by Elizabeth MacLeod
illustrated by Mike Deas
Scholastic Canada, 2021
ISBN 978-1-4431-8260-7 (hc)
$16.99, 32 pp, ages 7 – 9
scholastic.ca
One of the titles in the Scholastic Canada Biography Series, this book documents David Suzuki’s life from his birth in 1936 to the present day. Born in Vancouver, David developed his fascination for nature at a young age. Camping, fishing, and hiking trips with his father helped to develop his respect for the interconnectedness of all living things. David’s experiences in an internment camp during the second world war, his success at speech competitions in high school, and his fascination with genetics are just some of the many factors that contributed to his life of environmental activism.
Classroom Connections: Meet David Suzuki is a well-written summary of David’s life. Readers are supported by coloured illustrations on each page that feature speech bubbles and thinking bubbles. There is also a timeline illustrated with photographs at the back of the book. Fluent readers in the late primary and early intermediate grades should be able to read the book independently. Reading strategies that work well are: making connections, questioning, inferring, and transforming.
Review by Brenda Boreham.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Winter 2023 issue.