BOOK REVIEWS

Secret Lives of Mothers and Daughters

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

Good Citizens Need Not Fear

By Maria Reva

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

★ Story Boat

By Kyo Maclear and Rashin Kheiriyeh (ill.)

What if one were to imagine the refugee experience from the eyes of a couple of imaginative, ever-positive, Zen-like kids? Sounds improbable, but the picture book Story Boat pulls it off with aplomb. Written by ... Read More »

January 30, 2020 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books

Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada

By Rodney Diverlus; Sandy Hudson; and Syrus Marcus Ware (eds.)

The anthology Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada is a comprehensive compendium focusing on the most urgent issues facing Canada’s Black community today. Edited by core and founding members of ... Read More »

January 30, 2020 | Filed under: Anthologies, Reviews

★ Salma the Syrian Chef

By Danny Ramadan and Anna Bron (ill.)

The kitchen can be one of the first places where kids experience a real sense of accomplishment and belonging. A trio of new picture books, featuring food from around the world, shows how cooking helps ... Read More »

January 27, 2020 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books