The Great Paper CaperBy Oliver Jeffers Trees, branches and sticks are mysteriously disappearing. The forest animals are confused and at first, accuse each other. An investigation is launched. The animals follow the paper trail to a house in the woods where, to their dismay, they discover Bear and his wood chipper. What is going on […]
by Steve Olson I was just a baby when Mount St. Helens blew up. I remember my parents telling me about the ash fall, but I always wondered how that could be: the mountain is 500 km away. After reading Eruption: the Untold Story of Mount St. Helens by Steve Olson, now I get it. […]
by Ali SmithAli Smith’s How to Be Both is not an easy read, but it is a clever and engaging one. Split into two separate sections, one set in the Renaissance and one set in the modern era, the stream-of-consciousness style of writing can make it a challenge to grasp the two separate stories and […]
Secret Daughter Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda interweaves the stories of Kavita and Somer, two mothers connected by one daughter. When Somer, in America, realizes she cannot have a child of her own, she and her husband, Krishnan, decide to adopt. Kavita, having already lost one daughter in a country that favours boys, decides […]
Horten’s Miraculous MechanismsBy Lissa Evans Stuart Horten is very short for his age – his name, S.Horten or shorten, is rather unfortunate. When his family moves to another town at the beginning of the summer, Stuart is bored, has no friends, and is tormented by the triplets that live next door: April, May and June. […]
by Joshua Ferris Healthy teeth are much more important to one’s overall constitution than I ever gave them credit for. It all ties in, as I learned from reading Joshua Ferris’ To Rise Again at a Decent Hour- not a dentistry textbook but an offbeat novel about a dentist who becomes the victim of an […]
Indian HorseBy Richard Wagamese Lately I have been fascinated by Canadian First Nations writers, and the writing of Richard Wagamese shimmers. Indian Horse is the story of Saul Indian Horse, an Ojibway from northern Ontario. His life is marred by the horrors of the residential schools, which systematically separated children from families and tore the […]
The City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau At age 12, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are finishing school and ready to begin working. In the City of Ember, everybody works and contributes to the efficient running of the city. But city progress is faltering. Ember is a city of darkness. Its citizens rely completely on […]
City of the Lostby Kelley Armstrong Murders, cannibals, and the gorgeous Canadian wilderness, Kelley Armstrong really knows the way to my heart. I always get a little giddy when Armstrong releases a new book because I know that more often than not, I would like if not love whatever she writes. I really liked City of the […]
The WitchesBy Roald DahlI must warn you that this one really scared me as a child. Even though I was scared I would ask my Mom to read it to me again and again. This classic Roald Dahl adventure follows a young boy and his grandmother as they hatch a plot to rid the world […]