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Out of New Nova Scotia Kitchens 
By Craig Flinn
Formac 

Craig Flinn is a champion of Nova Scotia cooking and is giving new life to old recipes in his latest book. Out of New Nova Scotia Kitchens takes inspiration from local staples including donair, lobster rolls and seafood chowder. Having enjoyed these foods his entire life, Flinn is re-imagining classic dishes making them accessible to everyone in every kitchen. 

Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens (revised edition): Nightingale ...

Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens 
By Marie Nightingale
Nimbus Publishing 

Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens is here to stay, bringing old recipes into new kitchens. First published in 1970, the classic cookbook has since found a home in pantries across the Maritimes. Providing more than just traditional recipes, the bestseller tells the history and stories of food across the region. The book is detailed with simple illustrations and bits of food lore that further add to its timeless quality. 

The Mermaid Handbook 
By Taylor Widrig
Nimbus Publishing 

The Mermaid Handbook tells a story of protecting the ocean and honouring where our food comes from. Told from the perspective of a mermaid, Taylor Widrig’s first book provides fun ways to cook with seaweed, while cultivating love and respect for the ocean. Her favourite recipes featured in the book include sticky rice panda bears and micro-fudge truffle balls. 

 

From Rum to Rhubarb: Modern Recipes for Newfoundland Berries ...

From Rum to Rhubarb 
By Roger Pickavance
Boulder Books 

Roger Pickavance’s latest book was inspired by his home in Newfoundland and Labrador. From Rum to Rhubarb is more personal than his first two books, featuring some of his favourite recipes, which he tested in his own kitchen. The fruits, vegetables and berries that grow in the province are some of the best in the world, and Pickavance has showcased them in new, creative ways. 

East Coast Keto | Breakwater Books Ltd. 

East Coast Keto 
By Bobbi Pike and Geoff Pike
Breakwater Books 

Bobbi Pike has put together a collection of over 120 recipes that offer an introduction to the keto diet and simplifies meals for those already following a ketogenic lifestyle. Offering flavourful low-carb meals, East Coast Keto is a practical guide to health and wellness based on Pike’s personal health journey. The book provides easy to understand information about the keto diet and tips to simplify keto cooking. 

Some Good Sweet Treats | Breakwater Books Ltd.

Some Good: Sweet Treats 
By Jessica Mitton
Breakwater Books 

If you are here for the dessert, Jessica Mitton has got you covered. Some Good: Sweet Treats is her second cookbook, guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth with no guilt attached. All of her recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free, leaving you feeling, well,  some good! 

The East Coast's Best Lobster Rolls (English and English Edition ...

The East Coast’s Best Lobster Roll 
By Virginia Lee
Formac 

Everyone is in search of the best lobster roll, and now you don’t need to leave your kitchen to find it! The East Coast’s Best Lobster Rolls features 50 recipes honouring the tried-and-true Atlantic treat. From simple to fancy, there is a roll for every occasion in Virginia Lee’s imaginative new book. 

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Twelve-year-old Hope is doing her best to accept the inevitable: she and her family will be moving to Ontario at the end of the summer because of her father’s new job. Hope knows that her parents don’t want to leave their home in St. David’s, New Brunswick, either, but they all have to embrace the change.   

She genuinely tries to savour and enjoy every moment of her last summer in the place she loves. Then St. David’s is chosen as one of five small towns to appear on a national television show as “Canada’s Tiniest Treasures.”  

Hope and her best friend Willa work tirelessly to win the contest that will select one of these five as the unltimate Canadian Tiny Treasure. As she pours her heart and soul into capturing what makes St. David’s uniquely wonderful, she tries to imagine who she will be, and how she will survive, when she has to start all over somewhere new.  

In her first novel for young readers, Riel Nason has created a believable protagonist and heartwarming celebration of place. Hope’s apprehension about having to leave behind her friends, and everything she holds dear about her home, is realistcally portrayed, and her fears are very relatable. Will she be able to make new friends in Ontario?  Will Willa forget about her once she’s gone? Will people at her new school make fun of her for her Transient Vocal Tic disorder?   

The first-person narration perfectly captures Hope’s voice, thoughts and worries in a realistic and sensitive way. The entire cast of characters are similarly authentic and engaging, with Hope’s parents emerging as sympathetic and understanding of how difficult this is for her.   

Nason is particularly adept at capturing a sense of place in this story and all the ways in which St. David’s is special for Hope. This is a slow-paced, introspective and earnest middle-grade tale, a perfect summer read and a thoughtful look at friendship and small-town life. 

(Ages 9-12)

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In her debut picture book, Nova Scotia’s Lauren Soloy brings readers a tender glimpse into the mind and heart of a young Emily Carr, before she became the beloved Canadian artist, whose work is recognized and celebrated throughout the world.   

Despite her mother’s admonition to not dirty her Sunday dress, Emily’s curiosity and fascination with the natural world lead her to her own wonder-filled explorations. With a joyful reverence, she traipses through her father’s vegetable garden, weaves her way through the currant bushes and lovingly investigates all the forgotten wild places.   

As Emily opens herself to the sights and smells and sounds—the bees and blossoms and butterflies that beckon—she finds peace. Immersed in these wonders, she becomes attuned to the subtle mysteries all around her: the sunlight glowing in the shadows; the marvelous songs emanating from the seas and trees; the stillness that thrums with life and secrets.   

When she is jolted back into the world of dirty dresses and scolding mothers, a world in which she feels helpless and small, Emily’s heart reminds her that she is part of a bigger, beautiful world. 

While this book captures just one tiny moment of Emily’s childhood, a single afternoon of backyard investigations, it speaks volumes about who she was and how she experienced her world. Soloy astutely distinguishes Emily’s feelings of smallness when she is being reminded of all the things she shouldn’t do from her feelings of reverence when she is lost in her wilderness becoming Small: a creature who is full of life and awe and exuberance.   

It is then that she meets Wild, and together Small and Wild delight in nature’s profound goodness and almost discover a special secret. Alas, Emily is forced back to her everyday life of trying to be respectable … and small.   

With beautifully crafted sentences and exquisite turns of phrase, Soloy has created a simple but revealing portrait of a girl who looked carefully, listened with her heart and whose heightened awareness of the world around her enabled her to “danc(e) to the rhythm of her own small heart.”  

The mixed-media illustrations are lush and vibrant, loose-lined with bold, dark outlines.  Richly textured with depth and hints of shadows, the colours are beautifully saturated.   

With her own distinct style, Soloy’s poetic prose and sumptuous illustrations pay homage to this beloved artist and writer, and give readers of all ages a sense of how one small girl’s sensitivity to nature’s beauty lead her to her own artistic expressions. 

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In this joyful, exuberant, nostalgic ode to summer, beloved poet/word artist Sheree Fitch and highly acclaimed illustrator Carolyn Fisher capture the wonders of the season, from the moment our eager summer feet dare to burst forth in all their barenaked glory!  

These busy appendages run in the sun and play outdoor games, they climb trees and comb beaches, swim and make pictures in the sand. They frolic in puddles, lazily bask in the heat of the summer sun and zealously dig in the mud. They scoot and chase and dance and swing until they “shiver a little/in a sweater-time day” and realize it’s time to bring out the woolly socks and shoes. 

Sheree Fitch’s effervescent verse leaps off the page; it revels and romps in seemingly carefree abandon. Yet each word and phrase is carefully chosen and/or crafted, and unerringly creates a clear image in the mind’s eye:  

“somersault-silly, fantastic-gymnastic, bare-naked summer feet”;  

“wet-wormy, squeal-squirmy, gross-germy, our dirtiest EVERRRR, bare-naked summer feet.”   

Her obvious delight in words is infectious and inspiring—in the way she combines them and re-creates them in ways that are sweet sounding and evocative. While her words are playful, lively and exuberant, they also profoundly capture the essence of summer.   

Fisher’s warm and vibrant mixed-media illustrations are equally energetic, bringing an added layer of richness to these rhymes. Brilliant, swirling colours, expressive faces and lots of big and busy feet fill each page, vividly rendering the joy that is at this story’s heart.  

A magnificent pairing, this is a timeless celebration of summer’s magic.   

 

(Ages 3-7)

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Bursting with colour and joyful energy, folk artist Cara Kansala’s new picture book feels like a traditional fairytale, or a beloved nursery rhyme. It is the story of the hapless Moon King, who trips over the night and scatters the stars throughout the land, sea and sky.   

To fix the mess he has made and restore order to the skies, the pink-cheeked Moon King rouses the birds and sleepy woodland creatures. Soon the bear, hare, moose and fox find themselves collecting the misplaced stars. The birds fly them “back up to the night/where dreams and wishes are.”   

This collaborative effort sets everything right. The Moon King expresses his tremendous gratitude by shining brightly and serenading one and all with “his moonlit lullaby.” 

Lilting and lovely, the gentle and soothing rhymes have a pleasing rhythm. Together the words and images exude whimsy and wonder.  

Kansala uses a bright, lively palette of primary and secondary colours along with bold, black outlines and cartoon-like characters to create her playful scenes. The stars have a quirkiness about them that might make readers believe that they are enjoying the mayhem and mischief that is afoot.    

Despite the Moon King’s decision to recruit all the animals to help fix his gaffe, there is no sense of urgency here: this is pure fun and fancifulness from start to finish. Whether it is being read at bedtime or storytime, this vibrant and imaginative tale is sure to delight young audiences. 

(Ages 3-7)

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Langosh and Peppi: Fugitive Days, Veronica Post’s debut graphic novel, begins in Budapest. The protagonist, Langosh, is the fugitive in question, a man on the run from possible imprisonment/deportation back to Canada, where he awaits punishment for minor crimes. His dog Peppi, and loyal friend Yeva, are depicted with warmth and humour, and give the sense that though his life is precarious, this is the place he considers to be home.  

One can’t help but think of another dog/traveller pair, Tin Tin and his dog Snowy, from the wildly popular comic series The Adventures of Tin Tin by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Post shares Hergé clean drawing style, but instead of the bright, solid colours of Tin Tin, Post mostly uses pen with pale washes of grey. Occasionally pitch black is used to good effect, as the friends explore caves and a tunnel leftover from the country’s communist history.  

Equal care is given to the classical architecture found in the city’s esteemed bathhouses, as to its graffiti-scrawled rough edges while the two go about daily life on the run. Scenes unfold with a steady rhythm as drawings alternate between enclosed boxes and those left to breathe, while full spreads show both bucolic landscapes and the city’s touristic vistas.   

Langosh and Peppi manage to escape deportation one more time by crossing a border, discovering along the way that the countryside is not such a welcome place to visit. But on the return to the city, the Syrian refugee crisis has spilled into the country, with train stations and streets turned into tent cities overnight. Families are being separated and uncertainty is high.  

The relative freedom that Langosh has, in spite of his challenges, becomes apparent, fully coming into relief in the book’s final scene. 

This is a book for the times we live in, where the freedom to traverse global borders has come to be expected by many, but not experienced by even more. With a deft touch, humour and unflinching look at the issues she became familiar with while living in Hungary herself, Post has made a memorable addition to the graphic novel genre. 

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The famed Miramichi River—Wayne Curtis’ boyhood milieu and part-time residence to this day—usually provides the setting for his expansive literary output. Its landscapes and inhabitants are Curtis’ regular canvas. The author portrays both the glorious beauty of the surroundings, andtheunrelenting hardships of living in an impoverished rural locale, with understanding, acceptance and a finely developed eye. 

The 13 stories of Winter Road offer different interpretations of this duality. Curtis vividly recalls the past using an array of emotions and insights. At the heart of many of these works is a sense of melancholic longing for an alteration of past actions/circumstances. Protagonists rarely experience a more rewarding outcome. Reminiscence and regret are explored through backward glances at missed opportunities and unfulfilled dreams and aspirations. 

Three of the stories are linked. They tellingly examine a couple at various stages of their enjoined and then separated lives.  

First, they are returning to the narrator’s home town as youthful lovebirds. Later, the marriage has withered and the dreams of the narrator to refurbish his family home are dashed. His estranged wife lives there while he is exiled to a city apartment.  

Finally, after decades away, he returns to ponder and consider his life while visiting the now derelict house. 

Always, the ever-present beauty of the natural world is minutely, lovingly described by Curtis. Several of the stories have a singular, simple activity—burning potato stalks, picking apples, sleigh-riding at Christmas—as their basis. Curtis imbues them with a finely observed immediacy of nature and simultaneously, the humanity of those involved.  

All his stories lay bare the souls of those who call the Miramichi home. They are regretful, unfulfilled, memory-laden and wistful in their telling.  

Curtis’ obvious love for the place and the people shines through, sometimes shaded in nostalgia, sometimes burdened and often bloodied by life. But ultimately unbowed.  

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According to Giller Prize-winning author Will Ferguson, Morgan Murray’s debut novel Dirty Birds is “wholly original” and marks the arrival of Canada’s answer to Kurt Vonnegut.  

I’m all for narcissists, so long as they make it interesting. Murray’s protagonist, Milton Ontario, has convinced me that we may be dealing with a coming-of-age typhoon of the self, akin to that Greek hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who fell in love with his own reflection.  

“How such an outrageous idea—becoming a poet—comes to nest in the mind of an altogether, incredibly average man-child living in the middle of absolute nowhere was entirely an accident.”  

I could listen to / read about this Milton character all day long.

Loaded with backstory upon backstory and fuelled with the spirit of (Yes Will, you are correct) Vonnegut, plus Hunter S Thompson, Mark Leyner and Will Self, this gigantic novel won’t shut up. We learn of Milton’s sick desire to become a poet and find his hero Leonard Cohen in Montreal, in the optimistic time when the possibility of America’s first Black president was still that—a possibility. 

Reading this debut novel was like pulling an all-nighter and running to class without any sleep, with one obvious problem: you aren’t in school anymore and you’re wearing your pajamas, standing outside of the school and it’s the weekend. 

Milton wanders ghost-like in Montreal in search of his hero and his sanity. At a job interview, Milton is asked if he has a high tolerance for monotony, to which he replies, “Yes, I’m from Saskatchewan.” 

This book would make a great Canadian film starring Michael Cera.  Refreshingly backlit with the nostalgia of Obama-era planet Earth, riffing on a myriad of contemporary themes including intergenerational tensions and anxieties, global economic frailty and the pursuit of young desire, Dirty Birds is the perfect misfit read for your next layaway, or when you’re down to your last shot of whisky. It provides days’ worth of warm, weird feelings.    

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Finley Martin’s new novel, Killings at Little Rose, quickly spirals into darkness and intrigue as its plot twists into an ever-tighter knot, with writing that mines everything necessary in a mystery—a snooping private female investigator, the seamy underside of dark secrets washed ashore in a coastal village, eventual mayhem, and murder. 

Anne Brown is the central character. A mother, widow and undercover private investigator, hired as an engineer to reduce the waste, property loss and vandalism affecting the profitability of the only seafood processing company, M Gauthier and Son’s, in Little Rose Harbour. 

Martin has the sure hand of a natural storyteller as he makes his readers see, feel and understand the strength of his protagonist, Anne. As a rational detective, she holds her emotions in check while sifting through the local gossip, rumours and lies that envelop her work environment, outside relationships and eventually threaten her safety. 

Through Anne, Martin gives the reader significant insight into the lobster fishing and processing industry with remarkably detailed narration. We crack into the lobsters, right beside Anne, as the beads of sweat drip down her forehead. The familiar sound of the women’s chitchat—centred on the old, secret remains of a baby discovered in a field—hums in the background before getting lost in the noise of machinery. 

After digging up old family grudges, seedy relationships, hidden identities and legal shenanigans in the coastal town, Anne finds herself in hot water, and the tension builds from there.  

Finley’s latest novel once again demonstrates his remarkably deft hand in crafting compelling stories of great intrigue.    

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The act of writing can help one sooth anxieties and sort out problems. Often, the writer finds themself communicating in surprising ways.  

An Extra Dash of Love: Letters Celebrating Down Syndrome is a beautiful collection of letters, written by those who care for someone who has Down Syndrome. There is more real, raw emotion in these pages than most over-workshopped, MFA-doused poetry and fiction collections being published these days.  

The subtitle is on the mark: this is a celebration of human beings who share a similar way of life, but who are loved unconditionally. Here’s an example from a mother in Shediac Bridge, New Brunswick. 

What I love about my son Finn: 

♥ His openness and sweet, loving nature. 

♥ How he studies the wheels under his toy car as it moves. 

♥ How he brings me little pieces of paper/stickers that he finds to put in the garbage. 

♥ How he brings Lily her boots and coat when it’s time to go. He likes to keep her on task. 

♥ How he loves to help out with laundry by sorting the clothes or putting them into washer or dryer. 

♥ The positive impact he has on Lily; I like to think that she will grow up with more compassion and kindness towards others. 

♥ His easy, contagious laughter. 

♥ His coyness. 

♥ His smile. 

♥ The way he greets a loved one after a short absence: he comes running with arms outstretched, exclaiming loudly like you are the most important person in the world. 

♥ His determination. 

♥ The tenderness he has towards his sister. 

♥ How at 8 months old, he had open heart surgery and recovered like a champ. 

♥ The pride I feel at his successes. 

♥ Witnessing the joy he brings to others. 

♥ That he made me a mother. That I am his mother. I still worry about how the world will accept him when he gets older and he isn’t as cute (did I mention that he is adorable?), but he is surrounded by a family and community that loves and supports him. Finn has already made the world around him a little kinder, maybe that’s the most important step. 

Tammy, mother of Finn—Shediac Bridge, NB 

An Extra Dash of Love is a tender rendering of local folks’ emotional bravery and compassion for those in their lives who are deserving of each and every dash of this type of affection.  

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Doing Time explores the role of poetry and therapy in the most unlikely of places. After moving to a rural community near Hubbards, 45 minutes from the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, Governor General’s Award nominated poet Carole Glasser Langille wrote to the John Howard Society, outlining a writing workshop she proposed to give. She explained the idea behind the workshop for prisoners, suggesting that “writing clarifies thoughts, and when thinking is clearer, actions become more comprehensible.”  

Inspired by Wallace Stevens, who said that the role of a poet is “to help people live their lives,” Langille wanted to bring a new form of rehabilitation to individuals who may not otherwise choose poetry as a therapeutic tool. The head of programming at the prison was looking for something fresh, and so, within a couple of weeks, Langille was volunteering on a weekly basis, encouraged by her vision, and inspired by the new relationships she made with the incarcerated.  

“Each week, when I walked down those windowless halls, the iron doors clanging behind me, I felt again and again that the pain and longing in that crowded building created a spiritual intensity that made this a holy place, a dwelling whose inhabitants must be appreciated and treated with care. I had the privilege of hearing many of their stories. I wanted to honour them for their trust.” 

What is unique about this book is how it’s set up: we go along with Langille each week, and as the poems develop, we see their progress almost in real time. There’s honesty here that is refreshing. We are privy to the workshop, the voices, the sharing, the intensity and unexpected lines as they were first written down in the workshop, and spoken in the workshop.  

Much like a public reading, where a new work is shared, we for the first time ever get to read the poem as it was first composed. 

Doing Time does not reflect the typical idea many have of prisoners, thanks to gruesome headlines and the ever-sensational depiction of prison in documentaries and Hollywood. Consider what state of mind the inmates were in before learning to ply their mental trade on something they perhaps never considered before—poetry.  

Sorting out line breaks and mixed metaphors isn’t going to rehabilitate every prisoner, workshops such as these can give those who accept it another mode of expression they would have otherwise never considered.