A Call to Battle: The War of 1812, Alexander MacKay, Upper Canada, 1812

by Gillian Chan
Scholastic Canada
978-1-4431-0006-9
195 pp.
Ages 8-12
September, 2012

When the War of 1812 began, Alexander "Sandy" MacKay was only 13 years old, and helping on the family farm near Ancaster.  As clearly as he hears A Call To Battle, determined to join his father and older brother, Angus, in the militia, Sandy is instructed to stay behind with his mother, three younger siblings and two older sisters.  So begins Sandy's recount as he looks back on the events that have lead him to his current journey to Pennsylvania in 1820.

While 1812 progresses from the president's declaration of war in June through to the victory at Queenston, the loss of General Brock and the Yankees' fear of Tecumseh, Sandy knows little of battle experiences except as recounted to him by those returning home.  When his father is stricken with a debilitating case of gaol's fever, as is Angus but less severely, Sandy is disappointed to hear few details about heroic deeds and the glory of war.  He sees shame in the retreat of the British when the Americans capture York in the spring of 1813 and cowardice in his new brother-in-law, Eric, who does not go to war.  Regardless how his father urges him not to be so quick to judge and to look for vain glory, Sandy pursues opportunities to engage in the War.

As the War of 1812 moves into 1814, Sandy finds himself on the outskirts and then in the midst of battles, and sees the reality of war.  His enlightenment is slow but sure, seeing the death toll and drudgery of moving and burying the dead, and then the horror of death in both the British and American ranks.  He may finally experience the reality of war as he craves but Sandy can see beyond his initial expectations and ...

"cried for shattered dreams of glory and adventure that had ended with a bloody, broken boy in a wood. I cried for oblivion ..." (pg. 152)

A Call to Battle is an exceptional edition in Scholastic Canada's I am Canada series.  In any novel of historical fiction, there is the danger of emphasizing the historically-accurate events and characters rather than the story elements, particularly plot.  Gillian Chan's research and poignant emphasis on Sandy MacKay's perspective of the War of 1812, not the detailed events documented in the history textbooks, takes the book from a dry read of a military action to a compassionate look at how boys and young men may see the glory of war, that is, until experienced first-hand.  By allowing Sandy to experience war by dealing first with the dead and injured, then running errands and finally pressed into assisting the surgeon in amputating limbs, rather than just engaging in combat, Gillian Chan has made the War of 1812 in A Call to Battle more of the setting rather than the plot, enabling the reader to see the commonality of young men seeking glory from all manner of military action, be it war, battle, skirmish or attack, defense or offense.  Alexander MacKay's story could be set during World War I, the Boer War, the Seven Years' War or the War of 1812 because the lessons he learns and incorporates are universal.  Sadly, the lessons learned always seem to come after exposure to the conflict, rather than before it.  I can only hope that there are some young people who, after reading A Call to Battle, are moved to rethink their attitudes about war and weaponry and power, hopefully before first-hand experiences destroy more than just their false impressions.

Deadly Voyage: RMS Titanic, Jamie Laidlaw, Crossing the Atlantic, 1912

Written by Hugh Brewster

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-0465-4

195 pp.

Ages 9-13

2011

Often the voices of the young are rarely heard when major current events occur.  Children and young teens are "protected" by adults who negate their comments, minimize their value or, worse, ignore them completely.  However, as Hugh Brewster demonstrates in Deadly Voyage, the observations and assessments of young Jamie Laidlaw provide a different perspective on the Titanic and its sinking, and perhaps a more accurate one.

Jamie Laidlaw, 14, has been living in England with his parents for the past two years, by virtue of his father's job with the Imperial Bank.  Now, they are returning home to Montreal, with his mom's maid, Rosalie, and their Airedale terrier, Max.  Boarding the RMS Titanic on April 10, 1912 at Southampton, his parents make the acquaintance of numerous wealthy patrons, including Major Peuchen, Mr. Molson (of brewery and banking fame), and Mr. and Mrs. Fortune and their older children from Winnipeg.  Jamie, on the other hand, makes the acquaintance of several passengers who will disembark at Ireland, including eleven-year-old Jack Odell.  As boys will be, Jamie and Jack explore throughout the ship, providing a first-hand account of the design and opulence of the Titanic, from third-class to first-class accommodations, to the different dining rooms, the pool, the Turkish baths, the squash courts and the fully-outfitted gymnasium, and even to the Marconi room from which wireless messages are amazingly sent.  After Jack's departure, Jamie makes a new friend over the animal kennels where Max is being housed.  Johnnie Ryerson is an American boy (with a pet rat he's stowed away on board) who is returning to the States with his family for the funeral of his oldest brother.  Johnnie's curiosity gets the two boys in trouble with their families, as they entertain themselves with some of the Titanic's distractions and pursuing the runaway rat.

When the ship hits the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, Jamie's youthful perspective, even after having to put on his life jacket, watching young men kick a chunk of ice around like a soccer ball, is to think, "But imagine this happening to a brand new ship!  What bad luck!" (pg. 78)  However, his optimism flags after watching the few lifeboats get loaded with passengers and observing the courage and cowardice evident amongst the passengers and crew.  While his mother wants him to board a lifeboat, Jamie insists on staying behind to look after his father.  (Johnnie, however, is forced by his father to join his mother and sisters on a lifeboat, a decision that will haunt Johnnie forever.)  Left on the ship with his father, Jamie seems to come-of-age, standing shoulder to shoulder with men to prevent others from clambering into the lifeboats, helping to release another lifeboat, and ultimately, as "every man for himself", plunging himself into a huge wave to get clear of the sinking ship.

Hugh Brewster, whose award-winning non-fiction and fiction emphasize key historical events in Canada's past, demonstrates how to take a well-recorded subject (i.e., the sinking of the Titanic) and see it from a different and fresh perspective.  By giving young Jamie a voice, as he grows from a boy to a young man, and later as a grandfather looking back at the events, Deadly Voyage epitomizes the experiences of the Titanic passengers and others affected by the tragedy.  Coupled with the historical notes, glossary, and photographs, Deadly Voyage provides a comprehensive fictional non-fiction exposé of the Titanic's sinking, which only a seasoned writer such as Hugh Brewster could have produced.

***

Look for additional news about Titanic presentations and book lists in the next week, all in preparation for commemorating, on April 15, 2012, the 100th anniversary of its sinking.

I AM CANADA series

Scholastic Canada introduced the series I AM CANADA in 2010 for readers of ages 9-12.  The following compelling invitation (from www.scholastic.ca/iamcanada/videos) suggests why young readers have chosen to follow this series:

The following titles have been published in the series:

Prisoner of Dieppe: World War II, 
Alistair Morrison, Occupied France, 1942 
by Hugh Brewster
978-0-545-98594-9
2010

Blood and Iron: Building the Railway, 
Lee Heen-gwong, British Columbia, 1882 
by Paul Yee
978-0-545-98593-2
2010

Shot at Dawn: World War I, 
Allan McBride, France, 1917 
by John Wilson
978-0-545-98595-6
2011

Deadly Voyage: RMS Titanic,
Jamie Laidlaw, April 14, 1912  
by Hugh Brewster
978-1-4431-0465-4
2011

Behind Enemy Lines: World War II, 
Sam Frederiksen, Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1944 
by Carol Matas
978-0-545-99066-0
Feb, 2012



Additional information about the series, including relevant videos, discussion guides and activities can be found at the I AM CANADA website

N.B. I plan to review Deadly Voyage: RMS Titanic (Hugh Brewster, 2011) and the Dear Canada book, That Fatal Night: The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton (Sarah Ellis, 2011) in April, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

Behind Enemy Lines : World War II, Sam Frederiksen, Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1944

by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada
978-0-545-99066-0
196 pp.
Ages 9-12
2012

Scholastic Canada's new historical fiction series for boys, I am Canada, is a brilliant twin to their Dear Canada series, whose female protagonist and diary entry emphases are often tiresome for boys interested in historical fiction. Behind Enemy Lines: World War II is the fifth book in this series, due out in February.

Sam Frederiksen is an eighteen-year-old Canadian airman/gunner when his plane is shot down over Nazi-occupied France in 1944.  He and the injured navigator, Bill, are rescued by a French boy of the French Resistance who takes them to safety.  Sam joins other Allies, including James Thompson, a Brit, and Ben Webber, an American, at a local Resistance fighter's farm to help sabotage the infrastructure the Nazis use (e.g., railroads, etc.). When the farmer's daughter's fiancé is arrested, she betrays her parents and the Allies, hoping to secure his release. Luckily, the farmer anticipates the Germans' strategy and moves the Allied airmen to safety, though his own farm is burned to the ground.

Sam often thinks about his Danish family back in Winnipeg, believing in the generosity of people such as his father, the doctor, and finds it hard to believe the rumours of Hitler's assault on the Jewish people and the treachery of others in supporting their actions.  Sam is safely taken to Paris, where he meets up with Max, a Jewish member of his downed air crew,  but they are betrayed and handed over to the Germans, along with other French Resistance fighters and Allies.  Sam begins to really see the true circumstances of the occupation, especially after they are sent to Buchenwald, the concentration camp.  There Sam is witness to the emaciated prisoners in their blue and white striped pyjamas, and the cruel SS officers with dogs, and the vile smells coming from ever-burning chimneys, but Sam still holds some hope that they will be treated as POWs according to the Geneva Convention, just as POWs in Canada were being treated.

Sam's naiveté is not borne of ignorance but rather hope and honour.  He is relentless in adhering to the protocol that he only share his name, rank and service number, and in following the directions of the Allied officers they choose to lead them. When the prisoners in his cattle car are taken off and marched away at gunpoint, after an escape attempt, they are sure of their execution, but still do not cower or show shame, as they recognized the honour in following their orders to escape from the enemy.  By availing himself of the help of so many strangers and of the information they share with him, Sam gains both in wisdom and heart, during a time when many were abandoning both.

Surprisingly, there is a factual basis for this story, and Carol Matas, always a thorough researcher of history, provides extensive notes about it.  (An NFB documentary from 1994, titled The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald by Michael Allder also tells the story.) Matas provides additional notes related to the role of Canadians in WWII air operations, the work of the French Resistance fighters and the Holocaust, as well as images, of airmen and concentration camp prisoners.