Canadian Children's Literature: A Cultural Mirror

Abstract

Canadian Children's Literature:A Cultural Mirror Priscilla Ord and Carole Henderson Carpenter Canadian literature for children is distinguished neither by its abundance nor by any overall excellence. In fact, Canadians have produced little children's literature, certainly far fewer books per capita than their close cultural relatives, the Americans and the British. Even Australia has a more abundant and diverse children's literature. What is especially noteworthy about Canadian children's books, however, is the degree to which this literature mirrors the nature and central concerns of Canadian culture. It is quite commonly said that a nation's children's literature reveals much about that country—themes, values, and preoccupations of its culture. So it is with Canada. It Is most profitable to focus attention here on what is distinctive and distinguished about Canadian children's literature in English. Hence, this discussion will consist of some general commentary on the literature, incorporating a consideration of the cultural roots of the genre in Canada, and an overview of the three most outstanding contributions by Canadians to international children's literature, namely, books concerning the folklore and folklife of the native people (Indian and Inuit), naturalist works, and works of poetry. Canadians have written some works in the mould of the classics, for L.M. Montgomery's Anne books compare well with Alcott's Little Women series, Spyri's Heidi, and similar famous books. But, the classics are not "Canadian"—the country is too young to have many long-lived works and too far removed from the ancient world for its creative writers to express themselves comfortably through classical themes or symbols. There is little fantasy in the country—either for adults or for children; the natural environment is simply too real for most Canadians. The vast and frequently beautiful land in which they live seems to have possessed many Canadians and to have served as the major inspiration for their artistic endeavours. Both a reason for this situation and a result of it is the fact that the Canadian identity derives so very much from the physical environment. As the noted critic and spokesman of Canadian culture, Northrop Frye says, ". . . in Canada identity is local and regional and rooted in works of the imagination." The Bush Garden (Toronto: Anansi, 1971). Canadian children's literature reflects this concentration on the land—a cultural preoccupation which undoubtedly fostered Canada's greatest gift to the children of the world, namely, naturalist works. Just as the land becomes a veritable character in much Canadian literature generally, so its natural creatures are the heroes of the best of this genre. While the most interesting Canadian naturalist works are those that tell not of man in the land but of the land apart from man, Canadians have frequently written about people settling, battling, and sometimes surviving in this place, which is often romanticized or portrayed as fearsome. Despite the paucity of Canadian fantasy works for children, there is a rather interesting body of poems by or for children produced in Canada. Canadians publish a considerable amount of poetry per capita. While the cultural reasons for this situation remain obscure, it does help explain why the most popular current Canadian works for children are Dennis Lee's poetry books, Alligator Pie and Nicholas Knock and Other People (Toronto: Macmillan, 1974). A third work by Lee and illustrator Frank Newfeld, Garbage Delight (Toronto: Macmillan, 1977) has just appeared. Lee's works, while an unparalleled phenomenon in Canadian children's literature, are in a revered Canadian tradition of humour. Vaguely satirical, rather topical, yet whimsical, Lee's poems resemble the prose works of such admired Canadian humorists as T.C. Haliburton, Stephen Leacock, and Eric Nicol. All these great humorists, including Lee, frequently use common folk as characters and familiar places as settings and, above all, owe a considerable debt to oral tradition. There has been little such successful humour for children in Canada; indeed, the corpus of Canadian children's books is decidedly sober, or, when attempting humour, frequently silly, as in a relatively recent nationalistic work, The Stanley Saucer (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1972) by Marnie Klein. This book is a good example of the poor literature produced...