Chief of the Air Staff and his family inspire Robert Munsch book

By Holly Bridges

“Deep Snow” by Robert Munsch sees the Dad in the story saving the day using his CF-18 fighter jet to tow his stranded children out of a snowdrift.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Lieutenant-General Steve Lucas, and his family, are the inspiration behind a new children’s book by Canadian icon Robert Munsch called “Deep Snow”. 

The soft-cover, picture book is loosely based on a true story that happened to Munsch while he was staying with the Lucas family in Goose Bay, Labrador in 1991 where LGen Lucas was the Wing Commander at the time. 

“Robert Munsch has always been a favourite in our house so for my wife and our family to be the inspiration behind this book is really great,” says LGen Lucas.

Munsch was visiting Goose Bay to do a reading for children and as is his custom when he travels, he asked local organizers to find a family he could stay with.  Deborah Lucas heard about the opportunity and gladly opened the Lucas home to the author. 

One day, while LGen Lucas was at work, his family decided to take their famous visitor and his son for a hike along a nearby snowmobile trail.  It was the dead of winter and the trail was waist-deep in snowdrifts.  As Munsch, his son and the Lucas family ventured along the trail, accompanied by the neighbour’s dog Sandy who they were dog sitting, Munsch’s son jumped off the trail and into a nearby snowdrift.  LGen Lucas’ daughter Allie couldn’t resist and jumped in after him, except her foot got stuck and it took the adventurers an hour to dig her out.

Then, while trying to get back home, Sandy the dog fell into the Churchill River, suffering terribly from the frigid water and rapidly losing his ability to stay afloat.  There was a genuine fear the dog would drown or die of hypothermia before he could be rescued, so once again, adventure ensued.

“I remember we had a human chain going,” recalls Munsch.  “I had my feet wrapped around a Black Spruce while I held on to Debbie’s ankles so she could get down into the water to get the dog out before he got sucked under the ice.  In other words, an altogether good time was had by all!”

“It was quite an adventure that day,” says LGen Lucas.  “I heard all about it.  There was real concern about Sandy not making it.”  In the end, Sandy was rescued, everyone made it home safe and sound and Munsch has been telling the story to children ever since, although it only became a book in the past year or so.  And unlike his live storytelling account, where it was Deborah Lucas, Munsch himself and the children who were the adventurers, the written version sees the Dad in the story saving the day.  In fact, the Dad is a pilot in the Air Force and comes back to the snowmobile trail to save the children by towing them out using his CF-18 fighter jet.  How fun would that be!

“I had a choice of putting the military in or not and I think the Canadian military is pretty nice so I chose to put it in.  And also, let’s just say that family (the Lucas family) has been heavily affected by the military so I felt it wasn’t fair to leave it out.”

There are five generations of military in LGen Lucas’ family including himself, his daughter, his father, his grandfathers and his great grandfather. 

As for LGen Lucas today, he and his family are quite touched and thrilled to have inspired “Deep Snow”, although the Lucas children, Ali and Kate, to whom the book is dedicated, are now grown.  LGen Lucas takes particular delight, though, in highlighting the role his wife played in helping to secure a happy ending to what might otherwise have been a disastrous experience.

“Mrs. Lucas played a central role in the events of that day,” says LGen Lucas.  “In fact, she even provided the photographs that inspired the artwork for the book by Michael Marchenko.”

So the next time you go hiking in Goose Bay, watch your step!  You never know what might happen!  “Goose Bay is an interesting place where adventures like that can happen quite easily,” says LGen Lucas remembering his time there with affection.

“Deep Snow” is published by Scholastic Books and is available in most bookstores.