Linnets and Valerians

Linnets & Valerians / Elizabeth Goudge
Boston, MA: David Godine Publishers, 2015, c1964.
256 p.

I've been having a hard time reading and an even harder time sitting down to review lately. So I decided that I should read something delightful from a favourite author, one of her children's book that I hadn't yet read. This was the right choice! 

Linnets & Valerians is the story of the four Linnet children, Nan, Robert, Timothy and Betsy. They are sent to live with their grandmother when their father is assigned a post overseas -- their mother being, of course in these kinds of books, long dead. Their grandmother is strict and they are unhappy at the beginning of the book, as they are all being punished for rowdy behaviour by being locked away in solitary. They decide to escape and run away. 

And so they do, walking to another village until in exhaustion they climb into a pony trap, which then sets off, the pony heading home, while they eat all the groceries in the back. I can see why Grandma locked them up! 

Fortunately for them, the pony belongs to their Uncle Ambrose, a grumpy minister and scholar, who takes them in. Life there is much freer, even if they must be educated by Uncle Ambrose. 

But instead of just larks and hijinks for the rest of the book, the story turns darker. There is a witch in town, old Emma Cobley, who has cursed the local rich family - their son disappeared at age 8 on the hills, the husband is long missing overseas, the wife is a recluse at their estate. The Linnet children stumble into this and they do resolve it, as expected, but the story is dark, with witchcraft, magical bees, owls, and more. The children remain resolutely stout and English amidst this swirling magic, except for maybe a little bit of Nan is brought into it. As the oldest she is responsible for them and she also finds a little book of spells in Uncle Ambrose's house (the vicarage, where the rich recluse used to live as the old vicar's daughter long ago). 

But despite the odd balance of this book I loved it and would have loved it when I was a young reader as well. It was published in 1964, when these themes of English witches were everywhere -- Mary Stewart's Thornyhold, Alexander Key's Escape to Witch Mountain, or any of Ruth Chew's lighter witchy stories, for example. And this kind of dark magic against the (Christian) light is a theme in some of Goudge's other writing, in different ways but present. 

The only part I wasn't keen on was Nan's character arc - I could see her resolution coming and didn't like it, and then it happened and I still didn't like it! But this was a fun, relaxing read that I really enjoyed on a steamy summer day. 

19th Annual Canadian Book Challenge!

 

It's time for the new round of the Canadian Book Challenge! It's the 19th year in a row that this readalong has been going on, it's easy, just read and review 13 Canadian books between July 1 - July 1. 

I made it to 17 over this last year. Maybe I'll beat that in this round! Lots of great books to choose from - and there are many reviews to read over the last 18 years, if you are looking for a good book :)

Stitches of Tradition

 

Stitches of Tradition / Marcie Rendon,
illus. by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley
NY: HarperCollins, c2024.

This Ojibwe story honours the ribbon skirt as a tradition that stitches together generations. A young girl gets her first ribbon skirt thanks to her grandmother's sewing prowess. They measure and cut and create a skirt for her to wear to a baby naming ceremony — and then as she grows older, new ribbon skirts to wear to a Fall Ceremony, a swearing in as her aunt becomes a district judge, and finally to her own coming of age ceremony. As she grows, she learns to help with the sewing and continue the traditions. The text features repeated paragraphs that both ground the story and move it forward, making it an engaging read aloud.

The text and illustrations are both by Ojibwe artists, one from Minnesota and one from Barrie. Together they've created a heart warming book about the connections between generations of women and the traditions that bind families. The text is sprinkled with Ojibwe terms, with a glossary and an author's note at the back, explaining the importance of ribbon skirts. The topic and the colour saturated illustrations make this a visually appealing book for young readers and their elders. It's a gentle story full of love, connection, and sewing! I loved it. 

REDress: Art, Action, and the Power of Presence

 

REDress / Jaime Black-Morsette, ed.
Winnipeg, MB: Portage & Main Press, c2025.
160 p.

Today's book is a feature for National Indigenous People's Day, June 21. I read this from my library, and it was a powerful read. It looks at art and how artistic projects have been used to draw attention to issues in the Indigenous community in Canada, particularly the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women campaign. (MMIW)

The title refers both to actual redress of wrongs, and to the Red Dress project, the best known project to draw attention to MMIW. This project uses red dresses, hung from trees, clotheslines, and in public spaces, to represent lives lost in this ongoing tragedy. It's a project that was begun by artist Jaime Black-Morsette, the editor of this collection. It's been installed in a variety of museums as well, and it is haunting. This book gives a bit of the history and purpose of this activist art installation.

There are also essays on other activist art projects, like beaded moccasin vamps also meant to draw attention to missing women. There are a number of ways that clothing has been used symbolically in the works included in this anthology, alongside other essays and statements from Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by the scourge of MMIW. 

There are many clear photos and imagery to support the essays, and the book is very well produced. While the theme makes it a hard read at times, it's so important, and I felt it was a great look at this topic as well as 15 years of the Red Dress Project. Definitely worth searching out. 

Dorothy Grant, An Endless Thread

 

Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread / Dorothy Grant
Victoria, BC: Figure 1 Publishing, c2024.
176 p.

I came across this book in my library's online catalogue; until then I hadn't heard of Dorothy Grant. I'm so glad I found this! Grant is a West Coast Haida designer from what is now Alaska. She began designing in 1989 with her show called Feastwear, which launched her into a very successful career selling first in a boutique, and then via trunk shows and bespoke items.

This book is partly a memoir of her career and partly a look-book of her many pieces and designer lines. There are photos of many Indigenous celebrities and leaders wearing her work, as well as politicians -- one image of Governor General Mary Simon greeting Pope Francis during his visit to apologize for Residential School harms has her wearing a white Dorothy Grant capelet that echoes the Pope's robes, something I found fascinating.

Grant's work has also been collected by museums and galleries. Her designs incorporate traditional Haida motifs as well as garment types and kinds of embellishments like shellwork and embroidery, or traditional spruce root weaving. They play those elements off of modern design to create amazing pieces. 

This book was put together for a retrospective at Haida Gwaii Museum in 2024, so there are also essays by the curator, India Rael Young, and Haida repatriation specialist and museologist Sdahl Ḵ’awaas Lucy Bell, alongside some of Grant's own reflections and memories, and those of her longtime assistant, Haida curator and artist Kwiaahwah Jones. All this, plus the many large photos, make this book a wonderful read, with so much to examine. I really enjoyed it. If you can find a copy, I would recommend it to any fashion lover. 

You can find lots of fascinating information and fashion on Dorothy Grant's website, too,

(Flip through with more images, details and a short video interview with the author can be found on the publisher's website) 

Christian Allaire's The Power of Style

 

The Power of Style / Christian Allaire 
TO: Annick Press, c2021.
96 p.

This is a book aimed at younger readers, the teen demographic. It talks about clothing and style, and how fashion choices can represent identity, signal belonging, and help people express themselves fully. 

Christian Allaire is an Ojibwe fashion writer at Vogue, and he put together this book to show the kinds of fashion, style, and people he didn't see in fashion when he was a teen. He shares Indigenous content -- ribbon skirts/shirts, beading and more -- but also then goes on to cover topics like drag, hijabs, makeup, hair and cosplay, to point out the connections between fashion and social justice. 

This is a photo heavy book, fairly short, so I did find it didn't get into heavy sociological depths -- it is an intro, a survey class if you will, for readers new to these ideas. It's colourful, celebratory, and joyful despite some of the more serious themes. 

I would like to see future volumes more narrowly focused on some of the themes of these chapters, as at times the transitions between chapters felt jumpy because there was so much to cover. But if you have a younger reader interested in cultural identities, gender, and the wider fashion world, this would be a great book to share with them. The many photos really give it visual appeal, almost magazine style, and there are lots of thoughtful threads to follow further. I thought it was very interesting! 

From the Rez to the Runway

From the Rez to the Runway / Christian Allaire 
TO: HarperCollins, c2025.
272 p.

June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada. I shared a few reviews of some books by Indigenous writers on my sewing blog this month, and am going to share them here this week as well. I'll start with this fascinating memoir!

Christian Allaire (author of The Power of Style) has just published a memoir about his rise from Ojibwe teen from Northern Ontario to Vogue fashion writer -- and it's a great read! He's really honest about the trials and tribulations of reaching his goals, recognizing both his own hard work and his luck. As well as the support he received from his family and community. 

He shares how he was always into fashion, reading magazines, watching Fashion Televison & admiring Jeanne Beker, and dressing himself as style-forward as he could with thrift store finds and more. He decided to go into fashion journalism and headed to Toronto, where he found himself one of the few Indigenous students in the journalism program, and certainly in the fashion journalism subset. 

During school he also interned and worked very hard to make connections that might lead to work or further opportunities - he seems to have had endless energy and drive at this time. In this section, he mentions that the professors told him he shouldn't be working, that he should be focusing on academics instead - but that it was all the work he was doing that led to the footholds he was able to get in the industry. This is a great point for many students to think about. 

When he moves to New York to take on some internships, the stories get wilder, until he realizes he needs to take control of his life and manage addictions, so that he can succeed instead of burning out and disappearing. There are lots of entertaining stories during his internship years, including one at a magazine where a roomful of Chanel couture was inadvertently destroyed (not by him), or when a celebrity wore all the designer clothes from a shoot home, and Christian, an intern, had to go get these pieces back to return to the designers in the morning. 

But he also shares stories of how being true to himself and his Indigenous community led to opportunities, especially at Vogue. His pieces on the Santa Fe Indian Market and a variety of Indigenous beaders, designers, jewellers and more were big hits, and he was able to parlay this into the right role at just the right time. And when the book ends, he is giddy, at the peak - he's on the red carpet at the Met Gala, interviewing guests. 

This is an engaging memoir from an important voice in the fashion community right now. I enjoyed the structure and the progression of the book and thought it was well done, incorporating a variety of stories for someone so early into their career. Definitely worth a look!