Books by Gladys Young Blyth

INTRODUCTION.The year is 1910 and Tommy Vincent of Vancouver, British Columbia, almost seventeen, has just completed grade eleven. A tragic boating accident, taking the lives of his parents, jolts him out of his life of youthful complacency. Adding to the trauma of the tragedy, Tommy''s guardian uncle informs him that he was adopted as an infant. Tommy''s real parents are a White man and an Indian woman. He also has a sister, a year younger than himself living in the coastal interior town of Hazelton in northern B.C.On impulse, Tommy boards a ship bound for the frontier town of Port Essington on the north coast. From there he travels by paddlewheel river boat 180 miles inland along the Skeena River to Hazelton, known locally as The Forks or The Junction. With no clues as to his sister''s name or whereabouts, his mission is to find her and to learn something of his roots. From a vantage point on the bow of the riverboat, the Hazelton, Tommy sees first-hand the construction of the western portion of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, Canada''s second great transcontinental railroad, as it parallels the rugged and impervious shores of the mighty SkeenaRiver. Along the way, he meets settlers, pioneers, prospectors, trappers, gamblers, telegraph linemen, wood-cutters, speculators, Corkscrew and Maybelle.At The Forks, Tommy naively thinks he will find his sister right away and return to Vancouver on the next riverboat. However, he runs out of money and has to work as a wood-cutter and as a partner in a trapline venture. The harsh reality of frontier life, in a burgeoning dynamic segment of history, not only changed Tommy but changed the northern region of the province forever. The impact bluntly shaped him into a man of compassion, tolerance, resourcefulness and purpose.

Hello to all children who love to read. This is a story of 12-year-old Ryan Stanley whose father was killed in the Second World War with the Japanese nation. Born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Ryan misses having a dad. And, although he loves his mother, he is unhappy that she cannot provide everything he wants.For this reason, Ryan''s mother takes a job at North Pacific Cannery on the Skeena River to earn extra money for the things her son needs.Ryan has become a selfish child, caught up in his demands for the things he thinks he should have. And, because the Japanese killed his father, and because he is partial to playing with only Caucasian children, he is faced with the dilemma of either not having any friends at all, or of making friends with children of other cultures.At North Pacific, Ryan meets up with Danny Judson, 11, a native North American born in Kincolith, British Columbia on the Nass River. Danny has his own problems. He spends every school year at the Port Alberni Residential School and feels that he misses out on his native culture. Because of this he has developed an irritating habit of borrowing things and not returning them.Both boys team up with Kiyoshi Sakamoto, 13, a Japanese boy born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Kiyoshi struggles with the alienation his family experienced when they lost most of their possessions and were evacuated to the interior of the province during the Second World War. During this time his mother died. Kiyoshi is inclined to be cautious and, above all, obedient to his father. Together, the three boys secretly enjoy exciting adventures exploring the Skeena River on an old raft. Ryan makes a trip gillnet fishing with his Uncle Ted which ends in disaster. From this experience he realizes that he really wants to be with his new friends.

Once, the north coast of British Columbia was dotted with cannery villages. Now only a few plants remain. In Gladys Young Blyth's new history of the nothern salmon canning industry, many remarkable photographs- of the canneries, the fish boats, the workers- provide glimpses of by gone days in an industry that has been of vital significance to the development of the province. For each of the thirty-eight canneries on the Nass and Skeena Rivers the author gives a short history, the location, and a physical description of the plant. Her chronology of early- day to present methods of fishing and processing provides the reader with a clear understanding of how the industry functioned. Who were the cannery workers? How did they live in those isolated locations on the B.C. north coast? These and other questions are answered in this fascinating pictorial history.