From the Editor: Shining a Light on Great Books – Winter 2022

I am using this space to extend the Book Reviews section of this issue (p. 32), which highlights some interesting and useful Canadian history and historical fiction titles. Slowpoke The Bell Island Mine Horse by Heather Smith with art by Genevieve Simms is a new release from Nimbus Publishing. This picture book tells the story of eleven-year-old Jimmy who is heading off to work underground in the Bell Island mine in Newfoundland and Labrador. Although he is a bit nervous about his new job, he goes because his family needs the income. His first role deep in the mine is to fetch water and tea for the miners, but he is so afraid that he will be killed by a runaway tram car—as his father was five years earlier—that he breaks bottles and spills the tea. The kind foreman sees the boy’s distress and moves him to the stable to care for the horses that are used to pull the ore carts. He is particularly drawn to a horse nicknamed Slowpoke and they soon become friends. After Slowpoke and Jimmy rescue a miner who was trapped under a runaway tram car, Jimmy learns that Slowpoke’s real name was Tony and this horse was Jimmy’s father’s favourite horse too.

Although this book has great value as a means to introduce information about Canada’s mining history through both text and illustrations, it could also be used in the classroom to initiate discussions about other themes, such as families, emotions, kindness, and friendship, and for teaching reading comprehension strategies (making connections, visualizing, asking questions, inferring, and transforming). It would also work well with Brenda Boreham’s lesson plan in this issue, which outlines ways to use picture books to practise visualizing and art techniques (see p. 26). For all these reasons, I believe that Slowpoke The Bell Island Mine Horse would be a great addition to your collection of Canadian picture books!

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