A book review of Canada Year By Year by Elizabeth MacLeod
Stars: *****
Kids Can Press (2016)
Children’s Nonfiction
96 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains paid links.
Summary: Award-winning author Elizabeth MacLeod’s year-by-year tour of Canada’s fascinating history highlights a single milestone for every year from the country’s founding in 1867 up to its 150th anniversary in 2017. Divided into ten distinct eras, coverage ranges from politics, sports, business and arts and culture, and includes significant events both at home and in world affairs. A few examples: *1881 — A railway across Canada is begun. *1893 — The Stanley Cup is first awarded in hockey. *1908 — Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables is published. *1947 — Oil is discovered in Alberta. *2015 — Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau is elected prime minister. Along with the featured stories for each of the 150 years, the pages are filled with sidebars — with content such as short biographies, quotes, important firsts and trivia — that are linked to that year. There are also 39 capsule biographies of noteworthy Canadians at the back of the book. The topics chosen offer an inclusive historical perspective, incorporating women, Aboriginal peoples and people with disabilities into Canada’s rich and diverse narrative. Illustrations by awarding-winning artist Sydney Smith bring a contemporary feel to the stories of the past. This book is a perfect fit for lessons on Canadian history and geography. The accessible format also makes it a compelling choice for children to pick up and browse, or to search for a particular year. A table of contents and an index round out this engaging reference.
Canada Year By Year
This is a Canadian history book for children or teens. The chapters are divided into time periods such as 1867-1884 or 1900-1913 or 1967-1979. The differences between the years are not the same amount because the times are divided by what was happening in history, not a set number of years.
For each time period chapter, an important part of history is listed and then explained. The book is illustrated by Sydney Smith. The illustrations are really cute and fit well with the book.
You’ll learn about many things in the book from when O Canada was first sung to women fighting for the vote, to the world wars to the Canadian Bill of Rights. There are sidebars and quotes as well. The book covers 1867-2017 so it needs an update but is mostly current.
Canadian facts and events are obviously discussed but so are world events and how Canada was affected or participated. I think this is a good reference book for Canadian History, even for older people.
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