49th Shelf

Our Children's Librarian columnist, Julie Booker, brings us a new view from the stacks every month. * It’s Okay, Just Ask, by Monique Leonardo Carlos, illustrated by Salini Perera, is the story of firsts as a new Canadian, including a first day at school. We follow a boy packing up his old home, taking a plane to Canada, where he encounters some very Canadian things: an Inukshuk, playing hockey, and trick-or-treating. “What if I don’t make any friends?” the protagonist asks his dad.

A recommended reading list by the author of The Roughling (Linda Leith Publishing). Children’s books can reveal the wonder of our world just as we’re beginning to understand it. They show what our reality—and by extension we—might become, often without the limits imposed by that reality. It’s what makes them so much fun to read. Adventure books in particular encourage children to think about how they would navigate the often perilous situations that unfold in their pages.

In his novel The Strange One, which I read as a teenager, Fred Bodsworth wove together the stories of a naturalist and a barnacle goose. Alternating point-of-view novels have fascinated me ever since, both reading them and writing them. More recently, from Ian Williams’s What I Mean to Say, I’ve carried the idea that we ought to approach conversation from a place of curiosity, of not knowing, rather than with an agenda. I like to think this has improved the quality of my interactions with others.

When people ask about my latest book, Saudade, I will start by saying it is a book about death and grief, and it has stories within stories. Death is a main character, I’ll add. But it’s not a dark book. More a love story than anything. Well, dark too, but with funny bits. When a writer finishes publishing a book—after the long process of first writing, and then editing and proofing—and it’s finally out in the world, I look for a sorbet. I need a break between courses. A breath between novels.

An excerpt from Listening Once Again to Our Great Mother (Dundurn Press). When I was fourteen, Grandpa Charlie began to tell me the stories of our ancestors.

Welcome to our new Publisher Spotlight series, where we highlight Canadian independent presses doing standout work in the literary and academic world. Since 1969, University of Alberta Press has been publishing with purpose while connecting ideas, research, and stories with readers in Canada and around the world.

Canadian cottages are having a moment, aren’t they? And it’s all thanks to books! From Heated Rivalry to Meet Me At the Lake, the rest of the world is getting a glimpse at the wonder of docks and pine trees and jumping in the lake. But those of us who know, cottages have always been special. I’m an Ontario girl, and I grew up visiting the cottages of friends, going up north to sleepaway camp, then attending family camp and cottages—both those of friends and those we rented—as an adult.

First Day Jitters are no joke! For students AND teachers, walking into class during the first weeks of a new school year can be nerve-wracking. How can books help? Reading together can contribute to a kinder and more collaborative classroom. Choosing which books to start the year with can feel like a big decision. Here are some tips: Read books that reflect the diverse identities and families of your students. This lets students know everyone is welcome in your classroom.

Picture Books Backpack (August), by Katie Arthur, promises a back-to-school ode to backpacks and the comfort, joy, and utility they bring to our lives. Stray (September), by Cale Atkinson, is a gorgeous and heartwarming picture book about a stray dog's journey to his forever home.

In Nyla Matuk’s haunting novel Leila & Khaled (Anansi), Leila, a Palestinian Canadian, joins a delegation of academics on her first journey to Occupied Palestine. What begins as an intellectual pilgrimage becomes an intimate return to an ancestral land from which her family was exiled. Leila’s journey intensifies when she meets a younger Palestinian man named Khaled.