Scholastic Canada - Claire's Gift

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Scholastic Canada Ltd.
ISBN 0590-51461-X HC
ISBN 0-439-98860-8 PBK
32 pages
Ages 4-8

by Maxine Trottier
illustrated by Rajka Kupesic

Claire is sent to the small village of Chéticamp on Cape Breton Island, to visit her great aunt. Tante Marie is kind and the people of Chéticamp are friendly, but Claire feels so lonely she will not speak and it seems nothing can cheer her up. Then one day she watches Tante Marie hooking one of the beautiful rugs for which Chéticamp is famous, and asks if she can try. Soon Claire is hooking her own rug, and stitch by stitch she lets Tante Marie and the village into her heart, and a little bit of her heart into the work.

Winner of Mr. Christie's Book Award
Congratulations to the creative team behind the winning title — Claire’s Gift !

The award was presented in a ceremony at the Reading Room of the House of Commons in Ottawa on September 15, 2000. Author Maxine Trottier and illustrator Rajka Kupesic share the award. This is the first time that an original Scholastic Canada book has won this honour.


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Excerpt from CLAIRE'S GIFT
by Maxine Trottier and Rajka Kupesic

Tante Marie did not know what to do. None of the nieces or nephews who had visited over the years had ever behaved in such a way. There would be a little homesickness and then it would disappear.

Children loved the old house and the deep blue gulf water beyond it. They flew kites and ran in the fields and made friends with the Chéticamp children. It was a mystery.

Finally one night, sighing and worried, she did the only thing she could do. She picked up her rug and began to hook. The pattern of the work soothed her heart.

With the hook catch the wool.

Give it just a little pull.

Give the wool a little tug

with the hook to make the rug.

Tante Marie remembered far back when she had been a little girl herself with wild red hair. Her own Tante Emilie had taught her that rhyme the summer she set the hook in her hand.

Then Tante Marie looked up suddenly. There in the doorway stood Claire in a nightgown that was a little too worn. Tante Marie paused, the hook in her hand.

"I can tell that you are asking yourself what it is I am doing," said Tante Marie. Claire said nothing.

"Well, I am hooking a rug," said Tante Marie gently. "Would you like to see how it is done?" Claire did not answer but she came closer.

"It goes this way," said Tante Marie, and Claire came even closer. "With the hook catch the wool. Give it just a little pull. Give the wool a little tug with the hook to make the rug."

"May I try?" asked Claire softly. Tante Marie smiled to herself. She put the hook into Claire's hand and let her pull a few strands of wool through the squares. Claire looked up at Tante Marie and they both laughed.

From Claire's Gift, copyright © 1999 Maxine Trottier

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