Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World. [Revised and Expanded Edition]. Tanya Lloyd Kyi. Illustrated by Tom Bagley. North Vancouver, BC: Walrus/Whitecap Books, 2009. 120 pp., pbk., $12.95. ISBN 978-1-55285-986-5. Subject Headings: Teenage girls-Canada-Biography-Juvenile literature. Teenage girls-Canada-Attitudes-Juvenile literature. Grades 4-6 / Ages 9-11. Review by Gail Hamilton. *** /4

excerpt:

By 1980, she was back to flying, this time with Canadian Airlines. She was in the co-pilot’s seat and she still loved her job- she was the first female pilot to fly regularly scheduled commercial flights. She jetted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, dodging high winds and storm clouds, and even across the Arctic and through what seemed like a multicolored curtain created by the northern lights.

When one male passenger looked into the cockpit and asked if she drove better than his wife did, she merely brushed off the comment. If she hadn’t been one of Canada’s most competent flyers, she wouldn’t have been there.

Thirty-four trail-blazing Canadian women are showcased in this celebration of courage, perseverance and determination. The book, newly revised and expanded, is divided into five main sections- sports, pioneers, the arts, science, and mavericks, the latter described as “girls who rocked to the beat of their own drums.” Representative of all parts of the country and various walks of life and age groups, the featured women have all overcome obstacles- some physical and others more emotional in nature, such as racial and gender discrimination- to achieve their dreams. Though some names, such as Emily Carr and Emily Stowe, will be familiar to readers, most of them are not well known at all, but their stories will draw readers in. Women in sports include Cassie Campbell, the first female colour commentator for an NHL game on television, skier Nancy Greene and swimmer Marilyn Bell. Why ballerina Evelyn Hart is featured in this chapter, and not in the one devoted to the arts, is questionable. Métis historian Victoria Belcourt Callihoo and Inuit guide and translator Tookoolito are among those listed in the section on pioneers. Other prominent Canadian women highlighted in the book are singer Avril Lavigne (a questionable choice), violinist Kathleen Parlow, physician and scientist Maude Abbott, environmental activist Elizabeth May and gold prospector Viola Huggard MacMillan. Though there is a little bit about each person’s background, most of the text is restricted to the circumstances and events behind their achievements and the obstacles that had to be overcome as the women followed their passion.

    Each chapter includes a “Fast Fact” box, a “Girls Around the World” box highlighting another young woman in a related field, and a “How Will You Rock the World?” box which features young girls talking briefly about their aspirations. These boxes, with their deep purple backgrounds, provide the only bit of colour in the entire book. Illustrations consist of black and white photographs, many of them quite grainy, and pen and ink drawings.

Recommended.

Gail Hamilton is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg, MB.

NEXT REVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - May 29, 2009.