Since childhood I have heard the sayings, songs, and stories of my mother’s birthplace—a fishing village called Moreton’s Harbor, in Newfoundland. My earliest memory is when I was two years old and visited the island for the very first time. I remember picking partridgeberries with Mother, on top of a cliff, hundreds of feet above Notre Dame Bay.
Star in the Storm is based upon actual events, but the characters and circumstances are fictional. The church, the cliffs, the quidnunc, and the icebergs are real. During World War II, a little girl from Moreton’s Harbor did row out to an iceberg to bring back fresh ice to my mother’s sick younger brother. At that time there was no electricity there and no refrigeration. Iceberg water is clean and pure—and cold! Icebergs break away from the glaciers of Greenland to the north of Newfoundland and are abundant in the waters off the island. The area below the cliffs is sometimes called Iceberg Alley. No one really knows when Newfoundland dogs (or “Newfs”) like Sirius were first bred, but some folks say they were originally half mastiff and half Saint Bernard. Most Newfoundlands are black, and some have white markings. Others are gray, brown, or white. Newfoundland breeders take nose-prints of their dogs for identification purposes, since no two Newfs have the same nose-print.
Newfoundlands were originally bred to be working dogs on land and water. Fishing and merchant vessels often kept a Newf on board as part of the crew. Newfs are big, gentle, playful, and make great lifeguards. Their webbed feet act like paddles, and their tails help them to steer, like a rudder on a boat. Their thick fur protects them from cold water temperatures. Newfs swim using the breaststroke instead of a dog paddle, and they can dive into deep water. Today, Newfoundlands are still used as working dogs, but they are bred all over the world and make terrific pets.
Newfoundlands are famous for rescuing children and fishermen. The rescue that Sirius performs is based upon the most well-known rescue performed by a Newf. That was back in the early 1900s, when a dog carried a line for a breeches buoy through treacherous waves to a foundering steamer. That dog saved one hundred people, including a baby that was sent across the water to safety in a mailbag.
The verse about black birds that Maggie quotes throughout the story is one that Mother taught me when I was a child. While black ravens are native to Newfoundland, Mother said the verse was about crows, and most Newfoundlanders feel that the verse is about crows. Whether crows or ravens, whenever a flock of black birds appears, I find myself counting them, just as Maggie does.
The colorful language, superstitions, and folklore in my story have been collected from all over Newfoundland. The pronunciation of certain words and the meanings of some lore vary from one harbor or village to another. I’ve gathered them together and given them to my characters, who dwell in one imaginary outport—Bonnie Bay.
Someday I hope you will visit Newfoundland and see the towering cliffs, the glistening icebergs, the Newfoundland dogs, and meet the gracious people who call the Beautiful Rock their home.
J. H. H.
Venice, Florida
January 1999
Margaret K. McElderry Books
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2000 by Joan Hiatt Harlow
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Book design by Michael Nelson
Map by Kristan J. Harlow Delphia
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Harlow, Joan Hiatt.
Star in the storm / Joan Hiatt Harlow.
p. cm.
Summary: In 1912, fearing for the safety of her beloved Newfoundland dog Sirius because of a new law outlawing non-sheepherding dogs in her Newfoundland village, twelve-year-old Maggie tries to save him by keeping him hidden.
ISBN 978-0-6898-4621-2
ISBN 978-1-4424-4418-8 (eBook)
[1. Newfoundland dogs—Fiction. 2. Dogs—Fiction. 3. Newfoundland—Fiction. 4. Canada—Fiction.] I. Title
PZ7.H22666St 2000 [Fic]—dc21 99-20416
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