Rare Intellect

Page 25

Carla Robinson - News Anchor CBC Newsworld

Recommends:

Monkey Beach By Eden Robinson

Houghton Mifflen-2000

I recognized my sister's gift for writing when we were kids. It seemed as though she could slip into people's heads and tell their stories for them. Eden's knack for creating realistic, engaging characters makes many readers wish Monkey Beach would not end. So, if you're interested in a coming-of-age story about a feisty and funny Haisla/Heiltsuk woman who is struggling to deal with ghosts, drugs, boys, crazy relatives and death, you'll love Monkey Beach.

Jennifer Sinclair - Researcher and Policy Analyst

Recommends:

Canada's First Nations:

A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times

By Olive Dickason, Oxford University Press-1997 (second edition)

As a researcher and policy analyst, my shelves are full of dry, academic resource material. Then there's Olive Dickason's First Nations. This highly-acclaimed historical account of Canada's First Peoples deserves more than a reviewer's quote. It reads like an epic novel, a tragic tale of greed, intrigue and deception. The central characters are more than one-dimensional historical figures. They are our ancestors, our friends and families.

I liked this book because it is more than an historical account; it is an amazing story about the lives of my friends. Olive Dickason takes us through the early battles between the Algonquin, Mi'kmaq and Huron. Her story, and it is a story, continues with their epic battles with the Iroquois for control of the rivers and trade routes, and continues up to the modern treaties of today.

I chose to read First Nations again for the simple pleasure of reading a well-written book. I'm recommending it to others because in today's climate of modern-day treaty-making, medical consent forms and changes to the Indian Act, First Nations makes us all much more aware of how far we have travelled and how little we have moved.