
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row…”
Every Canadian student, teacher and parent can recite these powerful words. But behind every poem is a poet, who lived, breathed, and in this case, led an extraordinary life. Despite John McCrae reaching Canadian icon status, his life has been largely unknown.
In Remembering John McCrae, Linda Granfield, one of Canada’s finest historians and celebrated authors of non-fiction for young readers, has compiled a beautiful tribute to this man. In a distinctive “scrapbook” style, more than one hundred photos, paintings, and documents are displayed to help paint an intimate portrait of a true hero. Readers will learn about his life as a doctor and teacher of medicine, about his tour of duty in the Boer War, and of course, about his service in the First World War, where he experienced a loss so profound it moved him to write “In Flanders Fields.”
Suitable for readers of all ages, this new title is a companion book to the author’s earlier titles, In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae, Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companion, and The Unknown Soldier.

Out of Slavery: The Journey to Amazing Grace. Tundra Books 2009. ISBN: 978-0-88776-915-3
John Newton led a rich life. He was a God-fearing man and a successful seafaring trader; his cargo was a lucrative business, for his wares were human beings. But on one journey, at the height of the slave trade, a storm raged. Newton prayed to be saved; he was and later in his life he became an ardent abolitionist. Among Newton’s many achievements, his greatest legacy is the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Out of Slavery: The Journey to Amazing Grace is the story of slavery in the 1700s as well as the man and the hymn. (Previously titled Amazing Grace: The Story of the Hymn. New edition, updated and re-designed for today’s readers.)
Please see the "Visits" page if you would like me to share a presentation with your students or community.
Other projects:
New books I'm working on include a biography of John Magee.
