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I Am Canada:
Blood and Iron
By Paul Yee
978-0-545-98593-2
hardcover
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234 pages
Ages 9 - 12
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4 3/8" x 6 1/2"
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Heen’s father and grandfather have
brought their family in China to the
brink of ruin with their gambling
habits. To solve their money troubles,
Heen and his father come to Canada to
build the railway — a decision plagued
by disaster.
The living conditions provided for workers are wretched and work on the railway
is excruciating. Transporting tons of gravel and working in tunnels about to be
dynamited proves to be deadly for many of his co-workers. Soon the friction
between the Chinese workers and the whites, who barely acknowledge these deaths,
reaches a fevered pitch. As an added stress, Heen’s father has found some men to
gamble with, which puts all of their earnings at risk.
Heen’s only solace is his journal, where his chilling observations of the injustice and
peril heaped upon the workers serve as an important testament to this dramatic era
in Canadian history. Some 17,000 Chinese workers came to B.C. during the early 1880s; though not all stayed for the railway’s entire construction, they formed three-quarters of the workforce.
"... history come(s) alive through an expert mix of fact and fiction."
-Quill & Quire, starred review
“…the chief characters are eminently likeable and quietly heroic, and their tales utterly engrossing.”
-The Globe and Mail
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