A Royal Reading Tour

Today, the Reading Road Trip compass is pointing true north, as we join fifth grade Language Arts teacher Mrs. Worden on a maple leaf-spangled adventure!  A native Canadian, Mrs. Worden will be spending time in Quebec this summer, visiting family and friends-- and revisiting favorite stories with Canadian settings.

In royal company: We're sharing travel plans with Prince William and his wife Kate, the newly named Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  The recently married royal couple are making an official visit to Canada, with stops in Quebec City today and  Prince Edward Island tomorrow.  


Mrs. Worden shares a virtual tour of Prince Edward Island-- a short video of the countryside made in anticipation of the royal visit:

Small province, wonderful stories:  Picture-perfect Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province in both land area and population, is nicknamed the "Garden of the Gulf" because of its beautiful scenery and productive farms. The tiny maritime province provides a wonderful setting for classic storytelling by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery.

In Anne of Green Gables, an adventurous young orphan finds a new home and a new life on a Prince Edward Island farm with an elderly brother and sister (RL 6.9).

Inspired by the success of Anne of Green Gables and by the popularity of the title character, Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote a series of sequel books about Anne. Set several years later, Anne of Avonlea follows the mischievous and spirited sixteen-year-old heroine as she returns to teach in the village school where she herself was taught (RL 7.8).


Big country, big stories: Canada is the world's second largest nation by area.  It's not surprising that the sprawling landscape has inspired generations of creative writers. American author Gary Paulsen taps into the challenges of the Canadian wilderness with a Reading Road Trip favorite adventure series:

In Hatchet, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet.  Brian learns important things about himself, including how to cope with his parents' divorce (RL 6.0).

Hatchet's sequel, The River, introduces a wiser and profoundly changed fifteen-year-old Brian, who undergoes another wilderness experience to help scientists learn more about the psychology of survival (RL 6.3).

Brian's Return continues to follow Brian in the aftermath of his wilderness survival experiences. Finding it increasingly difficult to live as a normal high school student, the sixteen-year-old begins planning his return to the place where he feels he really belongs (RL 5.3).

A companion book to the Hatchet and Brian stories, Brian's Winter imagines what might have happened if Brian had not been rescued from the plane crash. Would he find a way to survive winter in the wilderness with only his survival pack and hatchet? (RL 6.2).

We can create our own mini-wilderness experience with an interactive  Nature's Orchestra activity from Canadian Geographic for Kids.  Click on the red-highlighted words to get started! 

From sea to shining sea to icy ocean: Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north, Canada shares the world's longest border with the United States to the south... and let's not forget the Alaskan border to the northwest! No doubt about it, there are many stories waiting for Reading Road Trippers within those far-flung borders!