Canadian Fiction for Children – Beyond Anne of Green Gables

Many recommendations for children’s fiction are American or classic British literature which are both wonderful, but leave a gap for Canadians looking for some good reflections of our own country.

When mention of Canadian literature is made, I find the first title mentioned is Anne of Green Gables which, again, is a fantastic read, but not the only game in town. I’m listing some Canadian authors whose work I’ve enjoyed, my children have enjoyed, or who I’ve heard enough glowing reviews about that I feel comfortable recommending. This list isn’t exhaustive by any stretch but it might be a starting point. 

Should we start with L.M. Montgomery, but without Anne of Green Gables, which I don’t think needs an introduction?

L.M. Montgomery

Lucy Maude Montgomery was the author of the Anne series but wrote some lesser known stories as well. My favourite book of hers is Emily of New Moon. Emily is an orphaned girl living with two aunts, one warm and approachable and the other not, on Prince Edward Island.

Emily has a wonderful way with words and a gift for writing. She makes her way through difficult times among a host of interesting characters and friends, including three of her own age. There seems to be a general understanding that Emily is a character who reflects a great deal of Montgomery herself, particularly with her clear goal of becoming a writer and her experience of “the flash.” It is the first book of a trilogy that also includes Emily Climbs and Emily’s Quest. 

Lucy Maude Montgomery also wrote Rilla of Ingleside, Jane of Lantern Hill and The Story Girl as well as various novels for adults.

Bernice Thurman Hunter 

Here’s my favourite author of the bunch! My most-loved Bernice Thurman Hunter book is That Scatterbrain Booky.  It’s the first book in a trilogy that also includes, With Love from Booky and As Ever, Booky.  It follows the story of Bea (affectionately known as “Booky” by her mother) as she makes her way through everyday life in Depression Era Toronto. She is spunky, earnest and inquisitive. It is a fascinating look at poverty through the eyes of a child as she recounts their daily struggles in a matter of fact way, and often with some humour. 

I also found it to be a multi-faceted look at family. So often children’s novels we’ve read either feature families as “good” (Little Women, Little House on the Prairie, All of a Kind Family) with a few little quirks to keep things real, or “bad” or “mean”  (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Outsiders) with just a few endearing or vulnerable moments. Most people know from experience that families, immediate and extended, have a whole lot more complexity weaving through their dynamics.

Bea’s family is not stereotyped in either direction and encompasses characteristics that we don’t always see portrayed at the same time … close-knit and breaking apart, wonderfully loving and occasionally abusive, poverty-stricken and clean as a whistle, ashamed and proud, an unemployed father and aunts with successful businesses, urban extended family and rural extended family. 

I first read the series as a child and enjoyed reading it again with my own kids, and honestly, even just for myself. Hunter wrote other books such as Janey’s Choice, Amy’s Promise and the Margaret Trilogy.

Barbara Greenwood

Barbara Greenwood is likely most famous for her Kids Can Press Books such as The Last Safehouse, A Pioneer Thanksgiving and A Pioneer Christmas. These books are a really engaging combination of fictional story and non-fiction with fact boxes, activities and recipes woven throughout the story of an east coast pioneer family. That being said, there is another Barbara Greenwood book that is my favourite! I have a feeling it’s a lesser known title, but our gang here really enjoyed it. 

A Question of Loyalty is a work of historical fiction featuring two teen characters who form a bond while on opposite sides of the Rebellion of 1837. What else, right? It’s the stuff child and teen fiction is made of, building the mental muscles of seeing things from various perspectives, identifying with and developing empathy for different characters and developing critical thinking.

Scholastic says, Finding the wounded rebel in the barn is just the beginning of Deborah’s troubles. If she is caught hiding Dan, her family will be branded traitors and their barn burned. If she turns him over to the sheriff, he will be hanged! Deborah is torn between a father she has always trusted to be right, and the wounded boy who begs for her help. A gripping story of divided loyalties. 

Strong supporting and secondary characters round things out nicely and I think it is thoroughly well-written. It’s been quite a few years since we read this, but I remember learning a couple of new words. Specifically, I learned the word “skulking” and “rabble-rouser”and like so many other things, have now come across them enough times since that I wonder how I hadn’t heard them before. We’ve been to the town and countryside that this story takes place in several times, so that made it all the more interesting. Anyone who has been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls might recognize the landmark descriptions. 

Jean Little

Jean Little was one of my favourite authors as a child.  

One title that stands out for me is Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird, the story of Jeremy, a boy whose father is dying of cancer, and the different relationships Jeremy navigates with an eccentric classmate, his tired mother, pesky sister and the ornery aunt he is spending the summer at the cottage with. 

Goodreads says:

Jeremy is not having a good summer. His best friends have moved away, and he has to stay at the cottage with only his little sister and Aunt Margery. His parents have remained in the city so his father can have an operation. 

When Jeremy finally sees him again, he finds out that his father has cancer and isn’t going to get better. Suddenly, everything is different. Then Jeremy finds an unlikely friend in Tess, who knows what it’s like to lose someone. As his friendship with her grows, through good times and bad, Jeremy discovers that his father has left him something that will live forever … 

My thoughts … 

When you read a book first as a child, it makes a mark on you that is hard to change completely even if you read it again as an adult. That being said, there is still a difference.  When I read Mama’s Going to But You a Mockingbird with my two youngest, I had the feeling that maybe the book wasn’t as good – as powerful – as I remembered it being, but I think the idea of someone passing away from cancer is number for me at this point in my life. When I read it is a child, it seemed so big. My grandmothers had both just passed away from cancer that year and it was fresh and intense. I think that Little does a good job of looking at grief from a number of angles, particularly the rawness of the anticipatory grief and the waiting for death, yet still carries along some side storyline to soften the intensity a bit. So, yes, I  still recommend it! 

This book isn’t Little’s most famous, but it’s one we really enjoyed. She has written many books and there was more recognition for titles such From Anna and Mine for Keeps as well as her contributions to the Dear Canada series. 

David Alexander Robertson

David Alexander Robertson is the author of such books as When We Were Alone, The Barren Grounds (The Misewa Saga), Will I See?, 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga and, the book which introduced me to his writing, Sugar Falls.

Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story is a graphic novel, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, which tells the experience of life in residential school through the eyes of Cree Elder Betty Ross. Ross shares her truth of separation from family and culture, sexual, physical and emotional abuse. This is a story of strength and endurance … hard to read, but beyond important to acknowledge. 

Good Reads says,  A school assignment to interview a residential school survivor leads Daniel to Betsy, his friend’s grandmother, who tells him her story. Abandoned as a young child, Betsy was soon adopted into a loving family. A few short years later, at the age of 8, everything changed. Betsy was taken away to a residential school. There she was forced to endure abuse and indignity, but Betsy recalled the words her father spoke to her at Sugar Falls — words that gave her the resilience, strength, and determination to survive.

Most recommendations for this book are for teens, although books often work for younger children when read together and of course, each child is different as far as their readiness and interest.

Nicola I. Campbell

Although the other books listed here are novels, I wanted to include a children’s  picture book that also shares some of the realities of life in Canada’s residential school system, but was aimed for younger children than David Alexander Robertson’s Sugar Falls, the graphic novel mentioned above. 

Shin-chi’s Canoe was a book by Nicola I. Campbell. I stumbled upon it in the library several years ago. It tells the story of Shin-chi, a six year old boy who, along with his sister and other Indigenous children, has to board a style truck to be taken to residential school for the school year. There, he is robbed of his culture, but holds onto his precious carved canoe, which reminds him of who he is.

Shin-chi’s Canoe has beautiful earth tone illustrations and simple, meaningful text. It is sad and truthful but likely a good fit for many young children. I enjoyed and was sombered by it as an adult. 

This story is actually the sequel to Shi-shi-etko, the story of Shin-chi’s older sister, who faced the residential school alone before Shin-chi became school age. 

Deborah Kerbel

Deborah Kerbel is the author of Fred and Marjorie A Doctor, a Dog and the Discovery of Insulin

A graphic novel that tells the story of the life-saving discovery of insulin …

Did you know that insulin was discovered here in Canada at the University of Toronto? What better way to relay what could be a dry story filled with medical terminology than to make sure an important dog is included?  Enter Marjorie – one of the test dogs who was used (let’s be clear  that she didn’t knowingly volunteer!) to ensure the safety of what we now know as the lifesaving insulin. Kerbel tells her story in the form of a graphic novel, illustrated by Angela Poon.

Google says, In 1921, Frederick Banting was a young doctor with an idea: could the mysterious secretions of the pancreas be used to treat diabetes? We now call this substance insulin, and its life-saving discovery was an impactful milestone in medical science.
Banting and his assistant, Charles Best, worked together in a small lab to test the theory with street dogs. Banting formed a special bond with one of his test dogs and gave her a name: Marjorie. After Marjorie responded well to insulin treatments, the treatments went on to be used for humans with diabetes–and the results were deemed practically miraculous.
A real-life scientific milestone told in an innovative graphic novel format, the book also thoughtfully discusses the use of animals for medical research, including back matter on the subject and further information about diabetes.

Connie Brummel Crook

Our introduction to Connie Brummell Crook was through an action-packed and largely fact-based historical fiction, Flight. My eldest and I had just finished the American novel, Johnny Tremain, and were more than a little blown away by what a powerful story it was. We both finished Chapter Three, eyes brimming with tears (I won’t give away the reason why in case you decide to read it). It was an effective way for my son to identify with a young character caught up in the midst of the American Revolution. We had (took!) an opportunity to visit Boston for a few days and visit many of the landmarks from the stories.

A few months later I noticed Brummell Crook’s novel, Flight, at the library. It caught my eye because it told the story of the American Revolution from the Canadian/British Loyalist perspective, also with a boy as a main character. It is full of action, suspense and interestingly, we realized that it’s based not too loosely on the story of her ancestor who founded a community close to where I grew up. Once the family finally makes makes their journey to Canada, the location was very familiar.

Brummel Crook is also the author of other historical fiction novels including Meyers’ Creek, Meyers’ Rebellion, The Hungry Year, The Perilous Year, The Nellie McClung Trilogy (celebrating the story of Nellie McClung, Canada’s most famous pioneer for women’s rights) as well as some beautiful picture books such as Maple Moon (or Lune d’Erable) and Laura Secord’s Brave Walk. 

Zalika Reid-Benta

Frying Plantain is a short story collection by Zalika Reid-Benta that follows Kara Davis through her childhood as she navigates different aspects of her identity.

This isn’t historical in the sense that it happened years and years ago, but it is recent history and certainly history in the making as many kids growing up in the multi-culturalism of Canada work out the different aspects of themselves and their backgrounds and how that is reflected in being Canadian. 

House of Anansi Press says, Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.“ Set in ”Little Jamaica,” Toronto’s Eglinton West neighbourhood, Kara moves from girlhood to the threshold of adulthood, from elementary school to high school graduation, in these 12 interconnected stories. We see her on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with the ongoing battles between her unyielding grandparents.

A rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, Frying Plantain shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker. In her brilliantly incisive debut, Zalika Reid-Benta artfully depicts the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation Canadians and first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity and predominately white society.

Looking forward to reading this one!

Eric Walters 

Eric Walters was a big name in historical fiction in the circles we were in. My sons had friends who adored Eric Walters books and when he came to our library to do a presentation, it was kind of like rock star status afterward as some of the kids went up for autographs. 

Some popular titles among kids we knew were Camp X, a spy story based on historical accounts of our area during World War 2 and Bully Boys, a plot based around the events of the War of 1812. Both of those, as well as most of Walters’s other books, feature young boys as the protagonists, so as kids relate to the circumstances of the story through the eyes of the child characters, things really come alive.  

I have to admit that we’ve never finished an Eric Walters book. It wasn’t that anyone disliked him; the books just never seemed to get finished. I think my sons saw their friends reading them and wanted to read them, but just never got hooked to the story and so there the books would be, heading back to the library. That was fine. I’m still including  Eric Walters here because so many kids we knew REALLY enjoyed them. He has written a host of other fantastic books such as Rule of Three and a very recent addition, the Covid-19 pandemic-era Don’t Stand So Close to Me.

Eric Wilson 

These are books that I read as a child so they are definitely not new ones! I haven’t looked at these from the vantage point of an adult, other than to have a look at the library to see if there were novels by Eric Wilson still there and take a quick peek. However, if you’re looking for some solid, mystery stories for kids, there are a number of location-specific titles such as Murder on the Canadian, Vancouver Nightmare, Terror in Winnipeg, Cold Midnight in Vieux Quebec, Code Red at the Super Mall, The Prairie Dog Conspiracy, Red River Ransom, The Kootenay Kidnapper, The Lost Treasure of Casa Loma, Vampires in Ottawa, Spirit in the Rainforest (yes, Canada does have a temperate rainforest along its Pacific coast,  – part of the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world) and more. There are a few heavy topics here or there (Vancouver Nightmare in particular), so I see these more for the “tween” ages. I seem to remember my favourite was Murder on the Canadian. 

Christopher Paul Curtis:

Christopher Paul Curtis is the author of Elijah of Buxton, a popular novel about the first child born into freedom in a settlement of former slaves in Buxton, Ontario. 

Curtis is an American author, but Elijah of Buxton shares an important piece of Canadian history and was very well received in Canada when it was published in 2007. Similarly to some of the books by Eric Walters, several kids in our circles really enjoyed it. Again, I don’t think anyone from our house read this one. I remember it coming home from the library as both a paperback as well as audiobook, but like many of the ambitious piles from the library, the due date arrived before the books were looked at. However, I’ve heard enough glowing reports about the story that I think it’s well worth mentioning and an important reflection on the Canadian settlement of former slaves.

Scholastic says, Master storyteller Christopher Paul Curtis lends his trademark humour and vibrant narrative style to the gripping tale of eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman. The first child born into freedom in Buxton, Ontario, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit, Elijah is best known in his hometown as the boy who threw up on Frederick Douglass. Not on purpose, of course, he was just a baby then! But things change when a former slave calling himself the Right Reverend Zephariah W. Connerly the Third steals money from Elijah’s friend Mr. Leroy, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah joins Mr. Leroy on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the disreputable preacher, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents have fled; a life from which he’ll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home. Exciting yet evocative, heart-wrenching yet hilarious, Elijah of Buxton is Christopher Paul Curtis at his very best and it’s an unforgettable testament to the power of hope.

W.O. Mitchell

W.O. Mitchell is a renowned Canadian author who, in addition to writing with the use of wonderful imagery, has a knack for portraying rich characters in a sort of understated way. I’ve never actually seen that written about him anywhere else – just my own impression. 

As you may have heard in past posts, we have really enjoyed Who Has Seen the Wind, set on the Depression Era Saskatchewan prairie more than once. This isn’t really a children’s book. I believe it’s been studied in university English classes – that’s what the sticker on our old copy suggests – but it made a great read with a small group of teens and also worked as a slow, thoughtful read aloud with my deep-thinking 11 year old several years ago. He read it again at 16 and got a whole other level of meaning from it. It does have some heavy-ish material with a very short description of a suicide (at least partially as a result of the exclusion and loneliness resulting from racist ostracism) as well as a graphic account of the death of a prairie animal, but as a read aloud, those pieces can all be warned about, skipped by omitting just a paragraph or two or might be just fine depending on the child. There is also an uncle who, although well-meaning, speaks with some pretty colourful language in dealing with the frustrations of farm life during drought and the Great Depression. This is meant to be somewhat humorous and we definitely saw it in that light. Despite those heavier pieces, there are many beautiful moments of a young boy growing up and making sense of life amidst life in his small town and the immense, almost haunting, beauty of the prairie. 

Janet Lunn:

Janet Lunn, in addition to having co-authored The Story of Canada (which is an absolutely gorgeous), The Big Book of Canada and other historical novels and picture books, she wrote The Root Cellar. I read this book as a ten year old and had a chance to meet Ms. Lunn and receive an autograph in my copy. Receiving an autograph from an author you’re reading is exciting at that age! 

The Root Cellar involves time travel from 1980s Ontario, Canada to 1860s American Civil War Era, both in Canada and the United States. 

Goodreads says, It looked like an ordinary root cellar, the kind of place where you’d store canned goods and winter vegetables. And if twelve-year-old Rose hadn’t been so unhappy in her new home, where she’d been sent to live with unknown relatives, she probably would never have fled down the stairs to the root cellar in the first place. And if she hadn’t, she never would have climbed up into another century, the world of the 1860s, and the chaos of Civil War …

Other names of note …

Farley Mowat (check out Owls in the Family for a fun read), Our Canadian Girl Series and the Dear Canada series. 

Please also check out Inhabit Media, which is an Inuit-owned publishing company in the beautiful Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut. They have a wide variety of books for all ages and of all styles, each based on life, past and present, in the Arctic. You can see their children’s page here. It’s well worth the look!

Happy Reading!

You may be interested in these related posts, Exploring Great Literature with Teens in an Unschooling Way and O Canada – Glimpses of Canada for Kids, Adults and Families.

Do you have any other titles that come to mind or a particular book you or your family has enjoyed?