Canada Day Books

Much like many Catholics have their own schools, The Jewish people have formed schools for their own children as well. "Back to School: Jewish Day School in the Lives of Adult Jews" is a look at how these schools are designed to turn children into well educated and morally correct Jewish adults - and how parents and even non-parental adults can get involved with their local schools for events and celebration, among other things. "Back to School: Jewish Day School in the Lives of Adult Jews" is highly recommended for anyone who wants to improve the education of the leaders of tomorrow's world, especially for those of the Jewish faith.

In this book, Sergeant-Major Charles Cromwell recounts his own first-hand experiences of the Canadian arms of the D-Day landings. Like the hit movie "Saving Private Ryan", this book is told in vivid, easy to understand - "readable" english. Here he vividly recreates the horrors of the landings, and how these (like the American landing at Ohmaha), went wrong. He then takes us past the landings and on a journey through the next few months. He takes us through the sweep into France and through the push into Germany. It's a true story of "how men became veterans who had to learn fast at the 'point' or they were gone." Because these horors happened - that alone is reason enough that books like these must be read so that we may be even more thankful for the freedoms we share today.

Whether you are an experienced fisherman or just wanting to vicariously live through someone else's fishing adventure, this book is likely to satisfy. Bob Simpson's informal, journal-style writing really seems to capture the essence of this epic trip he took with his two teenage sons. Along the way, he seemingly manages to expose the reader to highlights of his personal thoughts and experiences, from descriptions of the majestic Canadian scenery, to wildlife of interest (such as the bald eagle), to the many detailed accounts of his groups' dramatic deep-sea fishing experiences. Other details, such as the personalities within his group and their amazing meals together, just add to the feeling of "being there". I was left feeling inspired to someday take a similar trip with my two sons. A quick and very enjoyable read.

This book is an essential resource for gardeners who dream of feeding themselves off their own land in the frozen North. The book is organized into 3 sections and an appendix. Section one describes the challenges of cold climate gardening in general, and provides some very useful suggestions about how to get the most out of the garden, including dealing with microclimates, building soils, and starting seeds indoors. It closes with a chapter on ideas for lengthening the growing season, which is of vital concern when you only have 70-80 days of frost-free weather.

The second section covers various food crops in detail. It includes ideas for speeding the melting of the snow from the garden in the spring, heating the soil during the growing season, and extending the season with mulches and cold frames. It also takes up each vegetable or fruit in turn and describes whether or not it is likely to thrive in the North, with suggestions for pushing the limits, when necessary, to get a harvest.

The last section covers special landscaping concerns of the North, with information such as which hedges should be protected from deep snow, and how to build protective frames for decorative hedges. The appendix includes such things as a list of recommended readings, seed companies and nurseries that specialize in Northern varieties, and sources for greenhouse materials.

Before attempting to garden in Vermont, I've had gardens in Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Massachusetts, and Southern New Hampshire. In those places, I never needed a book to tell me how to garden- -I just stuck seeds in the ground and they grew. But gardening is different up here, where the soil never really warms up until the end of June, if then, and frosts threaten by the end of August. Succession planting is still possible, but it takes a lot more forethought to enable two harvests on the same ground in such a short period. This book has helped me focus my efforts on vegetables that really will grow in this climate, like root crops and cabbage family plants, and restrict my planting of heat-loving plants to the "experimental section" of the garden. I've even been able to get a couple of melons and cucumbers to grow by following some of the suggestions in this book. I also learned through reading this book how not to waste my money on fruit trees that aren't fit for this climate, and why it is so important to buy fruit trees and seeds locally up here. If you're stymied by gardening in snow, this book can help!

It was a gift and I don't know what he thought but the service was great.

Poetry is as diverse in its form and format as it is in expressional content and emotional articulation. It can be as ephemeral as a moment or as enduring as the recorded history of human kind. The latest addition to the impressive Laurier Poetry series from Wilfrid Laurier University Press, "The Crisp Day Closing On My Hand" is a compilation of the poetry of M. Travis Lane (Honorary President of the Writers' Federation of New Brunwick and a Life Member of the League of Canadian Poets) as selected and with an informative introduction by Jeanette Lynes (Associate Professor of English, St. Francis Xavier University and co-editor of 'The Antigonish Review). Lane has long established her reputation as a major Canadian poet through the publication of eleven books of poetry and the achievement of several prestigious awards for her writings. This newest collection of her verse will aptly serve to introduce a major literary talent to a new generation of readers. 'The Gift from the Bad Fairy': This is the curse, that we do not sleep/and let the rose briars hide us, but our hope/awakes each morning to be pricked.//I sew this page, the needle hurts, is bone,/is flesh, is permanent. If we could sleep,/the future like a fairy prince suck out/the dead bee's mortal sting and change the world/to roses...//But it is, roses, every morning/when we wake. I take my housework up again,/and find again the secret thorn/the sick rose nourished every day.//What makes us thing the heart breaks once? It breaks/all day. It breaks like rain. All that I did/not want to bear has to be borne, and what I mend/has to be mended all over again.//Do we learn to be glad there is still pain?

I was delighted to read this marvellous companion to the television programme. Lance Goddard's book provides a fascinating perspective of Canada's involvement in the D-Day landings at the level of the individual participants.

With hourly, almost blow-by-blow, accounts from veterans who survived the battle, Mr. Goddard's book brings the invasion to life in a way that no dry third-person narrative could. The voices of these soldiers, sailors and airmen quietly demonstrate a pragmatic heroism with combined humility and pride. Indeed there seems a common thread of comrades doing a job that just had to get done.

Numerous photographs and evolving beachhead maps effectively support the narrative and bring to life concepts like tanks that swim and thousands of virtually worthless bicycles.

Together, in words and images, this book provides a rich Canadian view of D-Day that should be of equal interest to non-Canadians. As these elderly veterans are finally defeated by General Time this book will help later generations remember the essential sacrifices they, and their friends still in Normandy, made to defeat the Nazis.

Dancocks again approaches Canadian Military history with a fresh eye. His easy writing style and clear prose makes absorbing both the historical facts and their context deceptively easy. He uses a combination of regimental histories and Official Canadian histories coupled with more recently declassified sources and personal oral histories to bring a fresh perspective to this important Canadian operation.

From the reasons Canada sent 1st Division to Italy in the first place to the ultimately successful conclusion of the Italian campaign, Dancocks embodies all of his narrative with first person accounts that remind the reader of exactly how these campaigns were fought and by whom.

This book occupies a valued place in my military history library. The fact that the author continues to concentrate on Canadian subjects is just another bonus.

Frank Taylor OBE was a journalist who had travelled with the team to Belgrade for the European Cup Quarter Final 2nd leg. After refuelling in Munich, the plane aborted two attempts at takeoff. On the third attempt, it crashed at the end of the runway. Twenty One people died, among them eight members of the United team. Frank Taylor's book tells more than the story of a football tragedy. It is a tale of courage and warm humanity that reached far beyond the world of football. The book is riveting. It makes essential reading for United fans and for all followers of the world's most popular sport. Its eye-witness account and historic pictures make it a book that I review every year on the anniversary of the crash. The names of Taylor, Byrne, Pegg, Bent, Edwards, Whelan, Jones and Coleman will never be forgotten. But for me (born five years after the crash) Frank Taylor makes them into real people, not just names we have learned to mourn.

In 1777, John Keeler, would start his day as a miller at dawn in the gristmill. Colonial millers signed a mill covenant (a promise) to grind the grain for other citizens two days per week in exchange for a percentage of that meal.

Using photographs and drawings, the workings of the mill are described in enough detail to understand the miller's work, tools and terminology.

During the American Revolution, Isaac Keeler was a Patriot who hid supplies for the militia in his gristmill. He joined the militia, himself, but found that the British had burned his gristmill. John Keeler's efforts earned him a place in history. His story proves that everyday people can be heroes when contributing to a great cause.