The Use of Nova Scotia Idiom in Books for Young Readers

Abstract

In the early 1950's there appeared books with local settings such as The Mountain and the Valley, and The Channel Shore, both destined to gain more than local prestige, and both making use of local speech as an integral part of their language. The question raised in this paper is whether enough books can be found for younger readers, which could build the appreciation of local speech as having intrinsic literary value. Several books set in Nova Scotia, suitable for readers from age five to adolescence, are examined with this question in view. It appears that although several books do make the effort to include local speech, such effort is not widespread enough, and young readers do not have sufficient opportunity to see Nova Scotia idiom used as a serious part of literature for children and adolescents.