________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 1 . . . . September 3, 1999

cover The Olden Days Coat.

Margaret Laurence. Illustrated by Muriel Wood.
Toronto, ON: Tundra Books, 1976 (1998).
28 pp., cloth, $17.99.
ISBN 0-88776-455-X.

Grades 2 and up / Ages 7 and up.
Review by Irene Gordon.

**** /4

image The Olden Days Coat, a Canadian Christmas classic, has been deservedly popular since its first publication. Now it has been reissued with new illustrations done by Muriel Wood who was also the original illustrator. Her style has not changed; her pictures are still highly realistic, detailed, and done in bright water colours. The major change is that Wood has greatly increased the number of full-page illustrations in this new edition, and she has surrounded them with narrow black and white frames. She still, however, has some of the partial page, borderless pictures with which she illustrated the first edition.
    For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with this book, it tells the story of ten-year-old Sal whose family is spending Christmas with her grandmother. Sal tries on a coat that her grandmother wore as a child and is transported back in time to meet grandmother at her tenth Christmas.

"Before Sal knew what was happening, the sleigh drew up beside her.... The driver was a girl who looked about Sal's age..... "I haven't seen you in these parts before," the girl said. "Who would you be, then?".... [Sal] somehow knew deep inside her that if she was ever going to get home again she must not tell any lies."

    I would strongly recommend this book for holiday collections in libraries and for use in Canadian history classes in elementary school. It would also be a wonderful book for grandparents to share with their grandchildren.

Highly recommended.

Irene Gordon of Headingley, MB, is a free-lance writer and former teacher-librarian who spent 14 years working in a junior high school library.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - September 3, 1999.

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