Atlantic Books

Atlantic Books

Locate me
FR

100 Things You Don't Know About Atlantic Canada (for Kids)

by

Late June, 2001, I’m sitting on a Vancouver Beach reading a book called No Great Mischief, when a real-chill dude accosts me. “You’re missing the real world, man.”

By the way, it’s sunset or something. In the real world.

I’m all dismissive. “I like this world,” I say, stabbing the book with my index finger. I mean Cape Breton.

But the dude’s words dig at me. I’m travelling, after all. Checking out new terrain. And when I look up I see that the sunset is, in fact, spectacular.

Still, I love the worlds in books. That is, I love that each time I open one I know I’ll be able to escape or immerse myself at will, within new landscapes, cultures, possibilities.

This magic is particularly relevant in winter, I find, when real-world travel is more burdensome and the mere act of stepping outside can sometimes seem futile at best. Yes, we have the holidays and an infant year to fete, but then it’s another five weeks till the groundhog indicates there are another two or three or four (in NL) months to go.

At this time of year, more than any other, we seek comfort in a good book and a hot meal. Both these things have the power to transport us to another time, another place.

As Sarah Sawler (author of 100 Things You Don’t Know About Nova Scotia and 100 Things You Don’t Know About Atlantic Canada) and Karl Wells (co-author author of Cooking with One Chef One Critic) show us in this issue, comfort books and foods give us a veritable cultural and literary tour of our region, past and present.

Stories and foods are the ties that bind, in that the nostalgia they build in us become like the same family they remind us of.

[And while you’re on our tour, check out our Book Lovers’ Holiday Gift Guide insert on Page 19.]

by

100 Things You Don’t Know About Atlantic Canada (for Kids)
Sarah Sawler
Nimbus Publishing
(Ages 8-12)

(Disclaimer: I wish to gratefully acknowledge Woozles’ inclusion in this book. The opinions expressed in this review are nonetheless honest assessments.)

Readers who call Atlantic Canada home along with those who have never been to this part of our beautiful country will find much to intrigue them in these pages. Sarah Sawler, herself a native of Nova Scotia, has gathered an impressive array of informative tidbits about all four Atlantic provinces. These span a period of hundreds of years. Sawler regales us with little-known facts of history and contemporary nuggets of surprising truths.

Each of the 100 items also features a sidebar in which Sawler provides a suggestion for how you can “Learn More” or offers ideas for additional “Fun Stuff.” These include myriad parks, museums and other wonderful places children and families can visit, and an assortment of activities to delve more deeply into the various topics she touches on.

This fascinating compendium of Atlantic Canadian fun facts is enlightening for all ages but with a tone that displays a distinctly child-oriented sensibility. Sawler has kept her audience of young readers firmly in mind, not only in terms of which details she has selected for this book, but also in the easy, conversational style she has employed. She successfully manages to include an abundance of background information, when needed, to help put things into perspective and to give younger readers a clearer picture of a particular time in history.

The book showcases all four Atlantic provinces in equal measure and tantalizes readers with everything from shipwrecks and UFOs to pirates and peace pavilions. Sports, art, literature, natural disasters…they all appear here. The author highlights some of the quirkier aspects of modern life in the region, including an outhouse museum, a whirligig festical and a robot-lending library. This is a wonderful resource and a source of great entertainment for the entire family.