Dinosaur Blackout by Judith Silverthorne Published by Coteau Books Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $8.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-375-3 It’s unusual to begin the fourth novel in a series without having read the three previous. Would the book stand on its own, I wondered? Or would it be like arriving late to a party and feeling lost? I needn’t have worried. Judith Silverthorne, the award-winning Regina author of “Dinosaur Blackout...
Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada: Current Trends and Issues, 3rd Edition Edited by Yale D. Belanger Published by Purich Publishing Ltd. Review by Judith Silverthorne $45.00 ISBN 3 978-1895830-323 The third edition of Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada is an academic work. Like its predecessors, it presents a detailed and thorough analysis of the self-governance issues as they are unfolding in Canada. Edited by Yale D. Belanger, it...
The Cult of Quick Repair by Dede Crane Published by Coteau Books Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $18.95 ISBN 9-781550-503920 There’s a marvelous short story in Victoria, BC writer Dede Crane’s collection, The Cult of Quick Repair, about the bizarre circumstances that follow after a man’s one night-stand – the “act” is committed in his marriage bed – with a woman met at a staff party. Called “Raising ...
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 hai...
Larger Than Life: Saskatchewan’s BIG Roadside Monuments by Robin and Arlene Karpan Published by Parkland Publishing Review by Marie Powell Mendenhall $18.95 ISBN: 0-9683579-9-7 From the world’s largest still in Vonda, to four-by-eight-foot hockey cards in Kelvington, there couldn’t be a stone – er, monument – left uncovered by Saskatoon writer-photographers Robin and Arlene Karpan. More than 70 communities find their way into ...
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 ...
Karen Bass manages to get inside the head of a German soldier from World War II. Through Brandt’s honest recounting of his experience, from wartime battles to being overcome on the Kanada building site at Auschwitz, Kurt develops a new respect for his grandfather. Readers move with Kurt past blame to greater awareness....
If readers are at all familiar with Saskatchewan literature, they are familiar with Gary Hyland. His list of awards - literary, teaching, community-based - is long and impressive, including, recently, the Book of the Year and the Poetry Award (2008 Saskatchewan Book Awards) for "Love of Mirrors: Poems New and Selected". With "You," however, Hyland fans can expect a somewhat different voice than in earlier publications....
Winnipeg writer David Elias is making a name for himself as a writer of increasingly interesting books. Coteau Books recently published his fourth, the novel "Waiting for Elvis," and because I was ardently cheering for these hardluck characters, I had a hard time putting the book down....
The book follows a young coyote named Silvertip, and other coyotes nearby, as he grows up in a particular section of rural Alberta. Using the traditions of creative nonfiction, Wilson names the coyotes and situates their stories in the gritty realism of their habitat....
