If you lie down in a field, she will find you thereby Colleen BrownPublished by Radiant PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$20.00 ISBN 9781989274941 Colleen Brown’s If you lie down in a field, she will find you there underscores that “perception is everything”. The Ontario-raised writer and artist’s memoir contemplates the mystery of her mother via disparate childhood memories and family vignettes, many of which are recalled by Brown’s much older siblings. In delivering these random remembrances, Brown effectively gives the woman’s “perfectly human and unremarkable” life the warm spotlight it deserves; this comes in stark contrast to the “death porn” the media spouted after her mother’s murder by a serial killer. The book is a construction, “a way to make sense of a life,” and it bucks against the “narrative pull” associated with writing about violence. Don’t expect a straight line or an ordered chronology. Do expect to be engrossed by this jigsaw of a memoir that’s often poetic, frequently philosophical, and presents a yearning for “wholeness”. Brown was eight when her mother, Doris, died “suddenly, out of sequence, shockingly and violently”. The killer’s confession came two years later, and he’s been in a psychiatric institution since 1978 under a…

Prairie Seasonsby Amber AntymniukPublished by Blow Creative ArtsReview by Sally Meadows$23.00 ISBN 9781999546236 Amber Antymniuk’s newest children’s picture book, Prairie Seasons, is a child’s-perspective love song to life on the prairies throughout the year. With its glorious sing-song rhythm, this book begs to be read out loud, and will be enjoyed not only by the young children it is written for, but also by the adults who read to them. Amber is both writer and illustrator of Prairie Seasons. She has done an admirable job of creating a lyrical narrative that appeals to all of our senses. As a songwriter and former teacher, I personally am drawn to children’s books that rhyme, and Amber has done a wonderful job of creating phrases with movement and flow. Some of her phrasings are quite lovely (“tucking the earth in as summer fades”) and detailed in a way that is fresh and new (“Some days are so frigid that ice forms within our nostrils”). Amber’s illustrations have a lovely soft appeal that perfectly complement her words. Watercolour and ink are her media of choice, and her attention to detail effectively showcases her ability as an artist to capture elements of the flora and fauna, prairie…

The Amnesia Projectby Payton ToddPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$19.99 ISBN 9781990863264 Keeping journals and writing poetry are common practices among teens, and I commend them for documenting their lives, even if no one else ever sees the writing. Some of our most exciting and/or trying experiences may occur during adolescence, and writing’s good therapy. What’s highly uncommon, however, is for a teenaged writer to have a book published, and for that book to be a 302-paged, young adult sci-fi novel with a large cast of well-developed characters, a complex and dynamic plot, and a satisfying conclusion. Enter Payton Todd and The Amnesia Project. At age fifteen, the avid writer and student from Wood Mountain, SK won the Wood Dragon Books’ Young Author Competition. After working with publisher Jeanne Martinson on successive edits, the attractive, action-filled novel was released. In an interview with moosejawtoday.com, Martinson said “Wood Dragon worked around Payton’s school schedule, and she lives on a [cattle] ranch, too, so she has a lot of chores and obligations. We’re really proud of this book …” The futuristic novel centres around seventeen-year-old Kole Danvers, who finds himself assigned a new name and position—Beta 9X—at the Pacific…

Tyler Evans the Greatby Alison LohansPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Miriam Körner$ 19.95 ISBN 9781778690228 What does it mean to be a hero? I have no doubt that everyone has a slightly different definition. If you were to ask Tyler Evans in Alison Lohans’ newest chapter book Tyler Evans the Great, he would tell you what a hero is not: A hero doesn’t let the school bullies take his cookie away. A hero doesn’t lose a shoe when he kicks a ball. And a hero doesn’t get his hair ruffled, especially not by his mom. Could Tyler ever be a hero? Told through the eyes of the young protagonist, this book explores a child’s longing to be a hero for the people (and animals) that mean most to him in his young life: his brother, his single mom, his friends and schoolmates, his dogs and even the robin and caterpillars in his backyard. Tyler tries hard to be a hero, but either he isn’t quick enough and someone else has already stolen the part or his attempts backfire. To make matters worse, his older brother Matt doesn’t let Tyler play video games with him and calls him a…

We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Actionby Shannon Clay, Lady, Kristin Schwartz, and Michael StaudenmaierPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Toby A. Welch$34.95 ISBN 9780889779082 I knew the moment I cracked open We Go Where They Go and saw that it was published by the University of Regina Press that I was in for a stimulating read. Every book I’ve read by the University of Regina Press has stuck with me even years later. They only publish deeply researched works that are powerful and interesting. Even if the subject matter doesn’t initially intrigue you, odds are that it will by the time you finish the book.  Trying to explain what this book is about in a few short paragraphs won’t come close to touching on the depth of the work but let’s give it a go. In response to community invasions in the 1980s by neo-Nazis and white supremacists, people retaliated. Anti-Racist Action (ARA) was formed. Thousands of members strong, the ARA fought against Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, anti-abortion fundamentalists, and racist police. This is a truly fascinating account of people with a common goal uniting to fight back. As this took place in the era before so much was…

“Faith in the Fields: Picturesque Ukrainian Churches of Saskatchewan”Paintings, drawings and sketches by Fritz Stehwien, compiled by Barbara StehwienPublished by Landscape Art PublishingReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$19.95 ISBN 9781738021901 Fritz Stehwien was a German-born Saskatoon artist (1914-2008) whose life and work continue to be celebrated by many, including his family. The art-filled hardcover Faith in the Fields: Picturesque Ukrainian Churches of Saskatchewan is an archival project produced by Waltraude and Barbara Stehwien, and in its introduction we learn that the book “was inspired by two exhibits held at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada in Saskatoon: Faith in the Fields (1997) and Faith in the Fields II (1999)”. The beautifully-bound book features page after page of full-bleed, mostly pastel images of the singular churches and landscapes Stehwien encountered in his adopted home on the Canadian prairies. (The lifetime artist was forced to serve as a soldier in Eastern Europe during WW II.) This art book also commemorates the “resilience” of “European settlers encountering the harsh prairie climate”. This resilience came, in part, due to “their faith and strength,” and memorials to this history are found in the Ukrainian churches—“revered prairie icons”—still scattered across Saskatchewan. While some of these architectural delights are…

La Nation Provisoire -The Provisional Nationby Laurier GareauPublished by la nouvelle plumeReview by Toby A. Welch  $20.00 ISBN 9782925329053 What a fascinating book for anyone interested in Canadian history or the role of the Métis in our country’s past. The Provisional Nation explores how Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont – two of the most well-known Métis leaders – approached dealing with colonization; Indigenous people lived through a century and a half of colonization after Canada acquired Rupert’s Land. In this book, Gareau delves deep into the days of the last armed Métis resistance against Canada’s invasion into their traditional lands. I love how The Provisional Nation is laid out. The first half is the French version and the second half – starting at page ninety-nine – is for those who prefer to read English. Once you jump in, the content is written like a play. You’ll find a list of the cast of characters, a description of the stage setting, and then fifty subsequent scenes. [My favourite scene was number thirty-five. It opens with Louis Riel on his knees in prayer. (Riel was allegedly a deeply religious man.) Then Dumont enters the scene and the two discuss what will come next…

2 Women 2 Generations 26 Poemsby Sheri HathawayWelcome Home PublishingReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$13.19 ISBN 9781738822348 I like to be surprised. Upon receiving the slim poetry collection 2 Women 2 Generations 26 Poems by Saskatoon’s Sheri Hathaway, I noted the book’s short, back cover description: “This is a mother-daughter project containing verse from two women of very different pasts,” and I fully expected that Hathaway—a grandmother of eight—had collaborated with a daughter on this collection of prairie-based poems. I was wrong. This book actually features the work of Hathaway and her mother, Louise (McLean) Hathaway, a former teacher who experienced the Great Depression and World War II. The elder poet died in 2009. Her daughter explains that she “didn’t know [her] mother wrote any poems,” but Sheri discovered them after her mother’s death “In her boxes of books, papers, photos and diaries”. Another surprise: both poets had published work in local publications. The book mostly features Sheri Hathaway’s work; eight poems were penned by her mother, one of which, “Heart Cry,” is a fine example of showing emotion, rather than stating it. It begins: “Snow covers all./The brown mound of cloggy earth,/Our spray of mums,/gold, russet, and bronze for October,/The…