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2005
finalists.

2005 Hackmatack

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

 

The Boston Box
by Carmelita Mcgrath

Tuckamore/Creative Publishers, 2003
ISBN 1894294556
$11.95 (pb)

Mary sails the world in her dreams in search of adventure, knowledge, and a fair price for fish. A fairy-tale in reverse, Prince Charming is a Spanish fish merchant who knows a thing or two about fair pricing. During the 1930s in Newfoundland, young Mary spends the summers working in the fishery with her family. Throughout the summer, she dreams of buying calico for dresses with laces and ribbons to trim them. At the end of the season, however, Mary is disappointed to discover that the price of fish has dropped and her money is needed for more useful purchases. When the annual "Boston Box" arrives from Aunt Chrissie, Mary's dreams may be answered.


Carmelita McGrath was born in Branch, Newfoundland in 1960. She has been writing and publishing poetry, short fiction and articles since 1983. Her work has appeared in TickleAce, Waves, The New Quarterly, the anthology Digging Into The Hill and other publications. She won the inaugural Atlantic Poetry Prize in 1998 for To the New World. She is the author of Poems on Land and on Water, Signatures, Stranger Things Have Happened and Walking To Shenak.


Thematic Links

  • Outport life in Newfoundland
  • Fishing industry
  • Hard work
  • Dreams and ambitions
  • Small treasures
  • Roles of women and men in fishing industry
  • Trade between Newfoundland and Europe
  • Women's fashion in mid-1930's

Suggested Activities

  • Write a letter to Mary telling her about your life, your favourite books and how your family makes a living. How is this different than how Mary and her family live?
  • Research the cod fishery in Newfoundland. Make a chart of how the numbers of fish have declined.
  • Put together a gift box of items you think a family could use and enjoy and donate it to a women's shelter.
  • Adopt a family at Christmas through a social service agency in your community.
  • Research clothing in the mid-1900's. What is the difference between high society in a city like Boston and the working people of Newfoundland?
  • Make a list of five books you think would make a difference to a child who lives where he/she can't easily get books. Why have you chosen these books?