Freewalker

My first impression of Vancouver playwright Dennis Foon’s Freewalker, a sequel to The Dirt Eaters, was that it’s derivative of Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series. Foon’s mystical “dirt” recalls Pullman’s “dust.” The animal forms that ... Read More »

December 13, 2004 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Francesca and the Magic Bike

By Cynthia Nugent

"Hippogriff, don’t fail me now!” is the plea that 10-year-old Francesca (Frankie), on a quest to recover a special ring, makes to her awesome bike. Frankie begins her adventure with frissons of doubt about whether ... Read More »

December 13, 2004 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

★ The Pepins and Their Problems

By Polly Horvath, Marylin Hafner, illus.

Polly Horvath has written a delicious and head-spinning turn on the problem novel. “There are always problems in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Pepin; their children, Petunia and Irving; their dog, Roy; their cat, ... Read More »

December 13, 2004

Great Canadian Speeches

By Dennis Gruending, ed.

Some speeches are great in their own right. Some are made great by circumstances. Both types are well represented in journalist and former member of Parliament Dennis Gruending’s new book. Gruending has collected and edited ... Read More »

December 6, 2004 | Filed under: History

★ Canada’s House: Rideau Hall and the Invention of a Canadian Home

By Margaret MacMillan, Marjorie Harris, and Anne L. Desjardins

Now we’re looking good. A couple of years ago, a page turned in Canadian popular history. In retrospect, we can see that CBC Television’s Canada: A People’s History and Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir Of Canada books ... Read More »

November 29, 2004 | Filed under: Art, Music & Pop Culture

★ Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice

By Roy Miki

Poet, teacher, and social critic Roy Miki has done Canadian history a remarkable service with his poignant, insightful, and brutally honest recounting of the century-long struggle for Japanese-Canadian citizenship rights. Miki approaches the story of ... Read More »

November 22, 2004 | Filed under: History

The Fire Demons

By J. Fitzgerald McCurdy

Can 11-year-old Steele Miller save the world by accessing his ancient alien powers? That’s the question posed by The Fire Demons, the first in the new Mole Wars series from Ottawa author J. Fitzgerald McCurdy. ... Read More »

November 22, 2004 | Filed under: Book news

All Times Have Been Modern

By Elisabeth Harvor

Elisabeth Harvor’s second novel opens with protagonist Kay Oleski on the verge of realizing her first adolescent sexual experience when the moment is ruined by the unexpected return home of her mother. In the next ... Read More »

November 22, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Ellen Fremedon

By Joan Givner

Practically everyone in her hometown has asked 11-year-old Ellen Fremedon how she’s spending her summer vacation. Tired of answering “nothing,” she blurts out that she’s writing a book. That comic catalyst sets Vancouver Island author ... Read More »

November 22, 2004

Eleanor Rigby

By Douglas Coupland

There’s a brief moment in Douglas Coupland’s latest novel when he draws the reader’s attention to some peonies, cool and white and beautiful, placed in a room. They’re a fitting flower for a Coupland novel; ... Read More »

November 22, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

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