★ My Long List of Impossible Things

Vladimir Nabokov advised fiction writers to put their characters up a tree and then throw rocks at them. In the edgy and suspenseful My Long List of Impossible Things, novelist Michelle Barker’s tree is tall ... Read More »

February 13, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

★ Not One of These Poems Is About You

By Teva Harrison

We all know we are going to die, but most of us don’t know when. After being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 37, Teva Harrison knew the end was coming much ... Read More »

February 13, 2020 | Filed under: Poetry, Reviews

Tickled Pink: How Friendship Washes the World with Color

By Andrée Poulin and Lucile Danis Drouot (ill.)

Filippo the flamingo just wants to play. But every time he asks Zac the zebra and Poncho the panda if he can join them, they come up with a new excuse. “You’re too pink,” says ... Read More »

February 10, 2020 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books

★ Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

By Amanda Leduc

What do fairy tales tell us about who we think is less than whole? What do happy endings tell us about who we believe really has worth? And what would these narratives look like if ... Read More »

February 10, 2020 | Filed under: Art, Music & Pop Culture, Reviews

Evie of the Deepthorn

By André Babyn

The question at the heart of Toronto writer André Babyn’s debut novel seems fairly straightforward: just what is Evie of the Deepthorn? The answer, however, is not as simple as it might appear. The novel’s ... Read More »

February 7, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Secret Lives of Mothers and Daughters

By Anita Kushwaha

Ottawa-based author Anita Kushwaha’s second novel can’t help but be compared to Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s Secret Daughter, another story about the relationship between a mother and her adopted Indian daughter and the fears and hopes ... Read More »

February 6, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ Wildfire

By Carrie Mac

This powerful new novel by Vancouver writer Carrie Mac begins in media res, deep in a Pacific Northwest forest. Two teenagers, Annie and Pete, are in a tent with a forest fire approaching. Annie is ... Read More »

February 6, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

Until Niagara Falls

By Jennifer Maruno

In two very different but affecting middle-grade novels, we learn about the complicated inner lives of girls as they confront their fears, bullies, and the uncertainties of growing up. Author and educator Jennifer Maruno (When ... Read More »

February 3, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

My Best Friend and Other Illusions

By Suri Rosen

February 3, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

Pallbearing

By Michael Melgaard

Michael Melgaard’s debut collection of short fiction, Pallbearing, begins with a story of the same name. Jonathan is a pallbearer for his friend Alana, a young woman who was terminally ill for long enough to ... Read More »

February 3, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Short, Reviews

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