Our Song: The Story of O Canada, the Canadian National Anthem
Non-fiction picture book
Kuitenbrouwer, Peter. (2004). Our Song: The Story of O Canada, the Canadian National Anthem. Montreal, Quebec: Lobster Press.
This picture was obtained from: http://www.lobsterpress.com/title.php?id=101
“Pierre Trudeau, then Prime Minister, announced to the crowd that the national anthem was the best present the country could have on its birthday.”
-page 21 from Our Song: The Story of O Canada, the Canadian National Anthem
A Little about the Book:
Our Song: The Story of O Canada, the Canadian National Anthem, teaches the reader the history behind the song O Canada. The book includes where the song originated, who introduced the song, who created the lyrics, the music, and who made the French and English versions of the song. The book also includes timelines of Canada’s history between the years of 1880 and 1980. The book also includes the current lyrics of Canada’s national anthem and all the other lyrics sang before the song became Canada’s national anthem.
The Illustrations:
I absolutely love the illustrations. Each page has leaf prints as the background, and characters that look like they were created from plasticine. In addition, the pictures seem to pop out at the reader, almost as if they were three-dimensional. All of the pictures are cartoonish but at the same time shows important symbols of Canada.
Themes:
· O Canada
· The history of O Canada
· Canada’s history
· Songs
· Music
Age Level:
Our Song: The Story of O Canada, The Canadian National Anthem is appropriate for children between the ages of 6 and 9. Although the reading level of the book would be Grade 3 to Grade 5.
Personal Response:
I absolutely loved this book. I found the information to be interesting and very informative. I would use this book in a classroom, not only does it introduce students to the history of the song O Canada, but it also provides students with historic facts about Canada.
The illustrations are amazing. Even though the illustrations are cartoonish, they still provide a certain sense of seriousness, which allows the book to be educational. My favourite picture is on pages 18 and 19. I love the moose, raccoon, and dogs. I also enjoy the incorporation of the music symbols in the actual pictures. Throughout the book the use of the leaf imprints for the background are also very interesting. I found it adds to the picture and provides an additional Canadian symbol for children to talk about.
Teacher Ideas:
Our Song: The Story of O Canada, The Canadian National Anthem is a great book to use in Social Studies. Teachers can introduce a unit about Canada’s history using this book. Students can use the history of O Canada as building blocks for other important historical events.
Social Studies
- Have the students research one of the historical events presented in the timelines.
- Have the students create lyrics to a classroom national anthem, and have them vote on the anthem.
Have the students create a play based on Our Song: The Story of O Canada, The Canadian National Anthem.
Music
Have the students sing O Canada.
Show students the lyrics of other versions of O Canada, and have them sing these versions.
Teach students how to play O Canada on a musical instrument.
Art
Have students use Plasticine to create a Canadian.
Have students create leaf prints. Give each student a piece of paper and a pencil. Have them go outside and place the paper on top of the leaf and shade on the paper. They should get an imprint of the leaf. Students can use different colour pencils, or different leaves to make a picture.
Take the students outside to pick out a bunch of leaves. Then give students a piece of wax paper. Allow students to arrange the leaves on their papers. Than place another piece of wax paper over top of their sheet, and go over it with an iron until the two pieces of wax paper stick together.
O Canada song Information Here:
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