The account of one family journeying from “the old country” across the ocean and the continent to develop a homestead on the prairies, The New Land seems deliberately general rather than specific in its references, suggesting the experience of tens of thousands of families rather than providing the little details that make up an individual story. This rather abstract, universal quality is consistent in both text and pictures: only the two children are named and places are simply “a town” and “a valley” while the figure drawings often have the slightly stilted and remote quality of old posed photographs. The New Land thus lacks the gripping personal element that made Reynolds’ earlier book Belle’s Journey a memorable anecdote of prairie life. It is, nonetheless, an attractive book that conveys a simple and practical account for young children of what it might have been like to homestead on the prairies.

Stephen McCallum’s warmly coloured pictures, while not creating much emotional involvement with the characters, do evoke atmosphere, and are invaluable in depicting activities such as building the sod house. One double-page spread shows the steamship wallowing in heavy Atlantic seas; the sense of motion in this picture is enough to make a viewer queasy and recalls McCallum’s work on his outstanding NFB film From Flores. Another golden double-page spread shows the autumn prairie from a hawk’s-eye viewpoint, with the father plowing a protective circle around the homestead in case of fire. Equally pleasing are the small vignettes at the bottom of some pages of text: a steam train crossing a high trestle, and a coyote howling in the snow.

While the rhythms of Reynolds’ prose are attractive and lend themselves well to reading aloud, the paucity of specific detail, character, and conflict make the book rather bland. Life and humour come from comments such as when the oxen were tired of pulling their load, “they lay down to rest and wouldn’t get up until they felt like moving again.” The New Land could use more of these touches. When the father buys supplies, it would be interesting to know what was in the sacks of food, or just what card games they played to pass the winter nights. Some of this detail is in the illustrations, where Annie makes a little sod house for her doll, and when a robin family perches on the newly planted apple tree. The New Land is a pleasant and perhaps a useful book, but not one to grip the heart.