Description
Nominee for the 2012 Silver Birch Express Award in the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading Program
This lavishly illustrated book brings Gordon Lightfoot's heart-stirring song, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," to readers young and old.
The song was commissioned by the CBC in 1967 to mark Canada's centennial year and it has been a classic ever since. It eloquently describes the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway -- "an iron road runnin' from the sea to the sea" -- a great feat of nation building that changed Canada forever for good and for ill, as in the process many people died and were dispossessed of their land.
Highly acclaimed, award-winning illustrator Ian Wallace brings the song to visual life with his sweeping landscapes and evocative portrayals of the people who lived the building of the railroad -- from the financiers in the east to First Nations people across the country to the thousands of navvies themselves, many of whom came from as far away as China.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 4 to 18
- Grade:
- k to 12
Awards
- Commended, USBBY Outstanding International Books Honor List
- Short-listed, TD Canadian Children's Literature Award
- Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens, Starred Selection
- Long-listed, Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable Information Book Award
- Commended, Resource Links' Year's Best
- Commended, OLA Best Bets
Editorial Reviews
This lavishly illustrated book brings Gordon Lightfoot’s heart-stirring song “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” to readers young and old...Ian Wallace brings to the song visual life with his sweeping landscapes and evocative portrayals of the people who lived the building of the railroad.
— Books For Everybody
...masterful...
— Bayviews
This volume would be a perfect addition to a unit on Canadian history or the building of the railway for any age group...Well worthwhile for all Canadian school libraries!
— Canadian Teacher Magazine
In this marvellous and yes, iconic, book, Wallace succeeds in both honouring Lightfoot's song and replaying it in a most original way.
— Globe and Mail
...heart-stirring...
— Calgary Sun
...Ian Wallace...has produced illustrations worthy of Lightfoot's song in their intensity, evocative power, and shifting moods...[a] beautiful book...
— Quill & Quire, STARRED REVIEW
Highly recommended.
— CM Magazine
The atmospheric illustrations ... capture not only the workers’ toil but also the splendor of the Canadian landscape and, obliquely, the price the displaced First Nations people paid for steam-train technology.
— Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
I don't know of another more skilled Illustrator who could have done justice to these amazing words than award-winning illustrator Ian Wallace. The visuals are just jaw-dropping spectacular!...Highly recommended.
— CM Magazine
...generate[s] an interesting discussion with young learners about how railroad construction has contributed to economic development through the movement of people, goods, and even information across long distances.
— Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children
...masterful...
— Bayviews
Although some paintings show the railway in detail, it's less a book about railroads than it is about the history and settlement of Canada itself....a huge and unusual project, and Wallace has executed it with admirable care.
— Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
...certain to inspire discussions between older readers and younger listeners about how Canada came to be.
— Guelph Mercury
Well worthwhile for all Canadian school libraries!
— Canadian Teacher Magazine
Wallace lovingly recreates the country from coast to coast. From sketches of the mountains to the Prairies to the Maritimes, the book could almost be used as a tourist brochure.
— National Post
