READING Nova Scotia

150 Books of Influence Editor: Laura Emery Editor: Cynthia Lelliott Production Assistant: Dana Thomas Graphic Designer: Gwen North

Cover photo and Halifax Central Library exterior: Len Wagg Below (left to right):Truro Library, formerly the Provincial Normal College for Training Teachers, 1878–1961: Norma Johnson-MacGregor Photos of Halifax Central Library interiors: Adam Mørk Reading Nova Scotia 150 Books of Influence

A province-wide library project of the Nova Scotia Library Association and Nova Scotia’s nine Regional Public Library systems in honour of the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

The 150 Books of Influence Project Committee recognizes the support of the Province of Nova Scotia. We are pleased to work in partnership with the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage to develop and promote our cultural resources for all Nova Scotians.

Final publication date November 2017.

Books are our finest calling card to the world. The stories they share travel far and wide, and contribute greatly to our global presence. Books have the power to profoundly express the complex and rich cultural life that makes Nova Scotia a place people want to visit, live, work and play.

This year, the 150th Anniversary of Confederation provided Public Libraries across the province with a unique opportunity to involve Nova Scotians in a celebration of our literary heritage. The value of public engagement in the 150 Books of Influence project is demonstrated by the astonishing breadth and quality of titles listed within. The booklist showcases the diversity and creativity of authors, both past and present, who have called Nova Scotia home.

The 150 Books of Influence is both a celebration of our historic creativity and a signal of the progress Nova Scotia has made in appreciating the stories of our diverse communities. Along with literary award winners included on the list are landmark publications promoting greater understanding of Mi’kmaw culture, award-winning Acadian literature, renowned works by and about African Nova Scotians, and must-reads for Gaelic speakers. The list also illustrates the excellent work of Public Libraries in cultural stewardship, ensuring public awareness and access to Nova Scotia’s literary heritage.

Moving forward, actions in Nova Scotia’s Culture Action Plan: Creativity and Community, are committed to strengthening relationships between authors, publishers, Public Libraries and readers. This is key to creating a positive cultural environment where storytelling and writers can thrive, and our stories can reach beyond our shores.

Congratulations to all those involved with the project. I am confident that Nova Scotians, and visitors from around the world, will enjoy these books for years to come.

Honourable Leo Glavine, Minister Communities, Culture & Heritage Introduction

he 150 Books of Influence project was borne out of a desire by In late August 2017, all nominated books were considered by a Nova Scotia’s Public Libraries to participate in Canada’s 150th committee of librarians. With the criteria that the author be Nova Tanniversary of Confederation by celebrating the Province’s Scotian or that the books have a strong focus on Nova Scotia, there literary and reading history. To be a worthy legacy, this project were far too many wonderful titles to include them all in the booklist. needed to draw upon the unique knowledge that Public Library staff Nevertheless, after much debate, the 150 Books of Influence were have garnered from years of serving their communities, and leverage determined. the special relationship between the Library and its users. Ultimately The 150 books listed on the following pages are organized it became clear that the goal of the project would be to create a alphabetically by title, and the intended audience is identified for booklist, which would capture the books that live in the hearts of each entry. The list includes works for all ages — children, teen and Nova Scotia’s readers. The books would be significant in that they adult. Finally, included are descriptions and comments submitted would help define the Nova Scotia experience for the reader. by readers or if those were not available, comments generated To realize the project’s goal, several unique partnerships were by Library staff. To protect privacy, individuals’ names are not formed. The Nova Scotia Library Association (NSLA) took a lead included. Instead, sources are identified as “Reader” or “Librarian.” role, working with Public Library Regions and the Library Boards When neither personalized description was available, excerpted Association of Nova Scotia (LBANS). To publicize the project and publishers’ information is included, and these entries are identified ensure its success, NSLA reached out to the Atlantic Provinces as such. Library Association (APLA) and One Book Nova Scotia, and formed The aim of this project was to create a true record of social key partnerships. The 150 Books of Influence Project Committee communication about reading. There are numerous worthy books gratefully acknowledges and thanks all of the project partners. missing from the list, but the hope is that it can serve as the departure During the Summer of 2017, hundreds of books were nominated by point for lively debates about Nova Scotian books and authors. the public. In addition, Library staff put forward titles to ensure that the Although reading is a quiet activity, the voices of the readers and list would be inclusive and representative of the Nova Scotian books Library staff in the following pages are passionate. It is clear that that have been continually requested for many years. Project committee Nova Scotia’s books matter. members also reached out to community and cultural groups to gather their input, and contacted many Nova Scotia publishers for their assistance. Special thanks to Nimbus Publishing for their support of the Thank you. project, and for providing several book cover images.

The 150 Books of Influence Project Committee:

Lesley Brann, Colchester-East Hants Public Library Erin Phillips, Cape Breton Regional Library Denise Corey, Cumberland Public Libraries Christina Pottie, South Shore Public Libraries Laura Emery, Eastern Counties Regional Library Angela Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library Kristel Fleuren-Hunter, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library Trecia Schell, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library Cynthia Gatto, Halifax Public Libraries Suzanne van den Hoogen, Atlantic Provinces Library Association (Past President) Joanne Head, Western Counties Regional Library Catherine Kelly, Nova Scotia Provincial Library Cynthia Lelliott, Nova Scotia Library Association (President)

6 READING NOVA SCOTIA Les Acadiens de la Nouvelle-Écosse Alphonse Deveau and Sally Ross Premier ouvrage portant exclusivement sur le sujet, Les Acadiens de la Nouvelle- Ècosse, hier et aujourd’hui trace un portrait à la fois historique et actuel de la culture acadienne de la Nouvelle-Ècosse. Si l’on connaît bien le premier siècle et demi d’existence de l’Acadie néo- écossaise, on en savait beaucoup moins sur le retour des déportés dans leur terre natale et leur difficile réadaptation aux nouvelles conditions de vie. Cette étude vient combler ce vide. Ainsi, elle retrace Abigail’s Wish les grandes lignes du développement After Swissair Gloria Ann Wesley and des sept régions acadiennes d’après la Budge Wilson Richard Rudnicki (Illustrator) Déportation et expose les particularités A moving and beautiful book of poetry qui les unissent. Elle met aussi en lumière This children’s book is the first picture from one of Nova Scotia’s finest authors. les choix et les défis qui se sont posés book to be set in historic Birchtown, Nova For all those still affected by the tragedy aux Acadiens de la Nouvelle-Écosse au Scotia. It gives young readers valuable of Swissair Flight 111, and for all people cours du 20e siècle, particulièrement insights into Black Loyalist life in 1783, and who may not know the harrowing and yet depuis les années 1960. L’édition originale teaches them that poverty should not keep life-affirming details of the event, and for all anglaise de cette étude a mérité le City children from dreaming. Moving towards people who enjoy a heart-thumping and of Dartmouth Book Award et le Evelyn inclusiveness and diversity in Nova Scotia heart-opening read, I highly recommend Richardson Memorial Literary Award. will mean greater recognition, acceptance After Swissair by Order of Canada of and celebration of books outside the Publisher recipient, Budge Wilson. Adult Nonfiction prevailing stream of consciousness. Reader Adult Poetry Reader Children’s Fiction

The Age of Sail: Master Shipbuilders of the Maritimes Stanley T. Spicer This book focuses on the story of the launching of 26,000 ships in an 80-year span — a time of wealth and adventures, dangers and daring. This time greatly affected the coastal regions of the Maritimes. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

Did you 400 ebooks published by Atlantic publishers are available know? from Nova Scotia Public Libraries.

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 7 Alma Georgette LeBlanc Les effets de la Crise économique de 1929 et de la Seconde Guerre mondiale sur une petite communauté rurale sont décrits à travers les gestes quotidiens de cette femme qui se transforme en poème. Écrit en langue acadienne de la Baie Sainte-Marie, en Nouvelle-Écosse, ce premier recueil exceptionnel démontre un savoir-faire d’une très grande finesse, une profonde analyse des sentiments humains et un respect absolu pour les mots. Publisher Adult Poetry And I Alone Escaped to Tell You As a’ Bhràighe / Beyond the Sylvia D. Hamilton Braes: The Gaelic Songs of Allan The settlement of African peoples in the Ridge MacDonald, 1794–1868 Nova Scotia is a richly layered story Effie Rankin encompassing many waves of settlement Allan the Ridge was a very important early and diverse circumstances, from captives bard in Cape Breton from the Mabou area, to freedom runners who sailed north and Effie’s own history in Nova Scotia is from the United States with hopes of quite fascinating—she was recruited to establishing a new life. The poems in And teach in Cape Breton as a native Gaelic I Alone Escaped to Tell You endeavour to speaker from Scotland in the 1970s. give these historical events a human voice, Librarian blending documentary material, memory, Adult Nonfiction experience and imagination to evoke the lives of these early Black Nova Scotians and of the generations that followed. This collection is a moving meditation on the place of African-descended people in the Canadian story and on the threads connecting all of us to the African diaspora. Publisher Adult Poetry

An Audience of Chairs middle-aged woman dealing with a mental The grocery store scene in Baddeck is Joan Clark illness, and how society still isn’t very an all-time favourite for humour while the Clark’s characters get under the skin and accepting. I read this book 11 years ago, camping trip breaks my heart. don’t leave. Moranna is no different — you and was mad at myself for not reading it as Reader laugh with her, cry with her, rage with her, soon as it came out (I read the book when Adult Fiction and then you rage against her decisions. it was a year old), and it is more fresh than A great profile of what it is like to be a some of what I read earlier this month.

8 READING NOVA SCOTIA Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia W. Roy Mackenzie Mackenzie was one of the earliest and most prominent folklore scholars to collect songs in Nova Scotia. His work inspired Helen Creighton’s career. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

Baby’s Lullaby The August Gales: The Tragic Jill Barber and Hilda Rose (Illustrator) Loss of Fishing Schooners in the North Atlantic, 1926 and 1927 Barber is a Canadian singer/songwriter Gerald Hallowell and winner of numerous East Coast Music Awards. This board book is based Tells of the lives of many fishermen of on a lullaby written for the Read to Me! Lunenburg County — their struggles and Program, and has been distributed to suffering — lives lost in the gales of August. many babies born in Nova Scotia via Read Beautifully written and researched — a to Me! bags. testament to all who fished our waters. Librarian Reader Children’s Fiction Adult Nonfiction

Barometer Rising “Everyone needs a refuge, a place where they can go when home feels Hugh MacLennan claustrophobic and the society of others feels abrasive. For me, that place is the Although a work of fiction, it gives a great library. No matter how small it is, it never seems that way, for it’s filled with doors account of Halifax during World War I that open into other vast rooms, other realms, and with amusing, intelligent, and the days leading up to, and after, the fascinating friends that you can pick up or put down at will and they won’t be Halifax Explosion. I first read this book as a offended at all. teen, and it’s one of those rare books that I’ve read over and over again! Some of my earliest memories are of village libraries: tearing into low shelves of children’s books to find the treasures I hadn’t already read, peering up at the Reader mysterious tall stacks of books where the grown-ups stood to browse hungrily - Adult Fiction and forget that we kids were even there. That’s when I first knew that books had power, and I wanted a piece of it. I wanted to write books.”

—Gary Blackwood

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 9 Beyond the Atlantic Roar: A Study of the Nova Scotia Scots D. Campbell and R.A. MacLean Published in 1974, this study of Nova Scotian Scottish immigrants can well be regarded as a companion text to the earlier classic Highland Settler by Charles Dunn. Well researched by the editors, D. Campbell and R.A. MacLean, it contains chapters on Scottish emigration and settlement, followed by detailed information on the inevitable changes that took place thereafter, especially in education, religion and politics. As such, this book is invaluable to researchers and ordinary readers alike; graphs and statistics Be a Wilderness Detective Beautiful Joe provide a complex picture of the lives of Peggy Kochanoff Margaret Marshall Saunders many Scots and their descendants who This is the first book in a series of nature Saunders, who grew up in Berwick, Nova settled in Nova Scotia over a period of detective books that encourage children Scotia, wrote this story about a dog named close to 200 years. to go outside and understand their Joe after being inspired by the true story of Reader surroundings. With important information an abused dog in Ontario. Initially winning Adult Nonfiction about the animals they might find and how a prize from the American Humane to keep safe when around them, this book Education Society, Beautiful Joe went on encourages a love for nature and a curiosity to become the first Canadian book to sell necessary for healthy development. more than one million copies, and it has Reader helped create awareness about animal Children’s nonFiction cruelty. Librarian Children’s Fiction

Bho na H-Innse Gall as Iomallaiche / From the Farthest Hebrides “Wherever I go, I know I’ll feel at Donald A. Fergusson home in the local library.” This book is an excellent distillation of the poetic culture of the Outer Hebrides, as —Angus MacCaull imported, treasured, and enlarged upon by the early Gaelic settlers of Nova Scotia and their descendants. The editing and presentation are scholarly and attractive. Reader Adult Nonfiction

10 READING NOVA SCOTIA Big White Knuckles Birds of Nova Scotia The Birth House Brian Tucker Robie W. Tufts Ami McKay A coming-of-age story set in a mining Colour illustrations and bird information for I have read this book several times and town in Cape Breton County. Honest birders and non-birders to identify all the lent it to numerous friends. It draws me and humorous. Also a good example of species of birds found in Nova Scotia. in every time, back to a time and place working class culture and values. Librarian in Nova Scotia when things were rapidly Reader Adult Nonfiction changing for women, when childbirth and Teen Fiction family were a woman’s “lot in life.” Their struggles were real, and this book does a fantastic job of describing their “trials and tribulations.” Reader Adult Fiction

The Bishop’s Man Linden MacIntyre The island of Cape Breton is another character in the book, and I relate so well with Duncan’s rural life experience. It’s an important and far-reaching story. Reader Adult Fiction

Did you know? One-third of Nova Scotians are active Public Library users.

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 11 A Bluenose Twelve Days of Christmas The Book of Negroes Bluenose Ghosts Bruce Nunn and Lawrence Hill Helen Creighton Doretta Groenendyk (Illustrator) A powerful and eloquent book that tells an Helen Creighton is considered to be Why not? It’s perfect. The Twelve days of important story of our past. Canada’s First Lady of Folklore. She Christmas all tied into our historically rich collected thousands of songs and stories and beautiful province of Nova Scotia. So Librarian Adult Fiction from each founding Maritime culture the question really isn’t why should it be during her lifetime including “Farewell included, it’s why shouldn’t it be included! to Nova Scotia,” long considered to be Reader the Province’s unofficial anthem, as just Children’s Fiction about every Nova Scotian can sing along wherever it pops up in music venues. This past spring of 2017, Dr. Creighton Borrowed Beauty received the Folk Alliance International Maxine Tynes Lifetime Achievement Award. Bluenose Maxine Tynes’ first book of poetry, Borrowed Beauty was published in 1987 to critical acclaim. Ghosts has inspired visual artists, It received the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Award. The book is an anthology of her many performance artists, musicians, and even different poetical voices. In the opening piece, Tynes provides a striking description of her playwrights. To say that Bluenose Ghosts is work: “My poems, my poetry, are like mirrors reflecting back in great or subtle beams and one of Nova Scotia’s most beloved books shafts of light and words and images that are womanly and Black and brown and tan and full is an understatement. of the joy and pride in femaleness and in Black womanhood that I am.” Reader Adult Nonfiction Publisher Adult Poetry

Did you 68 Nova Scotia libraries are found in registered Canadian know? Historic Places.

12 READING NOVA SCOTIA Butterbox Babies: Baby Sales, Baby Deaths Bette Cahill An important look at one of the most high- profile scandals in Nova Scotia history. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

A Cape Breton Ceilidh Allister MacGillivray and Beverly MacGillivray This innovative book basically consists of edited interviews with prominent Cape Brìgh an Òrain / A Story in Every Burnley “Rocky” Jones Breton step-dancers or their descendants. Song: The Songs and Tales of Revolutionary: An Autobiography It remains one of the very few books Lauchie MacLellan Burnley “Rocky” Jones and devoted to traditional dance (although Lauchie MacLellan and James W. St.G. Walker that has been changing of late), and offers primary source material (interviews) in an John Shaw (Translator and Editor) “The life, work and activism of Rocky accessible and engaging manner. It also Jones are central to African-Canadian A penetrating look at the life and work of a includes some of the earliest information history and the civil rights movement in twentieth-century Gaelic singer-storyteller about piano accompanists. from Nova Scotia, Brìgh an Òrain situates Canada. Canadians lost a great soul, with the inherited art of a fourth-generation the recent death of Rocky Jones, but his Librarian Adult Nonfiction Canadian Gael in its biographical, social, autobiography — co-written by James and historical contexts. It includes the Walker, a close friend of Rocky Jones and words, music, and English translations one of our foremost writers about Black for the songs plus an autobiography told history in Canada — is a wonderful gift in Lauchie MacLellan’s usual entertaining to the entire country. Revolutionary will style. soon be required reading for any person who seeks to understand the civil rights Publisher Adult Nonfiction movement in Canada.” — Lawrence Hill …Jones was tirelessly dedicated to student movements, peace activism, Black Power, anti-racism, women’s liberation and human rights reform. He...brought Did you know? the Black Panthers to Canada, taught at Dalhousie and founded his own law firm. The first known library in Canada was in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, This autobiography…illuminates the Black in 1606. The library belonged to experience in Nova Scotia. Marc Lescarbot. Publisher —Canadian­ Encyclopedia Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 13 Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World Janet E. Cameron Set in the Annapolis Valley in 1987, 17-year- old Stephen Shulevitz must come to terms with being gay and falling in love with his best friend. While the general coming of age theme is not unique, the rural Nova Scotia setting makes this book a must for this list. This book appeals to both a youth and an adult audience. Reader adult Fiction

Captain Salvation Frederick William Wallace The Channel Shore Captain Salvation is a little-known novel Charles Bruce of Maritimers at sea. It is an exciting tale It defines the culture, the history, the of a young reprobate who works his way people of eastern Nova Scotia. As up from able seaman to mate, skipper, summarized by Thomas H. Raddall, “You and then a ship-owner. His strength and don’t read this book. You live it.” intelligence pull him through the violent Reader life aboard ship. Finally, shipwrecked off Adult Fiction Cape Horn, he has to face his demons. Did you know? Captain Salvation was purchased by The Margaret and John Savage the Hearst Corporation and released as First Book Award, named after the a silent film in 1927, directed by John S. former Nova Scotia Premier and his Robertson. wife, recognizes the best first book by an Atlantic writer. Librarian Adult Fiction

Clay Pots and Bones: Poems Lindsay Marshall The poetry of Clay Pots and Bones is Lindsay Marshall’s way of telling stories, of speaking with others about what things that matter to him. His heritage. His people. His life as a Mi’kmaw. For the reader, Clay Pots and Bones is a colourful journey from early days, when the People of the Dawn understood, interacted with and roamed the land freely, to the turbulent present and the uncertain future where Marshall envisions a rebirth of the Mi’kmaq. Publisher Adult Poetry

14 READING NOVA SCOTIA The Clockmaker The Company Store: Cornwallis: The Violent Thomas Chandler Haliburton J.B. McLachlan and the Cape Birth of Halifax This story is narrated by an English Breton Coal Miners, 1900–1925 Jon Tattrie John Mellor gentleman known only as “The Squire,” This book details the history of early Halifax who is making a tour of the colony on This book sheds light on the terrible and Edward Cornwallis. An important read horseback in 1836. Throughout the book circumstances of the early coal miners in for anyone interested in how Halifax came Sam Slick pontificates on any and all Cape Breton. to be, and colonization in Nova Scotia. problems encountered by Nova Scotians. Reader Reader It is disturbing, as on full display are Adult Nonfiction Adult Nonfiction attitudes of prejudice and discrimination, violence toward women, acceptance of slavery, and lack of universal suffrage that were accepted at the time of writing. Librarian Adult Fiction

The Deception of Livvy Higgs 2016 Selection Donna Morrissey For two traumatic days, Livvy Higgs is besieged by a series of small heart attacks while the ghost of her younger self leads her back through a past devastated by lies and secrets. The story opens in Halifax in 2009, travels back to the French Shore of Newfoundland during the mid-thirties and the heyday of the Maritime shipping industry, makes its way to war torn Halifax during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II, then leaps ahead to the bedside of the elder Livvy…Tending to Livvy during her illness is her young next-door neighbour, Gen, a single mother, social-work student, and part-time drug dealer. Overnight, a violent scene embroils the two in each other’s lives in a manner that will entwine them forever. In The Deception of Livvy Higgs, the inimitable Morrissey has written a powerful tale, the Stone Angel of the East Coast. Publisher Adult Fiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 15 The Education of Everett Richardson: The Nova Scotia Fishermen’s Strike, 1970–71 Silver Donald Cameron Named as one of Atlantic Canada’s 100 Greatest Books, Cameron writes with flair and style, and this short, engaging text amuses as well as educates. This is essential reading regarding workers’ rights, the Labour Movement, the Atlantic fishing industry, and the socio-economic realities of rural Nova Scotia. Reader Adult Nonfiction

A Dune Adrift: The Strange L’été aux puits secs Origins and Curious History Germaine Comeau of Sable Island Une sècheresse bouscule soudainement la Marq De Villiers and Sheila Hirtle tranquillité quotidienne d’une jeune famille If you are interested in the natural world du sud-ouest de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Le and particularly, some of its natural destin de Janice, de Pierre et des gens oddities, here is a good book for you de leur entourage prend forme sur le fil to read. This is an easy-to-read, well- tranchant d’une tension minutieusement documented book about a naturally contrôlée…Pointés vers l’ouest, le vent strange island off the coast of Nova Scotia. dans le visage, Pierre et Janice aperçurent, derrière la fumée noire du dépotoir, une Librarian Adult Nonfiction fumée grise, plus propre, plus dense, qui s’élevait plus haut. — J’me demande quoi ce qui brule, dit Pierre en ralentissant le moteur du bateau aux environs de la Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie cloche de l’Anse qui tintait lourdement Henry Wadsworth Longfellow malgré le calme de l’eau. — C’est pas An epic poem illustrating the day-to-day life of Acadians juste le dépotoir. — Non, ça se trouve en during the deportation. Lots of children today don’t arrière. C’était difficile, de l’angle où ils se know the details of how the English forcibly evicted trouvaient, d’estimer la perspective exacte. French settlers off their land and families were separated — C’est peut-être rien, dit Janice. Mais ils or torn apart. A tragic and important part of our history. sentaient bien, tous les deux, que la sèche- Reader resse de l’été ajoutait à la phrase de Janice Adult Poetry une lourdeur d’inquiétude. Et soudain, tout éclata. Publisher Adult Fiction

16 READING NOVA SCOTIA Évangéline: Récits pour Fall on Your Knees Famhair: Agus Dàin Ghàidhlig jeunes lecteurs Ann-Marie MacDonald Eile / Giant: And Other Hélène Boudreau and This tale of a family from Cape Breton Gaelic Poems Patsy MacKinnon (Illustrator) examines secrets, racism, birth, death, Lewis MacKinnon Ce livre permet à nos jeunes lecteurs et attempted murder, religion, war, love, This is MacKinnon’s first collection of lectrices acadien de mieux se familiariser and miracles in the story of four sisters. Gaelic poetry. The poems contributed to avec une culture mourante. L’auteure, Following the events in the first half of the the decision to award him with the Scottish Hélène Boudreau, a su bien captivé 20th century, the fiction ranges from heart- Bardic Crown, making him the first non- l’histoire classique d’amour d’Évangéline breaking and tragic to hilariously funny. Scottish official bard (poet laureate) of the et Gabriel. Que de mieux que d’asseoir I think most Canadians can relate to the Royal National Mòd. experiences and intimate portrayals of the avec son enfant et partager cette belle Librarian histoire historique! Ce livre est un vrai richly developed characters and familial Adult poetry cadeau, une vraie perle! bonds. Reader Reader Children’s Fiction Adult Fiction

The First Stone Don Aker In this award-winning novel, Reef, who is grieving and angry, throws a stone from an overpass and changes not only his own life, but also that of the driver of the car he hits. Aker is a popular high school teacher, who understands the teens he writes about in a way that makes his writing, and this book in particular, stand out and be noticed. Librarian Teen Fiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 17 The “Foreign Protestants” and Forest Life in Acadie: Sketches of the Settlement of Nova Scotia: Sport and Natural History in the The History of a Piece of Arrested Lower Provinces of the Canadian British Colonial Policy in the Dominion Eighteenth Century Campbell Hardy Winthrop Pickard Bell The author was a British Military officer This extremely well-researched book stationed in Halifax for over 15 years. recounts the European settlement of Nova Published in 1869, the book recounts Scotia and in particular, Lunenburg County hunting trips and adventures Hardy in the 1750s. It gives a detailed account experienced travelling through the forests of how they got here and the day-to-day of Nova Scotia with local Mi’kmaq as his conditions they suffered in order to survive guides. His stories and drawings began and thrive. The great strength of the book a long tradition of Nova Scotia as an is the historical record of the everyday outdoor-experience tourist destination. experience of settlers. His work is also important because it Librarian helped to make the Mi’kmaq famous for Adult Nonfiction A Forest for Calum their expertise in hunting, fishing and Frank Macdonald forest life. As someone who wasn’t born in Nova Librarian Scotia, I loved that this book gave me the Adult Nonfiction context for Nova Scotians’ attachment to their Gaelic roots. I couldn’t put down this story that danced me through the lives of people rooted in a Gaelic culture, which they were at risk of losing. And so many of the themes of growing up in small towns resonated: the closeness of family; the ability of hard-working people to let go and love the moment; the love of music that is bred into Nova Scotians. The art of the Nova Scotian storyteller is fully realized in Macdonald’s work. Reader Adult Fiction

Friends with Boys Faith Erin Hicks Hicks writes consistently great, funny, and thought-provoking material. In Friends with Boys she gives the reader a semi-autobiographical novel about a girl who was homeschooled until high school. It explores family relationships, bullying, and fitting in. It also features a musical about zombies and a ghost. Although set in a fictional town, plenty of the landmarks are recognizably Halifax. Reader Teen Graphic Novel

18 READING NOVA SCOTIA Geographique et Historique des Costes de L’Amerique Septentrionale: Avec l’Histoire naturelle du Païs Nicolas Denys Although it covers a lot of territory, this is one of the earliest books to chronicle life in what would become Nova Scotia. Of particular interest are the author’s descriptions of life among the Mi’kmaq people with whom he spent considerable time. Librarian Generations Re-merging Adult Nonfiction Shalan Joudry Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia Each generation must make their own Helen Creighton and Calum MacLeod / journey through a thick terrain, starts This book seems to be on every Gaelic Generations Re-merging, a collection of speaker’s bookshelf. poems which explores the complex tangle Librarian of intergenerational relationships and Adult Nonfiction cultural issues encountered by a Mi’kmaw woman in the modern context, where every moment / is the loss of something. Alert to the fragility of community and culture, and to the pervasive threats against the natural and social environments, which have traditionally fostered them, Shalan Joudry writes with lucidity of the challenge of confronting Did you know? these global issues personally on her home In 1969, the School of Library ground, and of honouring the hope of past Service, now called the School of generations by renewing it in the present. Information Management, was created at Dalhousie University. Publisher Adult Poetry

Geology of Nova Scotia Field Guide: descriptions and expert advice for those interested Touring Through Time at 48 Scenic Sites in finding and exploring the rocks and outcrops at 48 Martha Hickman Hild and Sandra M. Barr sites across Nova Scotia. Sandra Barr is a long-time geology professor at Acadia University, and Martha Nova Scotia has a geological history that is both Hickman Hild has written extensively about geology. unique and impressive. This book is a practical, well- A great field guide for those interested in exploring our organized guide to interesting and beautiful parts of province’s great outdoors. the province, from the ancient rocks in the Cape Breton Highlands to the youngest formations in the southern Reader Adult Nonfiction part of the province. This title contains detailed maps,

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 19 The Gravesavers Sheree Fitch George and Rue The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum A lovely middle school historical novel George Elliott Clarke Sheldon Currie set on the shores of Nova Scotia’s Atlantic The novel is based on the true story of What other book captures the essence Ocean. It is a mystery and a family saga. George and Rufus Hamilton, two Black of coal mining communities and the It presents the little known story of the Canadian brothers who grew up in Nova circumstances of the families of coal sinking and rescue of the SS Atlantic in Scotia and murdered a taxicab driver in miners? One that is easy enough for Terence Bay. Sheree Fitch captures the Barker’s Point, New Brunswick in 1949. anyone to read? Made into a movie? And heart of our land and our people. It is a Later the same year, both of the brothers how many other writers have encouraged timeless story for every generation. were convicted of murder and executed. as many aspiring writers as has Sheldon Reader They were the last public hanging in Currie? Or made it possible — even Children’s Fiction New Brunswick. Clarke’s mother was desirable — in Nova Scotia to write about the Hamilton brothers’ cousin. He uses ourselves? both historical record and re-imagining Reader to recount the brothers’ lives and to seek Adult Fiction understanding of what led them to commit murder. George and Rue is an instructive insight into the history of Canada’s multi- Halifax Haunts: Exploring the City’s ethnic society. Clarke does more than Spookiest Spaces tell the story of a murder by telling of the Steve Vernon underlying situations and experiences that lead to the event and how the effects Ghost stories and history — how can you go wrong? of racism and poverty are passed on from Reader generation to generation. Adult Nonfiction Librarian Adult Fiction

20 READING NOVA SCOTIA Hark! A Vagrant Kate Beaton Halifax, Warden of the North A Harbour Seal in Halifax A delightful romp through history and Thomas H. Raddall Doretta Groenendyk literature via comic strips. One of Canada’s most popular novelists, Based on a true story, it shows an Librarian Thomas Raddall was a three-time winner interesting side of Halifax. Adult Graphic Novel of the Governor General Award (one time Reader for fiction and two times for non-fiction). Children’s Fiction Halifax, Warden of the North has been one of the best-known and most influential chronicles of Halifax since it first hit the shelves. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

Hellgoing Lynn Coady Winner of the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Shortlisted for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Selected as an Amazon.ca Best Book and for The Globe’s Top 10 Books of 2013. With astonishing range and depth, Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Lynn Coady gives us nine unforgettable new stories, each one of them grabbing our attention from the first line and resonating long after the last…Equally adept at capturing the foibles and obsessions of men and of women, compassionate in her humour yet never missing an opportunity to make her characters squirm, fascinated as much by faithlessness as by faith, Lynn Coady is quite possibly the writer who best captures what it is to be human at this particular moment in our history. Publisher Adult Fiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 21 Histoire de la Nouvelle-France Marc Lescarbot Marc Lescarbot (1570–1642) was a French author, adventurer, and lawyer who accompanied other well-known explorers to Port Royal in 1606-1607. He recorded his observations in his work Histoire de la Nouvelle-France, describing the geography of Acadia, the experience of the colonists and traders, and most importantly the first contacts, customs, and way of life of the Mi’kmaq people. While a work of its time, Lescarbot’s humanist tendencies allowed him to have great respect for the first people of this land we now call Nova Scotia. Heroes of the Acadian Resistance: Highland Settler: The Classic Librarian The Story of Joseph Beausoleil Portrait of the Scottish Gael in Adult Nonfiction Broussard and Pierre II Surette, Cape Breton and Eastern 1702–1765 Nova Scotia Dianne Marshall Charles W. Dunn Heroes of the Acadian Resistance tells the Dunn was a Harvard Celticist; his unique and little-known story of the young sympathetic description of Gaelic men who led an Acadian resistance in cultural life in Cape Breton remains a key 18th-century Nova Scotia…Their battle was book in the study of the history of Gaels against a form of ethnic cleansing that saw provincially. British soldiers burn every remnant of the Librarian Acadian community – homes, barns and Adult Nonfiction churches.

The French government used missionary Histoire des Acadiens priests as government agents to generate Bona Arsenault resistance amongst Mi’kmaq and Acadian De la fondation de Port-Royal en 1604 jusqu’au rayonnement actuel de la culture Catholics in an attempt to regain Nova acadienne, en passant par la Déportation des Acadiens en 1755, l’histoire de l’Acadie est Scotia from British domination. Their riche en péripéties de toutes sortes. Historien, généalogiste et homme politique, Bona efforts were welcomed by some Acadians Arsenault, mort en 1993, a consacré plus de quarante années à ce sujet. D’abord parue en who had their own reasons for resisting 1965 et plusieurs fois rééditée depuis, Histoire des Acadiens fait figure de texte défricheur British rule. The guerilla campaign which dans le domaine. Cette toute nouvelle édition mise à jour par l’historien Pascal Alain, ensued was well underway before the permet d’aborder le fait acadien dans ses multiples aspects — social, politique, culturel, deportation, and continued after the géographique, linguistique. L’ensemble constitue une excellente introduction à l’histoire majority of Acadians had been captured acadienne, mais aussi à l’Acadie contemporaine, montrée dans toute sa diversité. and forcibly exiled. This book offers a fresh Publisher perspective on the tragic events of the Adult Nonfiction Acadian expulsion from 18th-century Nova Scotia. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

22 READING NOVA SCOTIA History of Halifax City Thomas Beamish Akins This is an historic account of the making of our beautiful city by Dr. T.B. Akins and others. It depicts the raw hardships and struggles of early settlers that today we tend to forget, and take advantage of, without a second thought as to how we grew as a city, a province and a nation, so wonderful as it was and is, and continues to be. I am a 10th generation of immigrants who came to this country from Germany in 1751. A 12-year-old boy named Adam Heeb (original spelling) with his mother Hook Me a Story: The History and step-father, landed in Halifax, and and Method of Rug Hooking in then went on to Bridgewater in 1753 Atlantic Canada Hot, Wet, and Shaking: How where the Hebbs still live and flourish. Deanne Fitzpatrick In doing research on the Hebb family, it I Learned to Talk About Sex was easy to see just how incredibly hard it A much-needed source book for anyone Kaleigh Trace was to clear land and settle in a harsh and wanting to know the history and the craft This is a sex book. It’s a book about hostile environment. Any piece of history of rug hooking. Includes illustrations of having sex by yourself, with one person, is invaluable to understanding the strength techniques and materials and methods. or with twenty people if everyone is and endurance, and tolerance of people This book is a tribute to those who kept the down…Kaleigh Trace — disabled, coming together for the good of our craft alive over the years. queer, sex educator — chronicles her country and each other. I am so proud to Publisher journey from ignorance to bliss as she be a Canadian. Adult Nonfiction shamelessly discusses her sexual exploits, Reader bodily negotiations and attempts at Adult Nonfiction adulthood, sparing none of the details and assuming you are not polite company. Recommended by staff at Venus Envy in Halifax. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

How the Cougar Came to be Called the Ghost Cat / Ta’n Petalu Telui’tut Skite’kmujewey Mia’wj Michael James Isaac and Dozay (Arlene) Christmas (Illustrator) The story of a young cougar named Ajig, who leaves home only to find that other animals are afraid of him. To make friends he agrees to stop behaving like a cougar, but when he returns home, he is no longer welcome. Caught between two worlds, Ajig becomes a “ghost cat.” A note by the author states, “The ghost cat story is one which I have lived… I can remember having to give up parts of who I was so that I would be accepted in the Euro-Canadian school system.” This book is written in both English and Mi’kmaw. Librarian Children’s Fiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 23 If This Is Freedom Indian School Road: Legacies Just Beneath My Skin Gloria Ann Wesley of the Shubenacadie Darren Greer If This Is Freedom is about a family of Black Residential School Just Beneath My Skin begins with a turning Loyalists who came from the US in 1783 Chris Benjamin point in the lives of the main characters, to make their new home in Birchtown, This book includes true Nova Scotian Jake and Nathan, as Jake returns home Nova Scotia. They meet with nothing but stories that appear nowhere else in print. to a small community in Nova Scotia to hardship, frustration and discrimination. It talks about an important segment of reclaim the son he left behind. As if that This is an important story to tell as part of our history about which every citizen isn’t complicated enough, add poverty, the history of our province. should know. It’s very well-written and alcoholism, and emotionally unstable Reader excruciatingly researched. A must-read for friends and you have quite the scene. ADULT Fiction every history or social studies student. A novel that explores complex human emotions in a concise and unrelenting Reader Adult Nonfiction style. 2017 Selection Librarian Adult Fiction

2015 Selection

Justice Denied: The Law versus Donald Marshall “I owe my writing career to the vibrant libraries of rural Nova Michael Harris Scotia. My mother took me every week when I was a child and here I discovered the magic of books, stories and words. A tough read, Justice Denied takes a close look at the circumstances I take my own children to these same libraries — remarkable surrounding the wrongful imprisonment of Marshall for the murder spaces fostering community, creativity and dreams in a new of Sandy Seale. It holds up a mirror to the racism in Nova Scotia generation.” that led to one of the most famous injustices in Canadian history. Librarian —Christy Ann Conlin Adult Nonfiction

24 READING NOVA SCOTIA The Language of this Land, The Last Billion Years: A The Land Beyond the Wall: An Mi’kma’ki Geological History of the Immigration Story Trudy Sable and Bernie Francis Maritime Provinces of Canada Veronika Martenova Charles Many times that researchers or other Atlantic Geoscience Society This is an important story about interested people come to our The rocks and fossils…tell a fascinating immigration into Nova Scotia and the communities, they try to understand our story of the last billion years. This story, experience of a young girl who has no culture and its many expressions, but discovered by geologists over the last understanding of the English language, they often cannot grasp the deep cultural 200 years, has yielded many surprises: but uses her love of art to communicate differences in how Mi’kmaq conceptualize, Halifax and southern Nova Scotia were with the people around her. She lands at express, and relate to their world. Our book once attached to Africa and situated in the Pier 21, explores the Public Gardens, and gives people a basic knowledge of the southern hemisphere; our coal deposits learns what it’s like to be free. meaning and world view behind the songs, were formed in tropical rain forests over Reader dances, and stories, which are teachings 300 million years ago, long before the Children’s Fiction of how Mi’kmaq relate to their landscape, Atlantic Ocean existed; Bras d’Or Lake, including the heavens. It also provides a now an inland sea, and the Bedford Basin, quantum leap in illustrating the differences now the inner part of Halifax Harbour, were between the Mi’kmaw and English once freshwater lakes. Its importance is as languages, which no one has ever done the first contemporary book written for the before. Because we recognized this had general reader on the geological history of not been done, we took the opportunity the Maritime Provinces. to write the book, and provide a readable Publisher springboard for people to discover more. Adult Nonfiction Authors Adult Nonfiction

Last Days in Africville urban renewal. These churning events are explored Dorothy Perkyns through the life of twelve-year-old Selina, who deals with being the only African Nova Scotian in her class This book is set in the mid-1960s when the city of as well as with losing her community and home. Halifax relocated the residents of a 100-year-old Black community and razed Africville in the name of Librarian Children’s Fiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 25 Legends of the Micmacs Letters from Nova Scotia: Life with Billy Silas T. Rand Comprising Sketches of a Brian Vallée Legends of the Micmacs, published Young Country Jane Hurshman’s struggle and incredible originally in 1894, is important because it William Scarth Moorsom story of survival and fight changed the way is one of the earliest books to demonstrate The book is an important historical work a lot of people viewed domestic abuse not the creativity and value of Mi’kmaq because it provides detailed observations only locally, but nationally. spiritual beliefs and legends. Illustrating on the people, climate, geography and Librarian the complexity of the Mi’kmaq culture economic activity of Nova Scotia during Adult Nonfiction through his writing was the most influential the 1820s. Moorsom, a military officer, of Rand’s efforts to help the Mi’kmaq. The was stationed here from 1826–1831 and author’s work as a Baptist missionary was travelled widely during that time. Along largely unsuccessful, but the esteem in with capturing his experiences, written in which he held Mi’kmaq intelligence and the form of letters to friends in England, he his devotion to studying their language are also sketched key sites that were included remarkable examples during a time when as plates in the book. At the time of the Mi’kmaq were nearly exterminated by publication there was controversy because societal and governmental mistreatment. of the author’s unflattering depictions Librarian of some aspects of Nova Scotia life. Joe Adult Nonfiction Howe defended the book by saying that it had helped to publicize the colony in England. For historical researchers it provides invaluable knowledge of Nova Scotia on the eve of Confederation. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance Robert Munsch and Janet Wilson (Illustrator) Although not a Nova Scotian author, Munsch is a beloved author of Canadian children’s books. The lighthouse depicted in the story is based on the Cape George Lighthouse in Antigonish County. It was through the Antigonish Library that Munsch was able to track down Sarah, the child who inspired the story. Librarian Children’s Fiction

Did you There are 2.1 million holdings in Nova Scotia Public Libraries. know? ­—NS Public Library Data Collection 2016/2017

26 READING NOVA SCOTIA A Little Thing I Tied Myself: Stories of Atlantic Canadian Fly Tiers Don MacLean Fly fishing for trout and salmon has been woven into the fabric of the province since the earliest days. A Little Thing I Tied Myself explores past and present fly tiers, and gives a delightful history of the whole sport concentrating on local fly patterns. Reader Adult Nonfiction

Live from the Afrikan Resistance! Living Treaties: Narrating El Jones Mi’kmaw Treaty Relations Live from the Afrikan Resistance! is the Marie Battiste first collection of spoken word poetry by Living Treaties aims to reveal another Halifax’s fifth Poet Laureate, El Jones. These side of the treaties and their histories, poems speak of community and struggle. focusing on stories from contemporary They are grounded in the political culture perspectives, both Mi’kmaw and their non- of African Nova Scotia and inherit the Mi’kmaw allies. The book highlights the styles and substances of hip-hop, dub voices of a new generation of Indigenous and calypso’s political commentary. They lawyers and academics who have made engage historical themes and figures and their life choices with credentials solidly L’Nu’k / The People: Mi’kmaw analyse contemporary issues — racism, in hand in order to pursue social and History, Culture, and Heritage environmental racism, poverty and cognitive justice for their families and Theresa Meuse violence — as well as confront the realities their people. Their mission: to enliven the This nonfiction children’s book is of life as a Black woman. The voice is treaties out of the caverns of the public written from an Indigenous perspective. urgent, uncompromising and passionate archives, to bring them back to life and Covering a vast scope (pre-settler lifestyle, in its advocacy and demands. One of to justice as part of the supreme law of colonization, the Indian Act, residential Canada’s most controversial spoken word Canada; and to use them to mobilize the schools, traditional spirituality, and modern artists, El Jones writes to educate, to move Mi’kmaw restoration and renaissance Mi’kmaq communities), this book is communities to action and to demonstrate that seeks to reaffirm, restore and rebuild ideal for readers and educators. There the possibilities of resistance and Mi’kmaw identity, consciousness, is an unfortunate knowledge gap that empowerment. Gathered from seven years knowledge and heritages, as well as their persists in the general public. This highly of performances, these poems represent rightful connections to their land and visual overview covers the basics of a rich the tradition of the prophetic voice in Black ecologies. culture, and shares with all readers — both Nova Scotia. Indigenous and non — the important Publisher Publisher Adult Nonfiction culture that informs our collective history. Adult POETRY Told by a member of the community it’s describing, this short, simple, “basics” book is essential on a reading list celebrating our country! Reader Children’s Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 27 Louisbourg: From its Foundation The Mapmaker’s Eye: Nova Scotia Masters of Their Own Destiny: The to its Fall, 1713–1758 Through Early Maps Story of the Antigonish Movement J.S. McLennan Joan Dawson of Adult Education Through The definitive history of the fortress, this In this book the author has taken a Economic Cooperation book has probably been read by every unique approach to old maps of Nova Moses M. Coady student of Nova Scotia history. Nearly 100 Scotia made between the arrival of the I think we can all learn from the work of years old, it still is the go-to book for that first explorers and the year 1800…she the Antigonish Movement, the 20th- time and place. takes a broader view and interprets them century vision that helped in the grassroots Librarian in terms of what they can tell us about development of rural Nova Scotia. If we Adult Nonfiction the development of the Nova Scotian could do it then, we can do it now. culture and industrial landscape, and Reader about people’s changing perceptions of Adult Nonfiction it. Seventy maps illustrate the themes of mapmaking, fishing, farming, mining and forestry, forts and harbours, and settlement and transportation. Joan Dawson lets us see through the eyes of the people who made the maps, such things as the disputed fishery at Canso, the rival Chignecto forts and a spy’s report on Halifax. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

Mi’kmaq & Maliseet Cultural Ancestral Material: National Collections from the Canadian Museum of Civilization Stephen J. Augustine Drawing on artifacts held in the collections of the Canadian Museum of History, this book provides a fascinating look at the richness of Mi’kmaq and Maliseet cultural practice, technological ingenuity and artistic expression. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

Did you 344,000 people attended programs at Nova Scotia Public Libraries. know? —NS Public Library Data Collection 2016/2017

28 READING NOVA SCOTIA The Mi’kmaw Grammar of The Mi’kmaq Anthology Mi’kmaq Medicines Father Pacifique Rita Joe and Lesley Choyce (2nd edition): Remedies and Bernie Francis and John Hewson Recollections A varied and spiritual collection of work by First published (1939) as “Leçons Laurie Lacey the Mi’kmaq writers of Atlantic Canada. grammaticales théoriques et pratiques de la Both young and old stories and storytellers In this unique book, Laurie Lacey’s langue micmaque” of Rev. Father Pacifique combine talents to produce short stories, reflections on the world of plant life and Buisson, O.F.M.Cap., The Mi’kmaw poetry, and personal essays. the gathering of remedies chronicles more Grammar of Father Pacifique is a vast and Publisher than 70 plants used by the Mi’kmaq as important collection of information on the Adult Nonfiction medicines. Since the Mi’kmaq healing Mi’kmaw language. It represents a tradition process begins with the gathering and of Mi’kmaw grammatical studies by preparation of medicines, Lacey takes us missionary priests that spans more than 200 Mi’kmawe’l Tan Teli-kina’muemk: into swamps and bogs, the barrens and years from the days of abbé Pierre Maillard Teaching about the Mi’kmaq woods, to explore the habitats of plants (ca. 1710–1762), to Father Pacifique. The Tim Bernard, Leah Morine Rosenmeier with healing properties. He then illustrates purpose of updating the orthography is, and Sharon L. Farrell, editors (The each medicinal plant and describes its of course, to give the reader who does not Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, traditional use or uses. This new edition know the language exact information on Truro, Nova Scotia) includes a fully revised text and a new the pronunciation of each Mi’kmaw word. It preface from the author on current uses the Francis-Smith Orthography, which The resource was developed by a perspectives in Mi’kmaq medicines. was declared as the official orthography of distinguished group of Mi’kmaq the Míkmaq Nation by the Grand Council educators. It was designed for anyone Publisher Adult Nonfiction in 1980. Now that the language has been who wants to teach Mi’kmaw history, lost on many reserves, it has become culture and knowledge. Through the known, nor is it something the general crucially important to use the new, exact, stories and knowledge of Mi’kmaw Elders, public would normally read, it has been orthography. educators, and other experts, this volume included in the list because of its potential shares content and teaching strategies for Publisher to be so influential. By guiding the Adult Nonfiction three subject areas, Welo’ltimk – Healing, education of our children, it will help to Kejitasimkewey Kiskuk – Contemporary ensure all Nova Scotians understand and Issues, and Netukulimk – Economic, respect the Mi’kmaq culture. Social, and Political Life, for grades primary to nine. Although it is not currently well- Publisher Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 29 Mon Isle Madame: The Money Pit: The Story of Oak Une histoire acadienne Island and the World’s Greatest Gabriel LeBlanc Treasure Hunt L’auteur, Gabriel LeBlanc, est un fier D’Arcy O’Connor Acadien bien enraciné dans la culture In The Money Pit, O’Connor gives a nice acadienne et bon défenseur de la langue history of the small island in Nova Scotia. française. Raconteur “hors pair” de la vie Oak Island has been a place of interest for des Acadiens de son patelin et d’histoires treasure hunters since the 1700s. loufoques des villageois, vécues dans le Librarian passé, il sait faire rire son auditoire. Dans Adult Nonfiction ce livre, il relate le folklore des gens à partir de la Déportation, leur arrivée en region et leur accueil par les Mi’kmaq. Les faits historiques dans ce livre maintiendront la mémoire des premiers arrivés à l’Isle Madame et feront la promotion de The Mountain and the Valley l’histoire de la communauté acadienne Ernest Buckler locale. I grew up in Bridgetown just next to where Reader Adult Nonfiction the novel was set, first living on a farm and then moving to a home surrounded by farms. My experiences so close to nature No Great Mischief greatly shaped my life. But reading this book gave me insight into the lives of Alistair MacLeod those who did the actual farming, and that I picked this book up in a second-hand book shop in it wasn’t nearly so romantic as I might have Bangkok during my 10-year sojourn in Southeast Asia. It thought...a precursor to my generation brought me directly home to Nova Scotia. Every page saw who wanted to escape that life. me making notes about things I had forgotten, thoughts on Reader my childhood, and dreams for the future. While reading this Adult Fiction book I saw my home province on the klongs, in the streets and in the people around me who were so far removed from this place. For the days that I savoured this book, I was home. These pages transport you completely to Nova Scotia — that is why it must be within the number of “150 Books of Influence.” Reader Adult Fiction

Did you 380,000 questions were answered by Nova Scotia Public Library staff. know? —NS Public Library Data Collection 2016/2017

30 READING NOVA SCOTIA No Retreating Footsteps: Nova Scotia The Story of the North Nova Sherman Hines Scotia Highlanders In the early 1970s our province had a Will R. Bird problem. Someone needed to promote No Retreating Footsteps is a history of the the potential of Nova Scotia to the world, storied North Nova Scotia Highlanders with all its scenic beauty. MacAskill had and their experiences and exploits during done that in the 1930s and ‘40s with World War II. his hand-coloured prints of the original Bluenose and Peggy’s Cove. Helen Librarian Adult Nonfiction Creighton, Hugh MacLennan and Thomas Raddall had created the descriptive narrative, but the new story needed colour photography. Liverpool native, Sherman Hines, saw a career opportunity in promoting his emerging Nova Scotia in The Nova Scotia Black Experience “scenic pictorials.” He decided to seize Through the Centuries that moment in 1975, and a whole new Bridglal Pachai Nova Scotia was presented to the world The Nova Scotia Black Experience Through with his first book Nova Scotia. It went on the Centuries is a comprehensive account to sell well over 100,000 copies and is still of the African Nova Scotian struggle to in print! build a vital community in the face of racial Reader discrimination. Originally published in Adult Nonfiction two volumes as Beneath the Clouds of the Promised Land, this illustrated edition has been extensively updated and includes The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children: The a new chapter tracing the experiences of Hurt, the Hope, and the Healing Nova Scotia’s Black community into the Wanda Taylor twenty-first century. Author Bridglal Pachai profiles the individuals and organizations The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children is a troubling that fought for equality in education, book that shows the result of negligence from the business, politics, religion, and the arts, government and from locals. The book recounts many tales and carved a path for tomorrow’s leaders. of abuse and neglect that went on for years in the Home, Covering more than four hundred years and encourages the reader to question the systems in place of a people’s history, heritage, and that are supposed to be helping, but which might be making culture, The Nova Scotia Black Experience things worse. Through the Centuries is a powerful record, Reader indispensable to any study of the province. Adult Nonfiction Publisher Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 31 A Nova Scotia Lullaby Terrilee Bulger and Perri Craig (Illustrator) Beautiful images of iconic Nova Scotian scenes. Librarian Children’s Fiction

One Hockey Night David Ward and Brian Deines (Illustrator) On South Mountain: The Dark Owen and his family have just moved from Secrets of the Goler Clan Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia, but while David Cruise and Alison Griffiths his friends are playing hockey on a frozen This is a terrible story, but an important part Saskatchewan lake, he is playing shinny of Nova Scotia’s history. It is still something in his driveway. With the help of some that a lot of locals seem to have a vague lobster crates and neighbours in a variety understanding of, but could use a little bit of NHL team jerseys, Owen’s dad builds more context to fully understand and make a backyard hockey rink and the whole sure something like this never happens community gets together to play. This again. book was inspired by an entry from Little The Nymph and the Lamp Reader Harbour for a Hockey Night in Canada Thomas H. Raddall Adult Nonfiction contest for best backyard rink. And, to top This book swept me away into the world it off, while the book was taking shape, of Nova Scotia in the 1920s. Just as strong Cole Harbour’s Sidney Crosby was making as the human characters, the places where news as the youngest NHL captain to win the story takes place become characters the Stanley Cup. of their own: the windy, sandy isolation of Librarian Sable Island; bustling downtown Halifax; Children’s Fiction the idyllic farmland of the Annapolis Valley. Just as much as it is a love story between “Many of us think of libraries in terms of buildings. Many libraries are built, I venture, two people, I felt like it was also a love as public monuments. And it is wonderful to have a great and grand building and it letter to Nova Scotia written by someone is wonderful to have a building with exceptional architectural flair. The new Halifax who writes as though he loves this Central Library is a great example of a superb new library and Haligonians not only province as much as I do. enjoy using the library they are proud of its looks. But when I think back on a life Reader in books I tend to remember libraries in terms of the librarians, both professional Adult Fiction and volunteer. I have always appreciated their courtesy and their willingness to help. Services like interlibrary loans and new book purchases and retrieval of archival materials have played a big part, a part I could never have afforded on my own, in the writing of my own books and in getting these stories out to the world.

—Lance Woolaver

32 READING NOVA SCOTIA Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens Out of the Depths: The The Painted House of Maud Lewis: Marie Nightingale Experiences of Mi’kmaw Children Conserving a Folk Art Treasure It is a marvellous compilation of Nova at the Indian Residential School at Laurie Hamilton Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia Scotian recipes that are authentic, easy to For many years Maud Lewis was one of Isabelle Knockwood follow and delicious. It is a historical and Nova Scotia’s folk painters. In 1984, her practical book, which should be in the Touches on the cultural abuse that house and its contents were purchased kitchen of any baker in this province or any Canada perpetrated on our Indigenous by the Province of Nova Scotia for the other for that matter. Excellent oatcakes! cultures. Knockwood speaks about Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. In The Painted Reader her experiences, and those of other House of Maud Lewis, Laurie Hamilton, Adult Nonfiction “students,” at the Shubenacadie conservator at the Art Gallery of Nova residential school. It’s hard to read, but Scotia, gives a detailed account of the important to know. house. Librarian Librarian Adult Nonfiction Adult Nonfiction

Penetration: Editorial Cartoons and Caricatures Bruce MacKinnon For twenty-five years Bruce MacKinnon has delighted and amused readers of Nova Scotia’s daily newspaper, and collected here in Penetration are the best cartoons of the past eight years as well as Bruce’s own retrospective covering his years as an editorial cartoonist. This twenty-fifth anniversary collection presents a brief history of Bruce’s work, his own hilarious memories, unforgettable controversies, and the process behind creating insightful — and occasionally poignant — cartoons of the most significant issues of the day. Includes a foreword from CBC newsman and MacKinnon admirer Peter Mansbridge. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 33 A Practical Treatise on Coal, Petroleum, and Other Distilled Oils Abraham Gesner Although Gesner is better known for his Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia, we felt it was important to note this work, which had a significant global impact. Although not for a mainstream reader, this book was the basis for the first textbook for petroleum refining and was translated into many languages. It gave the history of natural hydrocarbons, described the various source materials Pit Pony for distillates, and included real-world The Promised Land: Joyce Barkhouse accounts of how to build and operate a A Novel of Cape Breton hydrocarbon-refining factory. Essentially Bill Conall My daughter and I read this book together it was a science book that aided in the when she was seven, and we both fell development of the oil industry. In 1970, a group of Hippies crosses the instantly in love with it. It helped my Canso Causeway to begin a new “back- Librarian daughter understand the social conditions Adult Nonfiction to-the-land” life in Cape Breton. Grubby, that led to her great grandparents leaving scrawny and broke, they are not unlike the Cape Breton, that child labour existed in our original Scottish immigrants of the 1800s, own backyard until relatively recently, and it but with fewer bibles and more dope. inspired a love of Sable Island. After reading Their several adventures culminate in the the book, Laura wanted to learn more about famous Hippies’ Ceilidh, which is still a Sable Island and the ponies there. As a subject of conversation today. Then, forty reader and as a parent, I loved this book as years later, a young Ellen Coulter takes up much as my daughter, and truly appreciated her first doctoring job at a small clinic in the way it captured the time and place, and Baddeck, and gradually settles in to life in led my child to learn more. the little village. The Promised Land is, first Reader and foremost, a story of community; of Children’s Fiction people of all ages and backgrounds in all their human glory, complete with laughter, tears, and downright foolishness. Awarded Pumpkin People the 2014 Stephen Leacock Memorial Sandra Lightburn and Medal For Humour. Ron Lightburn (Illustrator) Publisher The first time I saw the pumpkin people I Adult Fiction wondered what they did at night when no one was watching. This book wonders the same thing. It highlights an interesting piece of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Reader Children’s Fiction

34 READING NOVA SCOTIA Relative Happiness The Republic of Nothing Restoring the Acadian Forest Lesley Crewe Lesley Choyce (2nd edition): A Guide to Forest Lesley’s books embody the people and The Republic of Nothing captures the Stewardship for Woodlot Owners spirit of Cape Breton. It feels more like quirky, creative and independent spirit in the Maritimes you’re sitting in Lexie’s kitchen having a of rural Nova Scotia. It is packed with Jamie Simpson chin wag with the characters rather than fascinating characters and provides a Restoring the Acadian Forest is a reading. The ebb and flow of the story unique plot and message that is at once comprehensive resource for woodland rocks you like a dory on a summer’s day. entertaining and uplifting. owners in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Reader Reader Prince Edward Island, eastern Quebec, Adult Fiction Adult Fiction Maine, and northern New England. It explains how to maintain a healthy Acadian Forest woodlot, while restoring Rise Again!: The Story of Cape Breton Island its economic and ecological value. The (Books One and Two) book includes practical advice on woodlot Robert J. Morgan planning, tree harvesting, promoting wildlife habitat, and finding revenue Book One takes you from our geological roots to Mi’kmaq life sources, along with a guide to the trees before European discovery and the building of Fortress Louisbourg of the Acadian Forest. This new edition — the island’s First Economic Boom. We see the British and French includes new sections on legal obligations battle for control, the settling of the Loyalists, the forced marriage of owning woodlots and suitable small- of Cape Breton to Nova Scotia — and the birth of Separatism. scale equipment. This edition is fully Taking the reader up to the 20th century, Cape Breton becomes illustrated with 120 photographs and home for Acadians, Irish and Scots — the immigrant soul of Cape illustrations. Breton. Book Two takes you through immigration during the Island’s Second Economic Boom, our role as supplier and soldier in two Publisher World Wars, and the Mi’kmaq battle for cultural survival. Cape Adult Nonfiction Breton becomes a battleground for the labour wars, while farmers, lumbermen and fishery workers struggle for subsistence. Through it all, flames of independence and community activism keep this island alive, and Cape Bretoners emerge as a distinct people whose music and literature entertain and inspire the wider world. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 35 Rockbound Sailing Alone Around the World Seanchaidh na Coille / Frank Parker Day Joshua Slocum Memory-Keeper of the Forest This book gives a great overview of life in a Amazing account of Slocum’s solo Michael Newton rural Nova Scotia fishing village years ago. trip around the world. Slocum didn’t From Cape Breton to Vancouver, Gaelic- It contains humour and conversations in just accomplish an incredible feat; he speaking communities could be found dialect as well as real-life joys and sorrows. left a written record of an age long all over Canada from the late-18th to the Reader gone. He writes of cultures that have mid-20th century. This is the first anthology Adult Fiction now disappeared amidst the wave of of prose and poetry — mostly literary, consumerism. some historical in tone — to give voice to Librarian the experience of Gaelic Canadians. A Adult Nonfiction unique resource, it covers a wide range of territory and time, allowing Gaels to express their own opinions about a broad Sgeul gu Latha / Tales Until Dawn: The World of a Cape Breton set of themes: migration, politics, religion, Gaelic Story-Teller family life, identity, social organizations Joe Neil MacNeil and John Shaw (Translator and Editor) and more. Michael Newton has expertly contextualized a large amount of material, The stories in this book come from Joe Neil, one of Cape Breton’s most important Gaelic showing the rich variety and national tradition bearers, but they were collected and collated by John Shaw. John Shaw has extent of the Gaelic experience in Canada, published several important collections, including Gaelic song collections, but this was opening it up to an English-speaking one of his earliest books, and is still used extensively in the community. readership. Librarian Publisher Adult Nonfiction Adult Nonfiction

Did you The Canada Council for the Arts distributes annual payments to Canadian authors through the Public Lending Right (PLR) know? Program as compensation for the free public access to their books in Canadian Public Libraries.

36 READING NOVA SCOTIA The Sharing Circle: Stories about First Nations Culture Theresa Meuse and Arthur Stevens (Illustrator) Shattered City: The Halifax Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography Explosion and the Road of a Mi’kmaw Poet Sharing Circle includes seven children’s to Recovery Rita Joe stories about First Nations culture and Janet F. Kitz spirituality practices. All seven stories, The autobiography of the great Mi’kmaw The Eagle Feather, The Dream Catcher, Kitz provides the background to the poet, Rita Joe, this work explores her The Sacred Herbs, The Talking Circle, explosion — what happened during remarkable life: her early years in foster The Medicine Wheel, The Drum, and The the explosion as well as lots about the care and the Shubenacadie Residential Medicine Pouch explore First Nations aftermath. While many Nova Scotians School, and her later struggles as a wife, cultural practices and teach children about know the basics, I enjoyed how this book mother of eight, and leader in the Mi’kmaq Mi’kmaq beliefs and heritage. Researched gave me lots of details on the Hydrostone community. It is the story of a remarkable and written by Mi’kmaw children’s author area of Halifax including why that particular and inspirational life. Theresa Meuse and beautifully illustrated design was chosen. Every Canadian Librarian by Mi’kmaw illustrator Arthur Stevens, this should know about the greatest explosion Adult Nonfiction book will engage and inform children of prior to the A bomb. all ages. Reader Adult Nonfiction Publisher Children’s Nonfiction

Songs Remembered in Exile: Traditional Gaelic Songs from Nova Scotia Recorded in Cape Breton and Antigonish County in 1937, with an Account of the Causes of the Highland Emigration, 1790–1835 John Lorne Campbell Campbell was one of the earliest Gaelic song collectors in Nova Scotia, making several trips to Nova Scotia in the 1930s and 1950s, and making his earliest recordings on wax cylinder. He was also one of the only collectors to focus on Catholic areas of Cape Breton; later collectors almost all focused on the Protestant areas of the North Shore. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 37 The Speeches and Public Letters Star Drop of the Hon. Joseph Howe Mark Oakley (Based upon Mr. Annand’s This delightful graphic novel at first glance edition of 1858) may seem like a silly science fiction Joseph Andrew Chisholm comic, but the themes of friendship and As an orator, Howe probably has no peer community and inner growth (and, of in Canadian political life, and his speeches course, alien invasion) are well-written and and letters, which have been published beautifully drawn. It is also one of those in two separate editions, are a distinctive rare science fiction/fantasy tomes that contribution to our literature. His skill in actually features strong female characters, the use of words, a direct result of his wide who drive the story and save the day. The reading in world history and literature, fact that most of the story is actually set has never been surpassed. Additionally, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and that you readers owe him a debt of gratitude for The Spirit of Africville can see the characters interact in places publishing The Clockmaker by Thomas Africville Genealogy Society, like your favourite coffee shop, or library, Haliburton. Donald H. Clairmont or farmers’ market, is just a lovely added bonus. Librarian I am 64 years old, a great reader, not Adult Nonfiction Black, and this is the most moving and Reader Teen Graphic Novel heart-breaking book I have ever read in all categories. Not to mention that it is true and part of Nova Scotia history that everyone should know about. It explains the root cause of so many problems that exist today, and shows us an example of true community. Reader Adult Nonfiction

The Stone Canoe: Two Lost Mi’kmaq Texts Elizabeth Paul, Peter Sanger, and Alan Syliboy (Illustrator) In 2003, poet and essayist Peter Sanger uncovered two manuscripts among the Rand holdings in the library at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. One of these contains the story of Little Thunder and his journey to find a wife, as told to Rand by Susan Barss in 1847. The other is the story of a woman who survives alone on an island after being abandoned by her husband. It was told by a storyteller known to us now only as Old Man Stevens and dates from 1884. Both are among the earliest examples of Indigenous Canadian literature recorded in their original language; the 1847 transcript being perhaps the earliest. Their publication in The Stone Canoe makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Mi’kmaq storytelling and Indigenous Canadian literature. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

38 READING NOVA SCOTIA A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille Long before Jurassic Park, 19th-century Dalhousie Professor, James De Mille, penned this journey to a lost world at the end of the earth. Cannibal tribes and dinosaurs, romance and escape make it a fun adventure story in the genre of She and The Land that Time Forgot. De Mille’s carefully constructed Lost World, however, A Taste of Acadie is also a clever satire, offering an inverted Marielle Cormier-Boudreau and reflection of 19th-century social values: Melvin Gallant poverty is desirable, darkness is preferable, Strong Hollow and love is best unrequited. At first this Linda Little For A Taste of Acadie, Melvin Gallant and Marielle Cormier-Boudreau travelled all world seems repulsive and bizarre, but A Nova Scotian protagonist who finds his over Acadia, from the Gaspé Peninsula allows the reader to see, in contrast, the true self, despite the restrictive nature of to Cape Breton, from the tip of Prince absurdities in their own. As we moved into his rural community. A realistic portrayal Edward Island to the Magdalen Islands, the 21st century and wrestle with our own of Nova Scotia including the deep and around northern New Brunswick and society’s values around wealth, privilege, connection to music. and power, the message in Strange southern Nova Scotia. They gathered Reader the culinary secrets of traditional Acadian Manuscript may yet be relevant. In any Adult Fiction case, who does not like the idea of riding cooks while there was still time, and then on the back of a pterodactyl? they adapted more than 150 recipes for today’s kitchens. The indigenous cuisine of Reader Acadia is a distant relative of French home Adult Fiction cooking, born of necessity and created from what was naturally available. Roast porcupine or seal-fat cookies may not be The Tent Dwellers: Sports Fishing in to every modern diner’s taste, but the few Nova Scotia in 1908 recipes of this nature in A Taste of Acadie Albert Bigelow Paine hint at the ingenuity of women who fed This book is the entertaining adventures of two New England their families with what the land provided. men and their local guides. The pair land in Yarmouth, travel Publisher by train to Maitland, and drive to Jake’s Landing from which Adult Nonfiction they venture deep into the Tobeatic wilderness area during the summer of 1908. They bring an amazing amount of gear in two heavily loaded canoes and make their way through lakes, rivers and portages. Their hilarious misadventures as they fish and search for moose, that include an encounter with poison ivy and seemingly incessant rain, make for great reading. The book is of historical and geographical significance in addition to being a superb story. Librarian Adult Nonfiction

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 39 Then & Now: Photographs of Nova Scotia The Thundermaker Wallace MacAskill and Len Wagg Alan Syliboy Tidal Life: A Natural History Len Wagg’s Then & Now not only captures This story follows Little Thunder as he of the Bay of Fundy the evolution of Nova Scotia since Wallace learns about his Mi’kmaw identity. Harry Thurston MacAskill’s time, it also captures the Featuring petroglyph-inspired illustrations The tides of the Bay of Fundy are the imagination. The hours I spent poring over by celebrated Mi’kmaw artist Alan Syliboy, largest in the world. In this book, Harry both sets of photos left me with a better the book itself is based on a multimedia Thurston explores the daily rhythms and understanding of how our province has exhibit, which toured libraries across Nova life cycles of those creatures and people changed over the years (and why), and a Scotia in 2014–15. who dwell on its shores and in its waters. greater appreciation for the work of both Librarian This fascinating book holds many stories MacAskill and Wagg. While it would have Children’s Fiction of the fishermen, lighthouse keepers, been difficult for MacAskill to physically naturalists and scientists, who help us access some of the locations, Wagg would experience this natural wonder of Nova have faced similar challenges in matching Scotia. the shots while working around new(ish) construction. A stunning book. Librarian Adult Nonfiction Reader Adult Nonfiction

Town Is by the Sea intergenerational gem with gentle, poetic text, Joanne Schwartz and and illustrations that capture the contrast of the Sydney Smith (Illustrator) sparkling water and the deep dark mine. Life in a small coal mining community, family relationships This picture book is bound to become a classic. and hard-working rural towns are beautifully Set in Cape Breton in the 1950s, it is an ode drawn through words and images. to small-town coal mining life. Nova Scotians will recognize the way of life, the family ties, Librarian Children’s Fiction and the pace of a small town. The book is an

40 READING NOVA SCOTIA The Town that Died: A Chronicle Trapper Boy Twenty-Six of the Halifax Explosion Hugh R. MacDonald Leo McKay Jr. Michael J. Bird This book, by a local author, totally We should include this title because the A fact-filled account of the greatest disaster captures the early days of coal mining foundation upon which our province to befall a Canadian city. This terrible in Cape Breton from an entire family’s was built includes the blood, sweat, disaster is known as the Halifax Explosion. perspective. Young boys and men of the tears, and unfortunately in many cases, This book is the first documentary account time had dreams of their own to follow, lives of people who have extracted and told from the personal experiences of but large families in rural Cape Breton harvested our natural resources. Twenty-Six survivors. needed everyone to contribute financially captures the uncertainty, instability, fears, Librarian in order to survive. That meant going determination, strength and resilience of Adult Nonfiction underground, and facing all the fears and our blue-collar roots. dangers that went with that. And what Reader makes the ordeal even worse is that the Adult Fiction parents didn’t really want their children to take on these adult responsibilities. It was only out of necessity, and with the sheer 2012 Selection bravery of these boys, that their families could make it from one day to the next. A story wonderfully told through the eyes and heart of a very young but sensitive and courageous protagonist. Reader Teen Fiction

Up Home Shauntay Grant and Susan Tooke (Illustrator) This gorgeous picture book showcases one of Nova Scotia’s most this lyrical book shows that communities are much more than they negatively portrayed communities, North Preston, with the warmth seem, and you often need a local eye to guide you. and gentleness that those who live there know it really has. Written Reader in African Nova Scotian vernacular by Halifax’s former Poet Laureate, Children’s Poetry

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 41 The View from a Kite Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged Viola Desmond’s Canada: A Maureen Hull Jody Nyasha Warner and History of Blacks and Racial Richard Rudnicki (Illustrator) Gwen is a typical 1970s teenager who Segregation in the Promised Land happens to be stuck in a tuberculosis The African Nova Scotian community Graham Reynolds with Wanda Robson sanatorium in Cape Breton. Coping with is one of Canada’s oldest and most In 1946, Viola Desmond was wrongfully tragedy and loss, in addition to her illness, established Black communities. This arrested for sitting in a whites-only section she tackles life with humour. Readers can picture book tells the story of Viola of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova appreciate the setting and learn about this Desmond, an important and unsung hero Scotia. Most Canadians are aware of Rosa part of Cape Breton history. of the Black Rights Movement who refused Parks, who refused to give up her seat Librarian to give up her seat in a segregated movie on a racially segregated bus in Alabama, Teen Fiction theatre in New Glasgow in 1946. but Viola Desmond’s act of resistance Librarian occurred nine years earlier. However, Children’s Nonfiction many Canadians are still unaware of Desmond’s story or that racial segregation existed throughout many parts of Canada Way To Go during most of the twentieth century. On Tom Ryan the subject of race, Canadians seem to exhibit a form of collective amnesia. Viola Tom Ryan’s first novel Way To Go is a positive LGTBQ story Desmond’s Canada is a ground-breaking set in Cape Breton. The book reflects the normal confusion book that provides a concise overview of of navigating the teenage years along with the added the narrative of the Black experience in challenges of sexual self-discovery. Why is it an important Canada. Reynolds traces this narrative from read? If we can see ourselves in what we read, we feel less slavery under French and British rule in the alone in the world. eighteenth century to the practice of racial Librarian segregation and the fight for racial equality Teen Fiction in the twentieth century. Publisher Adult Nonfiction

42 READING NOVA SCOTIA Weska’qelmut Apje’juanu / We Keep a Light We Were Not the Savages Kisses Kisses Baby O Evelyn May Richardson (Cox) (3rd edition): Collision Between Sheree Fitch, Hilda Rose (Illustrator), Bernie Francis (Translator) I first read this book as a child. It captured European and Native American my imagination with its imagery of the Civilizations Sheree Fitch is a well-known author of Nova Scotia coast, the fascination of Daniel N. Paul many favorite children’s books. Kisses Kisses Baby O is unique because babies island life, and the many details about This book turns the history that many of us born in Nova Scotia receive a copy in the a self-sufficient life using the natural learned in school on its head. Although Read to Me! bags that are distributed to resources available and hard work, which it’s now a fairly well-known title, when first babies across the province. In keeping was the norm for many people in small published it was regarded as inflammatory with our province’s Acadian and communities across the province. It shows and highly controversial in some quarters. Indigenous heritage, this book has also our strong historical reliance on the sea Non-Indigenous Nova Scotians need to been translated into French and Mi’kmaq, as a source of travel and industry. It gives understand this perspective on our history and this Mi’kmaq version is included in the us a glimpse into a unique environment if we are truly to work toward Peace and Mi’kmaq Read to Me! bags. at a time that was both simpler and more Reconciliation. difficult, but when there was a stronger tie Librarian Reader to the land than most people have now. Children’s Fiction Adult Nonfiction Reader Adult Nonfiction

Did you know? • 12,000 programs were offered to adults in Nova Scotia Public Libraries • 134,000 people attended adult programs in Nova Scotia Public Libraries • 11,000 programs were offered to children and teens in Nova Scotia Public Libraries • 210,000 children and teens attended programs in Nova Scotia Public Libraries ­—Nova Scotia Public Library Data Collection 2016/2017

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 43 Why I Love Nova Scotia Daniel Howarth Children depicted as animals tell, in their own words, why they love this province. A perfect souvenir for a child visiting grandparents or family in Nova Scotia, and a good read-together book for families. Remember your visits to Nana’s house, trips to the beach, and visiting the history of Nova Scotia with this board book. Librarian Children’s Fiction

Wildflowers of Nova Scotia: Field Guide Todd Boland Winds of L’Acadie Lois Donovan This field guide is a great read for wildflower enthusiasts. This book is an What a way to explore your Acadian authoritative guide to over 700 species background: spend the summer with of native and introduced species of your grandparents in Grand Pré and get wildflowers in Nova Scotia. A series of transported back to the year 1755. It pays page tabs and icons, along with full colour to know history, in case you accidently photos, offers easy identification of wild time-travel like 16-year-old Sarah because plants. A great book for both the novice you might be able to save a life. Donovan and expert botanist. transforms a modern girl’s trip to the past Reader into a long hard look at a dark period in Adult Nonfiction Canada’s history. Librarian Children’s Fiction

When I was a kid, I spent hours in the children’s library, I didn’t choose that book because I had concerns about my browsing through the non-fiction books. While I read lots of parents but because I was captivated by the personal stories that novels, I was drawn to non-fiction because I was fascinated by were inside the book. I skipped the connecting narrative and true stories. simply read the first-person accounts of teenagers. I believe that book, and that well-stocked children’s library, started me, at the One afternoon, after stocking up on books to take to the age of nine, on my path as a non-fiction writer.” cottage, I hopped into the front seat of our car, and my mother glanced down at the pile of books on my lap. On top was a non- ­—Sara Jewell author of Field Notes: A City Girl’s Search for fiction book titled, How To Cope With An Alcoholic Parent. Heart and Home in Rural Nova Scotia, published fall 2016 by Nimbus. “What? Why do you have that book?” my mother squawked. “I’ll never be able to show my face in the children’s library again!”

44 READING NOVA SCOTIA InDEX

Africville Genealogy Society Cahill, Bette Crewe, Lesley Greer, Darren The Spirit of Africville...... 38 Butterbox Babies: Baby Sales, Relative Happiness...... 35 Just Beneath My Skin...... 24 Baby Deaths...... 13 Aker, Don Cruise, David Griffiths, Alison The First Stone...... 17 Cameron, Janet E. On South Mountain: The Dark Secrets On South Mountain: The Dark Cinnamon Toast and the End of the Goler Clan...... 32 Secrets of the Goler Clan...... 32 Akins, Thomas Beamish of the World...... 14 History of Halifax City...... 23 Currie, Sheldon Groenendyk, Doretta (Illustrator) Cameron, Silver Donald The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum...... 20 A Bluenose Twelve Days of Christmas....12 Arsenault, Bona The Education of Everett Richardson: Histoire des Acadiens...... 22 Dawson, Joan Groenendyk, Doretta The Nova Scotia Fishermen’s Strike, The Mapmaker’s Eye: Nova Scotia A Harbour Seal in Halifax...... 21 Atlantic Geoscience Society 1970-71...... 16 Through Early Maps...... 28 The Last Billion Years: A Geological Haliburton, Thomas Chandler Campbell, D. History of the Maritime Provinces of Day, Frank Parker The Clockmaker...... 15 Beyond the Atlantic Roar: A Study Canada...... 25 Rockbound...... 36 of the Nova Scotia Scots...... 10 Hallowell, Gerald Augustine, Stephen J. De Mille, James The August Gales: The Tragic Loss of Campbell, John Lorne Mi’kmaq & Maliseet Cultural Ancestral A Strange Manuscript Found Fishing Schooners in the North Atlantic, Songs Remembered in Exile: Traditional Material: National Collections from the in a Copper Cylinder...... 39 1926 and 1927...... 9 Gaelic Songs from Nova Scotia Canadian Museum of Civilization...... 28 Recorded in Cape Breton and De Villiers, Marq Hamilton, Laurie Barber, Jill Antigonish County in 1937, with an A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins The Painted House of Maud Lewis: Baby’s Lullaby...... 9 Account of the Causes of the Highland and Curious History of Sable Island...... 16 Conserving a Folk Art Treasure...... 33 Emigration, 1790-1835...... 37 Barkhouse, Joyce Deines, Brian (Illustrator) Hamilton, Sylvia D. Pit Pony...... 34 Charles, Veronika Martenova One Hockey Night...... 32 And I Alone Escaped to Tell You...... 8 The Land Beyond the Wall: An Barr, Sandra M. Immigration Story...... 25 Denys, Nicolas Hardy, Campbell Geology of Nova Scotia Field Guide: Geographique et Historique des Costes Forest Life in Acadie: Sketches of Sport Touring Through Time at Chisholm, Joseph Andrew de L’Amerique Septentrionale: Avec and Natural History in the Lower 48 Scenic Sites...... 19 The Speeches and Public Letters of the l’Histoire naturelle du Païs...... 19 Provinces of the Canadian Dominion....18 Hon. Joseph Howe (Based upon Mr. Battiste, Marie Annand’s edition of 1858)...... 38 Deveau, Alphonse Harris, Michael Living Treaties: Narrating Mi’kmaw Les Acadiens de la Nouvelle-Écosse...... 7 Justice Denied: The Law versus Treaty Relations...... 27 Choyce, Lesley Donald Marshall...... 24 The Mi’kmaq Anthology...... 29 Donovan, Lois Beaton, Kate Winds of L’Acadie...... 44 Hewson, John Hark! A Vagrant...... 21 The Republic of Nothing...... 35 The Mi’kmaw Grammar of Dunn, Charles W. Father Pacifique...... 29 Bell, Winthrop Pickard Christmas, Dozay (Arlene) (Illustrator). Highland Settler: The Classic Portrait of The “Foreign Protestants” and the How the Cougar Came to be Called the Scottish Gael in Cape Breton and Hicks, Faith Erin Settlement of Nova Scotia: The History the Ghost Cat / Ta’n Petalu Telui’tut Eastern Nova Scotia...... 22 Friends with Boys...... 18 of a Piece of Arrested British Colonial Skite’kmujewey Mia’wj...... 23 Farrell, Sharon L. Hild, Martha Hickman Policy in the Eighteenth Century...... 18 Clairmont, Donald H. Mi’kmawe’l Tan Teli-kina’muemk: Geology of Nova Scotia Field Benjamin, Chris The Spirit of Africville...... 38 Teaching about the Mi’kmaq...... 29 Guide: Touring Through Time at Indian School Road: Legacies of the 48 Scenic Sites...... 19 Clark, Joan Fergusson, Donald A. Shubenacadie Residential School...... 24 An Audience of Chairs...... 8 Bho na H-Innse Gall as Iomallaiche / Hill, Lawrence Bernard, Tim From the Farthest Hebrides...... 10 The Book of Negroes...... 12 Clarke, George Elliott Mi’kmawe’l Tan Teli-kina’muemk: George and Rue...... 20 Fitch, Sheree Hines, Sherman Teaching about the Mi’kmaq...... 29 The Gravesavers...... 20 Nova Scotia...... 31 Coady, Lynn Bird, Michael J. Hellgoing...... 21 Weska’qelmut Apje’juanu Hirtle, Sheila The Town that Died: A Chronicle (Translation of Kisses Kisses Baby O)...... 43 A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins of the Halifax Explosion...... 41 Coady, Moses M. and Curious History of Sable Island...... 16 Masters of Their Own Destiny: The Fitzpatrick, Deanne Bird, Will R. Story of the Antigonish Movement of Hook Me a Story: The History and Method Howarth, Daniel No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of Adult Education Through Economic of Rug Hooking in Atlantic Canada...... 23 Why I Love Nova Scotia...... 44 the North Nova Scotia Highlanders...... 31 Cooperation...... 28 Francis, Bernie Hull, Maureen Boland, Todd Comeau, Germaine The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki...25 The View From a Kite...... 42 Wildflowers of Nova Scotia: L’été aux puits secs...... 16 Field Guide...... 44 The Mi’kmaw Grammar of Isaac, Michael James Conall, Bill Father Pacifique...... 29 How the Cougar Came to be Called Boudreau, Hélène The Promised Land: A Novel of the Ghost Cat / Ta’n Petalu Telui’tut Évangéline: Récits pour jeunes Weska’qelmut Apje’juanu Cape Breton...... 34 Skite’kmujewey Mia’wj...... 23 lecteurs...... 17 (Translation of Kisses Kisses Baby O)...... 43 Cormier-Boudreau, Marielle Joe, Rita Bruce, Charles Gallant, Melvin A Taste of Acadie...... 39 The Mi’kmaq Anthology...... 29 The Channel Shore...... 14 A Taste of Acadie...... 39 Craig, Perri (Illustrator) Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Buckler, Ernest Gesner, Abraham A Nova Scotia Lullaby...... 32 Mi’kmaw Poet...... 37 The Mountain and the Valley...... 30 A Practical Treatise on Coal, Creighton, Helen Petroleum, and Other Distilled Oils...... 34 Jones, Burnley “Rocky” Bulger, Terrilee Bluenose Ghosts...... 12 Burnley “Rocky” Jones Revolutionary: An A Nova Scotia Lullaby...... 32 Grant, Shauntay Autobiography...... 13 Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia...... 19 Up Home...... 41

150 BOOKS OF INFLUENCE 45 Jones, El MacLean, R.A. Paine, Albert Bigelow Simpson, Jamie Live from the Afrikan Resistance! ...... 27 Beyond the Atlantic Roar: A Study The Tent Dwellers: Sports Fishing Restoring the Acadian Forest (2nd of the Nova Scotia Scots...... 10 in Nova Scotia in 1908...... 39 edition): A Guide to Forest Stewardship Joudry, Shalan for Woodlot Owners in the Maritimes....35 Generations Re-merging...... 19 MacLellan, Lauchie Paul, Daniel N. Brìgh an Òrain / A Story in Every We Were Not the Savages (3rd edition): Slocum, Joshua Kitz, Janet F. Song: The Songs and Tales of Collision Between European and Native Sailing Alone Around the World...... 36 Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion Lauchie MacLellan...... 13 American Civilizations...... 43 and the Road to Recovery...... 37 Smith, Sydney (Illustrator) MacLennan, Hugh Paul, Elizabeth Town Is by the Sea...... 40 Knockwood, Isabelle Barometer Rising...... 9 The Stone Canoe: Two Lost Out of the Depths: The Experiences Spicer, Stanley T. Mi’kmaq Texts...... 38 of Mi’kmaw Children at the Indian MacLeod, Alistair The Age of Sail: Master Shipbuilders Residential School at Shubenacadie, No Great Mischief...... 30 Perkyns, Dorothy of the Maritimes...... 7 Nova Scotia...... 33 Last Days in Africville...... 25 MacLeod, Calum Stevens, Arthur (Illustrator) Kochanoff, Peggy Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia...... 19 Raddall, Thomas H. The Sharing Circle: Stories about Be a Wilderness Detective...... 10 Halifax, Warden of the North...... 21 First Nations Culture...... 37 MacNeil, Joe Neil Lacey, Laurie Sgeul gu Latha / Tales Until Dawn: The Nymph and the Lamp...... 32 Syliboy, Alan Mi’kmaq Medicines (2nd edition): The World of a Cape Breton Gaelic The Thundermaker...... 40 Rand, Silas T. Remedies and Recollections...... 29 Story-Teller...... 36 Legends of the Micmacs...... 26 The Stone Canoe: Two Lost LeBlanc, Gabriel Marshall, Dianne Mi’kmaq Texts...... 38 Rankin, Effie Mon Isle Madame: Une histoire Heroes of the Acadian Resistance: The As a’ Bhràighe / Beyond the Braes: Tattrie, Jon acadienne...... 30 Story of Joseph Beausoleil Broussard The Gaelic Songs of Allan the Ridge Cornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax..15 and Pierre II Surette, 1702–1765...... 22 LeBlanc, Georgette MacDonald, 1794-1868...... 8 Taylor, Wanda Alma...... 8 Marshall, Lindsay Reynolds, Graham The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Clay Pots and Bones: Poems...... 14 Lescarbot, Marc Viola Desmond’s Canada: A History of Children: The Hurt, the Hope, and Histoire de la Nouvelle-France...... 22 McKay, Ami Blacks and Racial Segregation in the the Healing...... 31 The Birth House...... 11 Promised Land...... 42 Lightburn, Ron (Illustrator) Thurston, Harry Pumpkin People...... 34 McKay, Leo Jr. Richardson (Cox), Evelyn May Tidal Life: A Natural History of the Twenty-Six...... 41 We Keep a Light...... 43 Bay of Fundy...... 40 Lightburn, Sandra Pumpkin People...... 34 McLennan, J.S. Robson, Wanda Tooke, Susan (Illustrator) Louisbourg: From its Foundation Viola Desmond’s Canada: A History of Up Home...... 41 Little, Linda to its Fall 1713-1758...... 28 Blacks and Racial Segregation in the Strong Hollow...... 39 Trace, Kaleigh Promised Land...... 42 Mellor, John Hot, Wet, and Shaking: How I Learned Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth The Company Store: J.B. McLachlan Rose, Hilda (Illustrator) to Talk About Sex...... 23 Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie ...... 16 and the Cape Breton Coal Miners, Baby’s Lullaby...... 9 Tucker, Brian MacAskill, Wallace 1900–1925...... 15 Weska’qelmut Apje’juanu Big White Knuckles...... 11 Then & Now: Photographs of Meuse, Theresa (Translation of Kisses Kisses Baby O)...... 43 Nova Scotia...... 40 Tufts, Robie W. L’Nu’k / The People: Mi’kmaw History, Rosenmeier, Leah Morine Birds of Nova Scotia...... 11 MacDonald, Ann-Marie Culture, and Heritage...... 27 Mi’kmawe’l Tan Teli-kina’muemk: Fall on Your Knees...... 17 Tynes, Maxine The Sharing Circle: Stories about First Teaching about the Mi’kmaq...... 29 Borrowed Beauty...... 12 Macdonald, Frank Nations Culture...... 37 Ross, Sally A Forest for Calum...... 18 Vallée, Brian Moorsom, William Scarth Les Acadiens de la Nouvelle-Écosse...... 7 Life with Billy...... 26 MacDonald, Hugh R. Letters from Nova Scotia: Comprising Rudnicki, Richard (Illustrator) Trapper Boy...... 41 Sketches of a Young Country...... 26 Vernon, Steve Abigail’s Wish...... 7 Halifax Haunts: Exploring the City’s MacGillivray, Allister Morgan, Robert J. Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged...... 42 Spookiest Spaces...... 20 A Cape Breton Ceilidh...... 13 Rise Again!: The Story of Cape Breton Island (Books One and Two)...... 35 Ryan, Tom Wagg, Len MacGillivray, Beverly Way To Go...... 42 Then & Now: Photographs of A Cape Breton Ceilidh...... 13 Morrissey, Donna Nova Scotia...... 40 The Deception of Livvy Higgs...... 15 Sable, Trudy MacIntyre, Linden The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki...25 Walker, James W. St.G. The Bishop’s Man...... 11 Munsch, Robert Burnley “Rocky” Jones Revolutionary: Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance....26 Sanger, Peter Mackenzie, W. Roy An Autobiography...... 13 The Stone Canoe: Two Lost Ballads and Sea Songs from Newton, Michael Mi’kmaq Texts...... 38 Wallace, Frederick William Nova Scotia...... 9 Seanchaidh na Coille / Captain Salvation...... 14 Memory-Keeper of the Forest...... 36 Saunders, Margaret Marshall MacKinnon, Bruce Beautiful Joe ...... 10 Ward, David Penetration: Editorial Cartoons and Nightingale, Marie One Hockey Night...... 32 Caricatures...... 33 Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens...... 33 Schwartz, Joanne Town Is by the Sea...... 40 Warner, Jody Nyasha MacKinnon, Lewis Nunn, Bruce Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged...... 42 Famhair: Agus Dàin Ghàidhlig A Bluenose Twelve Days of Christmas....12 Shaw, John (Translator and Editor) Eile / Giant: And Other Brìgh an Òrain / A Story in Every Wesley, Gloria Ann Oakley, Mark Gaelic Poems...... 17 Song: The Songs and Tales of Abigail’s Wish...... 7 Star Drop...... 38 Lauchie MacLellan...... 13 MacKinnon, Patsy (Illustrator) If This Is Freedom...... 24 O’Connor, D’Arcy Évangéline: Récits pour jeunes Sgeul gu Latha / Tales Until Dawn: The The Money Pit: The Story of Oak Island and Wilson, Budge lecteurs...... 17 World of a Cape Breton Gaelic the World’s Greatest Treasure Hunt...... 30 After Swissair...... 7 Story-Teller...... 36 MacLean, Don Pachai, Bridglal Wilson, Janet (Illustrator) A Little Thing I Tied Myself: Stories of The Nova Scotia Black Experience Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance....26 Atlantic Canadian Fly Tiers...... 27 Through the Centuries...... 31

46 READING NOVA SCOTIA The 150 Books of Influence Committee gratefully acknowledges and thanks all project partner organizations for their support.