• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 6

A welcome addition to the Wow Canada! series, Courage and Compassion profiles ten individuals whose incredible acts have protected the human rights that we hold most dear. The names and accomplishments of some will be immediately familiar to readers while others may be more unsung heroes, but all share a strong belief that they must act according to their conscience to make Canada and the world a better place. From different eras in Canadian history, readers will meet Jeanne Mance, Josiah Henson, Nellie McClung, Lester B. Pearson, Roger Obata, June Callwood, Judy Feld Carr, Elijah Harper, Craig Kielburger, and Hannah Taylor. An in-depth and fascinating portrait of each person delves into their life and times, and highlights their strongest accomplishments. Through the extensive use of historical images, we also get a wonderful picture of these heroes’ worlds, a visual tour through aspects of Canada and these rich lives, past and present. The book spans 400 years and highlights the most important crusades of these times. War and peace, health care, slavery, equal rights, education, poverty, Native rights, racism, child labor: these are all causes taken on with conviction by the individuals profiled in Courage and Compassion.

Rona Arato is a children’s author with a strong interest in human rights. As a writer and editor for over twenty years, she has written on a wide variety of subjects including education, business, travel, fashion and Internet technology. Her work has appeared in mag-azines and newspapers in Canada, the United States, and England. Rona is the author of Fossils, Clues to Ancient Life and World of Water (Crabtree, 2004) and Ice Cream Town (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2007). Her new books include Working for Freedom: The Story of Josiah Henson for Napoleon (Fall 2008), Making a Difference for Maple Tree Press (Fall 2008), and Design It! for Tundra Books (Spring 2009). Rona began writing in the mid 1970s while raising her three children. She has also worked as a public relations consultant for profit and non-profit. She has taught adult Creative Writing for the Toronto District Board and conducted business writing workshops for profit and non-profit organizations in the Toronto area. She has written educational materials for organizations including Mosdos Press in Cleveland, Girl Guides of Canada, and B’nai Brith Canada. From 1994-1998, Rona had the privilege of serving as an interviewer for Survivors of the Shoa, a Steven Spielberg project that recorded the histories of Holocaust survivors. It was this experience that fostered her interest in and desire to write about human rights. Rona discovered Josiah Henson’s story while researching a project on Canadian heroes. She was immediately taken with his strength and courage in the face of seemingly insur-mountable obstacles. His dedication to human rights and freedom spoke to her heart and she hopes that his story will affect others, especially youth, in the same way it has affected her.

Rona Arato's profile page

• Winner, Ontario Library Association, Golden Oak Award
• Short-listed, Ontario Library Association, Silver Birch Award

...an easy and fascinating read and a great resource for classroom assignments.

Canadian Teacher

This fascinating series of vignettes is lavishly endowed with archival and contemporary photos...this chronicle of our past will make readers of all ages proud to be Canadian.

North Bay Nugget

...done with flair and a sense of fun and excitement.

Canadian Children’s Book News

These stories are an inspiration for people of all ages.

Good News Toronto

...filled with information bringing the fantastic contributions of these people to life...This book will help the audience see how we all can make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Resource Links

…compelling descriptions of the lives and works of these amazing people.

CM Magazine: Canadian Review of Materials

This book helps students…to choose to be participants and leaders for change.

Professionally Speaking

Courage and Compassion: Ten Canadians Who Made a Difference (Wow Canada!)

Here is the latest Wow Canada! book, a collected biography of ten heroes, some dead and some living – people who fought and worked for something they believed in. I like the books in this series; they are appealing titles for Canadian classrooms, done with flair and a sense of fun and excitement, and this one is no exception.

Josiah Henson turns up again here, along with Jeanne Mance, Nellie McClung, Lester B. Pearson, Roger Obata, June Callwood, Judy Feld Carr, Elijah Harper, Craig Kielburger and Hannah Taylor. It is an interesting assortment of men and women, young and old, including some who are not so well known.

Each chapter is eight pages, with an introduction, a brief history of their early life and details of their accomplishments. There are also sidebars that give useful background information. For example, a brief summary of the United Nations is included in the chapter on Lester B. Pearson. There are photos and artifacts that add to our knowledge of each person. All of these people make for interesting reading – even young Hannah Taylor whose “Ladybug Foundation” addresses the problem of homelessness and who was featured in a recent Globe and Mail article. Each figure shows courage and compassion in a unique way and their accomplishments vary tremendously. Certainly a book such as this is always going to be somewhat subjective, but it’s an interesting mix. It is well written; the author covers a whole lifetime in a few pages and conveys a good sense of the person and the obstacles that he or she faced. This will be a useful addition to all school libraries.