Little Voice by Ruby Slipperjack

This is the heartwarming story of 10 year old Ray and her Grandmother. Ever since her father died when she was 8, Ray has withdrawn into herself. She feels as though she doesn't belong in her community nor within her family.

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She goes further north to live with a semi-traditional way of life with her Ojibwa grandmother. Her grandmother is a medicine woman of few words. Through her silence she teaches Ray to looks within herself for the answers she doesn't even know she is seeking.

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I really enjoyed the quiet, comfortable ways of the grandmother. She seemed so inviting.

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Near the end of the book, grandmother makes a long speech to Ray which I found very thought provoking, "I asked my hands what they did this winter. How did I make this world a better place for someone? I remember how my hands looked when I was a child, then when I was a young woman, when I had my children, and on and on through the years of my life. I remember and cherish the memories. I thank the Creator for all that and then I think of the days to come, and of you." Ms. Slipperjack is asking the reader to look at their life, to question whether they are the person they want to be now and who they want to be in the future.

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This book is part of a series "In the Same Boat" by Coteau Books that is aimed at Canadian children not of French or English Heritage. Other books in this series include:

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The Water of Possibility by Hiromi Goto

Lost in Sierra by Diana Vazquez

I have been in Danger by Cheryl Foggo

Andrei and the Snow Walker by Larry Warwaruk

Jason and the Wonder Horn by Linda Hutsell-Manning

This is my 13th book by a Canadian First Nations Author for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge.

Needlework Tuesday

It was a good week in the stitching department. Along with the time spent viewing the lovely quilts on Amy's 'Online Quilt Festival' I had some progress on my projects.

The first pic shows the block that I made for last evening for the meeting of my local guild. It's called 'Courthouse Steps'. The centre is a 3 1/2 inch square and the logs were cut 2 inches wide. the finished block is 12 inches.

There were 5 blocks submitted for the lottery. My name was drawn, but since I won last month, I asked them to draw again and let another win.

Work on the bird quilt is coming along. I stuck my hand in the bag and pulled out the Pheasant block. It was mostly pieced, so I did the final seam joining the tail section to the bird. It still needed feet. Those are made from ultra suede. I tried a few methods of transferring the cutting lines to the suede. scribbling chalk on the underneath of the pattern and then tracing the lines left a big mess. Finally I made another copy of the pattern, pinned it to the top of the suede and using contrast thread I sewed along the outside edge of the lines. Then I cut along the stitching, removed the extra threads, and voila, really neat feet. I even put the eye on the bird. In fact I got so carried away that all three blocks I've done now have eyes. yippee.

5 additional blocks were submitted by members of my local guild (these are from the hand-piecing class that we held in February). There are a few more coming, so looks like we'll have about 20 of them for our community project next year.

Come back next week to see which bird block I'm working on.

The Brat by Lynsay Sands

I hadn't planned on doing a review for this book and thus didn't make any notes of names or locations. I couldn't resist Googling the author and found out she is Canadian and appears to live near here in London, Ontario (about 100 km to the West). So I need to do a review so I can add her to my total for the Canadian Book Challenge.

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Historical romances are my fav, specially if the guys wear kilts. When I saw this at a recent Bookcrossing meeting I had to bring it home.

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It is set during the reign of King Edward III of England. Lady Murie is his orphaned Goddaughter. The Queen has decided she must marry but will her bratty behaviour over the past years keep her from finding a husband?

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This was a fun read even though there are no kilts. Its kinda like eating popcorn, there really isn't much there, but you keep putting you hand back in the bowl hoping for more. I do get something from reading the romances. In every one of them there is the message that in any relationship you have to keep the lines of communication open.

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The author Lynsay Sands has several lines of books including some sort of Vampire type series. That might be fun to check out.

The Inuit Thought of It by Alootook Ipellie

This is a very cool children's book. It goes step by step through the many innovations that the Inuit have developed to enable them to thrive in one of the World's most inhospitable climates.

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From dog sleds, dog boots, animal skin kayaks, igloos, snow goggles and many more, the Inuit have met the challenge to survive. The books is loaded with full colour illustrations and photos. There is enough information to keep parents reading with their children. It is sure to prompt comparisons to many of the items that we use everyday in the winter months without even realizing their history.

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Author Alootook Ipellie's website.

Wyrmhole by Jay Caselberg

In January I wrote a review of "Metal Sky" also by Jay Caselberg. Turned out that was the second book in the series. Was out shopping last weekend and came across "Wyrmhole" which is the first, so had to bring it home with me.

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This book fills in more of Jack Stein's history and how he became a Psychic Investigator and how Billie came to be his ward.

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Mr. Caselberg also describes more about the Locality and how it became home to thousands of people. Rather a neat concept, build a self contained system and the people will come. Never did tell me where the food comes from. As the city travels across the landscape it mines the materials it needs and builds 'new' at the leading end. At the same time, the tail end decays and is re-processed to help with the new constructions.

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Mr. Caselberg has the novel "Binary" posted on his website for free reading, though you are welcome to make a donation.

Needlework Tuesday

I finished the Loon block. It still needs the eye to be embroidered. I made the black boarder 1/4 inch larger than the instruction said as the layout sketch and the numbers didn't agree. I'll figure that one out later. This one was much easier than the hummingbird. I pinned the points at the neck that needed to match and they turned out pretty good. The reflection is kinda neat.

I got a bit more hand quilting done this week and will continue to work on the boarders before moving back into the middle. I think I spent too much time over at Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival checking out the over 400 submissions. Very inspiring, makes me want to finish something.

I'll be back next week with another bird block.

the ORIGIN of SPECIES by Nino Ricci

I was set to like this book, in fact I expected to really like this book. I thought I had good reasons to love it. Previously I had read "Lives of the Saints" Mr. Ricci's debut novel and loved it. The cover picture of 'Origins' still speaks to me, the colours(the clouds at the top of the cover should be more blue), the image of the blue footed booby grabbed me the instant I saw it, even the fake coffee rings on the front and back covers. The clincher was knowing that Alex, the main character, would travel to the Galapagos islands, to me a mysterious and enchanting location. Whats not to love?

Unfortunately it didn't come together for me. I followed Alex Fratarcangeli as he worked to complete the requirements for his PhD in Interdisciplinary studies (linking literary theory with evolutionary biology) at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. It is the day after the disaster at Chernobyl and Alex meets his neighbour Ester. She is also a student at Concordia as well as living with Multiple Sclerosis. There is an attraction between these two right from the start. Its not sexual, possibly maternal, Alex doesn't give a thought but immediately comes to her rescue that first day.

I was talking with my sister about this book. She hasn't read it, but has read several others by Mr. Ricci. We were talking about the 'evolutionary aspects of this literary work' kind of like the thesis that Alex is writing. From an evolutionary aspect, a species seeks to reproduce so that their genes continue. Perhaps its in his subconscious, but that's what Alex is seeking to do. Felix offers him the possibility of a relationship, but Alex chooses not to follow-up on that. No chance of reproducing.

Alex is involved with a number of females in the story. First there is Liz, they do manage to reproduce, but there is no live offspring, so Liz is out as a mate. Then he does get together with Amanda, but turns out to be not suitable as a long term mate. He meets Ester and she gets along well with Alex, and there is a mutual attraction. Unfortunately she has a terminal illness, so offspring are not likely. He also has an infatuation with Maria, but she doesn't reciprocate and then leaves.

Alex is back to Ingrid. They have a history that Alex seems to keep trying to avoid/ignore. She is biologically the best mate since they have already successfully reproduced, hence their son Per. It became obvious to me that evolutionary biology was trying to tell Alex to get his act together and go back to Ingrid and take care of his offspring.

My sister is looking forward to getting my book so she can figure out for herself whats going on in this book.