Boy of the Deeps

James, the son of a coal miner, goes with his father for the first time to work in the mines of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, but a sudden calamity puts James and his father in terrible danger.

Grade 2-4-A picture book about a boy's first day as a miner, set in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, at the turn of the century. Wallace's spare text and evocative acrylic paintings detail James's introduction to the underground world. The author makes it clear that this is a hard life-after father and son survive a cave-in, the book concludes, "They headed toward the steel cage, the light, and home. Tomorrow they would go down into the deeps again, for they were miners and that was their job." Like Susan Campbell Bartoletti's Growing Up in Coal Country (Houghton, 1996) and Judith Hendershot's In Coal Country (Knopf, 1987; o.p.) this is a powerful picture of children and men involved in dangerous work.
Kathleen Whalin, Greenwich Country Day School, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Wallace (Chin Chiang and the Dragons Dance) takes his inspiration from his grandfathers experience in the coal mines for this suspenseful picture book set in Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. On Jamess first day working alongside his miner father, his mother cautions him to take care, since the deeps is dangerous. A cage-like elevator drops down 1000 feet through darkness that was blacker than a ravens eye, taking the miners far below the Atlantic. Wallaces taut yet descriptive narrative appeals to the senses as it draws readers into this underground setting, where water drips down from the low ceiling and James listens to the layers of rock shifting and creaking. At lunchtime, along with his bread and cod, the boy finds a small present from his mother: three wild daisies, a striking contrast to the mines bleakness. But suddenly, the mines ceiling collapses on top of James and his father, who diligently work away at the rocks until they cut a narrow tunnel to safety. Wallace expertly manipulates light and shadow in his effectively textured, acrylic-on-canvas paintings, which offer a lifelike depiction of this timeless subterranean world. Ages 8-11.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Wallace tells a story about his grandfather, who worked in the mines. It is a touching tale about the son of a coal miner, who goes with his father for the first time to work underground. ``You'll be a good miner, boy,'' says the father. ``You have coal in your blood same as me.'' His mother tells him, ``Take care, my son. You know the deeps is dangerous.'' Father and son file into a steel cage and are lowered into the darkness with all the other miners. It is exhausting work, and the boy falls asleep during lunch. While they are working in the afternoon, the ceiling in the mine collapses, knocking them to the ground, and giving them a scare as they dig themselves out. ``They headed toward the steel cage, the light, and home. Tomorrow they would go down into the deeps again, for they were miners and that was their job.'' Wallace's simple and direct language gives the story power; the textured and shadowy illustrations, as still as photographs, convey what it was like to grow up long ago, when a boy went to do a man's work, and toiled willingly alongside his Da. (Picture book. 6-11) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.