Lights Along the River

The story is based on the author’s memories of growing up in a small town on the Magnetawan (swiftly flowing waters in Ojibwe) River. The year is 1952, and the little town of Britt, Ontario, is getting electricity. Patsy and her family are excited for the event but also apprehensive about how it might change their lives.

Many changes will improve their lives. The family will not need lanterns for light anymore. They won’t need to use a hand pump to get their water. Plumbing will be indoors. No more outhouses. Mom will get a new electric stove.

Patsy’s family is Metis, and they live near their relatives, next door to Aunt Lily and Uncle Nye. The extended family often meets for get togethers. The cousins play piano and spoons, and Uncle Nye fiddles. The rest dance and jig. Evenings are quiet. They listen to the battery radio while the children read or cut out pictures from the catalogue. Mom sews on her treadle sewing machine. On the weekends, the children play outside, sledding or playing broomball. Life is about being together and making fun together.

The note from the author describes all the improvements electricity made to their lives but also observes that the family spent more time watching television and less time telling stories around the kitchen table.

The full-page, full-colour illustrations in realistic format are beautifully drawn. They complement the text, and the details provide the reader with an authentic depiction of life in Canada in 1952. The battery radio, the treadle sewing machine, the lanterns, the clothing, and household items are all representative of the time.

Teachers/caregivers can use this book with units of study about then and now, Metis culture, and Canada in the 1950’s.

Children will enjoy reading this book or having it read to them. The text and pictures will encourage discussion around how people lived, dressed, and related to each other in the 1950’s. Comparisons could be made to new technologies today and the changes that accompany them.