Adventures in Desolation Sound

British Columbia writer and broadcaster Lawrence has used childhood memories of family vacations as the inspiration for this story. Children of the digital age who have never roughed it will be amused, and some will be amazed, by the author’s descriptions of a holiday travelling to and staying in a remote part of the Pacific Northwest in more than somewhat rugged conditions.

Young Grant and sister Heather have experienced camping in the wet and the cold. Then their father tells them that he has been building a rustic cabin on Desolation Sound up on the north coast. Even if the name of the place sounds a bit daunting, surely staying in a cabin would be better than sleeping in a tent!

“One more thing,” added Dad. “There will be no TV

at this cabin.” My sister, Heather, started screaming.

Dad shouted that the cabin would have something

better than TV.

“W-w-w-what’s better than TV?” I stammered.

“REAL LIFE!” Dad answered.

The journey to the site of the cabin is a sequence of detailed descriptions of the long drive by car, two ferry rides, and the launching of a supply-laden boat from Cougar Nancy’s beach.

When Dad rowed us away from the beach, a seal popped its head

out of the ocean, right beside our boar, like a jack-in-the-box.

At first Heather and I jumped back, afraid, but soon we were

leaning over the edge of the boat watching the seals and the
jellyfish in the clear ocean water.

This is only the first of the summer’s many encounters with nature, from the sea life of tide pools to the plethora of land and water birds around the cabin. A local character named Russell the Hermit introduces Grant and Heather to foraging for edible plants and fishing off the dock. The indigenous people of the area are brought into the story with the mention of a seeing a former potlatch site in the area and of waving at Tla’amin neighbours paddling in their canoes while Grant’s family is out on the same stretch of water in their old rowboat.

The pictures by Ginger Ngo capture the humourous side of the adventure but also show some sensitivity in the awakening of the children to the pleasures of a simpler world. There is also an instructional element in the inclusion of the numerous images of plant and animal life. Ngo has stated that her illustrative style was inspired by old comic books, and this influence shows in the use of heavy black line, somewhat dull colours, simplified human figures and various points of perspective. On one page, we have a close-up of the family in their small vehicle, riding on a road that is so twisty that an alarmed Mom turns back to see the two kids in the back seat losing their lunch. This little vignette is contrasted with a compacted (and calmer) scene of the ferry ride: a busy stretch of open water, with the city in the distance at one side and a forest glade with some deer at the other. The family dog, an endearing round-snouted grey animal of indeterminate breed, shows up on almost every page The end papers are covered with portraits of coastal birds such as ravens, herons and gulls, all shown with naturalistic detail but also exhibiting their own avian personalities.

The fact that the book is indeed based on a true story is evidenced by the page of photos at the back showing Grant and Heather as children with their parents; the real Cougar Nancy and Russell the Hermit; and the cabin that Dad built.

Adventures in Desolation Sound is meant for the enjoyment of a single child rather than being suitable for use with a group. Slightly older picture book readers will take pleasure in the family dynamic here and in the details of all the people and places that Grant and his family encounter during an amazing summer of discovery.