Shadows of Disaster [Paperback]

I have a 2nd grader who can read at an adult level--but doesn't have the maturity to handle adult subject matter. I'm ALWAYS looking for good books that will engage his love of language, entertain him, and (ideally) educate a little, too.

I took a chance on this un-rated book because we will be traveling across Canada this summer, so I was particularly looking for novels with themes of Canadian history, and especially western Canadian history. The "disasters" element of these stories is also right up my son's alley, but I was concerned they could be too mature for a child still of single-digit age.

I ordered only this first book in the series and read it today when it arrived. As an adult reader, I found it enjoyable for its storyline. (I do love historical fiction.) I learned something I didn't know about Canadian history, and I found the characters pleasant to "spend time" with.

As a parent, I found the family relationships in this book to be believable (some sibling jealousy, some "parents don't understand" stuff) but not stooping to the ugly modern trend of mocking parents as hopeless idiots to the sassy, up-to-date youth hero(ine.) The 2001 (I think?) publication date does lead to mildly amusing references to CDs and a portable "discman" music player, which probably wasn't intended to be part of the historical detail in this book. :)

As a person of strong moral standards, ALSO READING WITH AN EYE TO A YOUNGER CHILD READER, I found little to be concerned about in the content. My son won't care about the couple of instances of the the 12 year old heroine's crushes on boys, but those were really just asides in the story. The time travelers do encounter whiskey drinking in the story (and the grandfather "smells of whiskey" after visiting the past) but drunkenness isn't celebrated, nor are the child characters directly involved with anything unsavory like that. There is a comical character with a bit of the religious zealot about her, but the minister is (briefly) depicted in a positive light. Family is portrayed in a very positive way. Most characters are good guys.

The real "villain" in this story is a natural disaster. The story does take place around a real historical landslide, and there are references at the end to the untimely death of some people the time travelers met on their journey, including children.

(Spoiler alert!)
The modern characters do "run from" the oncoming disaster and escape just in the nick of time, but there isn't too much fear (at least to this adult reader who knows how a kid's story usually works!) for their safety. Also, we find out at the end that the closest friend the modern child made in the past survives with his family. Some details of the tragedy are revealed by the grandfather, who went back alone after the disaster, which reduces some of the emotional impact for the child character (and probably for most child readers.)

This was a nice book on a less-common theme, and I look forward to sharing it with my son as we travel across the land described in the story. I'm glad I bought it, and I'm glad I read it, too.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars