Three Songs For Courage

Three Songs for Courage
by Maxine Trottier
Published by Tundra Books
2006
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Plot Summary

Imagine this --- it is the summer of 1956 in Erie View, Ontario. Everybody is on summer vacation, guys are wearing their hair with big skunks and pompadours, girls are wearing the pointiest bras that they can get their hands on, and every teenage boy dreams of owning a beautiful car so they can cruise the streets, experience freedom, and most importantly...........go parking.

1950's Bra

1950's Hair

1950's Car

Three Songs for Courage is the story of sixteen-year-old Gordon Westley. The reader follows Westley as he experiences the changing climate of his home-town after the second world war. He lives with his parents and his grandfather. Both his dad and grandfather have fought in combat in both world wars. Through Westley's eyes, we watch the entire community adjust to the quiet life of post-war times. It is in this setting that Westley experiencse true-love for the first time, suffer loss and experiences grief.

Comments

This story is part revenge and mystery and part romance. Maxine Trottier paints Erie View with vivid descriptions of the place, as well as the people who live there. We see experience the emotional feelings of growing-up and the choices that one is required to make. This book it is a true coming of age story. We watch Westley make difficult choices and learn from the choices that he makes. By following Westley through his day to day, we read all of this inner-most thoughts, including sexual fantacies, plots for revenge, and pure thoughts of love and yearning. This book is aimed at a mature teen group. It shows that many moral decisions that many people are faced, and we watch Westley struggle with himself to make the right choices. I would hightly recommend this book, as one is shown that people do not change that much from generation to generation. People are people, and many of the issues that were the most challenging then, are still being faced today.

Teens will be teens, no matter what generation they live in. I enjoyed this book alot!

Age Range - 16-20

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