Danceland Diaryby Dee Hobsbawn-SmithPublished by Radiant PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$22.00 ISBN 9-781989-274828 ‘Tis a wondrous thing to watch a writer’s oeuvre grow. I’ve had the pleasure of following Saskatchewan’s Dee Hobsbawn-Smith evolution as she’s published enviable books of poetry, short fiction and nonfiction—including the scrumptious Bread & Water: Essays—and now this hard-working writer’s earned another literary moniker: novelist. Danceland Diary, the award-winning author’s premiere novel, is saturated with poetic imagery, a juicy plot, and longing. First-person narrator Luka Dekker’s been born into an off-colony Hutterite family that harbours dark secrets—indeed, keeping secrets seems an intergenerational trait for these “gypsy Hutterites,” and Luka’s got a dandy of her own. It’s been twenty-two years since Luka’s unstable mother, Lark, abandoned Luka and her sister, Connie, and moved to the west coast. The girls were raised by their grandmother, the matriarch Anky, and never saw Lark again. At eighteen Luka left her rural Saskatchewan life to attempt to find her beautiful and elusive mother in Vancouver. The timing of Lark’s disappearance eerily lines up with Robert Pickton’s murders of women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Is there a connection? Luka’s thirty when the novel begins. She has horticulture and botany degrees, and a…

The Boy From Buzwah: A Life in Indian Educationby Cecil KingPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Toby A. Welch$29.95 ISBN 9780889778504 I’ll admit it – I live in a bubble. I have a routine life that is cozy. That said, when something comes my way that pushes me out of my comfort zone, I love it! The Boy From Buzwah did just that – it ripped me out of my sheltered life and deposited me into a fascinating new world that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. This book is the self-written memoir of Cecil King. King grew up in Buzwah on the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island in Ontario. A residential school survivor, King moved to Toronto to earn his teaching degree before spending his career striving for much-needed changes in Indigenous education.  I am not a fan of the current trend to write memoirs with a timeline that jumps all over the place, skipping around from current day to birth to young adult, back to childhood and everywhere in between. Thankfully King avoided any of that and The Boy From Buzwah unfolds in seamless chronological order. We start with King’s childhood attending the Buzwah School before…

I Never Met A Rattlesnake I Didn’t Like: A Memoir”by David CarpenterPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.95 ISBN 978-1-77187-227-0 When I discovered that Saskatoon’s David Carpenter was releasing a new memoir, I Never Met A Rattlesnake I Didn’t Like, I immediately wanted to review it. I knew it would be illuminating, well-written and downright fun, because this is what I’ve come to expect of Carpenter’s work, whether fiction or nonfiction, and this latest title’s cleared the bar. Carpenter’s a bonafide storyteller and a “rabid conservationist,” and his entertaining stories and mind-broadening research into “this ancient cafeteria called nature”—and who and what threaten it—is an epiphanic read. The memoir’s an homage to “creatures with Fangs, Claws, and Other Pointy Things,” from mosquitos, snakes and weasels to the apex predators: wolves, cougars and bears. Over eighteen mostly short chapters that “follow the chain of predation,” we learn about Carpenter’s lifelong passion and reverence for the winged, finned and four-legged. “I seem to have a thing for predatory animals,” he writes. “My journals are full of them.” He’s been keeping field notes for fifty years re: his “sightings of and adventures with predacious creatures,” from boyhood memories of fishing on Lake…

Poppies, Poppies Everywhere!by Denise Leduc, Illustrated by Breanne TaylorPublished by Lilac Arch PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$15.99 ISBN 9781778286919 Some writers make it look easy. Such is the case with Aylesbury, Saskatchewan writer Denise Leduc, who recently published Poppies, Poppies Everywhere!, a well-written children’s story that seamlessly explains the importance of Remembrance Day via a grandmother and her granddaughter, Charlotte. It’s “a frosty November day,” but young Charlotte wants to go to the playground. “It had monkey bars and slides, her two favourite things!” Her grandma—depicted uncharacteristically and attractively with long grey hair and in trendy, rolled-up, stovepipe jeans—has other ideas. It’s Remembrance Day, and the woman leads Charlotte across the park to purchase commemorative poppies. “You wear it close to your heart,” she tells her still miffed granddaughter. After hot chocolate in a coffee shop—Louisiana-based illustrator Breanne Taylor shows Charlotte kneeling on her chair, as a child might—Grandma explains that they’re going to attend “a ceremony to show we care.” It’s noteworthy that Leduc’s not fallen for the easy shortcut of naming emotions in this important story. When “Charlotte touched the poppy on her coat,” we know what she is feeling. Through descriptive writing, we experience the collective quiet…

What If You Could?by Lynne Harley, Illustrations by Kiram AkramReview by Michelle ShawPublished by Shadowpaw Press Premiere$16.99 ISBN 9781989398463 What If You Could? by Lynne Harley is a wonderful book for all ages with a deep and profound message that will resonate with every reader. The author cleverly uses the familiar story of the caterpillar transforming into a butterfly to highlight the different “inner voices” we all experience. “One grey and rainy morning, a caterpillar, as caterpillars do, was eating a big, green leaf, munching, crunching, thinking, too.” One of the voices the caterpillar hears is positive and loving and encourages him to dream big, exciting dreams and to let his imagination run free. The other voice is “cold and quite mean” and full of “know-it-all advice”. This voice sternly tells the caterpillar: “forget it, little caterpillar. From this branch, you won’t go far! … HA! Who do you think you are?” Lynne Harley has spent forty years as a social worker and a transformational life coach, so it’s not surprising that this book is so profound. Through her work she encourages individuals to believe in themselves. She says this book speaks to the power of listening deeply to our…

Frozen Fury: Agricultural Crops and Hail Damageby Malcolm BucholtzPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Toby A. Welch$19.95 ISBN 9781989078853 Frozen Fury is a “resource for farm operators, agricultural students, and hail adjustors.” Even though I am none of those things, I found this non-fiction book to be informative and fascinating. Anyone with even a remote interest in agriculture as well as the effects of hail on that industry will find this book valuable.  A few interesting tidbits I learned while reading Frozen Fury: – India is the largest mustard grower in the world, followed by Canada – Sunflower originated in northern Mexico and was used as a diuretic and an expectorant – Corn is one of the most difficult crops to hail adjust – If crops are treated with micronutrients after hail damage, they recover faster and better As this book is thorough and contains a great deal of information, I found it a huge help that Bucholtz included a brief summary in bullet points at the end of each chapter. That kept my confusion at bay and helped cement everything I’d just learned.  And I learned a heck of a lot reading Frozen Fury. I had no clue that…