health Organization's regional offices so that students will be able to make inquiries via e-mail into specific situations in New Delhi or Copenhagen. The health curriculum, "Fighting Disease", will coincide with events organized for World Health Day.
In another project called "Country Focus" students will be able to pick two countries and the CyberSchoolBus will take them there. On a virtual ride, of course: a package of information, activities, images, live chats and possibly even music, relating to the chosen countries will be presented on-line.
Other additions to the site include a section devoted to elementary schools, a "Quiz Quad" for short, quick questions, an expanded resource area and a Model U.N. forum.
The project can be accessed at http://www.un.org/pubs/cyberschoolbus
For more information, please contact Abouali Farmanfarmaian.
One of the burning questions regarding the use of technology in education is "Does technology (computers, multimedia, the Internet, etc.) improve the education of K-12 students?" This page pulls together resources that will help educators answer this question.
Over thirty online resources have been compiled under the following categories:
DigLibns is a place to discuss practical digital library issues and problems and the impact of technology on library jobs and the profession. If the library profession is to survive as the primary interface to information in any format then libraries must retool, retrain, and reinvent.
The DigLibns electronic discussion is for the discussion of issues relating to digital librarianship. Although the discussion is primarily aimed toward librarians and library staff involved in building digital collections or maintaining digital services, anyone is welcome to join the discussion.
To subscribe to the list send the message
sub diglibns YOUR NAME
to listserv@sunsite.berkeley.edu
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/DigLibns/
Web66 - Web use in the Classroom
After a year-long absence, the Web66 Mailing List has been revived. The Web66 mailing list is for discussion of web use in the classroom, primarily focused on schools that are implementing and supporting their own web sites.
To subscribe to Web66 send E-mail to Listserv@tc.umn.edu with the BODY of
the mail containing the command
SUB WEB66 yourfirstname yourlastname
e-mail: cm@umanitoba.ca
Copyright © 1997 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364
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