2014 Summer Reading Club Community Story Award Winner

All Summer by Beverley Rintoul from Rossland Public Library

"All summer we had a delightful 8 year-old boy attend the Summer  Reading Club. He came every time, took part in everything, helped  with clean-up and almost cried when told our student was going back  to university.

However, he struggled to read. We spent time finding books that were interesting but not difficult to read. And still he struggled.

Last week I ran into his mum and we talked about what fun he'd had. She said she was frustrated by the lack of improvement in his  reading until the day before, when suddenly, out of a clear blue sky, he read recipe instructions to his dad without stumbling or stopping to sound out words.

She believes it was because we spent the time, making him believe that there were books out there for him."

 

What's your Summer Reading Club story? Has your child or someone you know been positively impacted by the program? Let us know in the comments section!

 

For more information about the Summer Reading Club and fun programs happening through the Okanagan Regional Library system please click here.

 

National Aboriginal Day Book Recommendations

Saturday, June 21 is National Aboriginal Day, so this month I thought I would recommend some great local First Nations authors that I’ve enjoyed reading recently:

I See Me by Margaret Manuel

This baby book is filled with images of baby eating, sleeping and playing. Little ones love to see pictures of other babies! A PDF file of all the words in Okanagan (Sylix) is also available for download at Theytus Books (www.theytus.com). Margaret Manuel was born in Kamloops, raised in Merritt, and is of Okanagan and Shuswap heritage.

Dancing with the Cranes by Jeannette Armstrong

This is a gentle story for families about love, loss and the circle of life. Chi’s momma is expecting a baby, but Chi is having a hard time being happy about it. Chi misses Temma (her grandma), who has passed away. Chi’s momma and daddy help Chi understand life and death as part of nature. Armstrong’s language evokes beautiful imagery and, as a nature lover myself, I loved the descriptions of the cranes’ migration. Jeannette Armstrong is from the Okanagan Nation and was born and raised on the Penticton Reserve. We have many of her books at the Library, including Slash, which is recognized as an important work of literature and studied in high schools, colleges and universities. Illustrator Ron Hall is an Aboriginal artist of Okanagan and Thompson ancestry and is a member of the Osoyoos Band.

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

I loved this novel, a Canada Reads selection in 2013. Saul Indian Horse is dying in a hospice. He looks back on his life as a northern Ojibway, when as a young boy he was taken forcibly from the land and his family and sent to a residential school. Salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement. Although from the Ojibway Wabasseemoong First Nation in northwestern Ontario, Wagamese now lives, writes and teaches in Kamloops. His newest book, Medicine Walk, was just released in April 2014 and you can find copies of it on the Library’s Quick Reads (7 day loan) shelf! 

Nature Power: In the Spirit of an Okanagan Storyteller by Harry Robinson; compiled & edited by Wendy Wickwire

This second edition features stories of the shoo-MISH, or “nature helpers" that assist humans and sometimes provide them with special powers. The concept of nature power is central to most Native cultures and is based on the understanding that a form of spiritual energy animates all things in the natural world. Robinson’s short stories capture the oral storytelling tradition. One of my favourite stories, “You Can’t See Me, But Just Listen,” tells of a man who goes hunting and hears a voice predicting future development. Robinson was a highly respected Okanagan elder who spent his life in the Similkameen Valley. He was one of the Okanagan people’s greatest storytellers.

Stories from Westbank First Nation Women and More Stories from Westbank First Nation Women
These DVDs, produced by Rick Sagayadan in cooperation with BC Museums Association, look at the role of Aboriginal women, whose voices are often under-represented. The first DVD includes a tribute to the late elder, Lala San Pierre, for her contributions to the preservation of cultural and traditional practices, especially through oral storytelling.

Part two celebrates the strength and fortitude of four generations of First Nation women, many of whom have faced the challenges of raising families while trying to make a living under extreme circumstances. Both films emphasize the vital role indigenous women play in maintaining cultural and traditional practices within their communities.

Be sure to ask at the Library for other recommended reads by local First Nations authors!
Check out these booklists on the ORL Catalogue for more recommendations:
        ORL Reads - Okanagan First Nation history, stories & legends
        ORL Reads - Kids - First Nations Books

  ORL Reads – ResidentialSchools

  ORL Reads – First Nations of Canada

  Theytus Books – Celebrating 30 Years

 

Learn more about National Aboriginal Day here.


Recommendations by Elena Doebelle, Librarian at Westbank Branch

Book Review: The Imposter Bride

  Another talented Richler has emerged on the Canadian literature scene. Mordecai Richler's second cousin, Nancy Richler, has set her third novel,    The Imposter Bride (2012) in post WWII Jewish Montreal.

     The stories of the two central characters, Lily Kramer (the bride of the book's title) & her daughter, Ruth, are told in alternating chapters. Lily Azerov, a Holocaust survivor, arrives in Montreal in 1946 from Poland, under a false name for an arranged marriage, only to be rejected immediately by her intended groom, but accepted by one of his brothers instead. This actually happened to Richler's paternal grandmother.

     Richler has drawn on her own experiences of growing up in postwar Jewish Montreal, a community where loss & dislocation lay at the core of so many people’s lives. The women at the heart of this narrative are grandmothers, mothers, wives & daughters, each one of them harbouring personal grievances, grief, pain & passion, all connected by the enigmatic Lily. In many ways this is a mystery novel; the question of who Ruth’s mother actually is propels the narrative, as pieces of her story are slowly revealed, leaving the reader hanging until near the end. I do not want to give too much of the plot away. The question of identity lies at the heart of this novel: Ruth delves into the past, her own & her mother's, to salvage & make sense of her own fragile identity.

     This novel is both heartrending & hopeful. As author Ellen Feldman states: “Nancy Richler dissects the mysteries of family bonds and betrayals with stunning emotional precision and magical insights into the human heart’s ability to heal.”

 Diana Inselberg is a retired librarian and resident of Enderby.

Book Review: Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

     Recently I picked up a copy of the title “Still Missing” by Chevy Stevens. I had read the synopsis for this story online and immediately placed a request for this title to come in for me at the library. When I opened the book and began reading I had a feeling that I had read something like it already...yeah, because I had already read this story a few years ago. So don't worry if this happens to you sometimes- I am 34 years old and this is certainly not the first time it has happened (nor will it be the last I'm sure.)

     I happily spent a few minutes skimming through the book, reliving the storyline, characters, and plot. I remembered too much of it to bother re-reading it, but enjoyed flipping through it and refreshing my memories. This story was recommended to me by one of my library customers (Thanks again) and I really liked it!

 

     Set in Vancouver Island (the author's stomping grounds) it tells the story of a female Realtor who is abducted and held for many months before managing to escape. The story focuses on this time in her life as well as how she handles her life after (with a few plot twists and turns to keep things interesting and exciting.) If you like a good thriller and don't mind some colourful language and descriptions of sexual abuse, this could be an enjoyable book for you.

 

     In many respects it reminded me a bit of “Room” by Emma Donoghue; but I found it to be a bit less “heady.” Chevy Stevens has several other books that I will be exploring in the coming months; including one due to come out on June 17th of this year called “That Night.” You can place your name on the request list now at the library – stop by the branch, give me a call, or give it a try online! At least we can all be confident that it will be one book we haven't already read!

Review by Diana McCarthy, Community Librarian, Falkland Branch

 

Winners of Vernon Branch Writing Contest!

Congratulations to the winners of the Vernon Branch

Big Orange Tent and Creative Writing Contests!

Enjoy reading the submissions:

Poetry
1st Place: Greyhound Valhalla by Tom Glenne
2nd Place: Coleman Lanterns and Radio Hockey by Ted Mellenthin
3rd Place: Becoming by Lisa Santos

Short Story
1st Place: Raspberry Pulp by Sharon McLean
2nd Place: Centurion Child by Matt Ingrouille  
3rd Place: Her Name is Hope by Eric Reimer

Kids Categories

Ages 6-8 category
1st place: Annie Hayhurst, age 6, author of Penguins.
2nd place: Ava Tepper, age 8 ,author of The orange tent.
3rd place: Lily Butler, age 7, artist of man-eating bunny.

Ages 9-11 category
1st place: Olive Butler, author of Big Orange Secret.
2nd place: Katelyn Kadach, author of littlest of the little people.
3rd place: Anastasia Wasylinko, author of Unbelievably Orange Adventure.

Ages 12-15 category
1st place: Christy Richards author of Weaver.
2nd place: Sarah Kadach author of orange tent robbery.
3rd place: Elizabeth Vargas author of Reminiscing of a 12 year old.

Thanks to the Vernon Friends of the Library for providing the prizes for this writing contest!

Book Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

     There has been a lot of buzz about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (2012).  Another first novel, this one's plot is unusual & unpredictable, but ultimately very captivating.
     Harold is a retired sales representative, married, & living a quiet, unfulfilled life in a small English town. He is an ordinary man, one who does not voice his feelings, who plods on whatever life throws his way. A letter from a former work colleague, telling him that she is dying, but wanting to say goodbye, sets the rest of the story in motion. Harold replies. When he goes out to post the letter at the mailbox at the end of the road, he unwittingly, (at first), starts a long journey by foot, without returning home. As the result of a chance encounter, he convinces himself that his 600 mile journey will help his old friend survive. He carries nothing, walking in “yachting” shoes. His journey becomes a pilgrimage, a tale about the journey being more important than the end itself. Along the way he ponders his life, his marriage, his relationship with his son, all of his past. He meets a wildly varied cast of characters who help him see his life in an entirely new light. His voice alternates in the novel with that of his wife, Maureen; we see her struggles as she also undergoes a transformation as the result of Harold's “unlikely pilgrimage”.
     It is a well written story about faith, persistence, hope, redemption, second chances, & opening oneself to the world. The Daily Mail (UK)'s reviewer said “It's a deceptively simple novel about the anguish of regret, the importance of faith, and the redemptive power of love...humorous, moving and profound...one of the best books you'll read this year”.
    
Do yourself a favour & take a walk with Harold.

Diana Inselberg is a retired librarian and resident of Enderby, who has worked at various Okanagan Regional Library branches.

Book Review: I am Malala

A few weeks ago I forgot my E-reader at home and had to find a real, live, book to read on my break at work...yes, sadly I have become one of “those” people who regularly use (and really and truly adore) an electronic reading device. I went searching and came across a title that several people had recommended I read: “I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb (published in 2013.)

What an amazing book! The story takes the reader to some of the small towns and villages of Pakistan; describing the history of the area and it's inhabitants while focusing on the time just before and after the 9-11 attacks in the United States. I was shocked to discover how little I really know about the people living in the Middle East during this time period. It was eye-opening for me to read about the things that they did not have access to, the money for, or even the right to ask for. The main character “Malala” is a young girl whose family longs for stability, peace, and a political climate that encourages education -especially that of females. The story describes their fear, their courage, and their tenacity as they strive to hold on to things that are slowly and methodically being stolen from them by or with complacency of those who should be protecting them.

This book served not only to highlight my ignorance of this part of the world and it's affairs; but made me grateful to live in a country where the concept of personal freedom may not be perfect- but it is a heck of a lot better than millions of others experience! I would recommend this title to anyone who is experiencing good mental health and a desire to become more globally aware. The library has copies available and I suspect you can find this title at practically any store that sells books...it is an excellent read, but it's not for those who can't stand a little sadness in their stories.

Diana McCarthy, Community Librarian, Falkland Branch