Larry Verstraete, illustratrated by Brian Lund,
G is for Golden Boy: A Manitoba Alphabet
Sleeping Bear Press, 2009

Rating: G*

The latest of a series from Sleeping Bear Press that uses an alphabet book format to provide a variety of information about a province. Earlier books in the series are M is for Maple and P is for Puffin, which are about Canada and Newfoundland respectively. All the series has a similar format with either full one- or two- page coloured illustrations, on which a four lined verse is superimposed and two or three paragraphs of information on the selected topic as a side bar. The prose is not written at a  reading or comprehension level for young children, which makes this a resource for all ages. The illustrations show life in Manitoba both currently and in the historic past, with topics ranging from places to people and events of note in Manitoba.

The more recent books in the series have a Quiz at the back which is quite tricky, not to mention that it would be more useful  if it were less of a memory test and provided more prompts for practice in research. E.g. The quiz asks "What makes Tyndall stone so unique? (sic) and the answer is on the Q page. How would a student work that out, I wonder, unless they remembered the reference or knew the information? In addition to this reading quiz, there are blackline masters available in a teachers’ guide on the Sleeping Bear website.

It would seem that the publisher is planning to meet the needs of the educational market for this book, rather than appealing to picture book readers. For a purely pleasurable experience this title does not have the charm of The Prairie Alphabet by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet with art by Yvette Moore, which is to be republished later this year, but it will find readers in Manitobans who have left the province and as a supplementary resource for Social Study units.

Thematic Links: Social Studies; Manitoba

Mavis Holder
Vol. 15, number 1
October 2009

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.