Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains

by Catharine Parr Strickland Traill

"Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains" by Catharine Parr Traill is a novel published in 1852, considered the first Canadian novel for children. Three children—two English Canadian and one French Canadian—become lost in the wilderness near Rice Lake in southern Ontario and must survive together. When they meet a Mohawk girl who joins their group, the children combine their different skills and knowledge to endure the harsh Canadian landscape, ultimately suggesting themes of cooperation and nation-building in the new world.