Winds of L' Acadie
If sixteen-year-old Sarah White's Toronto teacher ever asked her to write an essay on "How I Spent My Summer Vacation", what a story Sarah could tell. It's a story that would teach readers about the history of the Acadians of Nova Scotia. But first they would have to believe that Sarah and her eighteen-year-old friend, Luke, a modern-day Acadian, could be transported from today's Wolfville, NS, to yesterday's mid-1750's Acadia. And as believers they would find Sarah and Luke's story in Winds of L'Acadie to be a compelling read from Calgary author Lois Donovan, a former New Brunswicker and a graduate of Wolfville's Acadia University.  Sarah's exciting journey begins when her itinerant filmmaker mother ships her against her will to Wolfville to summer with maternal grandparents, Reta and Peter White. For city girl Sarah in her high-heeled sandals and Thai silk skirt it's a tough transition, one that isn't made easier when neighbour Luke introduces himself by spilling eggs all over her. Then, he nearly drowns her when a summer squall catches his sailboat, knocking her unconscious and literally out of this world and into a 1755 Acadian village with strong resemblances to her grandparents' farmland. There, a series of events take place: she meets eighteen-year-old Anne LeBlanc and her family; she is mistaken for an angel when she uses CPR to resuscitate Anne's drowning little brother; and she comes under the discomfiting suspicions of an older brother wondering who she is and where she came from.  Sarah's stay with the LeBlancs provides an ideal opportunity for Donovan to portray the hardy daily life of the Acadians, a romance between Anne and her betrothed, the beginnings of British mistreatment of the Acadians, and their efforts at mass deportation. Mi'kmaq culture is cleverly incorporated into the narrative with the use of the magic birchbark trinket box Anne took with her from her grandfather's study. Its encased winds, like the winds of L'Acadie, sweep her back to Wolfville and her bedroom where she learns her two-week sojourn has taken only one day during her recovery from the boating accident.  Bent on learning more about the Acadians, Sarah co-opts Luke into her adventure, telling him about the LeBlancs and getting him to take her to the Halifax Public Archives, where she pours over maps and books with stories of Nova Scotia's history, reinforcing her earlier experiences with the poem, "Evangeline', the Acadian Visitor and Interpretation Centre, and the book The Acadian Exiles. The research heightens Sarah's desire to return to the LeBlanc family, and she does, only this time Luke comes along to share her adventures. Luke warns her, "You can't change history, Sarah." So although they don't do the impossible, their journey back in time does give Donovan the chance to detail the plight of the Acadians in a most informative and entertaining manner... traditional stories get unravelled, and Sarah and Luke get to decide about their future after their summer to remember forever.  Donovan's sterling account of how two teenagers spent their summer vacation is a first-class story deserving of a first-class grade.  M. Wayne Cunningham (Books in Canada) --Books In Canada,Summer, 2007