Pistes d'exploration

Why do you think the snowmobile was called a dream machine?

Make a list of Bombardier’s character traits that helped him be successful. Do you have any of these qualities?

Create an advertising poster for one of Bombardier’s snow machines, or for a modern snowmobile.

Brainstorm as many names as possible for the newly invented snow machine. Use both a dictionary and a thesaurus. Mix and match. Vote on the best new word.

As you read, create a timeline of important events in Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s life.

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” How does this expression apply in Bombardier's case?

Discuss what you know about snowmobiles, Bombardier and other Québec inventions.

This fictionalized biography is based on facts but is written as a narrative. Discuss what is factual and what was imagined by the author. What are the positive and negative features of this specific genre?

Use the back material and additional resources to learn more about Bombardier. Prepare a presentation that includes only facts.

Have you ever been on a snowmobile? What was it like? Or what do you think it would be like?

After each chapter, one team will present a short skit retelling what happened in the story.

Research a variety of statistics and information on snowmobile use around the world. Present this in the form of an infographic.

Mots-clés

Biography , Multigenre , character , country life , family life , illustrations (black and white) , illustrations (photographs) , innovations , inventors , Joseph Armand Bombardier , Québec history , setting , snowmobiles , transportation , winter

Commentaire descriptif

Joseph-Armand Bombardier is a regular kid from Valcourt, Québec, though at a very young age he shows an interest in engineering: “all he wanted to do was make things work.” Growing up in the heady early days of the automobile, Bombardier is 15 when he invents his first snow vehicle. Before long, the young man finds work in a Montréal garage and enrols in a mechanics course before heading back to Valcourt to open his own shop. When his infant son dies because they can’t get him to the hospital in the winter, according to this slightly fictionalized story, Bombardier devotes himself to solving the problem of winter road travel. In 1937, the first snowmobile—the B7—is born. The narrative touches subtly on the quotidian concerns of Québec country life, including winter, community, scarcity and the power of the church. Young Joseph-Armand is a good mechanic, his parents concede, but he “should stop his silly playing and study to become a priest.” The accompanying illustrations include ink drawings, photographs and reproductions of Bombardier’s first patent and of his sketches. The drawings depict various moments in the narrative—Joseph-Armand standing up to his father or helping to haul a car out of the snow—while photographs and documents convey the size and intricacy of those first imaginative ways to “float on snow.” An afterword discusses the boundaries between fiction and biography and offers insight into the author’s process. A timeline, a bibliography and suggestions for further reading round out the historical record.