Kids’ Books

★ Buttercup’s Lovely Day

Buttercup is blissed out. On a beautiful summer day, the happy cow rhapsodizes about her delight in the rural world. She loves this day, the clouds, the fields, her tongue, the creek –and that’s just ... Read More »

May 12, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Picture Books

A Report on the Afterlife of Culture

By Stephen Henighan

Literary criticism in Canada suffers from a plague of timidity. There are many reasons for this, but one of the primary ones is the misguided notion that a vibrant literary culture depends on blind boosterism ... Read More »

April 7, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Criticism & Essays

★ Me Sexy: An Exploration of Native Sex and Sexuality

By Drew Hayden Taylor, ed.

If you’ve ever wondered about the relative abundance of pubic hair among women and men of the First Nations, you don’t have to feel alone anymore. Me Sexy, an anthology of 13 essays on the ... Read More »

March 31, 2008 | Filed under: Anthologies, Children and YA Non-fiction

Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta Is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (and Doesn’t Seem to Care)

By William Marsden

Books about ecological catastrophe can be real downers, but a sense of humour and lively writing make William Marsden’s entry into the suddenly popular category of inconvenient truths well worth a look. A journalist with ... Read More »

March 28, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Politics & Current Affairs

Empty Casing: A Soldier’s Memoir of Sarajevo Under Siege

By Fred Doucette

Literature investigating the experience of soldiers in war zones is a well-explored genre. Whether it be the First or Second World War, Korea, or Vietnam, readers have been fully exposed to the effect this kind ... Read More »

March 28, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Memoir & Biography

★ Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign, September 13 – November 6, 1944

By Mark Zuehlke

Best known for his meticulously detailed accounts of Canadian Second World War battles in Normandy and Italy, historian Mark Zuehlke has brought to life a woefully under-recorded chapter in Canadian history in the excellent Terrible ... Read More »

March 28, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, History

Toronto: A City Becoming

By David Macfarlane, ed.

After barely surviving a forced amalgamation, a mayor notorious for bone-headed remarks, and the SARS outbreak, Toronto is having a renaissance of sorts. For the last few years, the civic discourse in Toronto has veered ... Read More »

March 28, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Politics & Current Affairs

The Donut: A Canadian History

By Steve Penfold

The strange thing about University of Toronto historian Steve Penfold’s new book, The Donut: A Canadian History, is that you can get through its 200-odd pages without ever experiencing a craving for a donut. Not ... Read More »

March 28, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Food & Drink

The Sun Climbs Slow: Justice in the Age of Imperial America

By Erna Paris

Adding to the bumper crop of books documenting recent American misdeeds are two new titles that examine the effects of Bush’s policies. For Erna Paris, The Sun Climbs Slow marks a natural progression from her ... Read More »

March 28, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Politics & Current Affairs