Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Deathby Deana J. DriverPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Keith Foster$24.95 ISBN 9781927570821 There is a reason Reginald Wilfred Harrison earned the nickname “Crash.” He was in four bombers that crashed – first as co-pilot on a training mission; the last three as pilot. Amazingly, he survived all four. In Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death, Deana Driver tells the story of Harrison’s experiences as a Canadian bomber pilot during World War II. Or rather, she lets him tell his story in his own words. It’s like he’s sitting right there beside you, telling his tales. Harrison developed an interest in flying at an early age, watching Harvard training planes flying overhead at his family farm near Finnie, SK. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and said that one of his proudest moments was when his commanding officer pinned the Pilot Wings badge on him. On reaching England in 1944, Harrison trained on Wellington and Halifax bombers. Following that, he was posted to the Canadian 431 Iroquois Squadron, which was called the Jinx Squadron. It suffered the highest loss rate in all of Bomber Command. Harrison’s…

Who Gets In: An Immigration Storyby Norman RavvinPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Keith Foster$29.95 ISBN 9780889779228 In Who Gets In: An Immigration Story, Norman Ravvin traces the route of his grandfather, Yehuda Yoseph Eisenstein, from Poland, across Canada to Vancouver, then back across the Prairies to Dysart, then Hirsch, in southern Saskatchewan, in the early 1930s. Although Eisenstein was married in Poland, he entered Canada claiming to be single. This caused problems later when he wanted to bring his family to join him. Ravvin focuses his book on Eisenstein’s struggle to resolve this problem. Eisenstein faced culture shock as he left a home and family in Poland, travelled across the ocean and across the continent, to wind up in the desolate Prairies, in the middle of nowhere, a land where he didn’t know the customs and couldn’t speak the language. On top of this, he faced discrimination as a Jewish person. Destitution, or simply being out of work, could lead to an immigrant being deported. Although he was not a rabbi, Eisenstein’s training enabled him to perform the rituals and duties of one. This is how he made a living. Operating first in Dysart, then in Hirsch, he…

Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Vol. 3by Deana J. Driver and ContributorsPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Keith Foster$19.95 ISBN 978-1-927570-62-3 “Oops.” That’s not a word you want to hear when you’re flying. But that’s what one pilot uttered when he noticed things flying around the cockpit and realized he’d forgotten to secure them before taking off. This incident, and more, are covered in Deana Driver’s latest book, Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Vol. 3. The third volume in the series has thirty-three chapters or stories by fourteen authors. Among them are Saskatchewan aviation historian Will Chabun, internationally renowned storyteller Vincent Murphy-Dodds, and fighter pilot Frank Hanton. The authors know what they’re talking about. Dave McElroy, for instance, has logged in more than 4,000 hours in twenty-nine different aircraft in more than sixty countries, and former bush pilot Peter Enzlberger has logged in more than 50,000 hours in the cockpit. This volume, like the previous two, has its share of accidents and near misses. Pilot Dave McElroy was amazed to see a huge DC-6 four-engine airliner bearing down on the very runway he had just taken off from. As a passenger, Murphy-Dodds recalled being in a small plane while the pilot…

Gather: Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytellingby Richard Van CampPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Keith Foster$19.95 ISBN 9780889777002 In his latest book, Gather: Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytelling, Richard Van Camp offers sound advice on the fine art of storytelling. He shares his insights on how and where to best gather stories and shows how to tell those stories to best advantage. He also shares examples of fine storytelling from his own collection. Some of his advice is plain common sense, like showing respect for your listeners. After all, if there were no listeners, the speaker would have no reason to be there. Perhaps his most important tip is to listen to the storytellers – observe their mannerisms, how they raise or lower their voices, and especially when and where they pause. Although Gather is geared primarily to an Indigenous audience, Van Camp has ample ideas for anyone who aspires to become a storyteller. A prolific storyteller himself, he’s published twenty-five books in twenty-four years, with more on the way. He gathered many of his stories from Elders while driving a Handi-Bus in Fort Smith, NT. Van Camp claims the smartest thing he…

White Coal City: A Memoir of Place & Familyby Robert BoschmanPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Keith FosterPrice $21.95 ISBN 9780889777965 As Margaret Boschman stepped onto a busy Saskatoon street from in front of a parked car, an oncoming vehicle smashed into her, killing her instantly and hurling her shoe through the air. Six months pregnant, and dead at twenty-nine. A masterpiece of creative nonfiction, Robert Boschman’s White Coal City: A Memoir of Place & Family records the impact of this pivotal event of June 29, 1940. The narrative revolves around the ripple effects his Grandmother Margaret’s death had on the entire multi-generational family. Margaret’s death utterly destroyed her husband, John, who witnessed a travelling salesman from Toronto slam into his beloved wife. The salesman stopped, surmised that Margaret had merely been knocked unconscious, and drove off. A violent, short-tempered man who took his Mennonite religion to an extreme, John unleashed his anger on his three sons. He also scolded his young grandson Robert for crying when his candy floss stuck to his face. For most of his early days, Robert and his two younger siblings lived in the rear of Prince Albert’s King Koin Launderette, cleaning and maintaining…

If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewanby Crista Bradley, with artwork by Wendi NordellPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Keith Foster$19.95          ISBN 978-1-988783-59-8 You’re never too young, or too old, to learn and explore. Crista Bradley’s book, If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan, enables young readers and adults to do both. Although technically a children’s book geared for ages five to ten, If These Places Could Talk will definitely appeal to adults as well. It’s perhaps of even more interest to adults than to children. Creating a multi-generational book is no small feat. This book is ideal for grandparents to read to their young ones. It will not only delight children, but grandparents can take a trip down nostalgia lane, supplementing Bradley’s text with their own memories of growing up in Saskatchewan. The text, photos, and Wendi Nordell’s illustrations will undoubtedly trigger many memories. These forty-eight pages cover a lot of territory, depicting ninety-one places in Saskatchewan, and cover a variety of topics, from homes, offices, churches, schools, businesses, and recreation sites. A two-page map pinpoints where each site is located. Each photo or illustration is accompanied by a thumbnail text describing…

Horse Lake Chroniclesby Aldred NeufeldtPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Keith Foster$19.95 ISBN 978-1-988783-56-7 In his Horse Lake Chronicles, Aldred Neufeldt recalls growing up as a Mennonite youth in the 1940s on a farm in northern Saskatchewan. Located near Rosthern, the rural community was known as Horse Lake, even though, as Aldred explains, there was no lake by that name nearby. Horse Lake Chronicles provides a family history for Aldred’s descendants. For people too young to remember, it paints an accurate picture of what life was like in those early days; for those who lived through it, it’s a trip through nostalgia. With their farm surrounded by forest, Aldred’s parents, Henry and Agatha, built a log house. Following their Mennonite heritage, the family religiously observed Sunday as a day of rest and worship. One of the great sins they tried to avoid was pride. Aldred maintains that his family wasn’t poor; they just didn’t have any money. They made do with what they had. Being nimble with her foot-pedalled Singer sewing machine, Agatha made winter coats for Aldred and his younger brother Boyce. The boys looked dapper, and Agatha was pleased to display her handiwork. “Dad, for his part,…

A Radiant Life: The Honourable Sylvia Fedoruk, Scientist, Sports Icon, and Stateswomanby Merle MassiePublished University of Regina PressReview by Keith Foster$34.95 ISBN 978-0889777330 As twelve-year-old Sylvia Fedoruk watched their majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their 1939 cross-Canada tour, she thought this would be the closest she’d ever get to royalty. How mistaken she was. Nearly fifty years later she was sworn in as the Queen’s representative, becoming Saskatchewan’s first female lieutenant-governor. Merle Massie’s lively biography, A Radiant Life, offers an intimate look at the life and career of Sylvia Fedoruk. In her preface, Massie describes Sylvia as someone who “sang lustily, laughed uproariously and often, and believed that life was for living.” Instead of using her subject’s surname, Massie uses her first name throughout. Sylvia, after all, sounds much more personal. Right away, readers get to know her on a personal level and instantly feel closer to her. Sylvia attended one-room schools east of Yorkton, SK., where her father taught. To avoid being called “teacher’s pet,” Sylvia endeavoured not only to perform well, but to outperform. She did. She averaged at least two scholarships every year throughout high school and university. A sports enthusiast, Sylvia excelled at…

Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Volume 2by Deana J. Driver and ContributorsPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Keith Foster$19.95 ISBN 978-1-927570-50-0 When a Concorde carrying French President Francois Mitterrand landed in Regina for an official visit in June 1987, citizens turned out in droves. Not to see the French president, but to admire the Concorde. Such was the attraction of this supersonic jet, one of the most sophisticated airplanes in the world. The visit of the Concorde is only one of the thirty-seven chapters of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Volume 2. This sequel carries on from where Volume 1 left off, with more exciting stories and more thrilling exploits, written by Deana J. Driver and twelve contributors. Among the authors are Saskatchewan aviation historian Will Chabun, hot air balloonist Malcolm McLeod, and internationally acclaimed humorist and storyteller Vincent Murphy-Dodds. Driver played a triple role in bringing this anthology together. As publisher of DriverWorks Ink, she oversaw the production of Flight, edited the contributed stories, and wrote a good dozen of them herself. As in Volume 1, Volume 2 of Flight introduces readers to a variety of aircraft. Will Chabun describes the pros and cons of a number of them. The…

My Dearest Dido: The Holodomor Storyby Marion MutalaPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Keith Foster$19.99              ISBN 978-1-989078-20-4 Marion Mutala’s My Dearest Dido: The Holodomor Story is a passionate account of the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor. Based on actual events and documented eyewitness accounts, this story consists of correspondence between two fictional characters – Hanusia Hrabowa in Saskatoon and her grandfather, Dido Bohdan, in Hafford, SK, supplemented by Hanusia’s personal diary. As a class assignment to write about the Holodomor, Hanusia does her research using a primary source – her grandfather, or Dido, who survived the famine. Sixteen-year-old Hanusia starts writing to Dido, requesting his assistance, beginning each letter with “My Dearest Dido.”  Readers may find it odd that Hanusia chose to write letters when any sixteen-year-old would almost instinctively reach for her cell phone. But discussing such a sensitive subject over the phone would have been too difficult. Corresponding by letter would enable Dido to reread the contents, dwell upon Hanusia’s request, and gather his thoughts. Dido is reluctant at first – the memories are just too painful. As he starts to  open up, he becomes severely ill from…