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 * ELA A30 - Novel Study Selection **
 * CR A 30.1 View, listen to, read, comprehend, and respond to a variety of grade-appropriate FNM, SK, and Can. texts that address: identity, social responsibility and, social action. **
 * CR A 30.4 Read, demonstrate comprehension of, and apply knowledge from grade-appropriate informational and literary texts from FNM, SK, and Can. authors as a basis for understanding self and the multiplicty of voices and perspectives that make up Can. culture. **
 * CC A 30.3 Present and express a range of ideas and information in formal and informal situations for differing audiences and purposes. **
 * AR A 30.2 Reflect on personal growth and successes in language learning and consider the role and importance of language learning when developing personal goals and plans as a self-directed, curious, self-appraising, and open-minded learner. **

**// The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz //**** by Mordecai Richler ** Duddy Kravitz lives in the shadow of his brother, whom his father, Max (Jack Warden), and his Uncle Benjy (Joseph Wiseman) are helping to put through medical school. Seeking to rise above his family's poverty, Duddy aspires to purchase and develop lakefront land near the hotel resort he is working at in Quebec's Laurentian Mountains. But Duddy's quest to make something of himself reveals a harsh determination to do whatever he has to in order to make his dream a reality.

The powerful and moving life stories of two Métis sisters who suffer the breakdown of their family relations and the injustices of the social services system. Ten critical essays accompany one of the best-known texts by a Canadian Aboriginal author.
 * // In Search of April Raintree //**** By Beatrice Culleton Mosionier **

Although this book is about a Cape Breton family with Celtic roots, this story is universal and anyone living anywhere could relate to the message that blood IS thicker than water, what that means and why. It begins with a much younger successful brother visiting his older alcoholic brother in a downtown Toronto flop house. We discover that he does this once a month, faithfully brings a bottle to him, and spends some uncomfortable time with him. Why? Where does this sense of loyalty, obligation and duty originate? As the book unfolds and the clock goes backwards, it's clear that Alexander would not be who is he is today without the love and sacrifice of Calem. It's also clear that Calem was not always the down on his luck addict that you see today...there are events and emotions that led him to take this fork in the road.
 * // No Great Mischief //**** by Alistair MacLeod **

//The Stone Angel // offers a portrait of a remarkable character who at age ninety confronts her mortality and is terrified, for all she can see behind her is a wasteland of personal failures. Yet her terror becomes the necessary catalyst for a change of heart and a measure of grace that marks her final days.
 * // The Stone Angel //**** by Margaret Laurence **

**// Three Day Road //**** by Joseph Boyden ** Three Day Road follows the life of two Cree friends, Xavier and Elijah, as well as Xavier’s aunt, Niska. The novel begins as Niska meets her nephew as he is delivered by train following his tour of duty in WWI. She aims to return him to his home by means of canoe, a route that takes three days. During this trip, Xavier is forced to face his demons and recover from a powerful morphine addiction worsened by the horrors of war that haunt him. His aunt offers him stories of her life throughout his struggle, believing that there is “medicine in the tale.” Xavier’s tale of war is told through flashbacks and memories.  Saul Indian Horse is dying. Tucked away in a hospice high above the clash and clang of a big city, he embarks on a marvelous journey of imagination back through the life he led as a northern Ojibway, with all its sorrows and joys. With compassion and insight, author **Richard Wagamese ** traces through his fictional characters the decline of a culture and a cultural way. For Saul, taken forcibly from the land and his family when he's sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement. //Indian Horse // unfolds against the bleak loveliness of northern Ontario, all rock, marsh, bog and cedar. **Wagamese ** writes with a spare beauty, penetrating the heart of a remarkable Ojibway man.
 * // Indian Horse //**** by Richard Wagemese **