Creating the National Mosaic: Multiculturalism in Canadian Children’s Literature from 1950 to 1994 (review)

In Creating the National Mosaic, Miriam Verena Richter offers a comprehensive exploration of multiculturalism as it relates to Canadian national identity formation in children’s literature, and her approachable writing style, in depth critical thought, and detailed footnotes make the book both informative and enjoyable to read. She both recognizes and appreciates the fact that “multiculturalism is a—if not the—core component of Canadian national identity,” and explores how the national mosaic permeates everyday Canadian life (xiii). She understands the crucial role that literature plays in education and childhood development, and recognizes its inextricable link to multiculturalism as an implicit aspect of Canadian identity. Richter also demonstrates a compelling awareness of the political forces acting on multiculturalism in twentieth-century Canada, and uses Prime Minister Trudeau’s white paper of 1971 and the Canadian Multicultural Act (CMA) of 1988 throughout the book to support her conclusions. Her strategic focus on children’s literature from 1950-1994 allows her to cover time periods before, during, and after multiculturalism had become politically enshrined in Canadian policy, and her insight into the historical aspects of Canadian multiculturalism offers a constructive background that supports her connections between children’s literature and the Canadian national mosaic.

The first three chapters offer theoretical approaches to Canadian multiculturalism, while providing a historical and political backdrop to support Richter’s multicultural ideology. The first chapter, entitled “National Identity Formation,” emphasizes the enormous role that literature plays in the development of cultural identity, and Richter understands literature as a sort of “cultural medium” that connects readers in the same cultural context. She suggests that, because of childhood vulnerability and the fact that “the child reader has not yet acquired sufficient knowledge to exercise ‘mature’ judgment,” literature plays an especially significant role in the development of children’s national and cultural identities. By identifying with a novel’s protagonist, children are able to connect with the character on a personal level while shaping their cultural views. Richter’s discourse on national identity formation leads well into the second chapter, “The Canadian Situation,” which discusses the integral role of multiculturalism in a specifically Canadian national identity. She uses Pierre Trudeau’s legislation and the CMA to develop a political understanding of cultural diversity, and argues that Canadian children’s literature propagates a social unity that is crucial to Canadian cultural identity. Citizens of differing ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to preserve their heritage while still immersing themselves in Canadian culture, which appreciates both cultures rather than instating a separation.

Richter establishes a convincing link between multicultural Canadian policy and children’s literature dealing with issues of ethnic diversity, and she further strengthens this link in the third chapter, “Cultural Policy,” where she explores the influence of library and literacy promotion programs. Interestingly, she mentions the fact that in first half of the twentieth-century, multicultural literature promoted assimilation rather than cultural diversity, and overlooked instances of racism and sexual stereotyping. However, in the last half of the century, with the influence of multicultural policy and legislation, books that did not embrace ethnic diversity have been removed from children’s library programs, and Richter presents a firm understanding of the effects of this shift on the development of childhood national identity. She also engages in discussions of print culture and the influence of the increase in the numbers of Canadian publishing companies in the second half of the twentieth-century, and acknowledges the work of other researchers in the field while positioning herself within their arguments.

The fourth chapter, and last section before the concluding remarks, provides close readings of a strategically selected and well-thought-out sample of Canadian children’s literature. Richter is interested in authors living in Canada and writing for children between the impressionable ages of 9-15 years old, and keeping her requisites in mind she looks at Lynn Cook’s The Bells on Finland Street (1950) and The Little...