This image is the cover for the book Dear Canada: Not a Nickel to Spare, Dear Canada

Dear Canada: Not a Nickel to Spare, Dear Canada

Coping with being poor during the Depression is hard enough, but Sally also has to contend with anti-Jewish sentiment when she ventures outside her familiar neighbourhood near Toronto's Kensington Market. Her cousin Benny is always getting into scrapes or dragging Sally into his hare-brained schemes. But it's also Benny who tries to open Sally's eyes to the wider world, telling her about Hitler's rise in Europe and urging her to stand up for herself when she comes across anti-Semitism.

A historical note gives readers the background of the Depression, which hit Canada harder than most other countries. It also describes the way Jews were treated in Canada. Today's readers might be surprised to know that there were people in Toronto who prided themselves on being part of The Swastika Club. A map, photographs and documents provide a visual context for the story.

Perry Nodelman

Perry Nodelman is the author of A Completely Different Place, The Same Place but Different and Behaving Bradley, and co-author, with Carol Matas, of the Minds series, beginning with Book Of Two Minds. He is professor emeritus of Children's Literature at the University of Winnipeg and the current editor of Canadian Children's Literature. He has written several books about children's literature, including Words About Pictures: The Narrative Art of Children's Picture Books, and The Pleasures of Children's Literature, a textbook used in universities across North America.

Scholastic