Canada’s Great Water Adventure

Canada’s Great Water Adventure is a project of Waterlution, a national non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire healthy attitudes about our relationship with water and to increase awareness of the importance of water. The picture book writing campaign aimed to inspire children about stewardship and protection of our precious natural resource by connecting them to the value of water through storytelling. The book’s character guides, a university student from Newfoundland and an exchange student from Brazil, briefly touch each part of Canada “to learn water stories”. The result is a hasty overview with minimal detail, naming only one or two water-related aspects of each province and territory.

The title promises far more than the book delivers. Slight in size, the book, unfortunately, is equally slight in content, with few specific facts and many generalizations. For instance, in Nova Scotia where the characters see Bluenose II, they are told that “boats have been used for fishing, travelling, and sport for a long time.” In Quebec, they learn only that the name has Algonquin origins. In Saskatchewan, they see “lots of wildlife in all the snow” (but the white fox (?) illustrated is not typical prairie wildlife). Orcas (but no salmon), rather than rivers (major sources of water, food, power and wildlife habitat) are the only focus during their passage through British Columbia. And in Nunavut, methods of travel are the highlight. Neither Ontario nor Manitoba are mentioned by name. References to the cultural and spiritual value of water appear in the form of Indigenous terms sprinkled throughout where appropriate, and they are the main focus of the Glossary. The purpose of the book appears to be split between water and Indigenous aspects, where neither gets fair attention. A reader will not take away any clear sense of the significant role of water resources in this country. Precisely rendered watercolor illustrations add some interest.

The intent of the book created by young volunteers with inspired goals of water conservation and protection is admirable. However, such a vague, sketchy approach to the key water features of each area in this limited story (really, a travelogue with no plot to engage the reader) will not give Canada’s Great Water Adventure much value outside of a school-based water unit where it might serve as a discussion starter.