Sylvia OlsenBesprekingen

Sylvia Olsen has worked in her family’s wool business and as a knitting historian, and has several designs to her credit. In Unravelling Canada, Olsen set out to explore knitting across Canada and answer questions of Canadian identity. She began in British Columbia, where she lives. Sylvia and her partner Tex drove cross-country, stopping in every province to meet knitters and hold workshops on Canadian knitting traditions.

This sounded really promising, but ended up being too lightweight for my interests. I’m an avid knitter and have learned about the history of the craft, as well as traditional designs from Great Britain and Europe. I was eager to broaden my knowledge, but Olsen offered only the most basic explanation of Canada’s Cowichan and White Buffalo sweaters, with no supporting photos or drawings. As a US citizen, I found her discussion of Canadian identity somewhat helpful. It increased my awareness of ways in which Canadians are reckoning with their country’s past and hoping to forge a better, more inclusive future. But again, Olsen did not go deep into this topic, relying instead on repeated mentions of indigenous culture that didn’t really go anywhere. And finally, by the time Sylvia and Tex reached the eastern part of the country it felt like her attention span was wearing out. After listing several yarn shops in Nova Scotia she admitted she hadn’t actually visited most of them and hoped to do so in the future! Compared to her coverage of British Columbia and Alberta, it felt rushed.

I’ve read elsewhere that Olsen’s tour across Canada was at least in part intended to promote a recently-published book, which might explain the lack of research to apply towards her thesis for this book. That’s too bad.

Disappointed that there were no pictures or illustrations of the sweaters she wrote about.

I really loved this book about knitting and travelling and history. I'm just sorry I didn't get into the workshops the author held as she travelled across Canada from BC to Newfoundland (or as the inner front flap describes it "from the Salish Sea to the Atlantic Ocean").

Sylvia Olsen has been knitting for a long time but she is also a knitting historian with a Ph.D. in the field. Her knowledge of knitting styles, particularly bulky sweater types, is prodigious. The well-known heavy sweaters with animals or hockey logos are often worn by men but in most cases they will have been knitted by women. (I knew of one notable exception when I was grown up as a neighbouring farmer knit a number of sweaters.) They are called by various names, Cowichan, Siwash, curling, and maybe Mary Maxim or Buffalo for two of the largest wool and pattern companies. Sylvia Olsen is adamant that the Cowichan name only applies to handknit sweaters from the Coast Salish indigenous peoples. In fact, the Cowichan Tribes have registered the names "Cowichan" and "Genuine Cowichan" and "Genuine Cowichan Approved" as trademarks. Olsen married into the Tsartlip First Nation when she was seventeen. She would often knit with her mother-in-law who taught her the techniques and designs.

Sylvia and her partner Tex conceived the idea of this tour in part to publicize Sylvia's book "Knitting Stories" and teach the colourwork technique used by the Coast Salish peoples. But Sylvia also wanted to hear stories from other knitters across Canada so each stop would be a workshop and storytelling. And because of her connection to First Nations people she wanted to explore more of their history all across Canada. She hoped she would be able to answer the question "What is a Canadian?" She says she didn't get a definitive answer but she has these final thoughts:
"If knitters represent what it is to be Canadian, then we are a country of hard-working, caring, creative people leading meaningul lives. We are interested in who we are and where we come from. We are intentional and brave, read to hear the tough stories of our past and use them to forge a new future."

A complete joy to read even if you aren't a knitter.

I seem to enjoy everything that Sylvia Olsen writes. I can’t help but relax into what she says because it is so personable and personal, so simple and so wise. So here we go from BC to Nfld, in the car with her and Tex, questioning, observing, dropping into lots of cozy yarn shops that are so much more than that of course, thinking and learning about Canadian issues like borders, bridges, our history. I’ll probably give this as a gift and could easily read it again.

Set in 1957, this should now be considered "historical fiction", as modern kids wouldn't be able to understand the economics or social setting otherwise.
Bobby, 10 yrs old, gets a job at a marina to help support his family. He would like to join a fishing contest to win the new bike offered as prize. The contest is almost won by a spoiled child whose father & uncle really catch the fish, but honesty wins out.
Written for pre-teens, with a strong focus on how being responsible brings unforeseen rewards. Good descriptive details.

In a small Canadian community, the line separating natives and whites begins to blur for Vince as he finds himself falling for a First Nations girl.

Yetsa learns how to prepare a sheep fleece to make a sweater with her grandma and mother. She learns that every step requires a lot of hard work and care but she enjoys that she gets to connect with both her grandma and mother.
Age 3-5
Resource: Pierce College Library

Yetsa visits her grandma and helps to prepare the wool used in the knitting of the Coast Salish traditional Cowichan sweaters. Patterns of the sweaters are explored.

Yetsa, her mother and her grandmother gather to prepare the sheep fleeces piled in Grandma's yard. As they clean, wash and dry the fleece, laughter and hard work connect the three generations. The fleeces are used to create wool for sweater making. Yetsa's grandmother has been knitting sweaters since a child, she has taught Yetsa how to tease the wool and prepare it for knitting. Estimated age group 3-5 years

YF and ETW Class set 16 copies

This is a great story for many forums. This story covers family, culture, history and more. The illustrations are beautiful, yet realistic. The story is true, not glossy, as evidenced by the unsavory surprise Yetsa finds while helping prepare wool for the cleaning pot.

The authors notes on Cowichan sweaters, round out the value of this book.

Yetsa loves her Saturday visits with her grandmother, who teaches her how a traditional Cowichan sweater is made, step by step. From the laborious process of washing the fleece to teasing and carding the wool, from the spinning of the yarn to the knitting of the sweater, the journey from raw material to finished product is covered in every detail. Along the way, Yetsa consumes lots of grandmother's homemade blackberry jam, and learns that making a Cowichan sweater is an act of love...

With its gentle narrative - infused with a sense of tradition and family warmth - and its expressive pastel illustrations by Joan Larson, Yetsa's Sweater is a lovely little book. Sylvia Olsen operated a Cowichan sweater-shop for sixteen years, and her knowledge of the subject shines through, both in the narrative and in the factual afterword. Engaging and educational, this appealing story will allow young readers a glimpse of Coast Salish traditions, particularly as they relate to the making of these beautiful sweaters. Highly recommended!

Vince and Raedawn investigate what happened to a missing classmate in a racially divided town. Middle Row tries to tackle us/them mentalities as well as a separation of “the other” within a community. This is no easy feat to accomplish in about one hundred pages at a reading level of 2.4. As an Orca Soundings novel, this book is packaged as a high-action contemporary young adult mystery but reads in a simplistic and sometimes stilted manner. Olsen attempts to convey complicated relationships and feelings with a few simple words or carried by straightforward dialogue. Each character has various traits and relationships to others drawn out, but they are not fully developed or expanded upon due to length and syntax restrictions. Also, the text uses some Canadian dialect, which may initially throw off an American reading audience who may not be familiar with certain terms. This is a very specifically hi-lo styled novel and as such, is only recommended to the specific audience of reluctant readers ages twelve to fifteen with the targeted reading level.

wonderful history of Salish woolworkers

Having a baby at fourteen years old is anything but easy. Jane Williams was a smart girl with a bright future- just the opposite of her rowdy, older brothers. Jane lives with her Indian family who isn’t accepted by their neighbors especially with her crazy brothers always causing a ruckus. Once Jane found out she was pregnant she decided to keep the baby, although the baby’s father, Trevor, wanted her to get an abortion. Because she was afraid of disappointing her family, the only person she told throughout her whole pregnancy was Trevor. Once baby Destiny arrives, the pressure is on to keep up her grades and not fall behind or drop out like most teenage mothers. Just walking down the hallways at school was difficult to do without hearing nasty and hurtful remarks from other kids about her having a baby. Now with Trevor moving away and not having anything to do with her or Destiny and her old friends gone, will Jane be able to pull through? With the help of her grandmother, Teh, and new best friend, Dawna, it may be possible.
Honestly, when I picked out this book I didn’t think I would enjoy it because the title is a little out there, but from what I read on the back, it sounded interesting. I learned not to judge a book by its cover because this book was great! I really liked it and could barely ever put it down. It was amazing to see Jane still be strong and determined even through the worst of times. She always held her head up high, and proved everyone who doubted her, wrong. Jane was truly an inspirational character. I also liked this book because it is very relatable to a lot of girls in this day and age, so the story was very believable. I love how it shows the reader that if Jane could be successful even with a baby, then it is definitely possible for the reader to be successful as well.
This book can easily be connected to the American dream. Jane lived a nearly perfect life before she got pregnant- lots of friends, popular in school, straight A student, and active in her school’s drama club. Once she got pregnant, a lot of people didn’t believe in her and all of her neighbors looked down upon her and her family (also because of her brothers). Her neighbors were very discriminatory against Indians, as were her peers at school against teenage mothers. Ever since having baby Destiny, Jane’s life has been very difficult with many obstacles and challenges. Jane still found the strength within her to maintain that perfect American dream life with the support of her family and best friend. -J.E.

Counting on Hope was an enjoyable book. The writing was so good that it made me cry. This is a book I would love to read again.

Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com

Told in alternating points of view, the author tells the story of two girls from two different worlds. One from England and one from the Lamalcha tribe.

Despite culture clashing and prejudice aroused by whisky traders in the hopes of causing trouble, the two become best friends and even exchange dolls to remember each other by. When tragedy strikes and Hope's father and sister are killed in a storm, prejudices get dangerously out of control, terror is taken to a new level on both sides, and peace threatens to be destroyed.

Can cultural differences be put aside so that understanding and forgiveness can come?

An endearing, tragic story that gives a historical example of what can happen when people let prejudice get in the way of truth. Although fictional, the characters are memorable, the plot is emotional, and the writing is well done.

Readers who like historical fiction will enjoy reading COUNTING ON HOPE.

Personal response:
Read in one sitting. Poor white girl ends up on Rez when mom marries a First Nations. She feels like an alien, with all hostile eyes on her, the unwelcome'Blondie.' How she becomes part of a family and community is hopeful. Author lived a similar experience. One could understand her lonliness, distrust and fear. Her need for family is what makes her struggle for happiness.

Cirriculum/programming connections:

An important part of a unit/display/booktalk centering on acceptance, alienation, blended families, closed communities. Also useful in list of books on First Nations/Native Americans/Indigenous Peoples.

Over the years, I have seen classroom teachers use this book with their senior classes but had just not taken time to read it until now. Now, I understand fully why this book should be used in every Canadian grade 7 or 8 classroom. I really felt like I had been taken inside the school, experiencing life through the eyes of Thomas, Wilson, Joey, Monica and Nelson. Their stories left me with so many emotions... through moments of sadness and fear, worry, heartbreak,anger, pain, sickness and nausea, and even pride and celebration. These children and their families were innocent victims of our government's racism. It is through remembering and retelling of these stories and developing compassion, tolerance and empathy in our society, that we can ensure these stories never happen again. Thank you to the authors and the six former students who contributed to this work for opening up their memories to the larger population.

I liked and didn't like this book for several reasons. The best part was definitely the stories of the girls - their voices make the issue come alive and you simply must feel sympathy for them and their struggles. Hearing the words of the girls who participated in the writing of the books helps readers better understand the significance of the topic. The negative aspects include: too many statistics which detract from the stories. Too often the author targets the government and the 'white man' for aboriginal teen moms getting pregnant; not enough focus is on the families who raised the girls. The cultural aspects were discussed and helpful in the understanding of the issue. Frustation with the continuance of the problem can be another negative aspect of this book - there really is no place for blame; all communities need to support their young people and come up with a plan for change.

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

The cover pic should be enough to interest most YA readers; however, adults, don't panic, the subject matter is quite tame.

Vince and Raedawn have been riding the same bus to school their entire lives. There is a social seating hierarchy involved in most bus riding, and theirs is no exception. There are the back seat riders - usually the cool kids, and the front seat riders - usually the less secure or nerdy type.

The middle rows can be easily ignored and that is just the problem when Dune suddenly stops riding the bus. There are only two people who even notice that the quiet loner has not gotten on the bus since the first day of school, and they also seem to be the only ones concerned.

Raedawn convinces Vince that something needs to be done. They start asking questions - of the bus driver, the school counselor, and then the administration. No one knows anything and the tendency is to brush the whole issue under the rug. Finally, Raedawn enlists the help of her Uncle Dave, and long-hidden secrets begin to emerge.

MIDDLE ROW provides a mystery that unfolds at a fast pace in this 100-page book. Readers will easily become intrigued by the missing Dune, as well as the personal stories connected to Vince, Raedawn, and Uncle Dave. An added criminal element also helps hold the attention of most readers.

What I liked about this book is how

The book, The Girl with a Baby, opens with fourteen year old Jane in the labor with her first child. Jane, a popular girl with Native American heritage has managed to conceal her pregnancy from everyone except her disinterested boyfriend up until one day before she delivers. After her baby Destiny is born, she decides to return to high school which has an on-site daycare. Thereafter known as “the girl with a baby” she struggles to juggle her roles as mother and student, while at the same time keeping her motherless Native American family together, fed, and out of trouble with the law. In a powerful story of courage and pride, Jane rises above everyone’s expectations.
This is a great read!½

A good book about fourteen-year-old Jane, a mother carrying on with high school and finding strength in her First Nations heritage. Her involvement with the drama club is reminiscent of True Confessions of a Drama Queen.½

1 copy YF - Youth 16 copies ETW