Last Monday I wrote a blog about activism and supporting young activists. One of the best ways that activists can be supported is by ensuring that they are well-nourished. This is the background to Julia Turshen’s book Feed the Resistance: Recipes and Ideas for Getting Involved. Turshen outlines the logic regarding this at the start …
This week’s book recommendation is for Charlotte in London by Joan MacPhail Knight and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. This book documents the diary of a young American girl on a trip from Giverny where her family is living to London one spring and summer in 1895. While the book is recommended for young people aged …
Do you remember warm summer nights that you spent reading when you were a teen? Can you remember being in a nice soft chair or a hammock and losing all sense of time as you read a wonderful story? The pages turned, almost without you being aware that it was you doing this. This is …
“Dr. Beck, have you got a summer reading list ready yet?” When I was asked this question two weeks ago, I was taken aback. I had completely forgotten to get a book list together before the summer started. Last summer, one of the more popular handouts I prepared were some reading lists for youth. I …
Chagall for Children, written by Helene Lamarche, presents a very artistic vision of the life of Marc Chagall. Told in a simple style, and illustrated with the artist’s own drawings and paintings, this is a book that will help children come to know this optimistic man and his astounding work. Chagall was an artist with …
The importance of this wonderful book is overwhelming. Its importance is not even outlined by the author, Robert Macfarlane, between its covers. To truly understand why this is such an important book, you must read the back cover: “ When the most recent edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary – widely used in schools around …
I am certain many readers will recognize the title of this book if they’re Canadian. They will remember the song by Wade Hemsworth that it is based on and they will certainly remember the animated short film The Log Driver’s Waltz that was released in 1979 and that many Canadian millennials learned in their childhood. …
In 1967, on the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, every town, city – even every neighbourhood – had a Centennial project. New buildings were built, the Ontario College System was founded and, when you’re visiting any town in Canada, you can bet that any public space with a name like “Centennial Arena” or “Centennial Park” …
I spent the first week of May in the Finger Lakes Knowing that this part of New York had a substantial Amish community, I decided that this was an opportune time to learn about that community. New York Amish: Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State by Karen Johnson-Weiner recounts the history of …
Last month, to honour poetry month, I read James Longenbach’s How Poems Get Made. This is a very readable book that will teach you not only how to dissect a poem but also how to construct one. Longenbach provides definitions and examples of each element of a poem’s structure. I don’t think I have ever …
