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CM . . .
. Volume X Number 19 . . . . May 21, 2004
The “Our Canadian Girl” series takes readers back to the scene of the worst landslide in North America’s history - Frank, Alberta (then the Northwest Territories). It was there, in 1901, in the shadow of Turtle Mountain, that miners poured in to begin digging out coal. Keeley O’Brien and her widowed father are among the hundreds who hoped to carve out a future from this enterprise. Frank is a frontier town with the individualistic types of people drawn to the tough environment. While her father goes off every day before dawn to dig underground, Keeley is left to roam the town and meet the residents. She makes friends with Patricia, a girl being raised by her beekeeper grandmothers. She befriends Violet, also a resident of the rooming house where Keeley and her father are staying. Comments from other residents suggest that Violet is a prostitute, but Keeley finds that Violet is a pleasant, kind person who is knowledgeable about art. Keeley also encounters Peter, a boy who is as mischievous and strong-willed as she. Their rivalry leads to pranks that escalate in risk. Keeley’s refusal to back down from a dare puts her in grave danger when a tremor shakes the mountain. Her ordeal is a foreshadowing of the disaster that occurred a mere two years later, in April 1903 when the mountain collapsed, killing 76 people in 100 seconds. The young reader is also introduced to E. Cora Hind, the first woman to succeed as a journalist in Western Canada despite the prevailing psychology of male superiority. Hind adds a critical voice to the festive atmosphere the mining company is trying to create about the opening of the mine, suggesting that the company’s optimism is based solely on their potential profit, not the workers’ well-being. She also suggests that politicians’ actions need scrutinizing and raises the issue of women’s franchise. Keeley’s scampish personality ensures that the plot rolls along at a fast pace. Governor-General award-winning author Deborah Ellis has created a character whose age and personality are perfect for the busy boomtown environment of Frank. Her adventures inform the reader about single-industry communities which sprang up from nothing. The town will grow as the mine attracts more workers, and Keeley will doubtless have more interesting and unusual experiences before the fateful day when many townspeople were buried in their sleep. Parents and teachers alike can use this book to encourage investigation into events in Canadian history that should be remembered. Highly Recommended Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg, MB.
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