Book review: The Scout: Tommy Prince
Reviewed by Karl Hele
The Scout: Tommy Prince is a graphic novel based on the true story of Tommy Prince. The novel is aimed at students in Grades 4 to 6, but works as a colourful visual source for highschool and university students. It is a well-illustrated and written narrative that highlights Prince’s activities prior to, during, and immediately after his military service.
The book begins with a Big Spirit First Nation school trip to Kildonan Park in Winnipeg, where Tommy Prince’s memorial stands. Pamela while playing hits a baseball, unknowingly, towards the memorial. As she retrieves the ball, Pamela notices an old soldier looking at the memorial. She approaches the soldier and asks a simple question, “Who is that?” From there, the veteran tells her of Prince’s early life – how he attended residential school, served as an army cadet while there, and his search for decent work. This brief highlighting of Prince’s youth partly serves as an explanation for why he volunteered to serve in the Canadian Army. The soldier then highlights some of Tommy Prince’s actions during the war, specifically focussing on his efforts as part of an elite unit known as the Devil’s Brigade as well as Prince’s service in the Korean War, and his rescue of a man from drowning after an honourable discharge from the military. After the soldier ends his story, portraying Prince as an able hero, warrior, and proud individual, Pamela returns to her friends vowing to share the story she has learned.
Largely, missing from the narrative, since it is aimed at young children, are the effects military service and ongoing discrimination had on Prince. One illustrated panel, showing Prince staring sadly into the Red River from the Alexander Docks does hint at these issues. Additionally, discrimination is revealed when the veteran states that when Prince returned from service, he could not vote nor access veteran benefits unless he assimilated. Nevertheless, the focal point of the narrative is Prince’s efforts to be respected as a human being and an equal, and importantly, as a brave man who undertook great risks in the war to make the world a better place.
Overall, The Scout: Tommy Prince is a wonderfully illustrated full-colour graphic novel that through images and words, portrays the emotions and experiences of Tommy Prince. Its impact on young readers, including university students, provides grounds for discussion and an engaging visual connection to human experience. It is a definite must-read, that is both accessible and engaging while offering a lesson about the past and engaging with the present. As part of a larger series called, Tales From the Big Spirit, that highlight the lives of other important Indigenous people, The Scout: Tommy Prince, ably brings an important Anishinaabe hero from Brokenhead First Nation to the fore.
David A Robertson. Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson. The Scout: Tommy Prince. Winnipeg: Highwater Press, 2014. ISBN: 1553794788