Best of
Canada

1942

The Book of Small


Emily Carr - 1942
    Her first book, Klee Wyck, won the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction in 1941. The Book of Small is a collection of thirty-six word sketches in which Emily Carr relates anecdotes about her life as a young girl in the frontier town of Victoria. She notes: "There were a great many things that I only half understood, such as saloons and the Royal Family and the Chain Gang." The young Emily, who gave herself the nickname "Small," was an intense, observant and sensitive yet rebellious child, who often got into scrapes because of her frankness or innocence. The vividly told stories reveal an awareness of the comedy -- and pathos -- of people and situations. The also offer an intimate look into childhood in a pioneer society in Victorian Times. The Book of Small is a classic memoir of early childhood and a wonderful addition to The Emily Carr Library.In her empathetic and engaging introduction, award-winning children’s writer Sarah Ellis puts The Book of Small into the context of Emily Carr’s life and times, which, she points out, have similarities to those of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Beatrix Potter.

The St Lawrence (Rivers of America series, #20)


Henry Beston - 1942
    Lawrence River has been an integral player in the formation of Canada as we know it today. But as writer and naturalist Henry Beston reminds us, this great passageway carries much more than historical significance to the wildlife of its waters and banks. Travelling along the river more than 70 years ago, Beston expertly observed its natural environment as he researched the greatest survey of the land and its people that had yet been written.