FIND OUT WHAT SOME MANITOBA PERSONALITIES ARE SAYING ABOUT LOCAL BOOKS!
We’re back with more extended I Love To Read Month goodness! Today we have author Lara Rae discussing two titles: Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures by Mark Crawford (J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing) and The Gift Is in the Making: Anishinaabeg Stories by Leanne Simpson (HighWater Press)!
Mark Crawford’s Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures makes a serious business of play as a useful and safe avenue into gender comfortability. Kids will relate to the simple message of exploration while parents will be pleased at the non-judgmental and grounded approach to our new gender fluid reality. Published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing, for ages 9 to 12.
For more info, or to purchase a copy:
https://www.jgshillingford.com/…/boys-girls-and-other-myth…/
For those of us reared on Aesop and Grimm, The Gift Is in the Making: Anishinaabeg Stories by Leanne Simpson and illustrated by Amanda Strong is a literary present. As well as immersing the reader in indigenous myths and cosmology this slim and entertaining volume is a mini primer in Anishinaabeg terminology. So, hop in your jiimaanan (canoe) and paddle through this sea of sweet, sad and strong stories. HighWater Press, for grades 5–9.
For more info, or to purchase a copy:
https://highwaterpress.com/produ…/the-gift-is-in-the-making/
Who says you have to contain your love of reading to one month?! We’re going to keep going!
Today we have McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Events Coordinator John Toews discussing ARP Books title Small Predators by Jennifer Ilse Black!
“Have you ever found that when panic is an avalanche in your chest – blood pounding reckless through your veins, faster than the river rips up the bank, faster than the prairie wind – you glance down at your watch to ground you? Do you find, in these moments, that your watch appears to be a broken compass, spinning in your stillness? Do you lose your footing and find yourself spinning? I’m spinning.”
A collective must reckon with its sudden immersion in violence when a member carries out an explosive act against an educational institution. Small Predators is a stark, propulsive, and unsparing portrait of a human in crisis steeped in the uncertainty of our political times. Told in a variety of forms – from lists to poetry to prose that turns from spare to heated in a heartbeat – Jennifer Ilse Black’s much fêted debut presents an exciting new voice that wrestles with what it means to engage politically, both in person and via literature, in the 21st century. “It starts with instability” and ends there as well, but the time spent careening around the fevered headspace of these striving revolutionaries is rewarding and invigorating. I’m enormously excited to see what Black does next.
A book to read first in a frenzy and then once again to savour slowly.
To purchase a copy of Small Predators, click here.
We’re kicking off the long weekend with Winnipeg radio personality Chrissy Troy discussing Turnstone Press title Don’t Try This At Home by Daria Salamon & Rob Krause! Enjoy!
I have long been a fan of Daria Salamon, and her first book The Prairie Bridesmaid. Because Winnipeg is such a close knit community, I had heard rumblings that Daria and her husband Rob were planning on packing up their lives, and children to head out on a year-long adventure. I was immediately envious of their bravery in leaving everything and everyone behind to face the unknown. What did they do with their home? How much would such an undertaking cost? Did they have someone to help them plan the trip? I desperately wanted answers, so when Daria AND Rob’s book, “Don’t Try This At Home” finally came out, I was in!
I love the fact that we get both Daria and Rob’s perspectives on this year long trip; the book is split right down the middle. They share the storytelling just as they shared the experience. They each bring a unique voice to the table. It makes you feel as if you’re a close friend at their welcome home dinner party and they’re excitedly jumping in to tell you about their adventure.
The book serves as a how-to and a how not to. Questions I had, because of course I was curious as to whether I could pull off such a feat, were answered in a very honest way. I felt I got a sense of who Daria and Rob were as individuals, as well as the formidable couple who dealt with the stress of being stranded, temporarily losing their daughter, and having to hit pause on the chaos because of a death in the family.
Through every bit of the retelling of Daria and Rob’s journey, they find humour and perspective. It made me consider what I take for granted in my very comfortable life, and because of their family and the story they shared, I learned of some amazing ways to support people and organizations around the world.
For more info or to purchase a copy: Don’t Try This At Home
Check out Paige from Valencia Boutique discussing Great Plains Publications title Widows of Hamilton House by Christina Penner!
For more info, or to purchase a copy: Widows of Hamilton House
Today we have Natalie Bell from PegCityLovely!
Solving Poverty by Jim Silver, published by Fernwood Publishing
“This is one of those books where you want to read it to see if things in Winnipeg are really ‘that bad.'” Well, they are. There are some very sobering statistics in this book. I really connected with the community involvement style of how the research was conducted. Ultimately, at the root of it all, poverty in Winnipeg is so much more than a shortage of income. It was eye-opening, and the stories were raw. This is a book that should be read by all, to really understand how poverty is affecting us in the ‘Peg. We need to know how we can collectively end poverty and make positive change in our city.”
For more info, or to purchase a copy: Solving Poverty
To kick us off, we have Lindsay Somers of Lifestyle Health!
A Daytripper’s Guide to Manitoba: Exploring Canada’s Undiscovered Province by Bartley Kives (Great Plains Publications)
This is THE Manitoba guide book for anyone looking to explore Canada’s most undiscovered and honestly, underrated province. No matter your travel style, this book inspires you to venture out on your own terms. Whether it’s through your taste buds with a perogy tour through Ukrainian small town Manitoba, or finding your next challenging hike (we really DO have hills!), to discovering what a fjallkona is while eating a vinarterta at the Icelandic Festival in Gimli—this book inspires adventures big or small.
More than just a ‘to do’ list, it digs deeper with playful and relatable language giving context the endless opportunities to explore and experience the Manitoba landscape, meet new people and learn about it’s history.
This is a book to be dog eared for all your Manitoba adventures for years to come.
For more info, or to purchase a copy: A Daytripper’s Guide to Manitoba: Exploring Canada’s Undiscovered Province by Bartley Kives
