Book Info
Saturday's Hero
Saturday's Hero is an ode to the best aspects of nationalism. Its purpose is to demonstrate how the power of history can alter the human spirit.
A fictional teenaged boy is drawn toward the life and exploits of a real life war hero from Nanaimo, Canada - Raymond Collishaw. Collishaw shot down sixty enemy planes in one-on-one engagements during WW1. Following that he went on to fight for White Russia and on to skirmishes in Mesopotamia and Egypt until, as Air Vice- Marshall, he led the Desert Air Command in North Africa in WW2. Collishaw received 28 different military medals and was twice nominated for the Victoria Cross.
In Saturday's Hero, Collishaw is a spiritual presence, a voice that comments not only on his own life and times but also on the present (1999) as he watches the changes taking place in the teenage protagonist, Gareth Wyatt. Wyatt, a somewhat troubled youth and a rugby enthusiast, becomes interested in the exploits of the flying ace. He finds in Collishaw an individual with whom he can identify, and through his research of the past discovers much about himself in turn.
The book asks: Who are our heroes? How might we acclaim them?
Exerpt from the Novel
"Well, I must have got him with my first burst because he flew on for about a minute and then did an immediate spin-and-a-half and looked back - just like that - and his goggles glinted huge when a ray of sunlight caught them. Then he collapsed in his cockpit - you know how it can be with a heart shot. The Fokker shuddered, dove to the ground, bounced and skidded, and would you believe this, ended right way up?"
"Why wouldn't we believe it? Death is playing his own game with us," Mick Mannock murmurs. "I wish he'd roasted all the way down. What do you say, Collie?"
I don't feel so unkind. The Red Baron has been a fearless opponent, skilful enough to down eighty of us. I reply, "He might have preferred a more dramatic end. 'A glorious death! Fight on and fly to the last drop of blood and the last drop of petrol'. Isn't that what he liked to say?"
I raise my glass and begin to sing:
'So stand by your glasses steady, this world is a world of lies.
Here's a toast to the dead already; Hurrah for the last man who dies!"
And all the chaps join in.
Reviews
Felicity Bernier - Raymond Collishaw's daughter (2001)
"Thank you for such a wonderful tribute to my father. It's great for the kids of today and tomorrow to know about the heroes in their backyard. We have so many in this country who have added to our stature as a great country but everyone keeps so quiet about it. The fact that you wrote this book with the idea of engrossing our children with my father's great leadership qualities and heroic spirit is most appealing."
Counsellor T.K. Krall - City of Nanaimo. (2000)
"I want to compliment you for a thoroughly enjoyable and informative reading experience…and thank you for the magnificent manner in which you have brought our city and one of our national heroes into focus. In my opinion, Saturday's Hero is a must read for all of us who take pride in being Canadian."
Leslie Heys - Grade 12 Teacher of English.
Saturday's Hero is the perfect book for the adolescent - full of rough and ready rugby games, the seething irritation at a less than cool parent, and a growing love interest against a political background (the campaign to elect a teenager to Nanaimo's City Council). For the more mature reader, it is an exploration of the effect of history's past heroes on the youth of today. Brian Pettit reveals his skills as a storyteller (as he did in The Weilmoringle Kid) and explores, again, his interests in the 'chain of experience', the passing on, from one generation to the next, of knowledge of heroic deeds. This is a book to make Canadians proud."
National Rugby Post - (Ian Kennedy, Feb. 2001).
"…a compelling story with rugby as one of the main themes. When the book first appeared, the Nanaimo Hornets Club bought twenty-eight copies, and presented one to each of their Under-18 players. Nice touch. The library of every rugby-playing school in Canada should have Saturday's Hero, as this novel will appeal to young people involved in, or interested in, rugby."
Ronnie Seeley - Nanaimo Hornets Executive. (Women's rugby).
"Every page gave me the shivers. The insight into the mind of a teenager was scary. The local landmarks were all so recognizable and the rugby scenes so true. I wanted to jump up and down and declare my pride for Canada - kind of like the Molson beer commercials. I'm telling all my rugby friends: 'If you can read…read this book!'"
