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The Prairies

Explore and learn more about the Prairies without even leaving home. These non-fiction books are full of photography, history, and facts about Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and give an insightful look at the fascinating world just outside your door.

The Prairie Gardener's Go-To for Grasses

- Janet Melrose , Sheryl Normandeau

Trade paperback $15.00
Reader Reward Price: $13.50

In the tenth book in the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series, lifelong gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau take on the very prairie subject of grasses.

Was ever there a prairie-er subject than grass? Important providers of habitat and food for numerous wildlife species, grasses also serve an integral role in erosion control. For the gardener they can open up a bounty of landscaping options, from the lawn to the pond. In the tenth installment of their popular gardening guide series, lifelong gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau give you the skinny on everything from sod to sedges and raking to rushes.

Following a primer on what exactly defines a grass, Sheryl and Janet take your questions on matters like clumpers vs spreaders, mulching and fertilizers, how to tackle problems like chinch bugs and fairy rings.

The pair dedicate a chapter to lawns, providing a wide selection of alternatives to the tried and true commercial lawn species and answer questions on raking, aerating, laying sod, mowing, and dealing with dogs and all the damage they seem hardwired to do.

Taking your questions on aquatic grasses, as well as edible species (like wheat, rye, and corn), and finishing up with a hall of fame of the best grasses for your every plan and purpose, the authors are sure to expand your knowledge on this truly homegrown topic!

A Very Prairie Christmas Bakebook

- Karlynn Johnston

Hardcover $37.50
Reader Reward Price: $33.75

A GLOBE & MAIL BESTSELLER
INCLUDES THE NATIONAL POST'S TOP MOST POPULAR RECIPES OF 2023!

The quintessential classic Christmas baking book, with over 120 recipes to celebrate the festive baker in all of us!


A Very Prairie Christmas Bakebook is the only cookbook you will need this season, whether you're from the Prairies or just love Christmas baking. Take it from Karlynn Johnston, the bestselling author of Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky and The Prairie Table and someone who owns SIX Christmas trees--these goodies are sure to keep your Christmas spirit going all season long.

Inside, you'll find over 120 of the best of the best recipes for filling your family's homes and bellies with festive cheer, including:

Traditional family recipes: Inspire memory-making for you and yours with sweets like Traditional Whipped Shortbread, Divinity Candy, and Auntie Darlene's Dark Whisky Fruitcake.Home-grown Prairie desserts: Treats like Millionaire's Shortbread and Marshmallow Yule Logs warm the soul when the Prairies turn into a winter wonderland.The ultimate cookie exchange guide: Pick up tips for hosting and baking the best cookies to swap, like Cherry Snowballs and Gumdrop Cookies.Cocktails and punches: Get the Christmas party started with drinks like the Retro Sherbert Party Punch and the Perfect Christmas Crantini.Ukrainian Christmas dishes: learn Karlynn's family's traditional recipes, like Pampushky and Kutia.

On The Road To Abandoned Manitoba

- Gordon Goldsborough

Trade paperback $35.00
Reader Reward Price: $31.50

A top-ten 2023 Bestseller!
In this book, scientist-historian Gordon Goldsborough hits the road in search of adventure and little-known stories from Manitoba's past. Among the places he visits are underground radiation monitoring posts from the Cold War, a remote hydroelectric generating station, cruise ships on the Red River, and the original route of the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Art of Ectoplasm

- Serena Keshavjee

Trade paperback $34.95
Reader Reward Price: $31.46

The legacy of the Hamiltons' psychic archive

In the wake of the First World War and the 1918-19 pandemic, the world was left grappling with a profound sense of loss. It was against this backdrop that a Winnipeg couple, physician T.G. Hamilton and nurse Lillian Hamilton, began their research, documenting and photographing séances they held in their home laboratory. Their extensive study of the survival of human consciousness after death resulted in a stunning collection of hundreds of photographs, including images of tables flying through the air, mediums in trances, and, most curious of all, ectoplasm-a strange, white substance through which ghosts could apparently manifest.

The Art of Ectoplasm invites readers to explore the Hamiltons' research and photographic evidence which has attracted international attention from scholars and artists alike. Notable figures like Arthur Conan Doyle participated in the Hamilton family's séances, and their investigations garnered support among the psychical scientific community, including renowned physicist Oliver Lodge, the inventor of wireless telegraphy. In the century since their creation, the Hamilton photographs (now housed at the University of Manitoba) have continued to perplex and inspire as the subject of academic study, comedic parody, and artistic and cinematic renderings.

This fascinating collection reflects on the history and legacy of the startling and uncanny images found in the Hamilton Family archive. As contemporary society continues to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Art of Ectoplasm offers a compelling look at a chapter in social history not entirely unlike our own.

Icelandic Heritage in North America

- Birna Arnbjrnsdttir, Hskuldur Thrinsson, lfar Bragason

Trade paperback $34.99
Reader Reward Price: $31.49

A celebration of cultural inheritance and the evolution of language

Mapping the language, literature, and history of Icelandic immigrants and their descendants, this collection, translated and expanded for English-speaking audiences, delivers a comprehensive overview of Icelandic linguistic and cultural heritage in North America. Drawn from the findings of a three-year study involving over two hundred participants from Manitoba, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and the Pacific West Coast, Icelandic Heritage in North America reveals the durability and versatility of the Icelandic language.

Editors Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir, Höskuldur Thráinsson, and Úlfar Bragason bring together a range of interdisciplinary scholarship to investigate the endurance of the "Western Icelander." Chapters delve into the literary works of Icelandic immigrant writers and interpret archival letters, newspapers, and journal entries to provide both qualitative and quantitative linguistic analyses and to mark significant cultural shifts between early settlement and today.

Icelandic Heritage in North America offers an in-depth examination of Icelandic immigrant identity, linguistic evolution, and legacy.

Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies

- Natalie Kononenko

Hardcover $44.95
Reader Reward Price: $40.46

While Canada is home to one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas in the world, little is known about the life and culture of Ukrainians living in the country's rural areas and their impact on Canadian traditions. Drawing on more than ten years of interviews and fieldwork, Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies describes the culture of Ukrainian Canadians living in the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Despite powerful pressure to assimilate, these Ukrainians have managed both to preserve their sense of themselves as Ukrainian and to develop a culture sensitive to the realities of prairie life, creating their own uniquely Ukrainian Canadian traditions. The Ukrainian church, an iconic though now rapidly disappearing feature of the prairie landscape, takes centre stage as an instrument for the retention of Ukrainian identity and the development of a new culture. Natalie Kononenko explores the cultural elements of Ukrainian Canadian ritual practice, with an emphasis on family traditions surrounding marriage, birth, death, and religious holidays. Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies gives voice to a group of everyday people who are too often overlooked, highlighting their accomplishments and their contributions to Canadian life.

Prairie

- Dan Clapson , Twyla Campbell

Hardcover $37.50
Reader Reward Price: $33.75


A GLOBE & MAIL BESTSELLER

Over 100 Proud-to-be-Prairie recipes showcasing the seasons, produce, flavours, and traditions of one of Canada's most exciting culinary regions.


Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell take us on a grand tour of the many faces and places that make up the Canadian Prairies. With over 100 delectable recipes, Prairie draws inspiration from the beauty of the changing seasons as well as the many different ingredients and cultures that make the Prairies such a culinary hotspot. The book is filled with

Tried-and-true seasonal recipes that will introduce Prairie flavours to your home kitchen like Sorrel, Farro, and Chicken Soup and Saskatchewan Succotash SaladIngredients special to the Prairies like Sea Buckthorn, Haskap, and Saskatoon BerryIntroductions to many of the Prairie's most exciting chefs and their signature recipesA mix of modern and traditional recipes, from perogies to Beet Mezzalune

The Prairie Garden

- The Prairie Garden Committee

Trade paperback $19.95
Reader Reward Price: $17.96

As gardeners, we care. We care for our bountiful vegetable gardens. We care for our beautiful perennial flower beds and the aromatic herbs that we grow. We care about the fruit bushes and trees in our realm; along with the birds, and other creatures that share our garden space. That essential element of care in us also extends into caring for the Earth, which is particularly important in this time of climate change. So how can gardeners help care for the planet? The first step is to be informed. We need to ask ourselves what exactly is climate change? How will this affect my gardening practices? As our guest editor for this year, we invited Dr. Danny Blair to join us. Dr. Blair is a co-director of the Prairie Climate Centre and is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Winnipeg where his area of expertise is climatology. His research looks at climate change with a particular focus on the Prairie Provinces. Dr. Blair and a number of his colleagues as well as several of our other authors provide information that will help you understand climate change, how it is affecting us now and how it will continue to affect our practices in home gardening in the future. Once we know what climate change is all about, step two is how can we help? There is much that home gardeners can do to adapt their gardening practices in the face of the changing climate. Read about the use of native and drought-resistant plants, water management; composting, and the importance of healthy soil. Discover how to reduce your carbon footprint by using less plastic, planting more trees and using mulch. And, as always, whether you are a newcomer or a veteran gardener, there are also articles of general interest to all who garden in our short-season planting zones.

Overcome

- Anne Mahon

Trade paperback $25.95
Reader Reward Price: $23.36

Finalist, Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction
Finalist, Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher
With a foreword by Beatrice Mosionier.
Abandonment, loss, endless transitions, self-reliance, continued persistence, and fierce beauty all coexist in this compelling collection of stories of ten women who journey from victims of the child welfare system to survivors, and beyond. These women face endless challenges, oppression, and trauma but discover their power through creativity, self-awareness, education, motherhood, and extreme empathy.
They decipher their personal stories looking back through the lens of their lived experience to contribute to changing the narratives of how people who grew up in in the child welfare system see themselves, and how society sees them. These stories create compassion and understanding, breaking down biases.
They also illustrate the direct and multi-faceted relationships between residential schools, the breakdown of Indigenous families, the perpetuated system racism of of the child welfare system and oppression through other societal systems. Many of these women are the voices of those who could have been murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls but have lived to tell their stories. Embracing their humanity, their courageous sharing teaches and informs us. These heartbreaking and inspiring stories will educate and create change.

Falcons Forever

- Cathie Eliasson

Trade paperback $20.00
Reader Reward Price: $18.00

Valley of the Birdtail

- Andrew Stobo Sniderman , Douglas Sanderson

Hardcover $36.99
Reader Reward Price: $33.29

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Winner - 2023 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize

Winner - 2023 John W. Dafoe Book Prize

Winner - 2023 High Plains Book Award for Indigenous Writer

Winner - 2022 Manitoba Historical Society Margaret McWilliams Book Award for Local History

Winner - 2023 Quebec Writers' Federation Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction and Concordia University First Book Prize

Finalist - 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

Finalist - Writers' Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing

Finalist - 2023 Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading Evergreen Award

Finalist and Honourable Mention - Canadian Law and Society Association Book Prize

Finalist - Ukrainian Canadian Foundation Kobzar Book Award

Longlisted - 2023-2024 First Nations Communities Read

A heart-rending true story about racism and reconciliation

Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the town of Rossburn and the Waywayseecappo Indian reserve have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope.

Valley of the Birdtail is about how two communities became separate and unequal--and what it means for the rest of us. In Rossburn, once settled by Ukrainian immigrants who fled poverty and persecution, family income is near the national average and more than a third of adults have graduated from university. In Waywayseecappo, the average family lives below the national poverty line and less than a third of adults have graduated from high school, with many haunted by their time in residential schools.

This book follows multiple generations of two families, one white and one Indigenous, and weaves their lives into the larger story of Canada. It is a story of villains and heroes, irony and idealism, racism and reconciliation. Valley of the Birdtail has the ambition to change the way we think about our past and show a path to a better future.

A Daytripper's Guide To Manitoba

- Bartley Kives

Trade paperback $31.95
Reader Reward Price: $28.76

Sandwiched between North Dakota and Nunavut, Manitoba has never been the busiest chunk of tourism real estate in North America. To independent travellers, this is a good thing: Canada's undiscovered province offers uncrowded beaches, innumerable lakes and unlikely cultural attractions, especially in the gritty/cool capital, Winnipeg. A Daytripper's Guide to Manitoba is the only comprehensive travel handbook to the -province and an indispensable tool for visitors from abroad, Canadians passing through and Manitobans who want to get to know their own backyard. This fourth edition is packed with new attractions such as Winnipeg's Inuit Art Gallery and cool new accommodations from Wasagaming to Winnipeg Beach. And since you've been cooped up a little more than usual as of late, this new edition has even more information about hiking, paddling and camping. Get the straight goods on cities, towns and natural attractions in every corner of the province and northwestern Ontario, compiled by one of Manitoba's most tenacious independent travellers, journalist Bartley Kives. Stuff your face with a fat boy, Winnipeg's famous burger. Eyeball turn-of-the-last-century architecture. Commune with nature in wild areas that still feel wild. And forget what you think you know about the Canadian prairies - the only thing flat about Manitoba is the Trans-Canada Highway.

Under Prairie Skies

- C Thomas Shay

Trade paperback $40.95
Reader Reward Price: $36.86

In Under Prairie Skies, C. Thomas Shay asks and answers the question, What role did plants play in the lives of early inhabitants of the northern Great Plains? Since humans arrived at the end of the Ice Age, plants played important roles as Native peoples learned which were valuable foods, which held medicinal value, and which were best for crafts.

Incorporating Native voices, ethnobotanical studies, personal stories, and research techniques, Under Prairie Skies shows how, since the end of the Ice Age, plants have held a central place in the lives of Native peoples. Eventually some groups cultivated seed-bearing annuals and, later, fields of maize and other crops. Throughout history, their lives became linked with the land, both materially and spiritually.
 

Through Disassembled Houses of Perfect Stones

- David Williamson

Trade paperback $24.95
Reader Reward Price: $22.46

The weight of history lies on the spine of memory. That heft and delicate balance are palpable in these rich poems that echo with grief, longing, and observed beauty. From the silence and complexity of the northern wilderness to the vast prairie landscapes stretching across the province, Through Disassembled Houses of Perfect Stones explores self, ancestry, and community through poems which dwell on the page with a satisfying density of imagery. Combining careful observation with sensitive reflection, this work examines the poet's memory and experience as a father, son, husband, and descendent of European settlers married into an Indigenous family living in Northern Manitoba.

Tales from the Homestead

- Sandra Rollings-Magnusson

Trade paperback $29.95
Reader Reward Price: $26.96

A compilation of thirty-six personal homesteader stories, providing unique insight into the daily life of prairie pioneers.

Highlighting the voices and personal stories of early immigrants who arrived in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Tales from the Homestead is a captivating snapshot of social history. This compilation of first-person accounts by English, Dutch, German, Russian, Ukrainian, and American homesteaders reveals fascinating, startling, heartbreaking, and inspiring details about new lives and communities built, risks taken, and hardships endured.

The book includes stories of surviving periods of near starvation and natural disaster, and describes the challenges of navigating Canada's nascent immigration process, building a sod home and establishing a farm, and adapting to the norms of a new country. Along with these tales of difficulty, fear, and sadness are the many stories of happiness and wonderment at the beauty of the land. Community events and parties are thoughtfully remembered, as are accounts of attending one-room schoolhouses. The camaraderie of the people, and their pleasure and delight in forging a new life for themselves on the prairies, shows the extent of their fortitude, grit, and stamina. Illustrated with archival photography, Tales from the Homestead will appeal to history buffs, genealogists, and anyone who enjoys first-hand accounts of the resilience of immigrant communities.

This is a selection of our current The Prairies titles. To find other titles or authors, or just to browse, please use the search box.

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