THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE

Kids Can Press, Toronto, 2006, 1^st/1^st thus.  Twentieth Anniversary Edition.  ISBN 1-55453-092-X / 978-1-55453-092-2.  Hard cover, unpaginated (approx. 32 pages).  Very good plus; touch of edge and corner wear; dust jacket shows a bit of edge and cover wear with a small nick at spine head and some light rubs and scratches.  Paintings by Ted Harrison.  Introduction by Pierre Berton.  Gently read if at all.  ‘No poet has captured the desperate days and frigid nights of the Gold Rush more memorably than Robert Service in “The Cremation of Sam McGee.”  A poem about a doomed prospector adrift in a harsh land, this is Service’s masterpiece.  Novelistic in scope, its mere 124 lines tell an unrelenting tale full of grit, drama and gallows humor.  To illustrate Service’s poem, internationally renowned painter Ted Harrison puts his signature bold lines, broad brushstrokes and unconventional choice of color to brilliant use in evoking the spare beauty of the Yukon.  Harrison’s Illustrator’s Notes on each page enhance both poem and illustrations by adding valuable historical background. … Upon its original publication in 1986, many recognized the book as an innovative approach to illustrating poetry for children.’ (from front flap)