Carter and the Curious Maze (8 page)

T
he
fairground in this book is full of mysterious secrets. In fact, all the events described in this story are based on real historical events that occurred on the fairground near the lake by my home, and all the time periods that Carter visits in this book have been carefully researched.

The Grand Fair in 1903 is an accurate depiction of many North American agricultural fairs at the time. The sideshow freaks, rides, and food are all historically correct. There really was a Wild Man of Borneo, and Thumbelina really was billed as the smallest mother in the world in 1903, for example.

The soldier's fort is a real place, and there was a battle between American and British soldiers there on April 27, 1813. The battle ended when the British blew up the Grand Magazine, which resulted in the largest man-made explosion the world had ever experienced up until that time, and wounded or killed almost five hundred American, British, and Native soldiers in a few moments.

Finally, a tiny trading fort stood on the same fairgrounds over two hundred and fifty years ago, where the French traded with Native hunters. A small memorial marker stands on the fairgrounds today, recognizing the existence of the Fort from 1750–59.

With a little digging, you'll likely discover that your local fairground is just as interesting and strange as mine. I hope you enjoy many curious and wonderful summer adventures there!

— Philippa Dowding

The author would like to thank the staff at Fort York and CNE Archives for their helpful insight.

Copyright © Philippa Dowding, 2016

Illustrations © Shawna Daigle, 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Project Editor: Carrie Gleason

Editor: Allister Thompson

Illustrator: Shawna Daigle

Interior Design: Laura Boyle

Cover Design: Courtney Horner

Cover art by Shawna Daigle

Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Dowding, Philippa, author

Carter and the curious maze / Philippa Dowding.

(Weird stories gone wrong)

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4597-3249-0 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3250-6 (pdf).--

ISBN 978-1-4597-3251-3 (epub)

I. Title.  II. Series: Dowding, Philippa, 1963- .  Weird stories gone wrong.

PS8607.O9874C37 2016 jC813'.6 C2015-906602-6

C2015-906603-4

We acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts
and the
Ontario Arts Council
for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada
through the
Canada Book Fund
and
Livres Canada Books
, and the
Government of Ontario
through the
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit
and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation
.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

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