Quill and Quire

BOOK REVIEWS

Haunted

By Barbara Haworth-Attard

Dee Vale is a typical country girl in post-First World War Ontario, save for one defining feature: like her grandmother, she was born with what generations of superstitious villagers and farmers have referred to as ... Read More »

October 20, 2009

The Contest

By Caroline Stellings

In Caroline Stellings’ The Contest, the latest instalment in Second Story Press’s Gutsy Girl series, 11-year-old Rosy Taylor is desperate to win the local Anne of Green Gables look-alike contest. The problem? Rosy is poor, ... Read More »

October 20, 2009

STAR Academy

By Edward Kay

What is it about children’s fantasy lit that attracted two of Canada’s comedy writers and performers? A cynic would say it’s the urge to cash in on the success of J.K. Rowling et al. But ... Read More »

October 16, 2009

Death on the River

By John Wilson

Two new books from historical novelist John Wilson take young readers behind the scenes of two very different wars. Death on the River, set at the end of the American Civil War, follows the exploits ... Read More »

October 16, 2009

Medina Hill

By Trilby Kent

Despite her curiously old-fashioned name, Toronto-born, U.K.-based author Trilby Kent is actually quite young. What’s more, although you would never know it from the writing, Medina Hill is her first novel. It’s a good beginning, ... Read More »

October 16, 2009

The Winter Drey

By Sean Dixon

Around the turn of the previous century, a young C.S. Lewis encountered Longfellow’s ballad about the death of the Norse god Balder, and his life was changed. Many years later, in his autobiography, Lewis wrote, ... Read More »

October 16, 2009