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English Titles

		Across the Steel River Ted Stenhouse Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2001. 222 p. ISBN 1553370155 Ages 10 to 12
Across the Steel River Source

The setting is small-town prairie, post Second World War: one street, one railroad track; two schools, Aboriginal and white; one dominant mindset, one subjugated.

Across the Steel River is not simply a mystery. It presents the attitudes of the times about race and uses the language of the day. The frankness of the writing works well, as does the chronology of the novel. All the mystery genre prerequisites are there: a crime, clues for the reader, and an ending that resolves the mystery.

Then, there are the heroes — Will and Arthur. They are best friends who are separated at times by ideology. Will is white; Arthur is Aboriginal. They stumble from time to time in their friendship, but today, they actually stumble over Yellowfly, an Aboriginal war hero. Yellowfly has been badly beaten.

But by whom? It is certainly not the result of a train clipping Yellowfly, as the local policeman hypothesizes. Arthur suspects local whites. They decide to set out to find Yellowfly's attackers and to get justice for the whole community.

Across the Steel River is a solid read — one that explores bias, class, courage, loyalty and the friendships of youth.

–MS