for older children. The 1998 novelThe Nose from Jupi-
ter, by Richard Scrimger, finds thirteen-year-old Alan
in the hospital; gradually he recalls that Norbert, an
alien, has taken up residence in his nose, and
Norbert enables Alan to score a winning goal, make
friends with Miranda, and shame the school’s bul-
lies. Beneath the fun is the moral lesson that even
the weak can learn how to be brave and upright.
Children’s Fiction Throughout the 1990’s, multi-
culturalism, relationships with family and others,
growing up, and social issues dominated children’s
fiction. Adjusting to life in a new culture is the sub-
ject of The China Year(1991), by Emily Cheney
Neville. Racial relationships are the focus of Beverly
Naidoo’sChain of Fire(1990), in which Naledi tries to
block moving a black village to a site chosen by
whites, and Paul Fleischman’sSaturnalia(1990), in
which an Indian apprentice in seventeenth century
Boston finds both friends and enemies among
whites. Adjusting to change is addressed inNewfound
(1990), by Jim Wayne Miller; Robert must cope with
his parents’ divorce. Laetitia must leave her close-
knit Caribbean village to attend secondary school in
For the Life of Laetitia(1993), by Merle Hodge. In Joan
Lingard’sTugofWar(1990), Yuki treats the survival
and the hardships of war and persecution. A Latvian
family flees their country in World War II, fearing
the possibility of separation or death. A Korean fam-
ily flees Soviet occupation in Year of Impossible
Goodbyes(1991), by Sook Nyul Choi. Books for older
children focused on growing up and learning the
importance of family, as inMama Let’s Dance(1991),
by Patricia Hermes, in which three children de-
serted by their mother learn to stick together. In a
lighter vein, a class of schoolboys must care for flour
bags to learn about parenting in Anne Fine’sFlour
Babies(1994). Books on social issues includedThe
Eagle Kite(1995), by Paula Fox, in which Liam must
deal with his feelings about AIDS when his father
contracts it. InCezanne Pinto(1994), by Mary Stolz,
an old man tells of his boyhood escape from slavery.
Virginia Hamilton’sBluish(1999) focuses on friend-
ship: Dreenie befriends Bluish, a fifth-grade class-
mate who is battling leukemia.
The major themes in American children’s fiction
are repeated in many of the best-known Canadian
works. Paul Yee’sTales from Gold Mountain: Stories of
the Chinese in the New World(1990) addresses the chal-
lenges of adapting to a new environment. Being sent
to Toronto during the German bombing of London
in World War II is the subject of Kit Pearson’sThe Sky
Is Falling(1990). Relationships are important in Mi-
chael Bedard’sRedwork(1990), in which an old man
who lost a leg in the war meets the lonely Cass, who
helps restore the old man to psychic wholeness.
Mickey finds security and learns to feel and accept
love when his mother flees to Uncle Ronald
O’Rourke’s house inUncle Ronald(1996), by Brian
Doyle.Children’s Nonfiction The natural world, people,
places, and historical events provided subjects for
much of the children’s nonfiction of the 1990’s both
in the United States and in Canada. Doug Wechsler
describes birds that have unusual appearances and
habits inBizarre Birds(1999), while Esther Quesada
Tyrrell’sHummingbirds: Jewels in the Sky(1992) shares
special features of more than three hundred kinds
of hummingbirds. Illustrations by Robert A. Tyrrell
add to the beauty and interest level of the book.
Stories of the lives of people from various walks of
life were also abundant in the 1990’s. Russell Freed-
man publishedThe Wright Brothers: How They Invented
the Airplanein 1991 andEleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Dis-
cover yin 1993. The work of Anna Etheridge is de-
scribed in Mary Francis Shura’sGentle Annie: The
True Stor y of a Civil War Nurse(1991). The lives of U.S.
presidents are sketched in 1998’sLives of the Presi-
dents: Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought),
written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Kathryn
Hewitt. Environmental concerns for penguins and
seals are subjects for Helen Cowcher’sAntarctica
(1990), while pollution by paper mills and other in-
dustries is the topic of Lynne Cherry’sA River Ran
Wild(1992). In Leon Walter Tillage’sLeon’s Stor y
(1997), Tillage tells of the cruelty and fear that he
experienced growing up in a small southern town in
the 1930’s and 1940’s.
In Canadian nonfiction, the subject of slavery is
addressed inThe Last Safe House: A Stor y of the Under-
ground Railroad(1998), by Barbara Greenwood.
Greenwood also recalls earlier days inA Pioneer Stor y:
The Daily Life of a Canadian Family in 1840(1994).
Typical of a Canadian propensity for educating chil-
dren about their own regions as well as about Can-
ada is Vivien Bowers’sWow Canada! Exploring This
Land from Coast to Coast(1999), in which twelve-year-
old Guy describes his family’s trip across the Cana-
dian provinces and territories. Linda Maybarduk’s170 Children’s literature The Nineties in America