SaskBooks Reviews

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…

Grandpa’s Garageby Amber AntymniukPublished by Blow Creative ArtsReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$22.00 ISBN 9781999546212 I’ve noticed that an increasing number of children’s authors—and particularly new writers—are opting to self-publish. Alternately, they could wait for months to hear back from a trade publisher regarding whether a book will be accepted for publication, then wait for up to several years (I’m speaking from experience: I had a book accepted in 2010 and released in 2020) for that book to hit the shelves. When one possesses artistic talent as well as literary talent, it makes especially good sense to self-publish, and that’s precisely what Saskatchewan creator and Arts Education teacher Amber Antymniuk did with Grandpa’s Garage. Antymniuk’s second book for young readers (or listeners) explores the wonderfully diverse items that appear in “Grandpa’s Garage,” and each page features rhyming text in a large font, an appealing watercolour illustration, and enough white space to make the words and images pop. Antymniuk mostly makes it personal, describing things that I expect actually do reside in a relative’s garage, like “farm cats,” “An old radio tuned to the local station” and “a stack of manuals and a bent fishing fly,” but near the end she writes…

H is for Home: A Saskatchewan Alphabet”by Amber AntymniukPublished by Blow Creative ArtsReview by Amanda Zimmerman$22.00 ISBN 9781999546205 H is for Home is another adorably presented tale from the author of the debut children’s book Grandpa’s Garage! Amber Antyminuk’s next story again draws inspiration from her rural upbringing on an acreage outside of Tisdale, a community in the northeastern part of Saskatchewan. Now making her home in the bustling city of Saskatoon, she revisits her childhood with enthusiasm, an enthusiasm clearly shown in both her writing style and artistic abilities. Stating herself that all good Saskatchewan stories are formed “where a highway meets an unmarked grid road”, the personal experience she shares adds credibility to her work and all readers fortunate enough to live in one of the prairie provinces will thoroughly enjoy the adventure she shares. In H is for Home: A Saskatchewan Alphabet, our author visits all twenty-six letters of the English alphabet with a single image representing each one. In every pair of letters, readers find an easy rhyme and careful notice is given to the amount of syllables. There are only a few pages where the syllable number doesn’t match but these rare instances don’t detract…