Lo, the Perfect Plan Read online

  About the Author

  Sarah Ellis has written many children’s books, including Pick-Up Sticks, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award, Odd Man Out, which won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and The Baby Project, which won the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Book Prize. In 1995 Sarah was honoured with the Vicky Metcalf Award for her outstanding body of work. In addition to her own writing, Sarah is on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts and reviews children’s literature for Quill & Quire and The Hornbook.

  Sarah’s mother grew up in small-town Saskatchewan, and the stories of her childhood inspired Sarah to write A Prairie as Wide as the Sea. While doing research for the book, Sarah was surprised to discover a letter in a 1927 newspaper that her own mother (who had died decades earlier) had written when she was a girl. Sarah describes finding that letter as “a gift.”

  Another gift is that in researching and writing three Dear Canada titles, Sarah has become more alert to all the stories our country has to offer.

  Sarah lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

  While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Ivy Weatherall is a fictional character created by the author, and this story is a work of fiction.

  “Lo, the Perfect Plan” copyright © 2006 by Sarah Ellis.

  Interior illustration by Susan Gardos, copyright © 2006 by Scholastic Canada Ltd.

  Originally published in Dear Canada, A Season for Miracles: Twelve Tales of Christmas.

  Cover image: © iStockphoto.com/JoeLena

  Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.

  SCHOLASTIC and DEAR CANADA and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.

  ISBN: 978-1-4431-2416-4

  First eBook edition: December 2012

  Also Available

  To read more great Christmas stories and meet other Dear Canada heroines check out A Christmas to Remember: Tales of Comfort and Joy and A Season for Miracles: Twelve Tales of Christmas.

  If you liked Ivy Weatherall’s Christmas story, look for her diary, A Prairie as Wide as the Sea, to read more about her.

  Books in the Dear Canada Series

  Alone in an Untamed Land, The Filles du Roi Diary of Hélène St. Onge by Maxine Trottier

  Banished from Our Home, The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard by Sharon Stewart

  Blood Upon Our Land, The North West Resistance Diary of Josephine Bouvier by Maxine Trottier

  Brothers Far from Home, The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates by Jean Little

  A Christmas to Remember, Tales of Comfort and Joy

  Days of Toil and Tears, The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford by Sarah Ellis

  The Death of My Country, The Plains of Abraham Diary of Geneviève Aubuchon by Maxine Trottier

  A Desperate Road to Freedom, The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson by Karleen Bradford

  Exiles from the War, The War Guests Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss by Jean Little

  Footsteps in the Snow, The Red River Diary of Isobel Scott by Carol Matas

  Hoping for Home, Stories of Arrival

  If I Die Before I Wake, The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor by Jean Little

  No Safe Harbour, The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn by Julie Lawson

  Not a Nickel to Spare, The Great Depression Diary of Sally Cohen by Perry Nodelman

  An Ocean Apart, The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-ling by Gillian Chan

  Orphan at My Door, The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope by Jean Little

  A Prairie as Wide as the Sea, The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall by Sarah Ellis

  Prisoners in the Promised Land, The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

  A Rebel’s Daughter, The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson by Janet Lunn

  A Ribbon of Shining Steel, The Railway Diary of Kate Cameron by Julie Lawson

  A Sea of Sorrows, The Typhus Epidemic Diary of Johanna Leary by Norah McClintock

  A Season for Miracles, Twelve Tales of Christmas

  That Fatal Night, The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton by Sarah Ellis

  To Stand On My Own, The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson by Barbara Haworth-Attard

  Torn Apart, The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi by Susan Aihoshi

  A Trail of Broken Dreams, The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer by Barbara Haworth-Attard

  Turned Away, The World War II Diary of Devorah Bernstein by Carol Matas

  Where the River Takes Me, The Hudson’s Bay Company Diary of Jenna Sinclair by Julie Lawson

  Whispers of War, The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt by Kit Pearson

  Winter of Peril, The Newfoundland Diary of Sophie Loveridge by Jan Andrews

  With Nothing But Our Courage, The Loyalist Diary of Mary MacDonald by Karleen Bradford

  Go to www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada for information on the Dear Canada Series — see inside the books, read an excerpt or a review, post a review, and more.