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2004
finalists.

2004 Hackmatack

Children's Choice Book Award/Prix littéraire - le choix de jeunes

Kate's father is a builder for the Canadian Pacific Railway as it snakes its way across the mountains and through the Fraser Canyon. Everyone is excited about the "Iron Horse", but building the railroad is a treacherous undertaking. Kate is always thinking about her father's saftey, and the Accident Hospital next door is a constant reminder of the hazards the railroad brings. There is tremendous excitement surrounding the creation of the transcontinental railroad despite the danger as Kate, her town, and all of Canada eagerly await its completion.

Julie Lawson is the award-winning author of several books for young readers. Her novels include White Jade Tiger (winner of the Shelia A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize, and nominated for both the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the Silver Birch Award), Destination Gold and The Ghost of Avalanche Mountain. Among her acclaimed picture books are The Dragon's Pearl, Emma and the Silk Train, Bear on the Train and Whatever You Do, Dont Go Near That Canoe! This is her first book for the Dear Canada series. Julie lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

Some of the events in A Ribbon of Shining Steel were based on the real-life experiences of Julie's own grandfather, John Anderson, who was among the many immigrants needed to keep the CPR running smoothly.

Thematic Links

• Canadian history, building the CPR
• Geography - Fraser Canyon, BC
• Railway workers, life in railway towns
• Immigration, ethnic portrayal
• Friendship, family relationships

Suggested Activities

• Write a letter to one of your ancestors. Then write back pretending you ARE that person! You can include maps, photographs, post cards - anything that describes a time and place from the past. You'll need to do some research! A good place to start? Interview members of your family, look through photograph albums, search through old trunks for letters or keepsakes. Have fun digging into your family history. You never know what you'll discover.
• Keep a diary for a week or so and recount the daily events in your life. Include home, school and anything that might be happening in your community.
• Invent some of your own "Mercy Mackerel" expressions the way Kate does, and include some sketches.
• Visit a railway museum. Or ride a steam train. Or build your own model. Find out if there's a model railway club in your area, and see if you can visit some layouts. Or bring in an expert with some of his "rolling stock."
• Find out what your town was like in 1882-83. Pretend you were living there at the time, and write a few entries in your "olden days diary."