ESSAY: Why I love Lucy Maud by Carol Volkart * When I first met Lucy Maud Montgomery in her journals a few months ago, she was a sparkling flirt of 14 tumbling off sleds in winter snowbanks, losing her hat and laughing, laughing, laughing. When I said goodbye to her recently, she was an anguished…
Read more 1183 Why I love Lucy Maud
Ormsby’s summer fundraiser by Richard Mackie * Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Readers of The Ormsby Review, On behalf of The Ormsby Literary Society, its Board of Directors, and our Advisory Board (listed below), we must appeal to our readership for financial assistance. We are most grateful to the 96 donors who contributed to our 2020…
Read more 1180 Ormsby’s summer fundraiser
Metamorphosis: Selected Children’s Literature by P.K. Page, edited by Margaret Steffler Erin, Ontario: Porcupine’s Quill, 2020 $22.95 / 9780889844322 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * To be clear: P.K. Page (1916-2010) did write a number of delightful books for children, but this volume is not one of them. Not that this book is not delightful; it is,…
Read more 1107 Page’s plays and fairy tales
Beep Beep Bubbie by Bonnie Sherr Klein (text) and Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2020 $19.95 / 9781926890234 Reviewed by Elizabeth Bassett Editor’s note: The West Coast Book Prize Society announced on April 8, 2021, that Beep Beep Bubbie by Bonnie Sherr Klein (text) and Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal (Tradewind Books) has been shortlisted for the Christie Harris…
Read more 1101 Through Vancouver by scooter
The Jigsaw Puzzle King Toronto: Dundurn, 2020 $12.95 / 9781459746060 by Gina McMurchy-Barber Reviewed by Valerie Green * The Jigsaw Puzzle King by Gina McMurchy-Barber is a beautiful little book with a compelling message of hope for young adult readers. Eleven year-old Warren thinks he has two major problems in his life. The first is…
Read more 1070 Standing up for Bennie
Deadman’s Castle by Iain Lawrence Toronto: Penguin Random House (Margaret Ferguson Books), 2021 $17.99 / 9780823446551 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * “My memories were like the tombstones in the cemetery, chipped and broken, so jumbled around that they didn’t make sense. Maybe I was trying to connect things that couldn’t be connected.” By the time…
Read more 1068 The hazards of home school
Saturday at the Garage by Nancy Hundal (text) and Angela Pan (illustrations) Vancouver: Midtown Press, 2020 $21.95 / 9781988242323 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * The Saturday morning sun rises to greet a father and daughter on the way to the garage. While there’s no school to attend, there are chores that must be done: floors…
Read more 1063 Garage magic and memory
Paul & Pierre: Dragon! by Caroline Adderson, with illustrations by Alice Carter Toronto: Owlkids Books, 2021 $18.95 / 9781771473286 * Pierre & Paul: Avalanche! by Caroline Adderson, illustrations by Alice Carter Toronto: Owlkids Books, 2020 $18.95 / 9781771473279 * It Happened on Sweet Street by Caroline Adderson, illustrations by Stéphane Jorisch Toronto: Penguin Random House…
Read more 1053 An Adderson quartet
Crocs in a Box: Three Little Books by Robert Heidbreder, illustrated by Rae Maté Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2020 $24.95 / 9781926890067 Consisting of Crocodiles Say (2006), Crocodiles Play (2008), and Crocs at Work (2015) Reviewed by Irene N. Watts * Well-loved books sometimes languish on the backlist, or go out of print. Happily Tradewind Books…
Read more 1050 Return of the crocodiles
Don’t Stand So Close to Me by Eric Walters Victoria: Orca Books, 2020 $10.95 / 9781459827875 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Eric Walters book Don’t Stand So Close to Me is very pertinent in today’s world and will help children better understand the new realty of a world-wide COVID-19 pandemic. The children in this story…
Read more 1048 Covid in the classroom
My Summer of Love and Misfortune by Lindsay Wong Toronto: Simon and Schuster, 2020 $17.99 / 9781534480704 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * My Summer of Love and Misfortune is an aptly titled comic YA novel with a propensity for food-centric similes, “super” as the omnipresent intensifier of choice, no shortage of hyphens, and featuring Iris…
Read more 1029 Redemption in Beijing
The Fifth Beethoven by Melanie Jackson Vancouver: Crwth Press, 2020 $10.95 / 9781989724057 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Scottish-born Vancouverite Melanie Jackson is a veteran writer of mysteries for young people, and it shows: she hits the right notes with this mystery for tweens and early teens. Not only does the mystery thread keep you…
Read more 1026 A bevy of Beethovens
The Ride Home by Gail Anderson-Dargatz Victoria: Orca Books, 2020 $9.95 / 9781459821422 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Editor’s note: The West Coast Book Prize Society announced on April 8, 2021, that The Ride Home, by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, has been shortlisted for the Sheila A. Egoff Prize in the 2021 BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Winners will…
Read more 1024 A city kid goes rural
Letters from the Pandemic 19: My Dearest Maddie by Cindy Li * My Dearest Maddie: When your dad and I learned that we were expecting you, I could not in my wildest dreams have guessed what kind of world you would be born into. On February 22, 2020, you were born at BC Women’s Hospital….
Read more 1016 Letters from the Pandemic 19: My Dearest Maddie
Teatime Around the World by Denyse Waissbluth, illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2020 $22.95 / 9781771646017 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * Teatime Around the World invites readers to afternoon tea with an English duchess, to drink green mint tea in Morocco, and buy masala chai from chai wallah vendors in India. Within the…
Read more 1011 No tea left unstirred