Glory and Exile: Haida History Robes of Jut-ke-Nay Hazel Wilson by Robert Kardosh, Robin Laurence, Kūn Jaad Dana Simeon Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2022 $50.00 / 9781773271170 Reviewed by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa * It is always fruitful to go on a journey with a quest and a good book about the destination. The book should tell…
Read more 1673 Hazel Wilson’s Haida robes
Echoes of the Supernatural: The Graphic Art of Robert Davidson by Gary Wyatt with Robert Davidson. Foreword by Karen Duffek Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2022, in collaboration with the Vancouver Art Gallery $60.00 / 9781773271903 Reviewed by Mark Turin * This singularly gorgeous book showcases the extraordinary work of Guud San Glans Robert Davidson, one…
Read more 1665 Reckoning with Robert Davidson
Two books reviewed by Ken Favrholdt: Adventure Roads of BC’s Northwest Heartland by Liz Bryan Victoria: Heritage House, 2022 $24.95 / 9781772034035 * Pioneer Churches along the Gold Rush Trail: An Explorer’s Guide by Liz Bryan Victoria: Heritage House, 2022 $24.95 / 9781772034011 * Liz Bryan, photographer and popular writer, has published two books this…
Read more 1656 On the road with Liz Bryan
Keepers of the Garden by A.S. (Lana) Rodlie Independently published, 2018 Price on Amazon, $22.93 / 9781730700200 To obtain a copy of the book, contact lana_rodlie@telus.net or write to 367 McAnally Street, Trail, BC V1R 3R3 (phone 250 368-9227) Reviewed by Vanessa Winn * Viewing the past from the perspective of lesser-known historical figures is…
Read more 1655 Assignment on the Pacific
Talking to the Storykeepers: Tales from the Chilcotin Plateau by Sage Birchwater Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $26.00 / 9781773860800 Reviewed by Richard T. Wright * The Cariboo-Chilcotin-Coast region in the central-west portion of the province of BC is a land renowned for broad grasslands, magnificent mountains, fast glacial rivers, salmon, caribou, vast cattle ranches,…
Read more 1654 Chilcotin master chronicler
Six books reviewed by Linda Rogers: Meet Your Family/ Gikenim Giniigi’igoog by David Bouchard (text) and Kristy Cameron (illustrations) Victoria: Medicine Wheel Education, 2021 $24.99 / 9781989122662 * The Corn Chief by Karen Whetung (text) and Lindsay Delaronde (illustrations) Victoria: Medicine Wheel Publishing, 2022 $16.99 / 9781989122907 * We All Play by Julie Flett Vancouver:…
Read more 1639 A handful of seeds
Psyched: Seven Cutting-Edge Psychedelics Changing the World by Amanda Siebert, with a foreword by Julie Holland Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2022 $21.95 / 9781771648790 Reviewed by Colin James Sanders * While the title of Amanda Siebert’s latest book may be overreaching in its claim that psychedelics are changing the world, psychedelic-assisted therapeutic practices are definitely experiencing…
Read more 1636 Siebert’s seven psychedelics
Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia by Sean Carleton Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022 $89.95 / 9780774868075 Reviewed by Patrick A. Dunae * With its sardonic title, Lessons in Legitimacy exemplifies an activist genre of history that has emerged in Canada following the revelations and recommendations of the…
Read more 1624 Schools of thought
You Might Be Sorry You Read This by Michelle Poirier Brown Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2022 $19.99 / 9781772126037 Reviewed by Mary Ann Moore * In many cases, the titles for books of poetry come from the poems themselves, whether a title of one or a line from within one. In Michelle Poirier Brown’s…
Read more 1619 The thing about snow
Bent Back Tongue by Garry Gottfriedson Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 20.00 / 9781773860961 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch * Garry Gottfriedson is a Secwépemc rancher and teacher. He got started in poetry by performing at pow-wows many decades ago. In Bent Back Tongue, he moves in a space that is anger and love joined in…
Read more 1615 Laying down a trickster beat
Art of the Northwest Coast: Second Edition by Aldona Jonaitis Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2021 (first published by Douglas & McIntyre, 2006). (Also published by University of Washington Press, 2021). $38.95 / 9781771623063 Reviewed by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa * We entered the digital age 30 years ago this year when the Internet became a public…
Read more 1614 The hand reaches out
The Tree Farm: The Evolution of Canada’s First Community Forest by Michelle Rhodes Vancouver: Page Two Books, 2021 $35.00 / 9781989025680 Reviewed by David Brownstein * Michelle Rhodes’s The Tree Farm celebrates what was once an anomaly. Whereas local community-directed forest management used to be rare in British Columbia, with each passing day, this model…
Read more 1613 A forest with a mission
Spíləx̣m: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence by Nicola I. Campbell Winnipeg: HighWater Press, 2021 $32.00 / 9781553799351 Reviewed by Linda Rogers * When my friend, author, singer and educator Karen Lee White went north to celebrate the life of a beloved elder, the family women braided her long silver hair. “That is your…
Read more 1610 A star map to higher ground
Making a Chaputs: The Teachings and Responsibilities of a Canoe Maker by Joe Martin and Alan Hoover Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum Press, 2022 $24.95 / 9780772680273 Reviewed by Isabel Nanton * With a Pacific coastline that stretches 25,725 km (15,985 miles), British Columbia has for eons relied on water transport and for centuries First…
Read more 1609 Nuu-chah-nulth high bow canoes
A Century in the North Peace: The Life and Times of Anne and John Callison by Erín Moure, with Anne Callison Montreal and Vancouver: Zat-So Productions, 2018 $22.79 / 9780986759529 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * Poet and translator Erin Moure with her 96-year-old aunt Anne Callison in 2018 wrote a remarkable, lovingly composed, and detailed…
Read more 1606 Peace River portraits
Standing in a River of Time by Jónína Kirton Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2022 $19.95 / 9781772013795 Reviewed by Cathy Ford * If, when you begin reading, and then rereading, a book by this author, soon after the second anniversary of National Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada, perhaps you should know already your life will change….
Read more 1603 Writing to shape one’s future
Namwayut: We Are All One. A Pathway to Reconciliation by Chief Robert Joseph Vancouver: Page Two Books, 2022 $29.95 / 9781774580059 Reviewed by Linda Rogers * At last, the building, its outline terrorizing The Bay or Yalis, the community framed by open legs, both sides of the water which feeds the people, has come down….
Read more 1598 All together now
Tsqelmucwílc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School – Resistance and a Reckoning by Celia Haig-Brown, Garry Gottfriedson, Randy Fred, and the KIRS Survivors Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022 $22.95 / 9781551529059 Reviewed by Mary Ann Moore * Celia Haig-Brown’s Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School was the first book ever published in Canada about…
Read more 1581 Resistance and resilience
My Indian Summer by Joseph Kakwinokanasum New Westminster: Tidewater Press, 2022 $22.95 / 9781990160127 Reviewed by Brett Grubisic * With chapters that share titles with huge seventies radio hits by the likes of ABBA, Kenny Rogers, Nick Gilder, and Captain & Tennille, My Indian Summer appears to point readers in the direction of a wholly…
Read more 1575 The Red Rock chronicles
Literatures, Communities, and Learning: Conversations with Indigenous Writers by Aubrey Jean Hanson Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2021 $29.99 / 9781771124508 Reviewed by Harper Campbell * Indigenous literatures are relational. They are “moves” within existing relationships, calls to action, therapeutic texts, books that change the world simply by existing in a society that silences Indigenous…
Read more 1555 Affirming Indigenous learning