Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Canadian Provinces. 5th ed. Detroit, Mich.: U*X*L Thomson Gale, 2007. 294 p. $67.00. ISBN 10: 1-4144-1060-3; 1-4144-1060-9.

Teachers who have not paid close attention to happenings in Canada will be surprised that a new province, Nunavut, was created from the Northern Territories in 1999. Now the largest of all, it has the least population, less than 30,000. For students studying the northern hemisphere, information in this new edition is arranged to allow for assignments requiring comparison between two or more of the provinces and the body of the articles have each division numbered. Each article begins with the origin of the province name, nickname, capital, entered confederation, song, motto, bird, tree, and time zone, and a description of the coat of arms and the flag, the floral emblem, the tartan. Each has a table with the population profile, population by major cities, and a pie chart of population by age group. A line map places the province in Canada and in relation to the U.S. Articles end with a brief bibliography including Web sites. Although the articles are short, they will challenge lower elementary students because of the vocabulary. End papers in the front have a color map of Canada and in the back, the flags and coats of arms of each. This will supplement the black and white illustrations in the text. Appendixes include an 11-page glossary and one page of abbreviations and acronyms. This will be an excellent example for how students might organize their papers; it will supplement the encyclopedia; and it will be useful in encouraging students to verify what they find on the Web.