The fifth instalment of Read Local BC’s nine-part gift guide series
Part 1: Books to Relax With
Part 2: Reading for Pleasure
Part 3: Get Creative
Part 4: Books to Inspire
Truly wireless technology. More immersive than 3D. Highly portable. 100% customizable, with more than enough options to create an experience unique to each user. It’s not surprising that books have remained a favourite source of entertainment (and a primary reason why Canadians read) over centuries.
This list features funny and absorbing prose, a powerful piece of theatre, a children’s activity book, and something for fans of that other perennial favourite in Canadian entertainment: hockey!
Entertainment, Unplugged
A sampling of the wide array of entertainment experiences that books offer.
Christmas in Mariposa: Sketches of Canada’s Legendary Little Town by Jamie Lamb (Heritage House Publishing).
Many Canadians grew up in small towns, or at least in neighbourhoods that felt like small towns. But what if you grew up in Canada’s most famous small town—Stephen Leacock’s Mariposa? This was the world that journalist Jamie Lamb was raised in, the actual place that inspired Leacock’s Canadian classic, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, over a century ago. The Mariposa of Lamb’s time is slightly different, yet still embodies the heart and soul, the eccentricities and bizarre local customs of Leacock’s sketches. A funny and heart-warming tribute to Canada’s most famous small town, and its most celebrated humourist, Stephen Leacock.
A Crow Called Canuck: A Children’s Activity Book by Arran & Haru Yarmie (Hancock House Publishers).
He’s been called “Vancouver’s famous crow,” “a sought-after film star,” and “East Vancouver’s bad boy bird.” Canuck, the orphan crow who rose to fame, is now the subject of a kids’ colouring and activity book. It documents Canuck’s life from a fledgling chick to his adventures as an adult. With 34 story and colouring pages and 10 activity pages, A Crow Called Canuck will not only entertain, but educate children about the importance of peacefully coexisting with urban wildlife. Hancock House Publishers and the authors of this book are dedicated to this mission and partial proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Hancock Wildlife Foundation to help continue with its education and conservation programs.
The Next Ones: How McDavid, Matthews and a Group of Young Guns Took Over the NHL by Michael Traikos (Douglas & McIntyre).
The NHL is a young man’s league. How young? Connor McDavid was twenty years old when he won the scoring title and MVP in 2017. Auston Matthews was still a nineteen-year-old rookie when he tied for second in the Rocket Richard Trophy race with forty goals. By the end of the NHL’s hundredth season, eight of the top thirty scorers—including four of the top ten—were twenty-three years old or younger.
Hockey expert Michael Traikos travelled around the world from Helsinki to Thunder Bay interviewing rising NHL stars, their families, and more than two hundred teammates, coaches, scouts and friends. The result is a first-hand look at how each young star became the player he is today—and what they might become in the future.
Please Stand By by Carolyn Bennett (Now or Never Publishing Co.).
“Donate to ABS. Do it for Courtney. Do it for his safety.” Preying on loving parents is second nature to Suzanne Foley. So is drinking to oblivion while shilling for the publicly-supported Alberta Broadcasting System (ABS). When new management from Toronto threatens to gut the station, Suzanne rallies reluctant coworkers to fight back. Sex with a younger man, intrusive memories, and regular trips to the prescription counter aside, she pins all her hope on ABS surviving another day because as she tells Leslie, “It’s all I have.” Set in the throes of a bone-chilling Edmonton winter, Please Stand By lays to waste CanCon, the east-west divide, and secrets that can kill. Funny, wild and brave, Please Stand By is a fast and furious read for mind and heart.
Redpatch by Sean Harris Oliver & Raes Calvert (Talonbooks).
This is the story of a Métis soldier fighting for Canada on the Western Front of Europe during World War I. Vancouver 1914: a young Indigenous man named Jonathon Woodrow, desperate to prove himself as a warrior, enlists to fight in the Canadian army. Relying on his experience in hunting and wilderness survival, Private Woodrow quickly becomes one of the most feared trench raiders in the 1st Canadian Division. But as the war stretches on, with no end to the fighting in sight, Woodrow begins to realize that he will never go home again.
A 2017 finalist for the Playwright Guild of Canada’s prestigious Carol Bolt Award for Playwrights, Redpatch focuses on how First Nations soldiers and communities contributed to Canada’s involvement in the First World War.