The Adventures of Caraway Kim…Right Wing” by Don Truckey Published by Thistledown Press Review by Kim McCullough $10.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-43-0 Set in the dead of a 1960’s Alberta winter, The Adventures of Caraway Kim…Right Wing is the story of eleven-year-old Kim and his race to become Top Scorer of the Caraway hockey team. To win, he has to beat Brad Rooks, the local troublemaker. The boys’ rivalry continues off-ice, forcing Kim to confront his own sense of right and wrong, as well as stand up for himself against Brad’s overbearing ways. In Kim, Truckey has created a likeable young hero who makes realistic choices. Truckey’s clear rendering of a time he calls “before now” makes life in the 1960’s come alive. Young hockey fans interested in the old days of the Original Six will be thrilled with the detailed descriptions of the difficulties players faced back in those days: the rough ice; the biting cold; and the thin, not-so-protective equipment that left heads, knees and throats vulnerable to injury. The play-by-play action of the hockey games will keep young readers engaged and interested. The Adventures of Caraway Kim…Right Wing is more than just a sentimental journey back to “the good…

My Sweet Curiosity by Amanda Hale Published by Thistledown Press Review by Karen Lawson $19.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-61-4 Amanda Hale’s third novel is a complex work that combines many different elements and themes. She has taken a variety of threads and woven them into an intricate tapestry that will keep the reader wanting more with every page. My Sweet Curiosity contains several plots and is set not only in different countries but also spans many centuries. The author incorporates historical facts from the sixteenth century with a contemporary story line to create a fast moving saga that contains few boundaries. The main characters of this novel live in present day Toronto. Talya is a young, energetic, medical student. Dai Ling is a talented cello player. Destiny brings them together and their lives become intertwined. Both young women are the daughters of immigrant parents. This complicates their relationship and adds another layer to the story. Both characters are struggling with their own personal issues and coming to terms with who they are and what their purpose in life is. Talya becomes obsessed not only with Dai Ling, but with a book of anatomical drawings compiled by a doctor by the name of…

This is the Nightmare by Adrienne Gruber Published by Thistledown Press Reviewed by Carrie Prefontaine $12.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-52-2 Adrienne Gruber’s This is the Nightmare is a collection of deeply reflective poems that will appeal to anyone seeking to understand the complexities of love and language. “I don’t pick up foreign languages well,” the poet laments in “Dead Language,” and this is a theme carried throughout “Limbo,” the first section of the volume. Whether the poet is speaking a “jumbled commentary on who we never were” in “Our Frantic Language,” or reading the “Tabloid Poems” that “scald a pink fleshy tongue,” words themselves are suspect. In these poems, language is most meaningful when it manifests through the physical. In “How I Find You,” for example, emotional pain is written vividly all over the subject’s face: “You have the face of a Japanese bowl, / charred raw strokes of paint along your cheekbones, / plump and full, designed with clear intent, / your jaw tight, and pouring / out of you, something cold.” The poems in section two, This is the Nightmare explore grief, carrying forward the complex search for connection, sense of self, and meaningful language. “[G]rief is a kind of…

correction line by Dennis Cooley Published by Thistledown Press Reviewed by Kelly-Anne Riess $15.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-50-8 Dennis Cooley’s long poem correction line is both touching and poignant, recreating memory and the prairie landscape. Cooley shows his many talents, as his work is vernacular, funny, anecdotal and personal, touching on his own family history. correction line plays with ideas around creation and how things, like poetry, are produced. For instance he writes in response to his surrounding geography, but also from what he’s learned studying others’ poetry and literary theory over the last 30 years or so. A correction line is a device used to compensate for the curve of longitude. And Cooley’s book follows the line between his beginnings in Estevan, Saskatchewan to his current home of Winnipeg. It also traces a poetic line to American poet Charles Olson, writing: /an O pening of the field/ At the beginning of the book, Cooley almost quotes Eli Mandel’s poem “Life Sentence” in its entirety. Mandel was the first poet from Estevan, and now Cooley is the second. Cooley’s words are more than semantic, as he uses them for visual effect. On one page, for example, the words physically create the appearance…

No Apologies for the Weather by Taylor Leedahl Published by Thistledown Press Reviewed by Carrie Prefontaine $12.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-51-5 No Apologies for the Weather is Saskatoon poet Taylor Leedahl’s bold poetic debut. Tracing the poet’s movement into maturity, the volume confidently and intricately explores identity, sexuality, and intimacy. Saturated with a wisdom beyond the poet’s years, the poetry also retains the sparkle, vigour, and occasionally, idealism, of her adolescence. Many of the poems are firmly rooted in places that will be familiar to Saskatoon readers, reminding us how strongly our experience of place shapes our sense of self. In the poem “Out Here I Declare Myself,” for example, prairie bluffs provide an appropriate backdrop for the poet’s struggle to define herself: “Out here I declare myself / And reap entertainment from birch trees. / Slender knobby knees, paper peels / to reveal another layer / of the same flaking skin. / If only a piece of me had these qualities…” Leedahl has an eye for detail and she paints those details into multi-layered, melodious poems. Indeed, Leedahl’s poetry is coloured by music and her wordplay is brightly lyrical. Poems such as “A Personal Revolution on Your Skin,” “Ocean in Autumn…

Something to Hang On To by Beverly Brenna Published by Thistledown Press Review by Judith Silverthorne $12.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-57-7 Beverley Brenna’s new collection of short stories for teens is poignant and powerful. Each one is told in a clear, positive and simple way, so that Something to Hang On To will appeal to many readers. Her characters are both quirky and honest as they go through tough times. They all seem to overcome their obstacles by capturing lasting resolutions from within. Sometimes the stories are based on real life incidents and sometimes they are slightly autobiographical. Often they provide insights into a variety of serious life issues, such as loss, family violence, autism, Down’s Syndrome, or marginalization. She explores these adversities from a variety of angles. There are also some that are more-light hearted stories like the one about getting a toe caught in a vacuum cleaner, or another about parachuting from a plane for the first time. The award-winning author uses both first person and third person narrations in this compelling collection. As an added feature, there’s also an intriguing one-act play. This is her first and it’s an existential one, which captures the absurd, echoing sentiments many teens…

Tuckahoe Slidebottle by Neil McKinnon Published by Thistledown Press Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $18.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-07-02 “The town itself is homeless. It lies on the prairie like a drunk on a sidewalk.” The town is Tuckahoe, a fictional SK community invented by gifted writer Neil McKinnon, and on the strength of these first two sentences, I knew I was going to enjoy his short fiction collection Tuckahoe Slidebottle. McKinnon renders a cast of characters simultaneously outrageous and credible; if Tuckahoe were on a map, readers would be flocking there. I can’t help thinking that the writer wore a smile while penning most of these twenty stories. First, let’s look at the town itself. Tuckahoe’s a place where “Dried potholes slam your teeth as you drive.” There’s the inevitable coffee row, called “The Jury” (“five or six tobacco chewers and sunflower-seed-spitters who met every day to pass judgement on the private lives of others”). And there are wild characters like one-eyed Old Alex, who took off his black eye patch Saturdays and “used a silver dollar to cover the hole where his left eye was supposed to be,” because he believed in dressing up on Saturday nights. Reverend Davies is…

The Serpent’s Veil by Maggi Feehan Published by Thistledown Press Review by Judith Silverthorne $18.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-56-0 Constance Stubbington wakes up in a hospital in London, England in 1899 after being thrown from a horse. The severe implications of her medical condition are withheld from her, as are the whereabouts of her father. In fact, she doesn’t recall much of her life at first, though there seem to be hints that she has spent some of her time in India during the time of colonialism. So begins Maggi Feehan’s intriguing first novel, The Serpent’s Veil. As this tale unfolds, Constance experiences a series of flashbacks and dreams. She sometimes shares these with Ank Maguire, her Irish surgeon’s assistant, whom she comes to trust. They also discover they share a spiritual connection that sometimes gives them positive insights and sometimes seems to cause problems. Constance has especially strong intuitions, which help her unravel ten years of her personal journey as she pieces her life together while still in hospital. They both have former lives and family traditions that haunt them. As they come to terms with these, they find that entering the world of intuition help transform them. This also brings…

Return to Bone Tree Hill by Kristin Butcher Published by Thistledown Books Review by Marie Powell Mendenhall $12.95 ISBN: 1-897235-58-4 This young adult mystery opens with Jessica Lawler’s recurring nightmare: she is 12 years old again, and she can see her friends Charlie and Amanda fighting. Charlie is shaking Amanda and he won’t let go. Jessica picks up Charlie’s shovel and swings it. Then Charlie is lying on the ground, his hair matted with blood… At 18, Jessica returns from Australia to visit her grandmother in Victoria, BC, where she grew up. She discovers Charlie went missing on the same day she contracted meningitis. With her memories clouded by illness, Jessica has to wonder: Is the dream true? Did she kill him? With the help of her best friend Jilly, Jessica pieces together the puzzle of Charlie’s disappearance. The bantering friendship between the two girls and the lingering guilt that drives Jessica are believable and well-developed. Twists and turns lead the story in several unexpected directions. Symbols like the tree and that well-known Canadian icon, the snow globe, also play a role. Following hunches and clues, the girls uncover community secrets along with Jessica’s memories. Kristen Butcher unravels the mystery…

Terminal Moraine by Ian LeTourneau Published by Thistledown Press Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $12.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-53-9 In 2008, Thistledown Press celebrated the release of its 10th New Leaf Editions Series of poetry books by first-time authors, and what a celebration it was. At the launch — arguably among SK’s top literary events of the year — one of four poets on stage was Ian LeTourneau, a former Maritimer now living in Athabasca AB. With new book in hand, LeTourneau transported listeners with the unique music only a finely-tuned poem can make. Terminal Moraine is a landmark book. It entertains and ferries readers to the “otherworld” poetry inhabits, but it could also be well-used in writing workshops, as LeTourneau’s poems have much to teach us. Reversals (ie: the tide, time, memory), renewals, and re-ordering predominate, but within these themes there exists great diversity in subject, tone, and form. Aside from the free verse favoured by many contemporary poets, LeTourneau also incorporates sonnets, odes (ie: “Fireplace” and “Bicycle”), a paradelle, a triolet, and couplets. There are translations (from the French); poems inspired by other poets; by photographs; music; landscapes; family; and friends. More specifically, the found poem, “Wind Farm,” credits the…