★ Thou Shalt Do No Murder: Inuit, Injustice, and the Canadian Arctic

On March 15, 1920, Robert Janes was shot and killed on Baffin Island. The man who killed him was Nuqallaq, an Inuk. Neither Nuqallaq nor the witnesses to the killing ever denied these basic facts. ... Read More »

November 15, 2017 | Filed under: History, Native Peoples

Has the World Ended Yet?

By Peter Darbyshire

The short stories that comprise Peter Darbyshire’s seventh book – the fourth under his own name – are obsessed with ghosts and angels, superheroes and gods. They appear as manifestations of discarded, mythological histories that ... Read More »

November 15, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

Kat and Meg Conquer the World

By Anna Priemaza

Anna Priemaza makes her YA debut with a thoroughly readable story involving mental illness that’s neither preachy nor despairing. Kat’s anxiety makes it painfully difficult to connect with new people, while Meg’s ADHD has alienated ... Read More »

November 15, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Waltz of the Snowflakes

By Elly MacKay

Visual storytelling takes centre stage in Waltz of the Snowflakes, a wordless picture book about what it’s like to see the Nutcracker ballet for the first time. The story begins with gloomy shades of grey ... Read More »

November 15, 2017 | Filed under: Picture Books

★ I Don’t Want to Know Anyone Too Well: Collected Stories

By Norman Levine

Norman Levine (1923–2005) was raised by Orthodox Jews in Ottawa and received his education in Montreal. But he was born in Poland and spent much of his life in England, where he married, started a ... Read More »

November 14, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

Shelter

By Céline Claire; Qin Leng (ill.)

Researchers at the University of Toronto recently reported that children’s books with human characters have a greater moral impact on young people than books with anthropomorphic protagonists. The subjects of the study were read stories ... Read More »

November 7, 2017 | Filed under: Picture Books

The Things Owen Wrote

By Jessica Scott Kerrin

Two new middle-grade novels cover a lot of ground, both literally and figuratively. Neil, the 13-year-old protagonist of The Disappearing Boy, moves from Vancouver to Ottawa, then runs away to Saint John, New Brunswick. Meanwhile, ... Read More »

November 6, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

The Disappearing Boy

By Sonia Tilson

November 6, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

★ Curry: Eating, Reading, and Race

By Naben Ruthnum

In her newest book, St. Thomas University journalism professor and former Globe and Mail columnist Jan Wong attempts to recreate the success of travelogue memoirs like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love – taking herself, along ... Read More »

November 6, 2017 | Filed under: Food & Drink