Team Spirit: Roots Canada Book Review

Detroit natives Michael Budman and Don Green became Canadian sensations when they opened the first Roots store in Toronto in 1973 and had a stroke of luck (or was it genius) in the form of the negative heel shoe.

Because they had spent summers at a camp in Ontario’s magnificent Algonquin Park, they decided to use a beaver and other Canadian references in their business. Their story, therefore, is about Canada and Canadian culture. That is, camp culture and wilderness culture. Those themes helped Budman and Green build an empire that today includes fashion and so much more.

Written by Geoff Pevere, this Team Spirit takes a peek into the lives of these two men and how they built a business based on “integrity and quality.” It shares information about the celebrities from the worlds of music, film, fashion, art, literature and sports and it shares how they built a business promoting “Canadian culture to Canadians” that is now worth more than $121 million dollars and recognized around the world.

Published on October 20, 1998 by Doubleday Canada, it contains 152 pages of text and pictures. The Toronto Sun said, "Without question, this is the funniest book of the year and the last word on Canadian pop culture."

Quill & Quire said, the book tells “the story of Roots, the company that brought funny shoes, branded sweatshirts, and doofy Olympic hats to millions of Canadians.” However, they go on to say, “It’s full of wordy, pretentious fawning, and it’s tough to sit through.”

The charming origin story has been told over and over again so a book about how they actually built their business would have been welcome. This one does not do that. Nor does it tell their story from a biographical view point. Instead, it shares, according to Quill & Quire, “little pieces of the Roots story.” That seems fair.

CBRA Online says that the Roots story in this book “gets to be a bit much, especially when Roots’ essentially capitalistic nature and purpose is kept in mind.” They are, after all, a business that wanted to and does make money, lots of money. Like Quill & Quire, CBRA reminds us that this is not a business history nor a biography. They elaborate by saying, “It is a colorful, impressively illustrated presentation of Roots products in various settings accompanied by a pop culture text …that does not do justice to the subject.”

Reviewers seem to agree that this book is perhaps more of a coffee table book than it might have been. It is light with text and it is heavy with photographs of celebrities.

If you love Roots products and you want to read more about the back story of Roots Canada Ltd., Team Spirit will share that with you. Just don’t expect it to be really deep. It will do a better job of giving you a look back through the world of Roots and the celebrities associated with it during the last 50 years. Note that the book is out of print but that Team Spirit: A Field Guide To Roots Culture can still be found on Amazon by clicking here. 

A reminder that this book was published in 1998, which means that it is no longer up to date. There has been at least one very significant change to the company since then. In 2015, the majority interest in the company was sold to Searchlight Capital LP though the founders continue to hold a small interest.

See you
At the bookstore!
Brenda

MORE READING:

Roots items in my eBay store.

Roots Canada Leather Products.

The Roots Canada Story: A Brief History.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

Did You Miss it? Jan. 22nd, Chinese Lunar New Year ~ A Holiday Review

 Don't fret if you missed the first day of the New Year in the Chinese Calendar.  You still have a few more days where you can celebrate it!  Truth be known, you can celebrate the New Year of the Rabbit right now until the 1st of February 2023!  It is the longest holiday in China with a whopping 16 days to celebrate!  Most of the country celebrates only the first 7 days (no one could afford to be off work for that long!)  

Chinese New Year is always celebrated somewhere between January 20 till February 21st on our Gregorian Calendars.  So it's always nice to look forward and have something to celebrate during those winter months.  

The Chinese have adopted the Gregorian Calendar as their norm from day to day, but still rely on the Chinese Calendar for special events like the Lunar New Year and Lantern Festivals.  Many of our Chinese immigrants love the idea of holding onto some of their traditions and honor their past with celebrations during these special days.

 

If you were born in 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011 and now in 2023, you are under the sign of the Rabbit.  The only exception would be those born before Jan. 21st.  They are part of the group with the Tiger as their animal sign.

Chinese calendars have a 12 year cycle similar to Horoscopes, but they last a year where Horoscopes change every month.  People born in the year of the Rabbit have certain characteristics attributed to them.  Do you know what your "animal" is?

If not, just check out this chart:

But the Chinese zodiac is a little bit harder to understand than our regular monthly horoscopes, because not only are there different signs for the years, but there are also 5 different elements (water, fire, earth, metal and wood)  that each animal passes through too.  So 2023 officially is the year of the Water Rabbit!  

You can read more about this at https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rabbit/

There are many does and don'ts for Chinese New Year Celebrations!  You can never go wrong with the color RED for this celebration!  You will find it everywhere, in home decorations, clothing, and those great little envelopes given to children (with money inside)!  

So what do you do for a child born under the sign of the Rabbit?  Well if you know someone who is having a baby this year, then a lovely gift instead of the requisite Bear, would be a lovely Bunny!  Pat Austin (one of our writers) has a lovely shop on ETSY!  And there is a lovely bunny  that is handmade and special of it's own accord, but would make that special gift for any newborn in 2023!  

I don't know about you, but I love bunnies as much as I love bears and I'm sure that any child would be happy to receive this little critter as a gift!

In the meantime, you can learn more about Chinese New Year and Chinese Celebrations, do some reading and some games with this lovely book!

So much to learn and some fun while understanding a different culture!

Gong Hei Fa Choi  

(Happy New Year in Cantonese)

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane - A Review

If you have been reading our reviews, you know that January is Tea Month!  It is also part of the Chinese New Year celebrations that will be happening all around the world on the 25th of  January.

It's also time to share a new book that I truly enjoyed.  The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane caught my eye on two counts.  One, I love birds, so was interested in the address and the second was the ambiguity of the title.  Who goes around being known as the "Tea Girl" and why?

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane Book Review

Lisa See, the author has extensive knowledge of what is happening in the areas where China has taken over the lands that once belonged to some really isolated tribes.  Such are the Akha, that  lived in the high mountainous regions of Laos, Myannmar, Thailand and Yunnan province in China. 

                                                           Map courtesy of Google Maps

As with many indigenous tribes, they are unaware of the political struggles or the ramifications of being overtaken by another government.   They farm and cultivate their land for their own use. Daily life is difficult enough without worrying about politics.  Rice, tea and poppies are their main crops.  Opium, derived from their crops is sold to the outside world for medicines.  They themselves have used opium for medicines for centuries.  Tea is the other common denominator.  They grow tea and cultivate the leaves of trees that are hundreds of years old.  This tea is sought after by tea aficionados from around the world.

They are a land of people who have stayed together and lived according to the laws and customs of their "tribe".  They have their own language, yet they are encouraged to learn Mandarin and leave their language behind. Education is minimal unless they show a talent for learning.  Then maybe they have a chance at a better life.  The question is, "Who's ideas of a better life will they follow?" 

Each child can confirm their lineage for 7 generations.  This is one of the most important things they know for sure.  Girls and boys can recite their lineage and will do so when they find a mate.  The elders of the community will give their permission to marry, based on that lineage!  There will be no marriages allowed that are too close in family ties.

Image from Wikipedia 

This story and it's people grabbed my attention and held it right to the very end.  I was fascinated by their customs and horrified by some of their practices too.  What really caught my interest though was how the people, because of their beliefs did things that we would consider so unacceptable.  The Akha, like many of the Asian peoples, have a profound wish that their first child be male. Because of China's one child law,  many girls are given up for adoption.   

Over the years, these girls have been adopted into American, Canadian and European households.  The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane finds herself caught up in a cultural tug of war.  Her adopted parents are caught up in it as well.  She does not look like them, She will never look like them!  Yet, her parents love her as if she were born to them like any other child.  

Her adoptive parents go through all the trials and tribulations involved when you have a child that is "different".  As many parents are aware, whenever something is NOT just so,  many questions are asked and need answers.  Yes, their child is adopted.  No, they don't know anything about why she was given up for adoption.  No, they are her parents and they love her unconditionally.  Yes, she asks questions all the time.  No we don't have the answers to all her questions.

What makes this story interesting is that bond between the birth mother and the daughter that she no longer knows.  I don't want to give anything away from this story, I want you to go and pick up the book and read it for yourself.  

My Conclusion & Final Thoughts

I learned so much about the Akha people and I also learned a lot about myself.  It was easy to put myself into the characters of this book.  What would I do?  How would I react?  How would I feel about being given away?  Where do my loyalties lie?  These are all questions you will find yourself asking as you are reading this book.

There are no right or wrong answers.  For the Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, there are lots of different answers and many roads that could be taken.  See how she deals with the way,  and the road,  her life has taken.  I promise, you will learn something about yourself in the pages of this book.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

The Home for Unwanted Girls Book Review

Joanna Goodman's The Home for Unwanted Girls is a fictionalized account of a true story. Set in 1950s French Canada, it tells the tale of a young woman who is forced by her family to give up her daughter for adoption and in lesser part, the tale of the daughter in the Canadian system. It also shares the history of the times in Quebec including the divide between the French and the English.

Most of us are aware of the situation a girl of the age of 15 would have been in in 1950s society if she found herself pregnant. I believe, however, that most of us are unaware of what happened to the large number of the children who were given up for adoption in Quebec at that time but who were never actually adopted.

Those 'unwanted' children were placed in orphanages where they were misused as servants and abused by nuns and staff. Later, when those orphanages became psychiatric hospitals, the children were simply reclassified as mentally ill and assimilated into that population where they continued to be used as servants and abused but were also treated as mentally ill.

As someone who did not know of this story before she picked up the book, I found it simply unbelievable that this was allowed. They were children and while naive to the ways of normal living because of living in orphanages, they were not mentally ill.

How could a switch from orphanage to mental asylum even be allowed? Well, it turns out that it happened because patients in mental asylums received more funding than children in orphanages. The province of Quebec received $1.25 per orphan or $2.75 per psychiatric patient so orphanages became hospitals. Of course, it was only later that the physical, psychological and sexual abuse was discovered. The author, in her interview with the Toronto Star, says that restitution has been offered by the government to the victims but no formal apology has been made by the church.

The author also shares that this book was drawn from her own mother's life in the 1950s. That is, of a French-Canadian woman married to an English seed merchant. However, the author struggled with how to present the story until she read a French memoir written by a survivor that shared one woman's thoughts as she actually lived through the situation.

This book reveals a very sad time in Quebec history. It delves into the issues of language, class and religion. It is also a story of family and of romantic love. Yes, there is a lot of heartache but the book is well written and comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me if you enjoy historical fiction and want an eye opening look at a little known piece of Canadian history. Be warned that the subject matter it is disturbing and it did happen. However, I raced through The Home for Unwanted Girls needing to know what happened next. What the outcome would be was never far from my mind.

You can buy your copy from Amazon by clicking right here. If you do read this book, be sure to come back and let us know what you think.

See you at
the book store!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Buy your copy of The Home for Unwanted Girls on Amazon.
Secret Child Book Review: 1950s Ireland.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Series Review: 1950s New York City.
The Remains of the Day Book Review: 1950s England.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON: