“A Rescue in the Rockies”
by Rita Feutl
Published by Coteau Books
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$12.95
ISBN 9-781550-509489
I'm both surprised and saddened that
until reading A Rescue in the Rockies,
I was unfamiliar with Edmonton writer Rita Feutl's titles for children and
young adults. Surprised, because this is a writer at the top of her game, and
saddened, because had I known how good she is, I would've been recommending her
books long before now.
Her latest book - a fast-paced Banff-set
novel which sees its 14-year-old heroine through several historical time travel
adventures with Stoney Nakoda characters (and detainees in a WW2 internment
camp ) - was gripping, credible, well-researched, political (espousing Canadian
First Nations' history and human trafficking in Europe), and fun, and that's just the plot - the writing
itself was topnotch.
Feutl uses a familiar situation to get
the ball rolling: the protagonist, Janey, is forced to be somewhere she doesn't
want to be (though as places go, The Banff Springs Hotel's not too shabby) with
people she'd rather not be with: her grandma; grandma's boyfriend, who's been hired
by the hotel to play Santa; and the boyfriend's 16-year-old Austrian grandson, Max,
who just happens to have "the bluest eyes". It's almost Christmas,
and the author presents wintery Banff well, with "the smell of exhaust
from the tour buses idling in the cold, the flurry of tourists taking
selfies". Janey wants to be with her parents, but they're in Cambodia
("Mum" works for an international aid organization), and we learn
that Max would love nothing more than to be with his father, wherever he may
be.
I applaud Feutl's ability to seamlessly
impart, in a page two paragraph, that Janey's experienced earlier time travels
(Rescue at Fort Edmonton is the
prequel to this book), and also how easily she "transports" Janey -
and Max - between present and past. Their galloping adventures are made
realistic by Feutl's attention to language and cultural sensitivity. When Janey
meets Mary (a Stoney Nakoda girl) in the past, Mary tells her that "Wasiju" is what the Nakoda call
white men - it means "takers of the fat". Mary explains: "When
we hunt and kill an animal, we use all of it. But your people take only the fat
and the meat. The rest is left behind." Without giving too much away,
Janey's warning to the Nakoda about residential schools is significant, and
it's nothing short of brilliant how Feutl ties all the subplots together in a
powerful conclusion.
Yes, there's a strong anti-racism
element here. Even Granny, who was "born in northern Alberta," is on
board: "I think [racism's] all about fear, kiddo."
Serious topics aside, this is 100% a
book that young readers will love because Janey is relatable, ie: she's
squeamish about Granny's love life: "This wasn't a single-car
fender-bender kind of accident, Janey thought. This was one of those huge,
10-car pileups with sirens wailing and lights flashing. She forced herself to
look away …".
Simultaneously knowledgeable, brave,
self-deprecating, and generous, Janey's an ideal heroine, and I wish her many
more "Rescues" to come.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL
BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
“Murder at the St. Alice”
by Becky Sitra
Published by Coteau Books
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$14.95
ISBN 9-781550-509625
Do you know a teen who would enjoy
British Columbia-based historical fiction and
a mystery in the same book? Then the novel Murder
at the St. Alice by prolific YA writer Becky Citra is worth a look. BC's
Citra has written more than twenty books, including her well-received The Griffin of Darkwood, and a time
travel series. In her latest novel she takes readers back to 1908, where
"almost sixteen"-year-old Charlotte O'Dell has just been hired as a
dining room waitress at the swank St. Alice Hotel, "a jewel in the
wilderness, nestled on the shores of beautiful Harrison Lake".
Charlotte's home is in Victoria, where
she lives with Great Aunt Ginny, who's taught the girl about medicinal plants
and inspired Charlotte's desire to one day become a pharmacist. First, however,
Charlotte must earn money for school, and this brings her under the scrutiny of
Mrs. Bannerman, St. Alice's stern housekeeper. Mrs. Bannerman informs Charlotte
that "The annex behind the hotel, where the young men live, is strictly
out of bounds," and "there is to be no fraternizing with the
guests". (One can guess where this
is going!)
When I'm wearing my editorial hat, I
frequently encourage writers to add more physical details to their manuscripts,
as even the description of one's clothing can reveal hints about his or her
character. Sitra imparts much re: Mrs. Bannerman with a few select words:
"She wore a black dress, closed tightly at the neck with a cameo."
As with many mysteries, the first
several chapters introduce us to numerous colourful characters. There's
Charlotte's fellow waitress and new friend, Lizzie, with whom she shares a
room; Mop, who assists the gardener and aspires to one day be Head Gardener at
Butchart Gardens; Abigail, a trouser-wearing English suffragette and
card-carrying member of "The Women's Freedom League;" and kind Mr.
Doyle, who harbours secrets and invites Charlotte to play chess with him.
The books unfolds in numerous short
chapters, which may be more inviting for young readers than lengthy sections of
text. The writing about the staff's waitressing duties and the patrons'
specific demands contains an air of realism. The first thing a patron
(91-year-old Mr. Paisley, who lives at the hotel) utters to inexperienced
Charlotte is: "Where have you been all my life, gorgeous?"
The hotel sits beside a hot sulphur
spring - a "Sure Cure" for a variety of maladies, from Syphilis to
ladies' complexion issues - and the Bath House, where "Guests in white
bathrobes strolled past [Charlotte] in the sunshine," is minded by an
Ethiopian. We read that Charlotte "had already been to the Bath House a
few times and had gotten used to his black skin". (Issues of racism and
women's rights are both addressed in this intriguing story.)
Readers familiar with Victoria will
recognize landmarks including Beacon Hill Park; the Empress Hotel; and Fan Tan
Alley, in Chinatown, where the air "[smells] of cooking meat, burning joss
sticks and wet bamboo".
And last but not least? There's a
murder.
__________
“A Walk in Wascana!”
Written by Stephanie Vance, Ilustrated
by Wendi Nordell
Published by Your Nickel’s Worth
Publishing
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$14.95
ISBN 978-1-988783-40-6
Saskatchewan resident Stephanie Vance
clearly loves Regina, the city she grew up in, as she's made it the subject of
her first book. A Walk In Wascana is
an homage to Saskatchewan's capital and specifically picturesque Wascana Park,
with its natural beauty; various winged and four-legged creatures; and also
diverse manmade features, including fountains, a boathouse, and the Kwakiutl
Nation Totem Pole (a gift, she explains, that is from British Columbia). Vance
has teamed with Alberta artist Wendi Nordell to create a delightful softcover
homage to the park. The rhyming text and bold, full-colour illustrations on
each page are exactly what young ears and eyes enjoy at "storytime,"
though the book could also be a pleasant memento for anyone who has lived in or
visited Regina.
The story sees a young blond boy
exploring the expansive park. A playful bunny seemingly beckons the child to
follow it through the paths and "grand green trees." Readers will
recognize the variety of birds and waterfowl on the lake, including sparrows,
pelicans and mallards, and adults can make a game of having children point out
all the Saskatchewan images, ie: the provincial flag flying above the
Saskatchewan Legislative Building, and the Western red lily - Saskatchewan's
provincial flower.
There are also references to one of the
provinces greatest features: it's "living skies," and the artist is
to be commended for her depictions of clouds that billow above the backdrop of
mixed trees. A partial map of Wascana Centre is included, as is a note on how
Regina, "once prime bison-hunting territory for Indigenous peoples,"
got its Cree name, oskana kâ-asastêki,
or, as its more commonly known, Pile
O'Bones.
What interests me most about this story
is how it demonstrates that just walking in nature-without any other humans-can
be an entirely wonderful experience. The child is fascinated with a muskrat and
"trilling songbirds." As he sits beside the water "where all
these beings thrive," he discovers that "[his] heart and senses come
alive" and he learns that "nature makes [him] calm inside." This
is the message the book successfully imparts, and in our fast-paced, high-tech
world-where even children suffer greatly from anxiety-it's a message worth
sharing in many formats. The boy is completely happy on the grass "just
being [himself]/under a leaf-lush canopy."
Another message that shines through is
that diversity is a positive. "From many peoples' strength we grow,/as
surely as the wind will blow." (Saskatchewan's provincial motto is Multis e gentibus vires-from many
peoples, strength.)
Interestingly, the artist has chosen
not to show the boy's facial features. She presents him in slight profile
images (from a back perspective), and once standing far away on a bridge, so
his features are undefined. Why? Perhaps because "place" is the focus
of the story, not the boy.
Parents, grandparents, older sibling or
guardians could share this book with youngsters and follow it up with a walk
outdoors, encouraging the children to really experience where they are, and to discover how it feels to be
there.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL
BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
__________
“David G Grade 3: The Tragicomic Memoir
of a Reluctant Atheist"
by David Robert Loblaw
Published by Cameron House Media
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$20.00
ISBN 978-0-9959495-0-8
Regina writer David Robert Loblaw - he
legally changed his name from David G in his early twenties to eradicate any
connection to his mother's husband, "Maurice-the-piece of-shit" - has
published his first book in a series of memoirs, and it's quite the romp. Over
an easy-to-read 207 pages, Loblaw introduces us to his family, including his
hard-working single mother, a staunch Roman Catholic; his half-sister sister
Yvette, whom he adores; and two half-brothers, whom he does not adore. Other portions
of the book concern school misadventures, Loblaw's passion for the Apollo moon
missions, and his experiences with the church, including his love for the Bible's
"great stories of adventure". He's such a good child he has to make
up a sin ("'I beat up a kid'") during his first Confession - and thus
he commits the sin of lying while in
his very first Confession. There's rich fodder here. As he says, "How can
you now love a religion that has human asterisks behind every God-given
rule?"
The book's dedicated thus: "For
the two women who created me. My mom and my sister," and though Loblaw
frequently credits his sister for her comedic prowess - whereas his mother was
"staid" - I got a laugh right off the hop when he shares that upon
telling his mother that he wanted to be a baseball player when he grows up, she
responded: "David, the closest you'll ever get to professional baseball is
to get Lou Gehrig's Disease". I get that humour's highly subjective, but
to me, this is funny stuff.
But did she really say that? Even the author's unsure, and such is the nature
of memoir: dialogue's invented, blanks are creatively filled in, and the result
is a dynamic text. Loblaw: "All dialogue is, of course, a reconstruction
from memory as my mom was too cheap to buy me the spy microphone that I
wanted."
A memoir is only as interesting as its
characters, and Loblaw's family has - well, character! Yvette, a kleptomaniac
whose tongue is a "hilarious moral machete," has young David read the
most scintillating bits of the Bible aloud to her laughing friends. Loblaw,
who's ventured into stand-up comedy, writes that his sister's "clinical
dissection of people [ie: nuns] is an art form".
Brother Louis ventured from Regina to
Vancouver during the heart of the hippy years, and devolved into the life of
alcoholism and drug addiction that killed him at age 54. Brother "Ape"
is so called because he's born "the world's hairiest baby". "Ape
is shaving before he leaves elementary school," Loblaw writes of this
"hostile" sibling, who takes after "deadbeat drunk" Maurice.
"Mom runs out of paintings and pictures to cover the punch-holes in the
walls of our house."
This book's worth reading for the hilarious
inside cracks on Catholicism alone, ie: "Limbo is like that cool artsy
little neighbourhood that is in the bad area of your town." You're a funny
man, David Robert Loblaw. And not a bad writer, either.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL
BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
