Songcatcher

Songcatcher by Aline Perret-Vallée
Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
Review by Sharon Adam
$16.95 ISBN 978-894431-32-3

“Songcatcher” falls in a new genre that combines autobiography with poetry and essay. It is the story of an ordinary woman who enjoys her life and shares with her audience the blessings gathered over eight decades. A Saskatchewan girl, Aline tells us her story in a very entertaining and enjoyable format.

She begins with her mother’s family and the story of how they ended up in Duck Lake, where Aline’s mother meets her future husband and they begin their own family. The author shares the respect and joy her home-life provided in times that were hard on the prairies. We glimpse the farm life of a young girl and her brothers and sisters. Aline shares stories and poems of her school years and of leaving home in 1949 to become a nun at the Novitiate in St. Hyacinth, Quebec. She then begins a teaching career that sees her move to various locales, including Prince Albert, Spiritwood, The Pas, Laurier, Debden and Swift Current, ending in Wadena.

We learn of a love story that begins in Prince Albert and eventually ends happily with Aline leaving her vocation as a nun to become the wife of Orian Vallée. Aline’s writing is full of her appreciation of life and recounts all the things that enrich her memories. She tells us of her discovery of Toastmasters and how that organization helped her build confidence and make friends.

Visits to her ancestral homelands of Switzerland and France bring new family members into the story, and travels to Quebec and California add even more family branches to her tree. Now a widow, she lives in Saskatoon where she enjoys her family and friends. “Songcatcher” is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in our past—and the lives of the real people who lived it.

Published in:  on 10 March 2010 at 1:48 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

House Beneath

“House Beneath”
Written by Susan Telfer
Published by Hagios Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$17.95 ISBN 978-1-926710-02-0

The title of Susan Telfer’s first collection of poetry, “House Beneath,” is ripe with metaphorical possibilities. It suggests that readers will be privy to a story beneath the official story, that there is – or was – more going on than meets the public eye.

The book begins, uniquely, with a photograph of the poet’s parents circa 1964. An attractive, healthy and happy-looking pair, they “smile with their teeth.” But the book’s darker undertones are expressed in the opening poem’s final lines: “He was already learning to mix rye and soda. She was\reading in Dr. Spock to let me cry.”

In my reading, I’ve noticed that first books almost constitute a sub-genre within poetry. Often poets air childhood demons in these books; or recount adolescence; first loves and early mistakes; and, quite commonly, their relationship with their parents. The latter is the focus of Telfer’s collection. With both now deceased, she peels back the layers of family, showing us that her “famous” father – “your picture still on boardroom walls,\only man in town with a tie,\first to buy a computer,\ first house with a microwave” – became the source of much anguish as he regressed into a man who “became famous\among dealers, users and drunks,\for throwing it all away, yes,\infamous father, even your daughters,\your daughters.”

Being orphaned is a subject Telfer explores in numerous poems, but as she also demonstrates, for all intents and purposes she became “Fatherless,” long before her dad actually died. Already a mother herself, she writes: “I’m weak from chasing toddlers, my hips\still wobbly from childbirth. I can’t carry you.” The poet’s mother suffered with ALS, and we learn, in a poem simply titled “ALS,” that the woman “almost calcified into\the rock [she] wished to be.”

Pieces about the stunning west-coast setting in which she lives, the births of her children, and desire also populate this smartly-dressed collection. Telfer lives in Gibsons and teaches high school in Sechelt, BC. I adore her short poem, “Crows,” which begins: “One dark rain-sopped afternoon,\our lawn is scorched black with crows—\a smoky blanket of shine and flap.\The bare oak trees, too fool-full of hundreds\of crows. I have set my plans on fire.” Highly imagistic and original, and the poet is really paying attention to sound, as well.

Another dandy is “Fecund,” which opens (brilliantly!) with “Let the butter puddle on the blue plate:\my daughter is three days old.”

Finally, a few words about desire. It’s difficult to write about without overdoing it, and often less is more. “We had forgotten how easy joy is,” Telfer writes in “Chapman Creek,” and in “Ovulation Song”: “Follow me to the end of the deep dock,\hand in hand and hot wind, full moon over\Penticton shining its wide watery\path to us, then kiss me deep, no\Presbyterian kiss, a kiss echoing\like a long-held choir note, my cheeks humming.” Ah, good stuff.

“House Beneath” is published by Hagios Press. The book’s an interesting read for anyone who harbours ghosts in their past, and don’t we one and all?

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN PUBLISHERS GROUP WWW.SKBOOKS.COM

Published in:  on 24 February 2010 at 12:01 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Duty to Consult

“The Duty to Consult: New Relationships with Aboriginal Peoples”
By Dwight G. Newman
Published by Purich Publishing
Review by Shanna Mann
$30 ISBN 978-1895830-378

While this is, first and foremost, a scholarly work, the author makes an earnest attempt to present the information in a clear manner. There is no doubt that a layperson would likely benefit from a point-by-point chapter summary, but the absence of Latin terminology and self-referential citations makes it understandable—though it will never be a beach read.

The book explores the legal ramifications and implicit necessities of the so-called “duty to consult,” the duty of the crown to notify, consult, or if necessary include First Nations people in any licensing, sale, or use of land or waters that may affect the rights of Aboriginals.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the past decade of Aboriginal rights litigation, many of the cited court cases will be familiar to you—Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia, Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada, and so on.

It explores the ramifications for First Nation’s bands and organizations as well as for the crown and interested third parties. It notes that many First Nations bands lack resources to properly examine and decide upon their rights in a “consultation situation” and further notes that, in keeping with upholding the honour of the crown, several provinces, including Saskatchewan, have made funds available to bands in order to assist them in the consultation process.

Anticipating further noteworthy changes to Aboriginal case law, the author has stated that “updates on important developments on the duty to consult” will be posted on the publisher’s website.

This book is a readable, understandable, reasonably exhaustive exploration into the rights and implications of the crown’s “New Relationship” with First Nations people.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR VISIT WWW.SKBOOKS.COM

Published in:  on 17 February 2010 at 12:14 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

Terrible Roar of Water

Terrible Roar of Water
by Penny Draper
Published by Coteau Books
Review by Karen Lawson
$8.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-414-9

Penny Draper once again hits the mark with her latest young adult novel in the Disaster Strikes Series. This exciting story is set in a remote fishing village in Newfoundland and focuses on the tsunami that hit there on November 18, 1929.

Draper is a gifted writer who understands how to combine historical facts and fiction. It is obvious that she conducts a great deal of in-depth research in order to maintain historical accuracy in her book. Draper weaves a page turner of a story that merges fictional characters and authentic historical facts. She also explores the culture and traditions of a fishing village to show what life was like at that time.

The hero of her tale is Murphy, a twelve year old boy who loves the sea and the life of a fisherman. He lives in a small outport with his aunt, uncle, and cousins. The life of a fisherman is full of struggle and danger but Murphy embraces it with passionate enthusiasm.

Murphy’s life is turned upside down in a matter of minutes one night when his community is demolished by a disaster called a tsunami tidal wave. Homes and buildings are literally torn apart and washed out to sea. Murphy is put to the test and is part of a rescue team that does its best to save as many people as possible. He is forced to grow up fast and live up to the meaning of his name which is “sea warrior”. His love for the sea has been challenged but in his heart he knows that he will do whatever it takes to help rebuild and restore the community after the devastating events of that night. His deep attachment to the sea never falters and he is more determined than ever to become a fisherman.

This book is not only a great adventure story but is also a valuable teaching tool.

Published in:  on 10 February 2010 at 3:11 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

This Is the Nightmare

This is the Nightmare
By Adrienne Gruber
Published by Thistledown Press
Reviewed by Carrie Prefontaine
$12.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-52-2

Adrienne Gruber’s “This is the Nightmare” is a collection of deeply reflective poems that will appeal to anyone seeking to understand the complexities of love and language.

“I don’t pick up foreign languages well,” the poet laments in “Dead Language,” and this is a theme carried throughout “Limbo,” the first section of the volume. Whether the poet is speaking a “jumbled commentary on who we never were” in “Our Frantic Language,” or reading the “Tabloid Poems” that “scald a pink fleshy tongue,” words themselves are suspect. In these poems, language is most meaningful when it manifests through the physical. In “How I Find You,” for example, emotional pain is written vividly all over the subject’s face: “You have the face of a Japanese bowl, / charred raw strokes of paint along your cheekbones, / plump and full, designed with clear intent, / your jaw tight, and pouring / out of you, something cold.”

The poems in section two, “This is the Nightmare” explore grief, carrying forward the complex search for connection, sense of self, and meaningful language. “[G]rief is a kind of dream you walk through” claims the poet, and the poems in this section are steeped in loss: for lost loves, for missed opportunities, and for failed attempts at understanding one another. Gruber’s vivid lyricism makes each poem a heart punch.

The deep sense of mourning also shrouds the poems in the third and final section, “Why I Can’t Let Anything Go.” The poetry in this section explores the most familiar and intimate and yet most difficult to navigate bonds: those of family. “My childhood house is diseased. A single lung / that sways, tries to breathe, but can’t fill with air” asserts the narrator of “You’re Not Crazy, You Have a Ghost.” These poems are indeed haunted, haunted by painful memories of complicated relationships, of words spoken and left unspoken, of actions taken and not taken. Why can’t we let anything go, these poems ask, and their resounding answer is that the things that haunt us are the very things that make us who we are.

“This is The Nightmare” explores the illusions we hold about those we love, or would like to love, or have loved and lost. The fresh and crystalline imagery calls into question the effectiveness of language to convey what we really mean, while simultaneously affirming the power of words in the hands of a skilled wordsmith. Above all else, and without becoming pretentious, the poems offer a new perspective on the nature of our relationships with ourselves and with each other.

This book is available at your local bookstore, or visit www.skbooks.com.

Published in:  on 3 February 2010 at 12:08 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

The Saskatchewan Secret

The Saskatchewan Secret: Folk Healers, Diviners, and Mystics of the Prairies
By Jacqueline Moore
Published by Benchmark Press
Review by Shanna Mann
$19.95 ISBN 978-0-9813243-2-6

It was inspiring to read about people with the intestinal fortitude to live unconventional lives. In our scientific, logical world that kind of nonconformity separates us from our fellow man at the same time as we learn the underlying truth– we are more inter-connected than we believe.

Jacqueline Moore wisely advises readers in the preface, “‘Reality’ is a curious word–it sounds undeniable, authoritative, scientific. But it’s a completely subjective concept… These individuals are truthfully depicting their version of reality; however, one’s personal version must not be — can not be — the whole, entire, and complete reality…I would ask that you simply accept that these are other good people’s real experiences; and that you keep an open mind.”

On one hand, many of the stories lined up with my personal beliefs, and perhaps I like the book simply because it makes me feel “right.” But on the other hand, when you read about faith healers invoking the Virgin Mary or Jesus and getting phenomenal results (an event which before reading this book I would have firmly and smugly attributed to group hysteria) and then turn the page and read about a medicine woman invoking spirit guides, boxers healing through touch, or a carpenter neutralizing earth energy, the similarities and coincidences suddenly become too numerous to ignore.

For provoking thought, this book is full of excellent material. What of the dowser who believes that cancer is caused be negative energy running under the places where we sleep? The plant-lady who speaks on behalf of those with no voices–plants. The medicine woman who sees little people– if they’re present in every culture in the world…maybe there is something to the stories. Above all the book forced me to examine the difference between faith, spirituality and religion, and what place these mysteries have in our lives. The boundaries are not where we thought they were, it seems.

Published in:  on 27 January 2010 at 12:20 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

Who’s That Man?

“Who’s That Man?”
by Marny Duncan-Cary and illustrated by Megan Mansbridge
Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
Review by Karen Lawson
ISBN 978-1-894431-38-5 $24.95

Marny Duncan-Cary is a talented singer and songwriter from Lumsden, Saskatchewan. Her first book, “Linger”, was based on an emotional song that she wrote. Once again, Duncan-Cary has taken one of her songs and created a delightful children’s book, entitled “Who’s That Man?” Her story is based on a real event in the author’s own family history. When her grandfather returned home from fighting in World War II, he had never met his five year old son, Gerry, who was Duncan-Cary’s father.

The inspiration for her song and subsequent book happened after the events of 9-11. Duncan-Cary had never personally experienced the impact of war, and 9-11 triggered a new set of emotions and fears. When her father discussed with her how the impact of war had affected his own childhood and his family dynamics, she put pen to paper and created the song “Who’s that Man?”. It reveals the apprehension and uncertainty between father and son upon meeting for the first time.

This touching book comes complete with a special gift included – a DVD of her song which is tucked in the back cover. The words and musical score of “Who’s That Man?” are printed on the last pages of the book as an added bonus.

The pages are sprinkled with black and white photos of her father and grandfather taken from the family photo albums during the time that they were separate. These personal mementos add a realistic touch to the story. The illustrations are by talented artist, Megan Mansbridge. Mansbridge is not only a gifted artist but she is a personal friend of the author. Her bright and colourful pictures make the story come alive. She mixes simplicity with rich textures to create a three dimensional effect that seem to jump off the pages.

This personal story is a tribute to the many families that have been altered by war. Duncan-Cary leaves the reader with the message that although war is destructive and separates families, it cannot destroy the unconditional love and special bonds that exist between them.

Published in:  on 20 January 2010 at 1:11 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,

Gabriel’s Beach

“Gabriel’s Beach”
Written by Neal McLeod
Published by Hagios Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$17.95 ISBN 978-0-9783440-5-4

“With the stories and the strength of our ancestors, we can find our home in the river again.”

These are among the introductory words of Neal McLeod, a writer, visual artist, film-maker, comedian, and professor at Trent University in Peterborough, ON, and in his poetry collection “Gabriel’s Beach,” we find some of the stories and individuals this champion of Cree and Métis culture pays homage to.

The “Gabriel” of the title is the poet’s mosôm (grandfather), a respected soldier who fought at Juno Beach, “where thunder met\the water,” and one of the many ancestors from whom the poet draws strength during his own personal battles. McLeod thanks Gabriel for “teaching us that that fire of the beach helps us to survive and keeps us from surrender,” but admits that in his own life, he has been a “son of a lost river, unable to hold the fire of Gabriel’s beach.”

The book’s first section is a mostly serious tribute to Gabriel and others, and it relays some of the war horrors Gabriel and fellow soldiers experienced: “hunger made them crazy\stomachs empty\vessels without holding\they think wîhtikow thoughts\eat their own excrement”. McLeod delivers a sharp contrast between the battleground and the life Gabriel left in Canada, as we see in this contrast: mosôm Gab welded “metal from bulldozers\patched together\like rainbow nôhkom’s quilt”.

We also meet another side of the book’s hero. In “Mosôm Gabriel’s Fight,” one of the strongest pieces, Gabriel and another man spar in Debden, SK. McLeod writes of “the other guy”: “he was like a man\running for chief\with no close relatives”.

Ah, humour. McLeod’s at his best when he’s funny, and he often is. He introduces us to “Mosôm John R. McLeod,” who “always wore his pants up high” and whose “Indian Affairs heavy glasses\would today be strangely trendy,” and to “wîhtikôhkân,” who ran from the church when his prearranged wife-to-be “took down her veil” and he discovered “she was made poorly.” In the entertaining “Thank You Mr. Brad Pitt,” the actor’s saluted for getting the narrator’s lover “hot\like a Coleman stove\at a powwow.” McLeod writes that Pitt “butter[s] her bannock\bingo card ready.”

Special attention’s paid to grandmothers and other female elders who pass on the stories that “give our bodies shape\and guide the path of sound\like trees guiding the wind.” Of “Cîhcam,” the mother of Gabriel, the poet writes “her body was our blanket\gave us life and language\brought stars from the sky”.

McLeod’s stories include the legend of chief Digging Weasel, and Buffalo Child, who was sheltered by a buffalo that later turned to stone. We learn about the importance of names, dreams, and trees.

“Gabriel’s Beach” is a political book – there are poems about “Indian mafia\like the Taliban,” and McLeod shines a spotlight on racism in “Spring Time in Kinistino,” but its seriousness is balanced by poems including “Tribute to Bob Barker,” and “Casino Culture,” where “Vegas meets neechiness.”

McLeod claims that he does not “hold the fire of Gabriel’s beach with grace”. This book proves otherwise.

Published in:  on 13 January 2010 at 2:31 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Fight for Justice

“Fight for Justice”
By Lori Saigeon
Published by Coteau Books
Review by Shanna Mann
$7.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-405-7

“Fight for Justice”, a middle years novel by Regina author and inner-city elementary teacher Lori Saigeon, is unique in giving authentic voice to bullying in urban schools and vividly portraying bullying behavior as a precursor for gang involvement.

It was easy to sympathize with Justice’s motivations; his machismo, his responsibility as man of the house and his need to protect his twin sister Charity. Students and adults will identify with his slippery slope of bad decisions that leads to his isolation from the protection of adults and further vulnerability to the bullies.
But Justice isn’t stupid. He asks for advice, he studies the adults around them and assesses their behavior. How will they react if he tells them about being bullied? Will they do something dumb (from his perspective) like simply tell Trey to stop it? With maturity and clarity, Justice assesses the people in his life and puts them into categories. Are they his allies, does he protect himself from them, or is he their protector?

Lori Saigeon is deadly accurate in her portrayal of not only the instigation and escalation, but the reasoning that kids go through before deciding to ask an adult to intervene. They know that adults can’t be everywhere, and the choice they make is almost always to do damage control for when—not if—the bully catches them alone.

Not only is this a good book for students (for authenticity and applicability I can’t think of a better one)but it is also a good read for adults, especially those who don’t understand why their kids just won’t tell them who is bullying them so they can put a stop to it. It won’t mitigate the adults’ sense of helplessness, perhaps, but it will show you what’s going through their heads, and help you understand their reasoning. Their decisions are bad, from an adult perspective and experience, but from a child’s they are well reasoned and sound, because adults won’t always be around to protect you, and if you can’t protect yourself, you have to at least do what you can not to make it worse. “Fight for Justice” accurately and vividly portrays bullying and what to do about it when it happens to you.

Published in:  on 23 December 2009 at 12:27 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Eat Away Illness, Second Edition

Eat Away Illness, Second Edition
by Paulette Millis
Published by Soul Food Publishing
Review by Karen Lawson
ISBN 978-0-9683647-3-4 $37.95

Here is a book that takes a common sense approach to nutrition. In today’s fast paced, fast food society, it is often difficult to maintain healthy eating habits. It is even harder to sort through the vast amount of information about nutrition that is available.

Paulette Millis is a Registered Nutritional Consultant who has written a book that will appeal to everyone who wants to change the way that they eat. “Eat Away Illness” is a must have reference book that looks at ways to eat well and improve one’s health. It is chock full of valuable information and suggestions for anyone who wants to learn more about nutrition.

The author has faced a variety of her own health issues, which was the impetus behind writing her book. The focus of “Eat Away Illness” is to make people aware of the importance of proper nutrition and how healthy foods can not only maintain and improve health, but also help to heal the body and mind.

“Eat Away Illness” is much more than just a cookbook. All the recipes use healthy, natural ingredients. Many of them are gluten free and dairy free. Most of them use simple and organic ingredients. But Millis goes one step further and combines useful and important information about how to be aware and knowledgeable about nutrition and includes ways to improve one’s overall health and well being.

This user friendly cookbook and nutritional guide is a valuable resource for anyone who not only loves to cook but wants to make a conscious effort in choosing foods that are healthy and provide proper nutrition.

Published in:  on 16 December 2009 at 1:00 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,
« Older Entries