
Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A Victorian Juvenile Robinsonade of Upper Canada Wilderness, Survival, and Natural HistoryBy Catharine Parr Strickland TraillLength9h 19m
About this audiobook
Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains recasts the Robinsonade for the forests and waterways of Upper Canada, following young castaways as they survive through ingenuity, cooperation, and close attention to the natural world. Written in a lucid, instructive style for juvenile readers, the novel combines adventure, moral education, natural history, and settler-colonial imagination, situating wilderness survival within nineteenth-century debates about civilization, providence, and Indigenous knowledge. Catharine Parr Strickland Traill, an English-born writer who emigrated to Canada in 1832, drew deeply on her own settler experience in the backwoods near Peterborough. Sister to Susanna Moodie and Agnes Strickland, Traill was both a literary craftswoman and a keen observer of botany, domestic labor, and frontier adaptation. Her practical knowledge of Canadian landscapes and her belief in disciplined resourcefulness decisively shape the novel's texture and purpose. This book is recommended for readers interested in early Canadian literature, children's adventure fiction, environmental writing, and the cultural history of settlement. Though modern readers should approach its colonial assumptions critically, Canadian Crusoes remains a revealing, vivid, and historically important work.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
GenreChildren's Literature
Length9 hrs 19 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 2, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains (Annotated)
2Introduction
3Synopsis
4Historical Context
5PREFACE
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6LIST OF ENGRAVINGS (Not included)
7CHAPTER I.
8CHAPTER II.
9“Fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
10CHAPTER III.
11CHAPTER IV.
12CHAPTER V.
13CHAPTER VI.
14CHAPTER VII.
15“Go to the ant.”— Proverbs.
16CHAPTER VIII.
17“Oh, come and hear what cruel wrongs Befel the Dark Ladye.”—COLERIDGE.
18CHAPTER IX.
19“The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill” Irish Song.
20CHAPTER X.
21CHAPTER XI.
22CHAPTER XII.
23CHAPTER XIII.
24CHAPTER XIV.
25CHAPTER XV.
26CHAPTER XVI.
27CHAPTER XVII.
28APPENDIX
29APPENDIX A.— Preface.
30Page vii.
31APPENDIX B.
32Page 72.— “where Wolf Tower now stands.”
33APPENDIX C.
34Page 113.— “... as civilization advances.”
35APPENDIX E.
36Page 184.—“ ... on first deciding that it was a canoe. ”
37APPENDIX F.
38Page 195.— “... the Christian mind revolts with horror.”
39APPENDIX G.
40Page 213.— “... and aimed a knife at his throat”
41APPENDIX H.
42Page 232.— “This place she called Spooke Island”
43APPENDIX I.
44Page 253.— “and nothing but fire.”
45APPENDIX K.
46Page 272.— “but it was not so in the days whereof I have spoken.”
47APPENDIX L.
48Page 282.— “... that an outward manifestation of surprise.”
49APPENDIX M.
50APPENDIX N.