Review of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “The Serviceberry”
By Vivian Hansen The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer Simon & Schuster (2024) I pluck the easy-going Saskatoon berries, a few sacrificial ones…
Review of Richard Osler’s “What Holiness Will I Bring?”
By Mary Vlooswyk What Holiness Will I Bring? by Richard Osler Frontenac House (2024) On July 5, 2024 Richard Osler shared news of his esophageal cancer diagnosis with readers of…
Review of Darlene Barry Quaife’s “The Primitives”
By Lori Hahnel The Primitives by Darlene Barry Quaife Friesen Press (2024) The Spanish Civil War of 1936 – 1939 has inspired the work of a great many writers and…
Review of Molly Peacock’s “The Widow’s Crayon Box”
By Kathryn MacDonald The Widow’s Crayon Box by Molly Peacock W.W. Norton & Company (2025) The Widow’s Crayon Box is Molly Peacock’s eighth poetry book, and from the prologue poem…
Review of Leanne Shirtliffe’s “The Genius Hour Project”
By Kendall Bistretzan The Genius Hour Project by Leanne Shirtliffe Thistledown Press (2024) The Genius Hour Project is a middle-grade novel that follows eleven-year-old Frazzy, a quirky and scatterbrained girl…
Review of Julie Paul’s “Whiny Baby”
By Kim Fahner Whiny Baby by Julie Paul McGill-Queen’s University Press (2024) With a title that evokes childhood spats and quarrels, Julie Paul’s second book of poems, Whiny Baby, gets…
Review of Beatriz Hausner’s “She Who Lies Above”
By Giovanna Riccio She Who Lies Above by Beatriz Hausner Book*hug Press (2023) Hypatia of Alexandria—the 4th-century philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, teacher, and alchemist aptly embodied her name meaning “highest” or…
Review of Barbara Pelman’s “A Brief and Endless Sea”
By Tonya Lailey A Brief and Endless Sea by Barbara Pelman Caitlin Press (2023) The poems in A Brief and Endless Sea, Barbara Pelman’s fifth book of poetry, address a…
Review of Ariel Gordon’s “Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest”
By Michael Frey Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest by Ariel Gordon Wolsak and Wynn (2024) It’s all there in the subtitle, Foraging in the Urban Forest. In Ariel Gordon’s…
Review of Erina Harris’ “Trading Beauty Secrets with the Dead”
By Kathryn MacDonald Trading Beauty Secrets with the Dead by Erina Harris Wolsak & Wynn (2024) Academic and poet, Erina Harris, has several interests and concerns, many find their way…