Canada (French)


176
Croteau, Marie-Danielle (text)
St-Aubin, Bruno (illus.)
Ma nuit dans les glaces
(My night on the ice)
Montréal (Québec) : Courte Échelle, 2000. – 63pp
(Premier roman ;101)
ISBN 2-89021-431-1
Child - Threat of death - Loneliness
Fred goes ice-fishing with his father. His vivid imagination transforms the excursion into an Inuit adventure. But then, reality catches up with imagination. Suddenly, the ice float with the fishing hut drifts off with Fred. He spends a lonely night until he is finally rescued; this event brings about a decisive turn in his childhood. This story for beginning readers relates how a child confronts the fear of death and how it finds the strength to struggle for survival. Identification with the young hero will help children to win confidence and to lose the anxiety of growing up. Growing up will always bring about situations of distress – even if they are not as extreme as the one experienced by Fred – which youngsters have to master on their own. (7+)


Special Mention

177
Gravel, François (text)
Burcev, Anatoli (illus.)
L'été de la moustache (Moustache-Summer)
Ville Saint-Laurent (Québec) : Les 400 Coups, 2000. – 48pp
(Les grands albums)
ISBN 2-921620-46-4
Hat - Moustache - Fashion - Friendship
All the male world indulges in the capricious caprioles of moustache fashion. Monsieur Antoine with his »moustaches à la mode« caters for all their needs. His barber shop thrives. However, the spirit of the times disdains the hat shop of his friend Monsieur Vincent. Hats are »out«. A miracle is brought about by one of those rare living moustaches which Antoine sells only to very special customers: Gently, it smoothes down on Vincent's upper lip, caresses him like a cat and makes him happy. From now on, customers come streaming in and business booms. At the end of the summer, all living moustaches fly down south – just like migratory birds. Business resumes to normal. Author and illustrator evoke the charm of ancestral coquetteries with refined skill. The watercolour drawings stage the fashion fancies in the style of the Belle Epoque and follow the light-hearted slogans and puns of the text. One might smile upon these men with their modish musings – but because they are true gentlemen they never lack dignity. (9+) (Governor's General's Literary Award; 2000)


178
Noël, Michel
Le coeur sur la braise (Heart on the ashes)
Montréal (Québec) : Hurtubise HMH, 2000. – 164pp
(Collection Atout ; 39 : Récit)
ISBN 2-89428-409-8
Canada - Indians - Reserve - Environmental - destruction - Passive resistance
It is hardly known that the living space and freedom of the native Indians were restricted just as cruelly in the 1950s as during the time of the settlers. With this novel the author, coordinator of the Native Affairs Department, raises the issue. He denounces the scandalous conditions in the reserves while expressing deep reverence for the traditional ways of the Natives. Nature shares in the suffering of its people – a poetic device common to native story telling. Noël implies, however, that our modern times call for more inventive ways, initiatives and new forms of solidarity. (12+) <>


179
Pelletier, Francine
Les eaux de Jade (The Waters of Jade)
Montréal, QC : Médiaspaul, 2000. – 161pp
(Jeunesse-pop ;134 : Science-fiction)
ISBN 2-89420-404-3
Deep sea diving - Adventure - Maturing
This psycholocially convincing young adult novel combines various elements of the nature novel, agent thriller, science fiction and adventure story. 12-year-old heroine Jade lives on an extra-terrestial planet. Her name discloses her innate affinity to the mysterious world of the deep sea which she discovers to be her element during a diving expedition with her parents. The dangers of the voyage commissioned by a secret service help her to mature. She learns to master her fears and to calculate risks. She also establishes a new relationship with her over-protective parents, showing them that she is worthy of a trusting partnership. (15+)

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