INTRODUCING VIMY RIDGE TO YOUNG READERS
Author writes of ‘animal heroes’ to make history palatable, writes Roger Levesque.
Sometimes good writing isn’t just about the writing; it’s about how you sell the package.
Like a clever parent who finds a way to get their child to eat his or her vegetables, successful Red Deer author Sigmund Brouwer knows a thing or two about making what might seem to be less popular or obscure subject matter — in this case, the role of Canada’s soldiers in the First World War — more palatable and palpable for young readers.
Check out his new book, Innocent Heroes: Animals in War and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, just published through the Tundra Books imprint of Penguin/Random House. At first glance, it looks to be a unique set of short stories about how a few amazing animals managed to help our soldiers in what was originally known as the Great War (1914-18).
But give it a read and the book turns out to be more of a short novel with additional notes about the real-life animals that inspired the fictional chapters. Those chapters also revolve around the exploits of the Canadian platoon known as “the Stormin’ Normans,” and a trio of unlikely comrades-in-arms named Jake, Charlie and Thomas.
By the end of this entertaining novel-cum-history-text you will also learn a few crucial facts. Most Canadians have probably heard of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which took place 100 years ago this spring. Most Canadians know it was important, but how many Canadians, especially younger generations, know why it was important?
“That’s exactly where I was when I started out,” admits Brouwer. “I didn’t know why and I didn’t have a lot of interest in war stories until I started my research. I marvelled that a then-non-military country accomplished what the French said was impossible. To me, that’s the story.”
As this reader learned, the Canadian Army’s successful campaign at Vimy Ridge in Western France in 1917 was significant on multiple levels. A critical turning point in the Allied fight against Germany, the Canadians succeeded where both the British and French armies had failed. The battle involved extensive training, detailed rehearsals and innovative staging on a level the other armies hadn’t tried, and the battle earned a new respect for Canadians from both sides in the war, helping to single out Canada as a plucky new nation, much more than just another colony of the British Empire.
But that might be too much kale to chew on.
“Once I learned the details, then I had to find a way for younger readers to learn about it. Using the true stories of animal heroes for a fictional platoon was a great entry point to accomplish that and it gave me a chance to include a non-fiction part at the end of each fictional episode so that the kids could see that for themselves.”
Better to read the book and enjoy the incredible stories of carrier pigeons who maintained crucial communications between the sometimes isolated battlefront and background bases, of cats who caught rats in the trenches before the rodents could bite the soldiers, of a messenger dog who saved a platoon from one of the first gas attacks, and another dog who ran medical supplies to soldiers in the dark, of pack horses who moved tonnes of artillery shells, and of beloved animals like a lion cub (after a certain real-life bear cub named Winnie) who simply served as a mascot. Stories of dozens of human lives saved, by animals.
For many young readers of the Internet age, these stories could be a revelation about how the world and wars worked before the advent of high-tech communications. Suddenly, history becomes gripping stuff, as if the horrors of cold, loud, damp, muddy trench warfare weren’t gripping enough on their own. It’s about the triumph of the human spirit, and animals.
Along the way, you’ll enjoy Brouwer’s talent for capturing the daily banter between soldiers and his skilful talent for weaving in political and social subtext. For instance, you learn how differences in racial and social class played a role in the armed forces. One of the author’s own surprises came in discovering how soldiers from Canada’s First Nations communities played an important role.
“They gave such tremendous support to the war effort and because of that I wanted to include a First Nations soldier as one of the three main characters (Thomas).”
Innocent Heroes was edited after he solicited feedback from a class of high school students (many from First Nations backgrounds) in Punnichy, Sask., and the book is dedicated to them.
Brouwer recalls he always loved reading and had teachers who got him into good stories. With no specific direction, he wanted to write from early on and started sending out stories in his early 20s, but it was 10 years before he got his first book published. While most of his books are directed to younger readers, including the Robot Wars series and Innocent Heroes, many older readers know him for his recent success with adult novels such as Thief of Glory, something of an adult war story which won the Edmonton Public Library Reader’s Choice Award.
From the sports field to science fiction, Brouwer’s stories cover a considerable breadth of subject matter, but he says most of them involve some sort of mystery. And while his web page at Penguin will tell you he has 18 novels, the author was “reluctant” to admit he has over 140 books published (totalling over five million copies in print).
More than just a sit-at-your-desk writer, Brouwer is at least as well-known for his far-ranging school visits. Dubbed Rock ’n’ Roll Literacy, these “book tours” take in as many as 150 schools a year across the continent.
“My goal is just to help reluctant readers discover how much fun it is to discover stories through reading books. I’m careful to let them know it took me a long time to get published and that getting better as a writer is just a matter of experience. I try to explain that writing is separate from the story, that writing is just the delivery system. I’m not going to care about how good you are at writing unless you’ve got a good story.”
Students, Canadians of all ages and war veterans in particular owe Brouwer a real debt of gratitude for Innocent Heroes.
When he’s not busy, Brouwer has two children to bounce ideas off of. His family splits their time between Red Deer and Nashville thanks to the career of his wife, country singer Cindy Morgan.