The Montreal of My Childhood

This joyous recollection of a child’s life in Montreal before 1950 is written and illustrated in a bold and brash style by Antonio de Thomasis. Uninhibited by poverty, disdaining danger and disease, kids made their own fun. They went into sewers to retrieve tennis balls, stole ice chips from the back of ice wagons, cooked apples in the tar pots of roofers, played hockey with “road apples” when they lacked a puck, made scooters from orange crates and roller skates, and brought trams to a stop by disconnecting the electric cable.

The pleasure Antonio de Thomasis takes in recalling his own Montreal childhood is contagious, and a real tribute to the children who grew up before television and video games.