Author: Harriet Zaidman
Publisher: Red Deer Press

Thirteen-year-old Dale Melnyk finds himself stuck in an iron lung, desperately fighting for breath — and wishing he could die. It is the worst outbreak of polio in the history of Winnipeg, and Dale is one of the many young victims being treated in the early 1950s.

Second Chances follows Dale's slow and often agonizing struggle to regain his life, first of all to breathe on his own and then to regain the use of his limbs. Will he ever be able to play hockey again, he wonders? Dale comes to realize that he is doing better than a number of the other patients including Charlene, a young Métis girl confined to a wheelchair but always trying to help their fellow patients.

When Dale discovers his younger brother Brent is also in the polio ward because their father rejected the school program vaccine, a confrontation with his father becomes inevitable. Brent is not getting better and will be dealing with paralysis indefinitely.

When Dale finally emerges from his recovery he must reassess what is most important in life — a life that has been changed forever.

This well-researched novel has much perspective to offer kids during COVID times, given its history of the polio epidemic in the 1950s. Told in third person through the eyes of a 13-year-old, it’s well plotted with believable characters and circumstances, even if the writing itself is a bit lackluster.

We learn that prejudices, misinformation and vaccine hesitancy were rife in the 1950s. And we’re immersed in history while gaining insight into parallel issues in the age of COVID.

The well-drawn subplot of the main character’s fraught relationship with a Metis girl also has echoes of racism in current times. The would-be romance offers appeal to young adult readers even if it’s more of a middle-grade read.

Although the main character is passionate about hockey, there is very little hockey action in the book (despite the hockey cover); it’s far more about children struggling with polio.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of “information dumping” that doesn’t tie into the plot altogether naturally. And unless one has read the back-cover summary before starting, it takes way too long to figure out that the novel is set in the 1950s and the main character is in grade eight.

Overall, despite the plot having more to offer than the actual writing, the timing of this historical novel is prescient, and the depth of research lends much credibility.

-Pam Withers