National Network for Equitable Library Service

Lois Donovan’s new historical fiction, The Journal, begins in 2004 when thirteen-year-old Kami receives a bizarre offer involving a historic house in Edmonton, from her estranged grandfather. A move to Edmonton was definitely not part of Kami’s “best-year-ever” plan, but her mother insists it is an opportunity to reconnect with the father she hasn’t heard from in two years. When Kami discovers a journal from 1929, newspaper clippings inside send Kami hurtling back in time where she becomes an eye-witness to two of Alberta’s biggest stories of the year. “Wop” May is about to make his historic Mission of Mercy flight and Emily Murphy is battling the Supreme Court of Canada to have women declared as “persons” in the British North America Act. But Kami has her own battles to fight when she discovers that her almond eyes are not exactly an asset at this time in Alberta’s history. Through Kami’s experiences in 1929 she comes to see her world with new eyes. Perfection, as it turns out, is not as perfect as she thought it was.