Tag Archives: Canada

349L: Scaring Moose by Yelling in French

In the early 1960s we had a picture book that was probably published in the 1950s. It was about a man and boy walking through the woods, possibly in Canada. The man was likely a lumberjack.

At the climactic moment, they encounter a moose on the trail. The man scares it away by yelling “Marche donc!”
This is all I remember about the book.

297Q: Like a Canadian Little House on the Prairie

1950s (or earlier) Canadian series about a family.

My mother is looking for a series she read in the 50s but she doesn’t know whether it was published for her generation (born in the 40s) or the books were from her mother’s childhood. They seemed pretty contemporary however. She grew up in Canada and the books were all set in Canada.

The main characters were a boy and a girl, possibly twins. There may have been additional siblings. They moved a lot and each book took place in a new town, much like Little House. Their father may have worked for the government. Or possibly he just was sent many places and they regularly visited him.

One book took place in a logging camp with lumberjacks. In another, they moved to Montreal and dealt with the language barrier, being English-speaking. She particularly remembers them having trouble figuring out the French labels for hot and cold on bathroom sink faucets.