Library and Archives Canada
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
This archived Web page remains online for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. This page will not be altered or updated. Web pages that are archived on the Internet are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats of this page on the Contact Us page.
Noteworthy Books with Canadian Historical ThemesFrench Titles
Cover reproduced by permission of Les Éditions d'Acadie Ltée.
It is 1755. Prémélia and her brother Fidèle find themselves abruptly separated from their parents the day after the deportation of the Acadians. They seek refuge in the forest of Memramkouke (today known as Memramcook) with their grandfather and his friend Rosalie, where they hide until the end of the war. Two years later, Fidèle leaves them to search for his parents. Almost 20 years must go by before everyone is reunited in the Memramkouke Valley in 1775. This book will interest both history buffs and adventure lovers.
Cover reproduced by permission of Livres Toundra.
In its earlier days, the National Hockey League had only a few teams worthy of attention -- many would say only one: the Montréal Canadiens. The brightest star, and most popular player, in the Canadiens' line-up was Number 9: Maurice Richard. It is easy to understand the distress of the young narrator in this story when, one day in the winter of 1946, he must exchange his red hockey sweater, which looks just like Maurice Richard's, for a new, blue Toronto Maple Leafs sweater!!! A medley of emotions -- disappointment, bitterness, humour, and tenderness -- is richly explored in Sheldon Cohen's full-page illustrations which perfectly complement the poignancy and playfulness of the text.
Cover reproduced by permission of Éditions Pierre Tisseyre.
For almost five years, young Gavin Stoakes and his sister Norah have been living in Toronto, with Mrs. Florence Ogilvy and her daughter Mary, as "war guests". War guests were children whose parents sent them to Canada from Britain during the Second World War as a way of saving their children's lives or at least protecting them from the scourge of war. This moving story invites readers to share the conflicts which the children, living far away from their parents, must face, and those they must overcome after the war, when they return home. Although it is the final volume of a trilogy, Le Chant de la lumière stands very well on its own.
Covers reproduced by permission of Suzanne Martel.
Suzanne Martel has created a masterpiece in which the customs of the coureurs des bois, the daily difficulties of pioneers, and the prejudices of the era are knit together by the love which Sophie, aged five at the beginning of this four-volume set, feels for Menfou Carcajou from the beginning to the end of the story. Linked by the intermittent presence of Jeanne de Rouville, from a previous novel Jeanne, fille du Roy, this 17th-century tale includes penetrating and detailed descriptions which give us a glimpse of the world in which our ancestors lived.
Cover reproduced by permission of Éditions Québec/Amérique Jeunesse.
July 17, 1965 is the wedding day of Suzanne, Michel Bessette's older sister. This wedding gives Michel another opportunity to see his childhood friend Sandra, his "American cousin". Everything has changed since the last time the cousins met, and Michel must conclude that every life has its share of upsets. The charm of this book lies in the skill with which Jean Lemieux recreates the atmosphere of the 1960s without assaulting the reader with too many details. In the background, traces of sixties music and subtle suggestions of a lifestyle now passé provide perspective on the upheavals of the sixties.
|
