Canadian Americans

by Kevin Cunningham

Canadians have been immigrating to America since the formation of our country. Canadian Americans explains the how's and why's of the Canadian immigration to America and reveals the Canadian American... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592961789
• ISBN13: 9781592961788
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Child's World
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.5" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 8 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 6

Customer Reviews

Yes, millions have come to the U.S. from Canada as well

This year has seen the publication of several new volumes in the Our Cultural Heritage series that go well beyond the standard groups written about when we are talking about immigration to the United States. That is certainly the case with this volume by Kevin Cunningham devoted to "Canadian Americans." After all, the border between the United States and Canada is the longest undefended national border in the world at 3,987 miles, although the friendship between the two countries did not really begin until after 1867, when Britain allowed Canads to govern itself. Still, I was surprised to learn that between 1840 and 1930 more than 900,000 French Canadians came to the U.S. from Quebec. Cunningham begins by explaining the motives for Canadian immigration and the main places they settled (mostly northern states) and then develops the link between Canada and the Cajuns of Louisiana (another surprise). Chapters are also devoted to Canadians living in the United States and on Canadian-American Contributions, which, of course, is the point where Wayne Gretzky gets mentioned along with Celine Dion and Dr. James Naismith. The margins of the book are crammed with Interesting Facts, such as how French Canadians first settled Detroit and how Spain paid for over 1,6000 Acadians from France to travel to Louisiana in 1785, and most chapters have a detailed side bar on a key topic like the Cajun Language and the Brain Drain. With at least two dozen volumes in the Our Cultural Heritage series, we are getting to the point where a teacher could assign one book to almost every student in their class (I despair over the current class sizes most teachers face in this country). There are, of course, similar series out there, but I do not recall coming across another volume devoted to Canadian Americans. There might not be much here compared to other immigrant groups, but there is what there is and learning about any of the experiences of immigrants coming to the United States is always useful in remembering that if you go back far enough everybody here came from some place else.