A Number of Things
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: August 16, 2017 3:54 PM | Last Updated: August 16, 2017
Jane Urquhart, illustrated by Scott McKowen
From one of our nation's most beloved and iconic authors comes a lyrical 150th birthday gift to Canada. Jane Urquhart chooses 50 Canadian objects and weaves a rich and surprising narrative that speaks to our collective experience as a nation.
Each object is beautifully illustrated by the noted artist Scott McKowen, with Jane Urquhart conjuring and distilling meaning and magic from these unexpected facets of our history.
The 50 artifacts range from a Nobel Peace Prize medal, a literary cherry tree, a royal cowcatcher, a Beothuk legging, a famous skull and an iconic artist's shoe, as well as an Innu tea doll, a Sikh RCMP turban, a Cree basket, a Massey-Harris tractor and a hanging rope, among an array of unexpected and intriguing objects. (From HarperCollins)
Each object is beautifully illustrated by the noted artist Scott McKowen, with Jane Urquhart conjuring and distilling meaning and magic from these unexpected facets of our history.
The 50 artifacts range from a Nobel Peace Prize medal, a literary cherry tree, a royal cowcatcher, a Beothuk legging, a famous skull and an iconic artist's shoe, as well as an Innu tea doll, a Sikh RCMP turban, a Cree basket, a Massey-Harris tractor and a hanging rope, among an array of unexpected and intriguing objects. (From HarperCollins)
From the book
A couple of years ago, when publisher Patrick Crean invited me to mark Canada's 2017 sesquicentennial by writing about fifty objects, my first reaction was one of alarm. Had almost fifty years really passed since the much-celebrated centennial year, with its train whistles shrieking the first four notes of "O Canada," its hippies dressed in the new Canadian flag, its oddly shaped poured concrete architecture, and its symbolic flames and geometric maple leaves? Because if this was so, then it had been half a century since I was an adolescent.
From A Number of Things by Jane Urquhart, illustrated by Scott McKowen ©2016. Published by HarperCollins.