“Tricky Grounds: Indigenous Women’s Experiences in Canadian University Administration”by Candace Brunette-DebassigePublished by University of Regina PressReview by Sally Meadows$34.95 ISBN 9780889779778 Tricky Grounds is a passionate reflection by author Candace Brunette-Debassige as she documents “the experiences and challenges that Indigenous women administrators face in enacting Indigenizing policies in Canadian universities” (p. 10) with an eye towards “more transformative, decolonial approaches to Indigenous leadership and policy practices” (p. 10). The book begins with a personalized account of what led to Brunette-Debassige’s own research–this is her published PhD dissertation–followed by a critical (i.e. important) review of historical policies, institutional approaches, university participation, teaching agendas, and research agendas as they pertain to Indigenous people from the 1800s to present. Highlighted is the consistently and devastatingly undermined, marginalized, suppressed, and even silenced, non-European (particularly for the context of this book, Indigenous) ways of knowing of traditional Euro-Western universities. I was shocked to read, for example, that the Indian Act of 1876 forced First Nation men (and later, women) who wanted to attend university to “surrender their Treaty rights and terminate their Indigenous legal status and…reserve lands” (p. 33-34), a legality that remained in place until 1951. I champion this book as an invaluable resource…

Fireboyby Edward WillettPublished by Shadowpaw PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$22.99 ISBN 9781998273423 There are several things I can count on each time I open a book for young readers by Regina author Edward Willett: the story will be technically well-written; the characters credible and clever; and whatever weird, fantastical situations the young cast finds themselves in, there’s bound to be laughs along the way. In short, I know I’ll be impressed. Fireboy is the Aurora Award-winning author and publisher’s latest title, and with this blaze-paced novel it’s clear that Willett’s lost none of his … fire. The story’s told by thirteen-year-old Samantha “Sam” MacReady, who missed out on her Grade 7 overnight field trip (“a camping-trip-and-astronomy-adventure”) in May and thus was spared when her fellow “Limberpine,” Alberta classmates were involved in a tragic school bus accident. The bus was driven by Grade 7 science teacher Dr. Ballard, and he and a single student—loner Meg, from the wrong side of the tracks—were the sole survivors. The remaining nineteen students mysteriously vanished, and no one can say for sure what even caused the bus to flip on its side. After the news crews left the small town folks alone and “The rest…

Cupboard Loveby Mark MortonPublished by Shadowpaw Press RepriseReview by Michelle Shaw$29.99 ISBN 9781998273355 If you’ve ever wondered about the plural of asparagus (asparagi), or the origins of Camembert (invented during the French revolution) or why there are so many spellings of perogie…perogey…piroghi (it’s complicated),then wonder no more. Mark Morton’s extensively researched Cupboard Love: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities explores the definitions and origins of a vast array of culinary terms in a fascinating and very witty way. From à la (as in à la carte and à la king) to zuppa inglese, Morton examines how the definitions of words have developed – sometimes far from their original meanings. This is actually the third edition of the book (so clearly, it’s stood the test of time) and it has been updated and expanded. It was originally published in 1996 and was one of three books nominated for a 1996 Julia Child Cookbook Award in the Food Reference/Technical Category (Calphalon Award) and was included in The Globe and Mail’s list of “required reading” notable books for 1997. I’m a linguistic nerd so I was fascinated about Morton’s research process through the years. When the book was first published in 1996, his primary…

Prison Born: Incarceration and Motherhood in the Colonial Shadowby Robin F. HansenPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Toby A. Welch$32.95 ISBN 9781779400079 Did I ever learn a lot from Prison Born! I’m humbled to admit that so much goes on in our blessed country that I am clueless about. This book left me feeling like I’d been walloped upside the head with a battering ram of information. (Although none of that surprises me as this is a University of Regina Press book, a publishing house that puts out well-researched, thought-provoking books that have an impact and educate readers.) Saskatchewan has a policy – it’s been applied for decades – that every baby born to an incarcerated woman is immediately removed from its mother’s care. (The same policy is in play in most of Canada as well as most states in the US.) A true scenario involving Jacquie, an Indigenous woman from a Treaty 6 First Nation who is in her third trimester, carries throughout the book. Incarcerated in Prince Albert, she is terrified about what will happen to her child when he is born. Her story kept me glued to the pages, eager to discover the outcome. You’ll find so…

Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equatorby Ben BrisboisPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$34.95 ISBN 9781779400345 Dole. Chiquita. Del Monte. These banana empires are household names, and as a frequent consumer of bananas, I read Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator, by Montreal academic Ben Brisbois, with great interest. Frankly, though I’ve consumed a bunch of bananas in my lifetime, I’ve never peeled back their long and troubling story. Ben Brisbois has. Over about fifteen years, Brisbois—an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of the Université de Montréal’s School of Public Health—researched, analyzed, and wrote about pesticides’ dangerous health effects on the often exploited workers at banana plantations and farms, with his PhD fieldwork centred in the self-proclaimed “banana capital of the world,” Machala, Ecuador. He ”laboriously designed a project that would try to bring about real change by valuing the lived experiences of pesticide-affected banana workers and farmers, and by being realistic about the political and economic power relations [both globally and locally] affecting coastal Ecuador.” There was much to unpack, and this reader got an education, beginning with the nefarious ecological and political history of…

Selected Writings: Six Years of Philosophyby Leighton D. PeartPublished by Pete’s PressReview by Toby A. Welch  $21.99 ISBN 9781069345967 I love little books like this. They are great to throw in your bag and pull out when you have a fewmoments. Or devour it in one sitting. Either way, it’s a win-win situation as Selected Writings is a thought-provoking read.  Selected Writings is sixty-eight pages long. It is made up of nine essays that Peart wrote over the last six years, although most were written in 2019 before his Covid writing slump hit. He is upfront that the essays are reflections and things for us to ponder, topics that we won’t necessarily agree with. I admire that as I don’t want to always hear opinions that align with mine. I want to read different viewpoints to expand my own mindset.  The nine essays deal with a variety of topics: growing up poor, this life being our only refuge, the highs and lows of existing, finding meaning and authenticity in a chaotic world, religion and morality, the decision to not have children, boredom, and metaphysical depths. It was interesting diving into Peart’s mind as he shared his views on topics that aren’t usually discussed in…

Dog and Moonby Kelly ShepherdPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$19.95 ISBN 9781779400383 Quirky contradictions, interconnectedness, and more swerves than the North Saskatchewan—Kelly Shepherd’s Dog and Moon delivers an audacious selection of poems that’ll make you think and possibly cheer, thanks to wordplay concerning the natural world, domesticity, etymology, poetry workshops (“Describe snow to someone who has never experienced it before”) and metaphors against a backdrop of shadows, mirrors, moons, frogs, feathers, Canadian writers and “concrete-coloured snow.” In this third poetry collection, Shepherd’s used the ancient ghazal form for inspiration, but he gives his couplets a contemporary twist with reverberations, koan-like riddles, a dash of politics and lines that had me smiling. Even titles are a hoot: “The Poetics of Space Heaters,” and “If Your Eyes Weren’t Prisms, Would You Notice?” Prediction: this book will earn awards. Firstly, the pairings and unusual juxtapositions. The book begins: “A man walks out of a forest. What walks out of him?” In the second poem: “Fish grow leafy fins and tails. Trees grow fish-shaped leaves./The trees, water, fire of childhood.” The poet takes two things, ie: fish and trees, then throws in a random third element, ie: “fire of childhood.”…

Let Us Be Trueby Erna BuffiePublished by Shadowpaw PressReview by Sally Meadows$24.99 ISBN 9781998273065 As an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Erna Buffie has put her strengths of visual thinking and stellar storytelling to excellent use in her recently re-released debut novel Let Us Be True. Originally published by Coteau Books in 2015 and a finalist for both the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction and the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book at the 2016 Manitoba Book Awards, the book was re-published by Shadowpaw Press in 2024 for a whole new generation of readers to devour. This sweeping story, which unfolds over several generations with a myriad of twists and turns, is told from various viewpoints that allow readers to get an intimate portrait of each deeply flawed character. From the grit of the Great Depression to the battlefields of WWII to mid-century and turn-of-the-century life on the Prairies, Buffie’s descriptive mastery–along with her historical knowledge–immerses the reader into each compelling but often painful scene. Like a tragic accident we can’t pull our eyes away from while passing it on a highway, Buffie has crafted a page turner that is hard to put down, employing portents that leave the reader…