BOOK REVIEWS

The Secret of the Jade Bangle

By Linda Trinh and Clayton Nguyen (ill.)

“I don’t know who I am,” Anne Nguyen tells her Grandma Nội’s ghost as she struggles to make perfect chả giò (spring rolls). “How can I be the future?” For the nine-year-old Vietnamese-Canadian protagonist of ... Read More »

December 21, 2022 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

Phoenix Gets Greater

By Marty Wilson-Trudeau and Phoenix Wilson; Megan Kyak-Monteith (ill.)

Phoenix finds himself the target of bullies because he prefers dolls and dancing to trucks and hockey. Although he is afraid, Phoenix is tired of hiding his true self and tells his mother and brother ... Read More »

December 19, 2022 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books

A Friend Sails in on a Poem: Essays on Friendship, Freedom and Poetic Form

By Molly Peacock

Friendship, for poets, has long been grist for the mill. Anyone studying poetry is likely to stumble upon literary friendships – William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge come instantly to mind, but also Charlotte Bronte ... Read More »

December 14, 2022 | Filed under: Criticism & Essays, Memoir & Biography, Poetry

★ Heartbreak Homes

By Jo Treggiari

Heartbreak Homes, the stunning new YA mystery novel by Lunenberg, N.S., writer and bookseller Jo Treggiari, begins with a house party. It’s a scene that will be familiar to most readers – there’s a lot ... Read More »

December 14, 2022 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

★ The Line in the Sand

By Thao Lam

The Line in the Sand by Toronto author-illustrator Thao Lam is a wordless picture book that speaks volumes about how conflict can arise from misconstrued communication and mistaken perspectives. A seven-eyed, squid-like being blithely wanders ... Read More »

December 12, 2022 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

By Zoulfa Katouh

Zoulfa Katouh’s As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow begins in a supermarket in the Syrian city of Homs. Salama Kassab, the protagonist, buys everything the supermarket has to offer – three shrivelled lemons and ... Read More »

December 7, 2022 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

Welcome, Dark

By Charis St. Pierre and Rachel Wada (ill.)

Calling to mind the quiet, restrained loveliness of picture books such as The Night Is Deep and Wide and Before Morning, Charis St. Pierre and Rachel Wada bring readers Welcome, Dark. In the genre of ... Read More »

December 5, 2022 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books

The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era

By Harold R. Johnson

“Come sit by the fire” has long been an invitation to hear a story, to gather as a community as the light dims to listen and learn together. Two of our master storytellers, Harold R. ... Read More »

November 30, 2022 | Filed under: Criticism & Essays, Native Peoples, Reference