Perry Nodelman

This book was eye opening. I had no idea of the depths of antisemitism in bygone Toronto. Or maybe I should have; when we first moved to Parkdale in the 1970s we had Nazi leaflets and human waste left on our doorstep once or twice, but I digress. The author based the events on the recollections of his parents and it is very sincere, convincing and authentic. I have to compare it to the Booky trilogy by Bernice Thurman Hunter, who was born in 1922 and actually lived through those years at about the same age as the fictional Sally Cohen. The Cohen family had a surprisingly settled life, unlike Booky's family they never had to flit to stay ahead of the rent collector, but in general it's recognizably the same city and similar struggles. The last third of the book gets extremely tedious, however, because we get step by step accounts of marches and demonstrations and blow by blow accounts of clashes between police and demonstrators, between gentiles and Jews, culminating in the Christie Pit riots. Riots are just boring to read about in first-person narrative. People mill around, dodge blows, run away, end up on the edge of the melee, and wade back in. The author could manage to get Sally to some of the marches and demonstrations by dint of her boy cousin loaning her his trousers and cap and dragging her along, but he absolutely couldn't justify placing her in the thick of the riots so it's all "and then Benny said he did this and then he did that". It lacks immediacy. And that's the note it ends on. A book worth giving children to read, especially Jewish children in Canada, but not every child will be able to get to the end of it and that's okay.

As in all the Dear Canada series, the extra material at the end is superb. Glossary of Yiddish terms, photographs, maps, and more.

Now I want to reread Fredelle Maynard's memoir, Raisins and Almonds, about growing up Jewish in Saskatchewan at the exact same time (the only Jewish family in town) and see how that compares as a book for young adult readers.… (más)

This was an interesting look at something I know next to nothing about - Canadian history. It never occurred to me they had prohibition too! And they were racist? But...but they're so polite!!! That can't be!!! Everything I know is a lie!

In all seriousness though, it was a strange but good tale. The major event of the story wasn't as Earth-shattering as many of the events that different "My Story" series focus on (wars, immigration movements, political turnover, etc). But it kind of goes to show that lives (and history) are made up of many smaller events that are big to only a few people.… (más)