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July 13, 2023Jean Rae Baxter on Bringing Canadian History to Life in a Captivating Coming of Age Tale
It's hard to imagine anyone asking a 14 year old to strike out on their own now, but in 1837, when Dory Dickson leaves his Niagara home, he's asked to shoulder all of his family's most desperate hopes. ...
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March 03, 2022Jen Lynn Bailey's New Picture Book Celebrates Both Northern Nature & The Cumulative Story Form
A cumulative tale is a story, song, or folktale that uses repetition, rhythm, and often humour to build to a story's conclusion. You may not have heard the term, but you know the form–think "There Was ...
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August 21, 2024Jennifer Maruno and Vivian Rosas Illustrate the Power of Peaceful Action in Momma's Going to March
Peaceful activism has long been a tool for meaningful change, and many young people are now seeing these actions with great frequency, especially as they grow up in a world where social media carries ...
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August 31, 2024Jennifer Maruno Sends a Young Witch and Her Rodent Sidekick on an Adventure in Broom for Two
Prolific children's author Jennifer Maruno may be familiar to readers of Open Book. In fact, as recently as last week, another title written by Maruno was featured on the site.This time we're sharing ...
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May 09, 2024Jess Taylor Confronts and Then Says Goodbye to the Past in her Compelling Debut Novel
Memories of childhood, and the realities of what remains in the here and now, are twin prospects that everyone must face and contend with in their lives. Flights of imagination and acts of play often ...
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September 18, 2023Jessica Westhead on Balancing Absurdity, Sensitivity, & Insight in Her Exploration of White Privilege
Just last week saw the launch of Avalanche (Invisible Publishing), a new story collection from Jessica Westhead. One of Canada's most innovative short fiction writers, Westhead has long crafted memorable ...
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February 29, 2016Job Shadowing: Writer, Editor, and Artist Malcolm Sutton in Conversation About His Novel and Many Types of Work
I first met Malcolm Sutton as the fiction editor at BookThug. We worked closely on my book of short stories, and I admired how much Malcolm strove to understand my worldview and the thinking that went ...
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August 09, 2022Jodi Carmichael on Crafting Lou, a Girl with ADHD & Dyslexia Who is the Irresistible Hero of a New Middle Grade Novel
The irresistible protagonist of Jodi Carmichael's The U-nique Lou Fox (Pajama Press), Louisa Elizabeth Fitzhenry-O’Shaughnessy, is going to be a playwright, and nothing can stop her. Not her overlong ...
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April 01, 2024Jody Chan's New Poetry Collection Challenges Systemic Failings in Community Care
Writer and therapist Jody Chan has had plenty of experience with systems of mental health treatment in Canada, and the ongoing shortcomings in care for citizens who are ill and look to these entities ...
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March 19, 2019Joel Adam Struthers' Memoir Offers a Fascinating, Myth-Busting Account of the French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion, a branch of the French army, is one of the most famous military organizations in the world. Joel Adam Struthers tells his story of six years as a legionnaire (and more specifically ...
