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Percy is a small boy living on a farm on the prairie. It is October, and the grass is parched, making circumstances right for the prairie fires that can be started by lightning or by sparks from a settler's fire blown on the wind. Percy's father is worried about the possibility of a fire, so he plows a fireguard around the house and barn. Percy wants to help plow, but he is too little. One day he is out on the prairie when he spots an odd-looking cloud. A fire! Percy runs back to the farm to warn his mother and father. In an effort to keep the fire at bay, the family battles the sparks. It is Percy's job to guard the haystacks and buildings by dousing the sparks with water from the rain barrel. Percy is scared, and the smoke is thick and the air is hot. His horse is scared too, but Percy manages to keep her calm by wrapping her eyes with his shirt. He succeeds in keeping all the sparks from lighting and when the fire has gone, the family rejoices. The farm has beem saved, and Percy's father acknowledges how grown-up Percy is. Don Kilby's illustrations are detailed and full of colour, which enhances the reader's involvement in the story and feeling of panic in the face of nature's fiery fury.
Bryan Troupe was 10 years old the summer he moved from the arid Alberta Badlands to rainy Vancouver Island. It was there that he experienced trees and the ocean for the first time. This story takes place over the spring and summer when Bryan is 15. His mother, Iris, is trying to prevent the cutting of the Orca Sound rainforest on Vancouver Island. His uncle Jimmy, who lives with them, is an unemployed logger. We hear the opposing views about the forest industry from Iris and Jimmy. Bryan leads a busy life as he works as housekeeper/cook for Iris's bed and breakfast, attends school, gets to know his first girlfriend, Ellen, and helps Walter, his neighbour, with his whale watching trips. During one trip, Bryan falls overboard and hears the whales sing. What are they trying to tell him? After school is out, the conflict between the logging protesters and the forest industry heats up, dividing Iris and Jimmy, Ellen is sent away, and Bryan is upset and angry because of all the changes in his life. There are acts of vandalism, and people are being arrested. People like Bryan who had been sitting on the fence must decide which side to support. After several painful experiences, detective work and seeing his own family and friends hurt, Bryan slowly comes to his decision. Finally he understands what the whales were saying. Trees and the ocean are central to this novel. They are eternal, while so much in Bryan's life has altered forever. Iris, Jimmy and Walter each represent a different view of and relationship with nature. Throughout the book, Bryan examines these views in a thought-provoking manner, which expands the reader's knowledge of the forest industry in an objective manner. The action, suspense and mystery in this novel will hold a teen's interest to the end.
Let's go back 210 years and witness a maple key (seed) fall and find a place to eventually sprout on an old rotting log. Flash forward to the present, and the life cycle has completed itself: the tree that grew from that key is now a fallen trunk out of which a new sapling grows. In-between is the story of a single tree in a forest. How interesting can this be? A lot more than one might expect, for as the maple grows, the seasons pass by, followed by the years, and many changes happen to both the tree and its forest community. Creatures make their homes in the tree, Aboriginal peoples play under its branches, settlers tap its sap, forest fires threaten its survival, and, through it all, the tree grows strong and tall. Eventually lightning strikes, and the decline of the crippled tree begins until the dead, rotted tree has given itself back to the forest soil. Wonderful full-colour illustrations demonstrate the glorious beauty and complexity of the forest and its many inhabitants. The story allows the reader to realize the majesty of the old forest, the incredible interconnectedness of all living things found within it, and the oft-hidden glory of a single tree that has silently seen generations pass by under its spreading boughs.
Whalesinger is a finely crafted page-turner. In the novel, fog saturates the California coastline. Just like that blanket of fog, author Welwyn Wilton Katz's story is steeped in murky suspense and intrigue. And there's more, much more. Whalesinger delves into issues of the environment, history, whalespeak, selfishness, selflessness and love. Nick is a bitter 17-year-old research assistant working on a conservation project in California. He had wanted to get away from his family in Vancouver and the memory of his brother's mysterious death. Instead, he ends up working much of the time from a ship whose owner may have murdered his brother. Along the way, Nick meets Marty, a tentative girl just a bit younger than himself. Marty doesn't have a lot of self-esteem, but she's intuitive and giving and understands whales and how to relate to them. Nick and Marty team up to find out what really happened to Nick's brother. Along the way, there are late-night swims with whales, suspicious conservation practices, historical ships, an earthquake and lessons learned about the human condition.
Abigail's ninth birthday has arrived. She wants only one thing - to go on the annual winter camping trip with her father and brother. They leave the city behind as they drive deep into the frozen countryside. There, they strap on snowshoes for the last leg of their journey to the campsite. Abigail eats chicken stew while she listens to her brother's and father's tales of their former trips. This year Abigail will have tales of her own about creating a pine-bough bed, finding a rack of deer antlers and freeing a fawn caught in a fishing line. Abigail will have experienced "the best birthday gift ever." The story begins with the age-old theme "when you are older you can …" and this year Abigail is finally old enough. She has grown bigger and stronger, and even knows how to run in snowshoes. Abigail's pleasure in the journey, the camp and the scenery is infectious. Even though tired and hungry, she runs up a huge rock to see the view. She uses her head to free the fawn, and her heart to feel the essence of the bush and its inhabitants. The story flows like a river with realistic characters using language suitable for children to age eight. Wallace's illustrations are detailed, accurate and show his love of the bush. The pictures are alive with movement and sunlight, and the two-page fawn-in-flight illustration is superb. |
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