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You are here: Home / Uncategorized / A Mare Usque Ad Mare

A Mare Usque Ad Mare

July 1, 2012 by Alice

Canada Day quiz: You know what that is, that title?
Answer: It’s our official motto, the one on our crest, and it means “from sea to sea.”  
And for today, I have a wonderfully readable book about this great land of ours.

hey-canada.pngHey Canada!
by Vivien Bowers

Tundra Books
ISBN: 978 1 77049 255 4

This book is a trip across Canada – a road trip, with a grandma, 8year-old Cal, and nine-year-old Alice, and Cal’s hamster, who was not necessarily invited. Along the way, Alice blogs their trip, so the experience is told in a journal format that makes for a light touch, a fair dose of funny, and a highly readable journey.

There are entries about each province and territory, talking about the unique and distinctive things they encounter in each place, with a handful of interesting facts thrown in. There are occasional little history bits tucked in in comic format, for good measure, not to mention Alice’s side commentary about her car-mates.

What there is not is a single official number or statistic, nor a map with cities and land forms – in other words, this is not the book you want for a school project. Instead, it’s perhaps the only really enjoyable and readable books that introduce kids to Canada and give them a flavour for our country, for it’s far from the dry, factual material that they will encounter elsewhere. I think I’m going to start reading it to Girl 8 this week, it sounds like a great summer read to me and I think she’ll enjoy it. Not tonight, though – tonight is for fireworks!

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Canada, Grandma, journal, road trip, trip

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