BOOK REVIEWS

Little Cloud: The Science of a Hurricane

By Johanna Wagstaffe and Julie McLaughlin (ill.)

Two non-fiction picture books offer crash courses in biology and meteorology by way of unconventional instructors. Ellie, a skin cell living on the bum of a Boston terrier, delivers an exuberant ... Read More »

January 13, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books, Picture Books

Africville

By Jeffrey Colvin

New York City writer Jeffrey Colvin’s debut novel is a multi-generational tale based on the eponymous Black community north of Halifax, which was settled by Jamaican prisoners the British expelled in 1788. These exiles were ... Read More »

January 13, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Given

By Nandi Taylor

Nandi Taylor’s Given garnered over a million reads on Wattpad before becoming one of the site’s first hard-copy releases. The novel bodes well for Wattpad’s expansion to traditional publishing: it’s fast-paced, nuanced, and presents a ... Read More »

January 9, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

★ Rebent Sinner

By Ivan Coyote

Ivan Coyote’s 12th book is a memoir in vignettes capturing the author’s recent experiences on the road. The work is a charming and nuanced contribution to the genre; the writing has a springy, playful quality ... Read More »

January 9, 2020 | Filed under: Reviews

Falling for Myself

By Dorothy Ellen Palmer

Dorothy Ellen palmer entered this world with the deck seemingly stacked against her. Born with congenital abnormalities in both feet to a young single woman unprepared for motherhood, Palmer was eventually adopted by a family ... Read More »

January 9, 2020 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Reviews

Symphony No. 3

By Chris Eaton

The latest from New Brunswick novelist and musician Chris Eaton is a mythopoeic biography of Camille Saint-Saëns as relayed by the Romantic composer’s fictional twin, a figure we quickly come to regard not as a ... Read More »

January 6, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ Me and Banksy

By Tanya Lloyd Kyi

In Tanya Lloyd Kyi’s latest middle-grade novel Me and Banksy, a small group of eighth-graders tackle school security and privacy violations. Aspiring artist Dominica “Dom” Rivers and her best friends – former child star Holden ... Read More »

January 2, 2020 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

The Eater of Dreams

By Kat Cameron

The closing entry in Halifax writer Ryan Turner’s sophomore collection of short fiction is called “Moving.” It’s appropriate, given that the story literally begins in motion, with an opening sentence that reads, “As the train ... Read More »

January 2, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Short, Reviews