Canada Reads American Style

Read Native 21 Challenge with Tara

Shauna and Rebecca are excited to have Tara back as a guest reviewer and equally happy that she has agreed to participate in future podcasts! 

The books by Native American and Indigenous authors discussed include:

Shauna: Strangers (the first book in The Reckoner Series) by David Alexander Robertson 

Tara: Sugar Falls by David Alexander Robertson; 77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin by Thomas King; Five Little Indians by Michelle Good; Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Rebecca: Raven Makes the Aleutians: Adapted from a Traditional Native Story, illustrated by Janine Gibbons; There There by Tommy Orange; Elatsoe by Darcie LIttle Badger

CBC Books: "21 books for kids and young adults to read for National Indigenous History Month"

Follow #CRASReadNAtive21 for recommendations! 

 

Voice-over by Content Creator and Comedian Cameron Geller --TikTok & Instagram: @cameron.geller 

 

Music from Zapsplat.com

Interview - Marcello Di Cintio and Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers

Shauna and Rebecca are thrilled to chat with Marcello Di Cintio about his latest book, Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers.  Marcello artfully tells the personal stories of hard working men and women who persist in carving out lives filled with passion, commitment, and success.  

Rebecca also reminds listeners to pick up Marcello's book, Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Life in Contemporary Palestine and then listen to their interview with him from January 2021.

 

Voice-over by Content Creator and Comedian Cameron Geller --TikTok & Instagram: @cameron.geller 

 

Music from Zapsplat.com

Interview - Heather Down and Not Cancelled: Canadian Kindness in the Face of COVID-19

Join Shauna and Rebecca as they interview Heather Down, author and publisher of Not Cancelled: Canadian Kindness in the Face of COVID-19 (co-author Catherine Kenwell).  Heather discusses how this beautiful, hope-filled anthology of stories came to be, while Rebecca expresses her expectation that the book will have significant value to future generations looking back at this unprecedented time in history. 

IG: @winterticklepress

Podcast: After the Book Ends

 

Voice-over by Content Creator and Comedian Cameron Geller --TikTok & Instagram: @cameron.geller 

 

Music from Zapsplat.com

Interview - Nelly Buchet and Cat Dog Dog: The Story of a Blended Family

Shauna and Rebecca are thrilled to chat with Nelly Buchet, their first children's picture book author (illustrated by Andrea Zuill @zuillmonkey).  CAT DOG DOG is a deceptively simple story, but as you will hear in the interview, Nelly's vision was clear from the start.  This is a story for the whole family!  

After the interview, Nelly said, “the coolest thing is the book is now considered an "early reader" because little kids are learning to read with CAT DOG DOG. One parent told me his daughter was so proud that she could finish a whole entire book on her own :).”

According to her website, CAT DOG DOG has received the following accolades:   The Story of a Blended Family (Random House Kids, 2020) is a 2021 ALA Notable Children’s Book and Irma Black Award nominee. It is also a Junior Library Guild, Indie Next 2020 List, 2021 CCBC Best of the Year List, Amazon’s “Best of 2020 for ages 3-5,” Chicago Public Library “Best Fiction for Younger Readers of 2020” and Iowa Public Radio “Best New Books for Children and Teens” selection.

 

Voice-over by Content Creator and Comedian Cameron Geller --TikTok & Instagram: @cameron.geller 

 

Music from Zapsplat.com

Read Native 21 Challenge

Join Shauna and Rebecca as they officially kick off the American Indian Library Association's Read Native 21 Challenge!  There are 26 prompts for adults and 24 for children. 

Rebecca mentions the following books that she has read to date:  When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz; Tilly and the Crazy Eights by Monique Gray Smith; Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead; and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard.  She also highlights Native American storyteller, Pun Plamondon's "Fathers & Figures" on YouTube.

Shauna has completed the "horror" category with Joseph Bruchac's Skeleton Man.  She says it's "creepy".  

Also, you can identify which Native lands you now occupy with this map.

 

Voice-over by Content Creator and Comedian Cameron Geller --TikTok & Instagram: @cameron.geller 

 

Music from Zapsplat.com

Interview - Adam Shoalts and Beyond the Trees

Shauna and Rebecca are excited to chat with Explorer-in-Residence at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and best-selling author, Adam Shoalts.  Rebecca asks questions about Adam's latest title, Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada's Arctic as well as his first book, Alone Against the North: An Expedition into the Unknown.  She has still to read A History of Canada in Ten Maps: Epic Stories of Charting a Mysterious Land. There was some talk of bears... :D

Website: https://adamshoalts.com/

IG: @adam_shoalts

FB: https://www.facebook.com/shoalts

 

Review of Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Shauna and Rebecca wrap up their last review of the 2021 CBC's Canada Reads contenders.  Rebecca makes an announcement and Shauna leads the discussion.  With whom will you agree??

Review of Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

Shauna and Rebecca review another contender for the 2021 CBC’s Canada Reads annual competition. Is it as graphic as some readers have stated on the CBC’s Canada Reads Facebook group?  Is it a book that transports us?  Spoiler alert: read the book, then come back for the discussion.

 

Special thanks to @wearebeautifulwords book club for creating thought-provoking bookmarks that you can purchase to enhance your reading adventure! Buy yours today at https://www.wearebeautifulwords.ca/ 

Review of Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J. Lee

Shauna and Rebecca review the second book on their list for 2021 CBC's Canada Reads, Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J. Lee.  Rebecca makes a comparison between the grandmother in Two Trees with the mother in the graphic novel The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui.

Review of Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi

Shauna and Rebecca review another shortlist book for the 2021 CBC’s Canada Reads annual competition. As a talented baker, Shauna has an affinity for the beautiful descriptions of food, while Rebecca outlines a plotline that she was convinced would play out.

 

Special thanks to @wearebeautifulwords book club for creating thought-provoking bookmarks that you can purchase to enhance your reading adventure! Buy yours today at https://www.wearebeautifulwords.ca/ 

Interview - Roger Mooking, CBC's Canada Reads Defender

Shauna and Rebecca are excited to chat with Roger Mooking, chef, restaurateur, television host, author and award-winning recording artist, who is championing Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi for the 2021 CBC's Canada Reads competition.  They are so touched by Roger's comments on librarians.

Review of The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

Shauna and Rebecca kick off 2021 CBC's Canada Reads with a review of The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk.  Will anyone be surprised that Shauna loved this book?!?

Interview - Morgan Murray and Dirty Birds

Shauna and Rebecca are thrilled to chat with Morgan Murray, author of Dirty Birds, arguably the most creative, inventive farce of 2020-21.  They think you will agree that it should have been on the 2021 CBC's Canada Reads longlist.     

YouTube: https://youtu.be/KZt2HlkvRPY

FB: @morganmurraywrites

Website: http://morganmurray.ca/

 

Larissa, guest reviewer discusses Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Rebecca is excited to have Larissa back to talk about the impact of Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy, which Larissa highly recommended on one of her Instagram stories (@the.bookmom).  During the podcast the two unearth a few gems they hadn't considered until their discussion.

Interview - Andrew Cotter and Olive, Mabel & Me

Shauna and Rebecca began their podcast to talk about Canadian literature and Canadian authors.  However, Rebecca begged Shauna to let her branch out to speak to arguably the hottest author to come out of the pandemic: Andrew Cotter, who is the content creator behind the Olive and Mabel viral videos as well as the author of the wonderfully entertaining Olive, Mabel & Me.