The Spirit of Canada: Canada's Story in Legends, Fiction, Poems, and Songs

by Barbara Hehner (Editor)

The Spirit of Canada is an anthology that celebrates our country's life and times, filled to the brim with stories, songs, poems, legends, and more. With one hundred and fifty illustrations by some of Canada's most prestigious children's book artists, The Spirit of Canada will prove to be a useful reference guide, as well as a keepsake. Beginning with native creation myths, readers are introduced to a cross-section of Canadian history. Chapters include the discovery of the New World, early settlement, and Confederation, as well as legends, humour, and multiculturalism. The Spirit of Canada highlights classic pieces as well as hidden gems. Selections include: The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service; In Flanders Fields by John McCrae; Canadian Railway Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot; The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier; This Was My Brother by Mona Gould; and I Am a Canadian #1 by Duke Redbird.

Genres: Canada, Historical Fiction, Childrens

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

BARBARA HEHNER is the author of many children’s books. She began writing over 20 years ago, entering into a partnership with David Suzuki. Together they wrote six children’s science and activity books, starting with Looking at Plants. Barbara Hehner lives in Toronto with her family.

Reviews

[Brit Chhangur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was our Canadian History read for this year. I loved learning history through folk songs and legends and poetry. Overall, it wasn’t my fav, but definitely enjoyed parts of it!

[Judedeath · Rating 5 out of 5]

How the Thunder Made Horses is a traditional Siksika tale of how Ka-tsi-tis-kuma gave horses to the people, it tells of how one day when he is bored he makes a bunch of figures from clay and when he makes horses he realizes that they're remarkable and works on refining them until they're how horses are now.

I found this story very interesting in how it worked, it wasn't just the god imagined the horses and they popped into existence fully formed, on top of having to make them out of clay he has to take things from creatures in nature to perfect them, and even that isn't perfect. It's just interesting to read a folktale where the higher being isn't some perfect conscience.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book! It's full of short stories, poems, and songs all about Canada. Even all of the artwork is done by Canadians. Everything comes from a wide variety of sources, time periods and peoples. My class (ages 6 to 10) love it! Every single one of them. The stories all of introductions to the people and the contents of the story, which are very educational even to me. Highly recommend this book for any Canadian classroom.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Aloud - 6 yrs +
Independent Reader - 8 yrs +

Worldview - Evolutionary and Old Earth Undertones - see parental warning

Setting:
Location - Canada
Time Period - Pre-Contact-Current


Review

The Editors of this book have sought to compile a collection of famous Canadian writings that seek to give the reader a deeper understanding of our country. They have included history, taught through both fiction and nonfiction, literature, poetry, art work, and song to do this.

In order to introduce the reader to a wide range of authors they have taken only short excerpts from novels. Only very short pieces of writing are included in full. In some cases this has been skillfully done, but in others the reader is left confused as if the next page is missing. Many of the stories are much better in full, and this book does not begin to give enough of the flavor of the story to inspire a reader to go and get the full version of the book. For example the excerpt of Anne of Green Gables is only three pages long.

First Nations and Inuit people as well as French Canadians feel underrepresented in the book. The included texts of first people’s lean toward Native myths and legends and writings regarding death and betrayal by white man. These are important topics to study, however the texts do little to portray the people who lived here prior to white man. It would have been nice to see a story set prior to first contact, to help children understand the depth of the loss that is covered later in the book and to reinforce the rich and diverse cultures of the aboriginal people of Canada.



Teacher Application

This book serves a brilliant purpose in a school room. It is an affordable and easy way to introduce Canadian children to a vast array of Canadian literature. It will save a teacher a great deal of time and effort as it includes important literary pieces that easily tie into most Canadian units students may be learning and have been broken down to a manageable size that could be easily read aloud in one lesson.

There is a wonderful about the author/illustrator section that includes basic biographical and contextual information.

There is an included alphabetical subject index which is an invaluable tool for any teacher wishing to pair a Canadian literature element to a unit they are teaching.


Table of Contents

Part 1: When The World Was New

How Two-Feather Was Saved from Loneliness - C.J. Taylor
Manabozho and the Maple Trees - Joseph Bruchac
How the Thunder Made the Horses - Frances Fraser
Scannah and the Beautiful Woman - Joan Skogan


Part 2: The New Found Land

Explorers and Adventurers
Thrand and Abidith - Joan Clark
Hunting For Unicorns - Elma Schemenauer
The Village That Stretched From Sea to Sea - Barbara Hehner
Chikabash and the Strangers - Geordie Georgekish, William Kapsu, John Mukash and Jane Pachano
New France
Try Not to Be Troublesome - Jean de Brébeuf
The Huron Carol - Jean de Brébeuf
The King’s Daughter - Suzanne Martel
Mon Canot - Traditional
The Great Northwest
A Coppermine Feast - Samuel Hearne
The Long Journey of “Our Dog” - Ainslie Manson
Northwest Passage - Stan Rogers


Part 3: Creating A Country

Turbulent Times
Leaving Acadia - Mary Alice Downie and George Really
The Piper’s Refrain - Richard Nardin
Brave Wolfe - Traditional
MacDonnell on the Heights - Stan Rogers
Rebels
The Boy with the R in HIs Hand - James Reaney
Mackenzie’s Call to Rebellion - William Lyon Mackenzie
Un Canadien errant - M. A. Gérin-Lajoi
Freedom-Seekers
Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd - Traditional
The Underground Railroad -Traditional
A Visit from the Slave Catcher - Barbara Greenwood
Settlers
Canadian Crusoes - Catherine Parr Traill
Caught Between Fire and Ice - Susanna Moodie
The Two Fires - Margaret Atwood
Loggers
Big Joe Mufferaw - Tom C. Connors
The Log Jam - Bill Freeman
Way Up the Ucletaw - Traditional
The True North
The Train Dogs - Pauline Johnson
The Cremation of Sam McGee - Robert W. Service
I Shall Wait and Wait - Alootook Ipellie
Voices of Sadness
The Ballad of Mary March - Stella Whelan
A Letter From Shinguacouse - Shinguacouse
The Ballad of Crowfoot - William Dunn


Part 4: The New Nation

Confederation
The First of July, 1867 - Donald Creighton
Anti-Confederation Song - Traditional
Address to the Jury - Louis Riel
Railway Builders
Canadian Railway Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot
Spirits of the Railway - Paul Yee
The Lady and the Cow Catcher - Elma Schemenauer
Seafarers
Squid-jiggin’ Ground - A. R. Scammell
Jack was Every Inch a Sailor - Traditional
Nova Scotia Song - Traditional
Pioneering in the West
First Contact with Canadian Police - Rhinehart Friesen
No Flour in the Barrel - Beatrice Fines


Part 5: Imagination

Tall Tales
Ti-Jean Brings Home the Moon - Eva Martin
Paul Bunyan Digs the St. Lawrence River -Dell J. McCormick
Johnny Chinook - Robert E. Gard
A Fish Story - bp Nichol
Ghosts and Spirits
Windigo Spirit - Ken Strange
The Giant Bear - Kiakshuk
The Spirit Song of George’s Bank- Traditional


Part 6: Canada’s Century

O Canada!
O Canada! - Calixa Lavallée and A. B. Routher
The Maple Leaf Forever - Alexander Muir
The New Land - Mark Shekter and Charles Weir
A Vanished Way of Life
Anne Comes to Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Picking Coke - David Tipe
A Secret for Two - Quentin Reynolds
A Royal Visit - James Reaney
The Wars
In Flanders Fields - John McCrae
Our Dugout - Edgar McInnis
High Flight - John Gillespie Magee
This Was My Brother - Mona Gould
A Child in Prison Camp - Shizuye Takashima
The Dirty Thirties
Flunky Jim - Dan Ferguson
The Coming of Mutt - Farley Mowat
Saskatchewan - William W. Smith
Canada At 100
How Canada Got Its Flag - Barbara Hehner
CA-NA-DA - Bobby Gimby
The Centennial Train - Pierre Berton
Why Can’t We Talk to Each Other?
Neighbours - Mary Peate
Song for Canada - Ian Tyson and Peter Gzowski
Mon Pays - Gilles Vigneault


Part 7: Fun and Games

Animals, Wild and Mild
Big Small and Little Small - Grey Owl
The Porcupine - Lenore Keeshig-Tobias
A Mosquito in the Cabin - Myra Stilborn
Just For Laughs
When the Ice Worm Nests Again - Traditional
The Sinking of the Mariposa Belle - Stephen Leacock
Sweet Maiden of Passamaquoddy - James De Mille
Kahshe or Chicoutimi - Dennis Lee


Part 8: From Far and Wide (Immigration, Folk tales, Places in Canada)

From Bonavista to Vancouver Island
The Way of Cape Race - E. J. Pratt
And My Heart Soars - Chief Dan George
Canadian Indian Place Names - Meguido Zola
Something to Sing About - Oscar Brand
A New Start
My Genealogy - John Robert Colombo
The Sandwich - Ian Wallace and Angela Wood
Show and Tell - Uma Parameswaran
You Have Two Voices - Nancy Prasad
A Suitcase Full Of Stories
How to Make a Two-Room Hovel Roomier - Harry Gutkin
How the Agouti Lost Its Tail - Rita Cox
Tet Troom - Traditional
I Am Canadian - Duke Redbird


About The Authors
About The Illustrators
Acknowledgments
Subject Index



Parental Warning

There are strong evolutionary and old earth undertones in the notes added by the editors between the stories and to some of the introductory paragraphs preceding some stories. Each selections itself is true to the original author and their world view.

There is a section on spooky Canadian stories including ghost, spirit and monster stories. Spirits of the Railway by Paul Lee is also a ghost story, but is included in a different section of the book.

A review of every excerpt included in the book has not been written as time and space will not allow for this. More conservative parents may wish to pre-read each selection.