Sing in the Spring!

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This picture book follows Matthew and his Auntie as they take cousin Warren on his first trip to collect sweetgrass, a traditional Mi’kmaw medicine and valued smudging ingredient. Along the way, Warren, as well as readers, learn about the many uses of sweetgrass, how to braid sweetgrass, and how to pick it respectfully. This modern story of a traditional Indigenous practice highlights important knowledge and offers thoughtful insight into a sacred Indigenous tradition.

This children’s book was engaging and explains the process of respectfully picking sweetgrass in a clever way. It is a wonderful way to teach children about this important Indigenous tradition. As an aspiring accomplice, I found that I also learned more through this book. This culturally-rich book centers around connection: connecting to family as well as connecting to the earth. I always love reading about sacred medicine offerings and the level of respect given to mother earth. This book did a great job of showcasing these practices in ways that children will be able to understand.

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous. The book’s gentle yet educational tone is beautifully complemented by the artwork and colours. Each page included relevant pictures and some even included references to Indigenous traditions that weren’t clearly mentioned in this book. For example, in one illustration, I was glad to notice Medicine Wheel colours incorporated; I hope to continue my learning journey and to be able to find more hidden gems of knowledge. I appreciated the blurb included at the end about Sweetgrass and the other sacred medicines: cedar, sage, and ceremonial tobacco. It also stated locations where Sweetgrass can be found and other information.

I believe that anyone can learn from and enjoy this read. I recommend this picture book to those looking for a short, heartfelt, and informative read.

This book follows Augusta, Bette, Gemma, Linda who are lifelong friends living in Montreal. This year, they're turning fifty years old, so they decide to take a trip together to New York to celebrate. But when Bette accidentally switches bags with a mother who's smuggling diamonds for the mob, things start going terribly wrong. This comedic read takes readers along the four friends’ wild journey.

This fast-paced read was very unique and different from other books I’ve read. It was a novel with an engaging plot with humorous characters. The most unique feature was the older age of the protagonists and other characters in this story. I'd never read a novel before where almost all the characters are above 50 years old. I found it creative, and it added an imaginative element to the book. Each page held something new to discover and an abundance of plot twists. At the start of the book, it was a little challenging to keep track of the information provided about the backgrounds of all the characters and other things. However, as the book went on, that wasn’t an issue and I enjoyed this light-hearted read. However, this book had too many explicit words for my liking.

The positive morals in this book included forging strong friendship bonds and being caring. This book also dealt with various serious issues, such as violence, abduction, murder, etc in a light-hearted manner. The descriptive language was also well-crafted. Readers can easily visualize scenarios, and it really helped the characters come alive. On the other hand, this book’s storyline was not realistic at all. It had many wild moments, and although I typically like fiction books that are more realistic, I enjoyed this book. I believe this is my third book by author Lesley Crewe, and I continue to enjoy her writing.

Overall, I found this book to be a fun read that I expect would be especially entertaining for readers around the same age as the protagonists. This book is a perfect read for those looking for an amusing, laugh-out-loud, mystery read.

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Lightning and Blackberries
by Joanne K. Jefferson
Elizabeth Evans lives on a farm with her Dad and her Mom in the Annapolis Valley. Her parents are originally from Boston but Elizabeth was born in Nova Scotia. Elizabeth’s gaol is to take over the farm when she gets older but her mom wants her to move back to Boston, go to school and find a nice husband to marry. One day Elizabeth gets lost in the woods during a thunderstorm. She stumbles across a secret cabin in the middle of the woods and rushes to it for shelter from the storm. To her surprise she finds a girl her age who speaks French and her name is Marie Madeline. Marie Madeline’s father storms into the room and scolds her in French and kicks Elizabeth out. After finally reaching home Elizabeth can’t stop thinking about Marie Madeline and why her father was so upset that she was there. Elizabeth spends all of her free time in the woods trying to find her new friend and their house. One day while picking blackberries Elizabeth finally come across Marie Madeline. The girls decided to keep their friendship a secret and find a beech tree hidden deep in the woods where they will meet and leave gifts for each other. The girls learn each others languages and as their friendship blossoms Marie Madeline explains to Elizabeth why her and her dad are hiding in the woods. This flips Elizabeth’s world upside down and she is now debating whether she should move to Boston.
I found this book difficult to read. I found there was not enough detail explaining some of the events that happened in the book. I also found reading the French parts of the book difficult. I am just learning to speak French so this was tricky but for someone who has no French background this would be challenging. I rate this book 2/5.