With Pipe, Paddle and Song Voyageur songs included by Elizabeth Yates Library: Young Adult Historical Bookshelf Timeline: 1750s, French Canada 254 pp, Quality Softcover, Ages 14-up, RL5 Item # 37-9 — $12.95 Quantity:  or order by phone: 1-800-757-6831

Son of a French nobleman and a Chippewa Indian woman, Guilluame has spent half of his life in his father's Montreal chateau, half in his mother's village. When his father returns to France the sixteen-year-old is determined to make his own way in the world. He signs up with a rough and ready crew of voyaguers ready to start on their journey into the wilds of Canada to bring back the rich furs that have made New France prosperous. All his life he has heard of the perilous waterways and dangerous portages, but Guilluame feels he can prove himself worthy. "Moi, je suis un homme moi, je suis voyageur! Me, I am a man, me, I am a voyageur!"

Newbery Award-winner Elizabeth Yates' meticulous research is obvious in this authentic story of the French-Canadian fur trade. Against a vivid background she skillfully weaves history and the theme of a young man coming to grips with two worlds' conflicting demands.

Included in the book is an extensive list of voyaguer songs, with music and lyrics. (You can read more about this book in With Pad, Pencil, and Scheme.)

Read an excerpt from this book in our Reading Room.

HISTORICAL FICTION

CORE KNOWLEDGE UPPER GRADE REVIEW

SUBJECTS:

• Voyaguers
• French-Canadian History
• New France
• Native Americans
• Fur Trade
• Music

Reviews

"With Pipe, Paddle, and Song recreates a rich story involving voyageurs, mixed loyalties and encounters with nature. The research behind the novel is strong and gives the reader a good sense of a past too frequently overlooked in textbooks. The book, though an adventure story, has enhancing historical detail that leads to larger issues. Elizabeth Yates also does a fine job of showing how songs, an intregal part of her characters' lives, reflect their world."
-- Marjorie Bingham, Member of the Bradley Commission on History

"A sixteen year old boy sets out on his first canoe journey through the Canadian boundary lakes to bring their valuable cargo back to Montreal. Children and adults will experience a voyageur's life in this exciting and history enhancing story."
-- Deloris Kanten, retired editor of Bond magazine

"An adventure story for kids and an entertaining education for adults."
-- Lisa Pekori, Boundary Waters catalog

"This book is one you’ll want your teenage son to read and relate to. He’ll learn such values as hard work, being dependable and cheerful, fortitude, and saving yourself for the right person. . . . There is plenty of adventure and action in this uplifting book. Who knows, it may even kindle a desire to learn French or to go canoeing!"
-- P.G.

"As a mom with teenage boys, this book was especially appealing. The adventures of Guillaume and his voyageurs was a suspenseful trip through the Canadian back country in 1750. The relationship of the men on the trip was an awesome lesson in commitment. The book even included music and lyrics for the songs that the voyageurs sang. For anyone who enjoys historical fiction these books are top notch! "
-- Rita M., Homeschooling mom
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