Celebrating Canada, from coast to coast

Just in time for Canada Day, we have three new picture books for four- to seven-year-olds to help them celebrate the country’s much touted 150th birthday.

Carson Crosses Canada

Linda Bailey

Illustrated by Kass Reich Tundra Books

This book tells the story of Annie Magruder, an elderly woman who lives in a little red house in Tofino, on Vancouver Island, with her dog, Carson. When Annie gets a letter informing her that her sister, Elsie, is sick, she leaps into action and starts packing for a crosscountry road trip. Carson is a bit vague on the concept, but when Squeaky Chicken, his favourite toy, is placed in the car along with a suitcase, camping gear, dog food and a cooler of baloney sandwiches, he realizes they’re in for an adventure. And when Annie promises him a surprise at their destination, he’s all for it!

Reich’s gouache paintings, colourful and evocative, manage to capture the diversity and vastness of this land, stretching from the B.C. coast all the way to Cape Breton Island. When they finally reach Prince Edward Island and Elsie’s home, Carson discovers that a little red house is not the only thing the sisters have in common. The book’s endpapers serve as a map of Annie and Carson’s route.

I Am Canada: A Celebration

Scholastic

This book is aptly titled. With a simple, lyrical text by Heather Patterson, it features the artwork of 13 Canadian illustrators, known for their work in children’s literature, and is a lovely birthday gift for all ages. The book opens with the words “I am Canada” and Jeremy Tankard’s illustration of children hiking through lush green woods, emerging to find a solitary blazing red maple tree.

Turn the page, and a totally different illustrative style presents a city park scene by Ruth Ohi, illustrating the words: “I run, I swim/I skate, I dance.” Turn the page again, and there’s a winter scene in Plasticine from Barbara Reid and the text: “I skim over the snow/on my toboggan.”

Jon Klassen’s illustration follows, accompanying three simple words: “I have space.”

In a two-page spread, he gives us a farmhouse, stark leafless trees and, far off in a field of white space, some footsteps and a child making a snow angel. Photos and a brief personal note from Patterson and each of the illustrators help make this a wonderful book for any year.

A Canadian Year

Tania McCartney and Tina Serling

This is part of a series produced by EK Books, an Australian publisher that goes out of its way, on the copyright page, to acknowledge Canadian sources and to stress the book is “by no means a comprehensive listing of the events and traditions celebrated by Canada’s multitude of ethnic people.” Still, focusing on five fictional children of various ethnic origins, and taking a month-by-month approach, the book provides a lively overview of the sights, sports, foods and places that make this country so unique.