I Know My Onions: Homesteading North of the 53rd by Ileen Boechler Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Keith Foster $16.95 ISBN 978-1-927756-30-0 Imagine reclining in your favourite armchair and reading a good book beside the fireplace on a cold winter evening. Then, having finished the book, laying it down and basking in the memories it evoked. Ileen Boechler’s I Know My Onions: Homesteading North of the 53rd is t...
Featured Reviews
Red River Raging by Penny Draper Published by Coteau Books Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $10.95 ISBN 9-781550-505849 It’s a dull, wet day and I’ve nowhere to be but home-hurray!-because today I’ve had the distinct pleasure of reading Penny Draper’s novel Red River Raging cover-to-cover, and it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Coteau Books published Red River Raging as part of its Disaster Strikes! Series, which include...
Journeys in Community-Based Research Edited by Bonnie Jeffery, et al Published by University of Regina Press Review by Keith Foster $80 ISBN 978-0-88977-306-6 Every journey begins with a first step. Journeys in Community-Based Research takes the reader on a giant first step in dealing with the ethics, advocacy, and impact of community-based research and learning. This highly academic study is a collection of essays reflecting case studi...
Do Trees Sneeze? by Jean Freeman illustrated by Val Lawton Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Jessica Bickford $12.95 ISBN 9781927756324 Do Trees Sneeze? is the fourth collaboration between the powerhouse children’s book team of author Jean Freeman, and illustrator Val Lawton. It follows Where Does Your Dog Sleep?, Where Does Your Cat Nap?, and Wascana Wild Goose Chase, which are all just as fun, adorable, and...
Art, his Heart …and the Phlart?! by Fawn Einarson, illus. by Arthur Karakochuk Published by Hear My Heart Books Inc. Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $10.00 ISBN 978-0-9877251-5-8 One of the coldest facts in this world is that horrific things sometimes happen to our most vulnerable members of society: children. It takes a courageous and discerning writer to tackle difficult subject matter and present it in a way that children will underst...
The Literary History of Saskatchewan. Volume 2 – Progressions edited by David Carpenter Published by Coteau Books Review by Keith Foster $24.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-567-2 (v. 2) The Literary History of Saskatchewan continues its analysis of the province’s literary pioneers in this second volume – Progressions. This collection of essays brings insights into Saskatchewan writers and their writing styles from the 1980s to the end...
Tending the Tree of Life by Irwin Kahan illustrated by Wendy Winter Published by Wild Sage Press Review by Jessica Bickford $25.00 978-0-9881229-8-7 Tending the Tree of Life is Irwin Kahan’s memoir chronicling his life from growing up on the Saskatchewan prairie, through the second World War, and onto his work trying to improve health care for those suffering from mental illness. I learned so much from Irwin’s story – from the...
Emily via the Greyhound Bus by Allison Kydd Published by Thistledown Press Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $9.95 ISBN 978-1-927068-09-0 Saskatoon publisher Thistledown Press has long been a friend to first-time poets and prose writers via its New Leaf Edition Series, giving many writers (including yours truly) the generous break that launches a writing career. Thistledown’s eleventh release of New Leaf titles puts writer Allison Kydd in ...
Entangled Roots: The Mystery of Peterborough’s Headless Corpse by Bev Lundahl Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Keith Foster $17.95 ISBN 978-1-927756-31-7 In the early hours of a cold wintery morning in 1894, Hessie Gray was abruptly awakened to find smoke billowing in her Peterborough, ON bedroom. She opened the door to the kitchen. Seeing it was in flames, she broke a window and got her young children out. But ...
Rove by Laurie D Graham Published by Hagios Press Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $17.95 ISBN 978-192671023-5 I usually open a poetry collection expecting that the first few pages will provide a reasonably good sense of the author’s style and subject matter. In the opening pages of Rove, by London ON poet Laurie D Graham, I correctly gleaned that this writer would address a veritable smorgasbord of issues: political, environmental, First...