Sariri: Travels Through Boliviaby Ivar MendezPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9781988783796 This is a fascinating read to add to your collection of travel books! You’ll find 20 chapters in Sariri (not counting the introduction, afterword, and glossary.) Each chapter covers a specific place in Bolivia, a terrific way to lay out a book about a country. Close to the front of the book you’ll find a map that pinpoints the location of each chapter – so handy! If you are confused by the title of this book, ‘sariri’ is the Bolivian word for the nature of a traveller – a pilgrim on a spiritual quest, a traveller in search of new horizons, adventures, and cultures. That sums up Mendez himself perfectly. Mendez does an amazing job of describing each place he visits in Bolivia without being flowery – I love that! For example, when detailing the houses in the village of Culpina, he writes, “A row of brick houses… are still in use. These small red houses with chimneys look like they belong in an English town rather than in the middle of the Bolivian pampas.” Of all the interesting places Mendez wrote about,…

The Pickle in Grandma’s FridgeStory by Elena Bentley, Art by Tonia LairdPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Cindy WilsonISBN 9781988783857 $16.95 The Pickle in Grandma’s Fridge is a children’s book written by Elena Bentley and illustrated by ToniaLaird. It has a grandma, a fridge, and a fuzzy green pickle–of course it’s an interesting story! Annie is a little girl who goes to her grandma’s after school. How lovely is that? Annie tells Grandmathat her friend says if you leave food in the fridge too long it will grow legs. When Annie goes toGrandma’s fridge to get a snack she sees a very fuzzy green pickle! She thinks Grandma should throwthat pickle out before it grows legs. Grandma says ,“Don’t be silly. Food can’t grow legs.” But that night a tap, tap, tap, coming from the fridge wakes Annie. She opens the fridge door and outjumps the fuzzy green pickle! Follow along to find out what happens with Annie, Grandma, and Dil theFuzzy Pickle! Laird’s vivid illustrations will capture the attention of readers young and old, and clearlanguage makes reading along both easy and fun. The illustrator lets us know Annie’s personality through her very expressive facial expressions. We alsosee…

Ruby’s Camping Adventureby B. A. TomkaPublished by Shiba BooksReview by Michelle ShawISBN 9781778147500. $14.99 Ruby’s Camping Adventure is a gorgeously illustrated adventure story with a great message for children of all ages. Mother-daughter writing team, Bonnie and Anna Tomka, who live in Northern Saskatchewan, have written a fun story featuring their Shiba Inu dog named Ruby (a Shibu Inu is a breed of hunting dog from Japan.) I always love reading books set in Saskatchewan. They are invariably filled with pictures, words and situations that Saskatchewan children can relate to. And this book is full of them. The story revolves around Ruby and her owner (and best friend) Anna who decide to go on a camping adventure. We are told very early on that this isn’t your ordinary story about a cute, cuddly puppy. “Sure, she’s cute and cuddly. But she’s also trouble.” The friends are looking forward to roasting marshmallows and singing camping songs but when Ruby chases a rabbit into the forest, things start going awry. Ruby is so intent on catching the rabbit that before she knows it, she’s lost. It begins getting dark and the northern lights start dancing across the sky. Ruby is starting to…

Duateroby Brad C. AndersonPublished by Shadowpaw Press RepriseReview by Toby A. Welch$23.95 ISBN 9781989398395 I must admit that sci-fi isn’t my go-to choice for fiction. Sure, I loved the X-Files TV show and thoroughly enjoyed reading Ender’s Game and Dune but that was about the extent of it. Duatero changed that – science fiction will now be a genre I regularly reach for.  The title of this book confused me at first – what the heck is a duatero? Is it a sea creature with two legs? Some kind of two-sided crystal? Wrong on both counts. The title of this book is the name of an abandoned Earth colony. The fantastical world that Anderson created in Duatero is a fascinating place to be during the hours it takes to read the book. The main character, Majstro Falchilo Kredo, works furiously to protect Duatero from Malamiko, an ecosystem that is causing the colony’s crops to fail. Malamiko is threatening their way of life in every way; the possibility of Duatero having a future is dire. This well-written ecological apocalyptic tale is spellbinding. It is obvious that Anderson put a tremendous amount of thought and research into Duatero. It is flush with…

Shepherd’s Callby Counios and GanePublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Michelle ShawISBN 9781988783772 $19.95 Shepherd’s Call is the latest installment in the internationally award-winning Shepherd & Wolfe mystery series, written by Regina-based authors David Gane and Angie Counios. Tony Shepherd is all set to graduate from high school when his best friend Charlie Wolfe suddenly disappears leaving only a cryptic text message on Tony’s phone saying: “Help”. Tony’s search for his friend leads him back into Charlie’s past where he slowly discovers the traumatic events that shattered Charlie’s life. The book is told from both Tony and Charlie’s point of view, so at the same time as we are following Tony’s search we are also following Charlie’s adventures as he attempts to figure out why he has been abducted and what he needs to do to stay alive. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book. The previous book Wolfe in Shepherd’s Clothing ended on such a cliffhanger and I’ve been desperate to find out what happened to Charlie and Tony. It took me a little while to get into this book because it’s been a few years since the previous book was published. But the chapters are short and the…

Buddy: A Farm in the Forest StoryWritten by Jena Wagmann, Illustrated by Alana HyrtlePublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$16.95 ISBN 9-781988-783895 It’s not uncommon for children’s authors to transform a scenario from “real” life into a story for a picture book, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of Goodsoil, SK writer Jena Wagmann’s new title, Buddy: A Farm in the Forest Story, the actual-experience-to-the-page formula works dog gone well. The retired school administrative assistant-turned-farmer (and writer!) has paired her talents with Nova Scotia illustrator Alana Hyrtle—and if I’m guessing correctly, this is actually a mother-daughter team—to create a heartwarming story with delightful watercolour illustrations about adopting a scruffy Shih Tzu who’d been abandoned in the forest by its previous owner. “Buddy” was “definitely not the handsomest dog they had ever seen—his eyes bulged out of his head, his teeth stuck out on one side of his mouth, and his little black nose did not sit in the middle of his face.” Buddy appears on the cover facing the moon and a star-filled sky above a forest, and it was easy to fall for the “little bit crooked” canine hero who at one…