Canada Year by Year

September 15, 2016
In anticipation of Canada's 2017 sesquicentennial, a breezy year-by-year survey of its history.MacLeod takes a consciously multicultural approach, highlighting both highlights and lowlights. The first game of indoor hockey (1875) is celebrated, as is the discovery of gold in the Yukon (1896) and the birth of the Dionne Quints (1934). Likewise, Treaty No. 7, the 1877 appropriation of much of what is now Alberta, and discrimination against the Chinese, 8,000 of whom arrived in 1882 to help build the railways, are duly noted. When Canada's history intersects with world history, the book leaves North America, as in the span from 1914 to 1918, which also includes a profile of "In Flanders Fields" poet John McCrae, a sidebar on trench life, and the invention of the gas mask (by Newfoundlander Cluny Macpherson in 1915). Though the format is limiting, it's a surprisingly effective tour that gets at both parochial Canadian culture ("1955: Fans riot over Maurice Richard") and its too often overlooked impact on international affairs, as with Lester B. Pearson's part in resolving the Suez crisis. Still, for all MacLeod's admirable attention to Canada's problematic history with First Nations peoples and minorities, it doesn't get at the constant Anglophone-Francophone tension that has defined Canada from its inception, largely sidestepping it until the 1968 emergence of the Parti Quebecois. Smith's brushy vignettes include both people of color and white figures as appropriate. Both revelatory and entertaining, though not without its gaps. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

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October 1, 2016

Gr 3-7-This primer on Canadian history is informative and accessible. A significant event for each year is highlighted, starting with the country's founding in 1867 and ending with its upcoming 150th birthday celebrations in 2017. A wide range of subjects and topics are covered, including the first passenger train, Frederick Banting's Nobel Prize, and the first female prime minister. Dark chapters in Canadian history are also forthrightly acknowledged and discussed, such as the wrongs committed against Chinese railway workers and indigenous peoples. The layout and design are very appealing, with sidebars, trivia, and quotes sprinkled throughout. Smith's charming watercolor illustrations vividly capture the people, places, and events. This valuable collection is rounded out with 39 thumbnail biographies of "Great Canadians" in the fields of art, politics, peacekeeping, science, and sports. VERDICT An excellent overview of Canadian history and culture, perfect for browsing or for research.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ont., Canada

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2016
Grades 4-7 Though loosely organized into chapters such as The Great Depression 19291938 and The Digital Age 19801999, the information here is presented chronologically rather than thematically. As the title states, MacLeod proceeds year by year, discussing a notable person, group, thing, discovery, invention, event, movement, or milestone chosen to represent each 12-month period from 1867 (Confederation) to 1893 (the Stanley Cup) to 1934 (Dionne quintuplets) to 2016 (World Festival of Children's Theatre hosted in Stratford, Ontario). Sidebars fill in related facts and occasionally describe other things happening during the same year. Including excerpts from 10 earlier Kids Can books credited on the title page, MacLeod brings together a good deal of varied information and presents it clearly. Expressive line-and-wash illustrations brighten every page while reflecting the varied periods covered in the text. With the sesquicentennial of Canada's Confederation coming up in 2017, this colorful book will be a useful addition to libraries on both sides of the border.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)