Operation
Orca: Springer, Luna and the Struggle to Save West Coast Killer Whales by
Daniel Francis and Gill Hewlett
Non-fiction
I
stumbled upon this book while browsing the field guide section at my local
library. Since I live in Vancouver and the book looked up my alley I borrowed
it. It is about two orca whales that were discovered in Puget and Nootka Sound
at a time when people didn’t really know much about orcas. One story is of
Springer and her ultimate rescue and the other is of Luna and what lead to his
death. Coincidentally while I read this book I was volunteering at the Vancouver
Aquarium. The book shone some light on the history of orcas and how clueless
people really were back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
A
Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson
Romance/Fantasy
This
story is about a girl named Harriet living in Cambridge with her father and her
aunt. Her only freedom is in ballet. When a Russian ballet master comes looking
for girls for his ballet company Harriet defies her father sneaks off with him
and his ballet to the Amazon. Like another of Eva’s books, Journey to the River
Sea, this book takes place primarily in the Amazon and in the same village too.
Having read Journey to the River Sea and then A Company of Swans I got a good
picture of what the village and the theatre looked like. Reading this book made
me want to visit the Amazon even more.
Hoping
for Home: Stories of Arrival by various authors
Historical
Fiction
One
of my favorite series when I was younger that sparked my love of Canadian
history is the Dear Canada series. Each one takes place in a different part of
Canada’s history and each story is told through the journal of a Canadian girl.
These stories were stories of children coming to Canada but they felt more
personal and relatable because the speakers are children. The story, In the
Silence of my Heart by Lillian Boraks-Nemetz was one of my favorites because I
really like another book by the same author called The Old Brown Suitcase and
the story really put me into the mind of the girl. Lillian also came and spoke
at my school last year so the story felt even more real. Reading these stories
gives me the child’s perspective on life in Canada when most historical fiction
is told in an adult’s perspective.
Changeling
by Phillipa Gregoy
Fantasy
This
book is set in the 1400s and is about Isolde, a princess forced by her older brother
to become an abbess and Luca, a boy who is sent by his master to investigate
strange things that are happening in the nunnery. Some fantasy books have flat
characters and are too confusing but this book had strong characters and the
plot wasn’t too confusing. Romance wasn’t the main focus of the book unlike
some fantasy books where romance is the main point.
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