Jamie Heap’s Friday book review in The Amherst Daily News March 14, is devoted to Bearing the People Away: The Portable Highland Clearances Companion, by June Skinner Sawyers. You can link to the full review here.
Jamie Heap’s Friday book review in The Amherst Daily News March 14, is devoted to Bearing the People Away: The… Continue»
The Canadian Library Association has announced the shortlist for its 2014 Book of the Year for Children Award. Among the top ten is Nova Scotia writer Philip Roy’s Me & Mr. Bell, published by CBUP. Me & Mr. Bell is set in early 20th-century Baddeck. It’s the story of ten-year-old Eddie MacDonald, who is befriended and mentored by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell is renowned by many for being the smartest man in the world; Eddie is just a local farm boy who struggles to learn to read and write. After a few chance encounters, the elderly Bell befriends the young boy, and takes an interest in his struggle – encouraging Eddie to celebrate his successes and never give up.
This respected award honours a book published by a Canadian author in 2013 that appeals to readers aged 12 and younger. Nearly 200 books were submitted for the award, which will be presented at the CLA national conference and trade show in Victoria, BC, on May 29.
If you like Me & Mr. Bell, don’t miss his other historical fiction for young readers, Blood Brothers in Louisbourg.
The Canadian Library Association has announced the shortlist for its 2014 Book of the Year for Children Award. Among the… Continue»
Last October (2013), we enjoyed an interesting talk on the writings of Rev. Duncan Blair (1815-1893) and on the translated collections of his Gaelic writings, Fògradh, Fàisneachd, Filidheachd / Parting, Prophecy, Poetry translated and edited (with Michael Linkletter) by John Alick MacPherson.
John Alick’s talk was recorded and we are finally able to make it available for all. You can link to the presentation here.
Last October (2013), we enjoyed an interesting talk on the writings of Rev. Duncan Blair (1815-1893) and on the… Continue»
Nice little kudos for CBU Press in the latest edition of Canadian Children’s Booknews (Winter 2014). At the end of a great review of The Manager, by Caroline Stellings (CBUP 2013), the reviewer notes: “This lively and engaging read joins the growing list of books for young readers from Cape Breton University Press. […] Kudos to CBUP for bringing them to children and teens.”
CBU Press recently shifted its efforts in children’s books toward young adult fiction. serendipitously, our first few novels for young readers have been historical and very well received by parents, teachers and librarians alike.
Nice little kudos for CBU Press in the latest edition of Canadian Children’s Booknews (Winter 2014). At the end of… Continue»
The latest issue of Resource Links – Canada’s national journal devoted to the review and evaluation of Canadian English and French resources for children and young adults – includes a précis of The Extraordinary Life of Anna Swan by Anne Renaud (CBU Press, 2013).
The reviewer nails it when she says: “What strikes the reader of this biography is … the balance she was able to achieve in her life … finding true love, satisfying and well paid work, and maintaining strong relationships with people who cared for her.”
Resource Links, vol. 19, no. 3
The latest issue of Resource Links – Canada’s national journal devoted to the review and evaluation of Canadian English and… Continue»
Poetry reviewer Philip K. Thompson recently published his take on The Blue Room, Poems by Carlo Spinazzola (1970-2003) in the Chronicle Herald (March 1, 2014).
“The agony of Carlo Spinazzola’s lonesome Blues flows through paintbrush and poetry. Some poems stand powerfully without need for musical accompaniment. Others might require that you imagine his open tuned guitar hammering notes and remember his strained voice.
“I encourage you to read them and, if you have the courage, engage his Blues with an open mind.”
Poetry reviewer Philip K. Thompson recently published his take on The Blue Room, Poems by Carlo Spinazzola (1970-2003) in the… Continue»
On Thursday night, Feb. 27th … it’s Canada Reads, the Cape Breton edition!
Join resident CBC bookworm Wendy Martin and the Information Morning Book Panel for a discussion of this year’s Canada Reads selections.
That’s at the Cape Breton Fudge Company, 6:30-8:30pm on Thursday night.
On Thursday night, Feb. 27th … it’s Canada Reads, the Cape Breton edition! Join resident CBC bookworm Wendy Martin and the Information… Continue»
New Glasgow News, February 21, 2014
The New Glasgow News carried a nice précis and review of Frank Macdonald’s (2012) A Possible Madness. Below is an excerpt. You can read the full review here:
“To a Pictou County reader the ghost of Westray lives in Shean. It exists side by side with the ambitious and accommodating politician, the shrewd business interests from away, the hungry players who are groomed for better opportunities, the alcoholics whose services are bought for a bottle and a few bucks, the patently paranoid, the disinterested and the conscientious objectors.”
“It becomes clear that while the people of Shean gnash their teeth over the merits of modernized coal-mining and tourism, global industrialists are far ahead of them, seeing the town only as a convenient staging ground to test dangerous but potentially lucrative new technology. It is brutally clear the interests of Shean, whether pro-business or pro-environment, count for little outside its municipal boundaries.”
A Possible Madness has “a strong sense of place, some vivid characters and revelatory moments.”
For these very reasons, and despite its being a work of fiction, A Possible Madness has been used in university classrooms and book clubs around the region. It was long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award.
New Glasgow News, February 21, 2014 The New Glasgow News carried a nice précis and review of Frank Macdonald’s (2012)… Continue»
Amy Mathers is a volunteer with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, who has embarked on a unique marathon: She is reading one Canadian teen book a day all this year and shares a brief review of each!
Here is what Amy had to say about Caroline Stellings’s The Manager (CBU Press 2013).
“[Tina] surprises … again and again with her spirited and abrasive yet warm-hearted actions.”
You can read her current book reviews here and learn more about her marathon of books here. A Few weeks ago, Amy reviewed Blood Brothers in Louisbourg by Philip Roy; You can link to that review here.
Amy Mathers is a volunteer with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, who has embarked on a unique marathon: She is… Continue»
A nice overview and complimentary review of Celts in the Americas, edited by Michael Newton (CBU Press 2013), is published in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 35, 2, 2014.
The book is “a wealth of detail about the past and current presence of each language in the Americas. [A] must-read book for those interested in the Celtic languages, and a must-have one for library collections.”
And this from The Guardian (Charlottetown, PEI), January 25, 2014:
“a fascinating collection […]Let us hope “Celts in the Americas” may have many successors.”
“The most important contribution of this book may well be the awareness it imparts to readers of a whole ancient and complex world whose members are scattered — more or less disguised — among us.”
Watch for Michael Newton’s decidedly more playful Naughty Little Book of Gaelic: All the Scottish Gaelic You Need to Curse, Swear, Drink, Smoke and Fool Around, coming in early April.
A nice overview and complimentary review of Celts in the Americas, edited by Michael Newton (CBU Press 2013), is published in… Continue»