6.29.2012

Blog Tour: Hey Canada!

Today I'm taking a scenic detour from regularly scheduled programming to be a stop on Tundra Books' Hey Canada! blog tour! Click the banner above to go to the full listing of tour stops, and make sure you check out Cal's twitter feed -- if you retweet one of his factoids, you could win a copy of Hey Canada! for your own collection! Now, let me tell you who Cal is, and why he tweets factoids ...

Hey Canada!
Vivien Bowers & Milan Pavlovi (illustrator)
Tundra Books, 2012

Nine year old Alice is the narrator for Hey Canada!, and she and her cousin Cal (who is 8) are taking a cross-country camping trip with Gran. To record their adventures and what they learn, Alice writes a blog - which is the main text of the book. But there are also tweets (factoids of Cal, who is apparently quite the trivia expert!), poems, and some great illustrations. Featuring a mix of actual photographs and quirky illustrations, Hey Canada! has something of a scrapbook feel to it - something I really appreciated.

Since Alice and Cal are taking this trip with Gran to learn about Canada, visiting every province and capital city (as well as a few other adventures along the way), readers learn about Canada alongside them. In keeping with the scrapbooky vibe, the information is broken down into newsy bits that give tantalizing introductions to all aspects of Canadian life: the history, the trivia, the flora and fauna. Presented in such a way, readers learn a ton of information, without feeling like they're being lectured. It's what I like to call "sneaky learning," if you know what I mean. But seriously: the story itself is fun, and the narrative linking all the "educational stuff" is a little hilarious at times. A Houdini-wannabe hamster, encounters with wildlife and local foods, and a really great family chemistry between Gran, Alice and Cal all make for a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Don't forget to check out Cal's twitter feed and retweet away for your chance to win!

Book provided by publisher for review.

1 comment:

  1. This looks really fun and would be a great addition to my homeschool library! :) I retweeted one of Cal's factoids! haha! cute! Thanks for pointing this out to me!

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