Canada Reads 2018: Book 1

2018 theme: "One Book to Open Your Eyes"

Book 1: "Precious Cargo" by Craig Davidson
   What a great cover and title, although the title is also a Bruce Willis movie.
  But I love this cover- the colours, picture, and overall effect.  It does what covers should do- draws you into the book.
  I was really expecting this book to be my favourite, so I read it first.  However, I was disappointed, not really sure why.
  First, let's talk about the content of the book.  The subtitle is: "My year of driving the kids on school bus 3077".  It is a memoir.

Craig Davidson

  Craig Davidson had been trying to write, but was feeling like a failure.  In the midst of despair and poverty, he took this bus-driving job.  He was responsible for five children with special needs- autism and cerebral palsy amongst other emotional and physical disabilities.  He wrote the book to explain how the relationship with these children changed his life.
   I think the overwhelming theme is stated on page 202: "Why are some of us so fortunate while others are not?"  And so, it seems to be about the author grappling with life issues.  Probably for him, it was a year of emotional growth.  The book was written several years after the experience, when he was more settled into his life.  By this time, was experiencing acceptance as a writer and had a wife and baby boy.

  Why didn't I love this book?  Hmm.  Possibly I felt he was trying to be funny but missing the mark.  Perhaps I felt that it was pedestrian, uneventful.  It seemed like a short story that was padded and padded, with descriptions of the bus, the weather, etc.  I also thought he gave too much detail on the bathroom needs of one of the boys.  That is often my problem with memoirs - invasion of the privacy of other people, although I do realize that the author had permission from all of the parents and they saw the book before it was released.

Greg Johnson

   Greg Johnson will be defending this book for Canada Reads.  He is a 'weather guy'.  He is one of Canadian Geographics Magazine's top 100 explorers, and worked on the show "Tornado Hunters".