The Journal of Etienne Mercier: Queen Charlotte Islands, 1853 - David Bouchard

In this highly imaginative picturebook for readers of all ages, David Bouchard has created the journal of Etienne Mercier, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, sent up the west coast in 1853 to record the lifestyle of the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Though he has spent his life as a voyageur, a trapper and a coureur de bois, Etienne has the good fortune to be able to both write and paint.

Etienne sets out on his journey eager for the opportunity to once again establish contact with his friend Clement. In fractured English, he records the wonders of native cultures very different from any he has previously experienced. He describes the Winter Dance ceremony, a potlatch, an encounter with a Haida raiding party, paddling with a pod of killer whales, and, perhaps above all, the wonderful hospitality of the people he visits. All the while he sketches and paints fabulous pictures of what he sees. And finally he finds his friend.

Paintings by Gordon Miller

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

367g