Marika and the Auctionby Helen Metella, Illustrated by Hannah Kate MillerPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Sally Meadows$24.95 ISBN 9781778690679 It might be easy to confuse Marika and the Auction with a children’s book. It is a typical picture book size and shape with approximately the same number of pages plus colourful, amusing illustrations. But there is one fundamental difference: this book is a “storybook for seniors” intended for adults with memory problems. Author Helen Metella wrote this book specifically for adults with dementia as inspired by, and for, her own mother. Unlike most children’s books, the star of the story is an adult. The setting is in the 1970s, when many individuals now in their eighties had young kids and a lively, energetic life. From fashion to tableware to home décor to the challenges of raising children, this book is replete with details that may trigger personal memories of older adults. This in turn may lead to precious conversations about their lives that their families will treasure. At the start of the story, Marika, a resourceful mother of five, longs to have a sleek, sophisticated home where her children can blossom. Knowing that they are on a tight…

Faces of the Force: From Depot to Detachment – True Stories of C-1966/67 Troopby Helen Metella and Pamela CowanPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Toby A. Welch$19.95 ISBN 9781988783529 Faces of the Force: From Depot to Detachment – True Stories of C-1966/67 Troop contains the stories of 32 men from across Canada who gathered in Regina on June 10, 1966. They were all there to undergo a rigorous training regime to become RCMP officers. Fast forward to the troop’s 50-year reunion in Regina. The get-together inspired the group to record their stories, sharing how their lives have played out since they first met five decades earlier.  Enter Helen Metella and Pamela Cowan. Both former journalists, they compiled each individual story. They did a phenomenal job of evoking strong imagery with their words and encapsulating the men’s lives.  The first story belongs to Constable Tony Antoniuk, the C66/67 Troop’s drill instructor. That is followed by the story of Corporal Doug Farenholtz, the PT instructor for the 32 men. After that, we delve into the lives of each individual troop member.  When Senator Bev Busson wrote in the book’s forward that the stories were “gritty, told in real life language with…