TOM PENNY AND THE GRAND CANAL Tony German. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart, 1983. 144pp., paper, $11.95 (cloth), $7.95 (paper). ISBN 0-7710-3260-9 (cloth), 0-77103-161-7 (paper). Grades 5 and up / Ages 10 and up Reviewed by Barbara Conquest. Volume 12 Number 2 1984 March Tom Penny, hero of two previous novels, Tom Penny ¹ (1977) and River Raceme ² (1979), finds himself and his family deeply involved in a scheme to build a Grand Canal up the Ottawa River and through to Georgian Bay. Tom's adventures, discovering a robbery in progress, a wild trip across the American border to bring back some much-needed machinery before the spring thaw, and the unmasking of a brazen swindler, are plausible and exciting. The author captures very well the atmosphere of the times; the story is well written, and the characters believable. Although the geographical details will prove confusing to western readers, this is excellent historic fiction for students who enjoy the genre, a dwindling number, unfortunately. If all such fiction were as well written as this, the trend might well become reversed. Barbara Conquest, D. S. MacKenzie J. H. S., Edmonton, AB. ¹ Reviewed vol. Vl/3 Summer 1978, p.1l59. ² Reviewed vol. VIII/1 Winter 1980, p.49.