“Butter Tart Island” is a middle-grade novel written by Hope Dalvay. It is a diary of 12-year-old Jane S. Smith, written on an old laptop she named Clunky during the winter of 2015 when snowstorms happened often and caused many power outages. On Christmas Eve, she throws a “Dart of Destiny’ at a map of Canada, determining the location of her family’s next home. It landed on Fare Thee Well, Prince Edward Island. While her parents stayed behind to sell the house, Jane and her brother Jude went to their new home to get settled in.

Since the weather was dreadful at her new home, Jane started a little activity of making a snowball and placing it in the freezer every time a storm happened. As she adjusts to her new school, she gets assigned a pen pal named Random Radcliff, who was from Butter Tart Island. As they exchange information and chatter, Radcliffe has the curiosity to guess what the “S” stood for in Jane’s middle name. We follow Jane’s updated life on the island and how she interacts with the new changes.

This was an excellent book to read during my downtime. Throughout the book, there were many interesting facts about Prince Edward Island I was not even aware of even though I had visited there several times. It is also a light read, which has a plot that you could come back to whenever you wanted and felt no rush to. For me, it was a great nighttime read before bed because it was not heavy at all but provided all the plot and detail to keep you wanting to read it.

This book was also different for me because it mentions many “old things," like music from the eighties and items they used during that time, which I find fascinating. There were unique characters as well with wonderful names like Zarlie, which I found so special and out of the blue. I also loved how this book brought back memories of when I visited the island during the winter and it was snowing heavily on the way there. It was breathtaking, and the snow wasn’t full of pellets but more so of soft, thick pillows.

I totally recommend this book, as it contains many wonderful messages anyone could use and apply in their lives, and I would think anyone would enjoy reading it. The main theme is to be kind, because it will eventually come back to you.

Book: Witchcraft
Author: Clary Croft
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Witchcraft by Clary Croft is a really good Halloween read, it goes into the history of witchcraft in the Maritime Provinces. As a reader we learn about everything from what witches looked like to how they cast different spells to what you should do if you were the person the witch cast the spell on.

Lately, I have been really into learning about folklore and especially witches and through reading this book I learned about a lot of different folklore stories! I really enjoyed reading about something I am currently learning about in school!

By far, my favourite part was reading all of the different true accounts of stories that actually happened!

I rate it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

Haunted Harbours by Steve Vernon is a collection of 21 ghost stories based on legends and historical stories from across Nova Scotia. The stories range from mysterious spirits and haunted ships to strange creatures and unexplained events. What makes the book especially interesting is that the stories are connected to real places in Nova Scotia, making the legends feel much closer and more believable.

One of the strongest parts of the book is Vernon’s storytelling. Rather than simply listing facts about each legend, he tells the stories in a conversational way that feels almost like listening to someone tell a ghost story around a campfire. The descriptions create an eerie atmosphere while also showing the history and character of Nova Scotia.

Even though ghost stories aren’t my cup of tea, Haunted Harbours is an enjoyable collection for anyone interested in Nova Scotia, local history, or ghost stories. Vernon does a good job of turning old legends into entertaining stories while preserving their connection to the province. It is especially interesting because it shows that Nova Scotia’s history is filled with stories that are just as mysterious as they are memorable.

Book: Cammie’s Family Secret
By Laura Best
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Cammie’s Family Secret by Laura best is by far my favourite book I have read all year! This book follows our main character Cammie Turple who is a young girl who just so happens to be blind, she goes on to figure out who her real family is. In Laura Best’s previous books we see Cammie grow to be more independent.

I really loved all of Laura Best’s books and this one was definitely not the exception. I liked that even though Cammie has a disability this book is not just about her disability, it’s about her ability to problem solve!

My favourite part was when Cammie was looking for her aunt’s scrapbook.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

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