Shortlisted for the 2009-2010 BC
Chocolate Lily Book Award



Sono Nis Press, 2008
ISBN 1-55039-168-2
ISBN 13 978-1-55039-168-8

Teachers' Guide

            ~ Finnish Proverb

Recipe for Finnish Cardamom Cookies featured in
SAARA'S PASSAGE.

I picked up my pencil and stared at the blank white space. Setting a few goals should be easy. But I couldn't think of any. All that swirled through my mind was the question I’d been plagued with since I survived the Empress: “What is the purpose of my life?”

Saara is trying hard to forget her horrifying experience aboard the doomed Empress of Ireland steamship. She roller skates with her best friend, enjoys her new baby cousin, and can’t wait to star in the school play! But nightmares—and unanswerable questions—keep tormenting her.

Then, as the First World War looms, Saara’s family is struck another heavy blow: tuberculosis. Her beloved Aunt Marja must go to a sanatorium. Who will care for Baby Sanni?

In this sequel to Second Watch,  twelve-year-old Finnish-Canadian Saara Mäki continues her passage—not across the Atlantic, but through the shoals and storms of growing up. Set in northwestern Ontario, her story is Canada’s story, as both take up the responsibilities handed to them by circumstance and history.

“AMAZING! ***** stars out of 5. … when Richard gets the letter from Gordon about the deadly gases and what he did to survive I laughed my guts out! I liked the emphasis on Saara's struggles with Aunt Marja's troubles and an excellent scene was when Sanni's head was bumped because it showed the true determination that Aunt Marja is still wanting to care for Sanni. In earlier chapters you are still thinking like Saara until that part. This book also lets you think about the situation for yourself.
All the notes and actual messages in the book like the one John wrote were all good touches. Congratulations on another job well done!”

“I like the book Saara's Passage ... My favourite part is when Saara had many dreams of the Empress of Ireland disaster.”

Andrew, Grade 5

“It's not a book about fashion, ditzes and self-centered teens. Saara has a life of her own and is real to everyone.”