Canadian Children’s Books: A Critical Guide to Authors and Illustrators by Raymond E. Jones, Jon C. Stott

Abstract

Raymond E. Jones and Jon C. Stott. Canadian Children’s Books: A Critical Guide to Authors and Illustrators. Don Mills: Oxford DR 2000. Pp. 538. It is clear that in producing a critical guide to Canadian children’s authors and illustrators limited to 133 entries, co-authors Raymond Jones and Jon Stott faced important questions regarding the scope of the work, who should and should not be included in the volume, as well as how “critical” each entry should be. Both the “Introduction” to the work and the entries themselves answer these questions. In their brief introduction, which both provides a contextual framework for the entries and serves as a valuable, historical digest in itself, Jones and Stott review what are now regarded as touchstones in the development of Canadian children’s literature in English, beginning with the didactic urgings of Mrs H. Bayley in 1832. The introduction offers short annotations on the works noted, and identifies those that are especially significant from a variety of perspectives. Hence it is that Catherine Parr Traill’s survival tale, The Canadian Crusoes (1852), R. M. Ballantyne’s regional works (starting with Snowflakes and Sunbeams in 1856), and James De Mille’s school-based The Brethren of the White Cross series (begun in 1869) are identified, and some are expanded upon as entries later in the volume. Ernest Thompson Seton’s Wild Animals I Have Known (1898) and Charles G.D. Roberts’s The Kindred of the Wild (1902) are acknowledged as establishing a distinct and new literary genre in Canada, the realistic animal story. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1907) ascends to its inevitable prominence here because of its regional setting and its international reputation, while other works are cited primarily for their significance in exploring genres and sub-genres new to Canadian children’s books. Under this general rubric, the authors include Grey Owl’s TheAdventures ofSajo and Her Beaver People (1935; a story incorporating respect for nature), Roderick Haig-Brown’s Starbuck Valley Winter (1943; a formulaic wilderness adventure), Catherine Anthony Clark’s The Golden Pine Cone (1950; a fantasy) and two works by Farley Mowat, Lost in the Barrens (1956; an Arctic survival story) and The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be (1957; a comic animal/people tale).The authors credit the 1967 Centennial celebrations in Canada as the catalyst that stimulated the publishing of works for Canadian children. Three significant events from 1967 are noted as critical in the development of children’s literature in Canada; namely, the publication of Sheila Egoff’s ground-breaking his­ tory of Canadian children’s books, The Republic of Childhood: A Critical Guide to Children’s Literature in English; the appearance of the first issue 262 j Gellert o f In Review, a jou rn al focusing on C an ad ian ch ild ren ’s books and their au th ors; and the fou n d in g o f T undra B o o k s, the first sm all p u blish in g house devoted to C an ad ian children’s books as artistic creations. These three initiatives, argue Jones and Stott, signal the m aturity o f C anadian ch ildren ’s literature, and the authors advance a con vin cin g corroboration o f this thesis as they turn their discussion to the proliferation o f p u blica­ tions, initiatives and program s w hich both supported children’s literature in C anada, and reflected its status. The common element in a variety of areas linked to Canadian children’s literature in the immediate post-1967 years is that they, in one way or another, helped change the landscape for works for children in Canada. The publication of Dennis Lees Alligator Pie (1974), proved that a substan­ tial market existed for Canadian children’s books. Initiatives such as the founding of the academic journal, Canadian Children’s Literature (1975); the establishment of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (1976); the initiation of the Canadian Book Publishing Development Program (1976); programs sponsored by the Canada Council and provincial agencies pro­ viding grants to publishers and writers in the field—all were significant in...