SaskBooks Reviews

The Gnomes of Boundary Bogby Audrey GartnerIllustrated by Sheila KasickPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Michelle Shaw$24.95 ISBN 9781778690181 It was the gorgeous cover that captivated me first, but the gnomes quickly drew me into their magical world. The Gnomes of Boundary Bog is a wonderful collection of stories by first time Saskatchewan author Audrey Gartner. Almost every chapter of the book is told from the perspective of a different gnome which gives the book an almost kaleidoscopic feel as you gradually get a fuller picture of the Quire, which is what the community is called. I love books that are set in actual physical places that children can explore. Boundary Bog where the Quire is, is a real place in Prince Albert National Park, in Saskatchewan. You can even walk the Boundary Bog Trail (although it’s closed to the public, at present, due to a revitalisation project). Children can tangibly discover for themselves the details of the world in which the story is set and that makes such a difference to their experience. Gartner has done a wonderful job of world building. She uses concrete details to create a world that the reader can clearly visualize. For instance,…

The Emir’s Falconby Matt HughesPublished by Shadowpaw Press PremiereReview by Toby A. Welch$18.99 ISBN 9781989398319 The Emir’s Falcon is a fascinating story from page one to its gratifying conclusion. It centres around Skyrider, a peregrine falcon that university student Bernie has been tending to at a Canadian Wildlife Service facility. Bernie learns that the Government of Canada has decided to give Skyrider to the son of a Persian Gulf emir as a diplomatic gift. To say Bernie isn’t thrilled with the decision is a massive understatement.  I appreciated that this book was told from three different points of view, keeping things spicy. You have Bernie, the young biologist-in-training who is attempting to save Skyrider from what he sees as a horrific fate. Then there’s petroleum engineering student Nasur, the emir’s son. Rounding out the trio is Rosie, a fascinating Métis woman whose main goal in life seems to be day-to-day survival. As the chapters bounce from one to the others and back again, Hughes does a superb job of telling this unique story from so many angles.  The aspect of this book that I loved most is that we are exposed to aspects of three diverse cultures. There’s the young man…

Always Another Riverby Daryl SexsmithPublished by YNWPReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.95 ISBN 9781778690143 Prince Albert, SK-raised Darryl Sexmith is an avid canoe-tripper and former United Church minister who’s built his community­—wherever he’s lived—around his passion for wilderness canoeing and the fellowship group canoe-tripping naturally inspires. Reading Always Another River, his well-written, chronologically-told collection of canoe stories—he’s completed over seventy-five trips and “hasn’t hung up his paddle yet”—stirred fond memories of my own canoeing experiences. It’s a Canadian thing, eh. The nineteen chapters are mostly titled by location, and it’s evident that Sexsmith’s playground has predominantly been the rivers (and lakes) of northern Saskatchewan, but his lifetime of paddling expeditions also includes the far north. He’s a former executive director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s (CPAWS) Northwest Territories chapter, and in that role he canoed the South Nahanni and Mackenzie rivers to promote conservation. He also participated in the 2008 David Thompson Brigade, paddling six-person voyageur canoes from Alberta to Ontario “to commemorate Thompson’s historic trip of 1808,” a journey also heralded in 1967 with the Centennial Canoe Pageant. How interesting to read about the grueling paddling across Manitoba’s massive lakes (with high winds and just five-minute breaks every hour),…

Rise Above: Surviving Depressing and Living a Better Lifeby John MelnickPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Toby A. Welch$19.99 ISBN 9781990863110 I truly feel that someone who hasn’t been touched by depression wouldn’t have been able to write this book with as much heart as John Melnick. He has struggled with the mental illness for decades and that experience comes through in every page of Rise Above. In 2002, in the depths of a severe clinical depression, Melnick swam into a fast-flowing river to end the pain in his life. Thankfully his desire to live prevailed. He shares his story and enlightens the rest of us about depression, a devastating mental illness.  Melnick shares openly about the family dynamics he has lived with all his life, relationships that may or may not have contributed to his depression. I found those details fascinating and appreciated how forthcoming he was; that helped clarify his experiences.  One chapter shares the point of view of Melnick’s wife and another of Melnick’s niece. They cover what the ladies went through when Melnick tried to commit suicide and their perspective on things. Depression doesn’t just affect the person afflicted with it; it touches everyone in that person’s life. Hearing from…

Paddling Pathways: Reflections from a Changing LandscapeEdited by Bob Henderson and Sean BlenkinsopPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$29.95 ISBN 978-1-988783-81-9 This beautifully-bound anthology of 21 essays written by paddlers and edited by educators—and intrepid canoeists and guides—Bob Henderson (ON) and Sean Blenkinsop (BC) deserves a much longer review than this 500-word assessment. In short: it’s extraordinary. Paddling Pathways: Reflections from a Changing Landscape contains a wealth of thought-provoking essays on the rivers, lakes, and oceans the diverse contributors have navigated via canoe or kayak—often in groups but sometimes solo—and it examines the paddlers’ interior worlds as they contemplate being present; history; culture; relationships with plants, animals and other creatures; Indigenous Canada (land and territorial acknowledgements and “Settler Responsibilities” are included); ecology; climate change; and, as Bruce Cockburn contributes in his Foreword, the “soul-expanding space” where one can get “a glimpse of the world as it was made.” Maps, black and white photos, and the editors’ numerous “Suggested Reading” lists are superb accompaniments to the layered essays. Henderson has previously published books on heritage travel and outdoor life, and Blenkinsop, a professor at Simon Fraser University who writes about “wild pedagogies” and “ecologizing education,” agree that as…

The Economy of Sparrowsby Trevor HerriotPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.95 ISBN 9781771872461 I’m considering what I enjoyed most about award-winning Regina writer, grassland conservationist, and naturalist Trevor Herriot’s first foray into fiction. His debut novel, The Economy of Sparrows, conveys the story of pensioner Nell Rowan, a Saskatchewan-born birder and researcher who—after earning a biology degree at Carleton and working for two decades as a night janitor cleaning “the bathrooms and hallways of the National Museum of Nature’s research and collections facility”—returns to her family’s southern Saskatchewan farmstead and remains dedicated to learning everything possible about “long-dead bird collector” William Spreadborough, and the other early naturalists and collectors she read about on her work breaks. Is there some connection between Spreadborough and her own family? This multi-layered book succeeds on every level. Firstly, the plot: Nell’s obsession with Spreadborough drives the story, but there’s also a mother who walked into winter and was never found; a teenaged foster child with a knack for communicating with animals; interesting rural neighbours; and Nell’s passion for documenting the birds in her area … her “bird survey stuff”. Nell tries to remain optimistic, but her faith in policy-makers re: reports, surveys…

Who Gets In: An Immigration Storyby Norman RavvinPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Keith Foster$29.95 ISBN 9780889779228 In Who Gets In: An Immigration Story, Norman Ravvin traces the route of his grandfather, Yehuda Yoseph Eisenstein, from Poland, across Canada to Vancouver, then back across the Prairies to Dysart, then Hirsch, in southern Saskatchewan, in the early 1930s. Although Eisenstein was married in Poland, he entered Canada claiming to be single. This caused problems later when he wanted to bring his family to join him. Ravvin focuses his book on Eisenstein’s struggle to resolve this problem. Eisenstein faced culture shock as he left a home and family in Poland, travelled across the ocean and across the continent, to wind up in the desolate Prairies, in the middle of nowhere, a land where he didn’t know the customs and couldn’t speak the language. On top of this, he faced discrimination as a Jewish person. Destitution, or simply being out of work, could lead to an immigrant being deported. Although he was not a rabbi, Eisenstein’s training enabled him to perform the rituals and duties of one. This is how he made a living. Operating first in Dysart, then in Hirsch, he…

Elemental EveWritten by Barbara Kahan, Illustrations by Wendy WinterPublished by Wild Sage PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$29.95 ISBN 9780988122994 The front and back cover images on Saskatoon writer Barbara Kahan’s complex multi-generational novel, Elemental Eve, depict two magnificent, multi-coloured watercolour paintings of women—one young, one old—set against snow-white backgrounds. Before reading even the first word, I paused to appreciate Wendy Winter’s cover illustrations: this is one of the most attractive books I’ve seen in a long time. Metaphorically speaking, Elemental Eve is a labyrinthine river with numerous tributaries, flood plains and wetlands. The plot concerns four different “Eves”. There’s Millennium Eve, a revered artist who lives in Regina. She’s the great- grandmother of Future Eve (Evie), a young New Zealander and self-professed “wanna-be artist with no talent” who travels to Canada to speak with a third woman, Solloway, a close friend of Millennium Eve’s. Soloway grew up in Regina, worked in Toronto for many years, and retired to a cabin in northern Saskatchewan. Two other Eves—Biblical Eve (she has intellectual conversations with the Serpent) and Prime Eve (who “climbed out of the briny sea billions of years ago”)—appear less frequently in this heavily-populated novel that spans the length of history…

The Elephant on Karlův Bridgeby Thomas TrofimukPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9781771872331 Holy cannoli – what did I just finish devouring?!! This amazing fiction read will be on my Top Three Books of 2023 list.  Considering how much I loved The Elephant on Karlův Bridge, I am horrified to admit that I was skeptical at first. The premise seemed ridiculous. The novel is narrated by a bridge in Prague – what the heck? The story centres around an elephant named Sál that escapes from the Prague Zoo, detailing the people she encounters as she navigates her freedom. How can that be entertaining? But I jumped in as I have been a huge Trofimuk fan since 2002 when I read the award-winning The 52nd Poem, his first published novel.  My life changed the moment I cracked The Elephant on Karlův Bridge open. That sounds dramatic but it’s true. This book will linger long in my consciousness. Under Trofimuk’s expert hand, the five-ton elephant took on human characteristics. Crazy, I know! Another bonus is the joy of being submerged into the beautiful and alive city of Prague; if readers close their eyes and focus, they can feel like they are actually there.  As enthralling as Sál…