Articles written by Review By Carla Mckay


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 9 of 9

  • Worth Reading

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Jul 15, 2017

    Book Review: Firewater How Alcohol is Killing My People (and Yours) by Harold R. Johnson University of Regina 180 pages Trade Paper Firewater is a tough read. What Harold Johnson writes is the hard truth about the devastating impact alcohol has had on our Indigenous peoples. Johnson, from the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, was a prosecuting attorney. He writes about tribal traditions, spirituality, and modern medical research to take on the stereotype of "lazy drunken Indian."...

  • The Reason You Walk

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Jan 9, 2017

    Most Canadians have heard of Wab Kinew either from his reporting on CBC, as host of the 8th Fire documentary series or his involvement with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, reading Wab's memoir, you will discover the key to his success as a communicator, educator, and now politician. The Reason You Walk is an interesting read. It provoked many emotions like anger, sadness and happiness. This book involved hope, healing, and forgiveness. It is a poignant story...

  • A fast-paced murder mystery

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Sep 9, 2016

    By James R. Coggins Moody Publishers Paperback If you like mysteries and suspense thrillers, you'll love Who's Grace? by James G. Coggins. It's a fast paced murder mystery with a twist. John Smyth, a magazine editor witnesses a murder through the window of his jet as it descends for a landing in Winnipeg, Canada. Neither the city police nor the RCMP (Mounties) believe him until a woman's unidentified body is found in nearby woods two weeks later. The only clue to who she is...

  • BETTY: The Helen Betty Osborne Story

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Mar 24, 2016

    David Alexander Robertson Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson Highwater Press, Paper, 30 pages Ever since Tina Fontaine's brutally murdered body was pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg, the cry for all the missing and murdered Indigenous women has become louder and louder. And it should. Finally, the Canadian government is paying serious attention to these thousands of families who have lost loved ones and friends. One such story that got some attention back in the 1970s was...

  • Worth Reading

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Jan 16, 2016

    by Jane Kirkpatrick Revell, Baker Publishing Group Softcover 320 pages This is the story of three women-Letitia, a freed slave, Nancy, who leaves the life she loves to follow her husband to the West Coast, and Betsy, a Kalapuya Indian, the last remnant of the proud tribe in the Willamette Valley. I like this book because it tells the incredible story of these three women who went through life on a treacherous west-bound journey by wagon train. This is based on a true story....

  • 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Nov 14, 2015

    The Peppertree Press Trade Paper 213 pages by K.B. Schaller Cherokee/Seminole National Best Books Award-winning author K.B. Schaller has compiled an extensive collection of biographies of more than 100 Native American women who have accomplished much and thus changed the world by changing their world. 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World is well-researched. As LaDonna Harris, Comanche, founder and president of Americans for Indian Opportunity says that this book...

  • The Walls Talk

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Aug 1, 2015

    I'm not really sure how we first came in contact with Adrian G. Torres. But almost from the first letter that Indian Life received, we knew that this prisoner was different. You see, Adrian, while a prisoner in a correctional institution, has found a way to thrive through writing. The author has a ministry through his website Friends of Adrian.com, where he writes a regular blog. Several of his blogs have appeared in Indian Life under the title "The Zoo Cage Prophet," a name...

  • WORTH READING

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Nov 23, 2013

    by Deborah Ellis 253 pages, Hardcover $15.95 Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Looks Like Daylight is a very interesting book because it gives readers a glimpse into the world of First Nations young people. The author interviewed youth in Canada and the United States between the ages of 11 and 18 and asked for their perspective and thoughts regarding how they see the world. The stories range from heartbreak to hope for the future. Here's an excerpt: "My mother says there is...

  • Book Review

    Review by Carla McKay|Updated Mar 17, 2013

    Growing Up North By Morris Bradburn iUniverse 2011 170 pages Hardcover Here is an exciting account of Morris Bradburn growing up in the isolated community of Oxford House, Manitoba. Bradburn writes that everyone spoke Cree. Here’s some of what makes this book exciting. “I had nearly aborted my attempted dive when I remembered the laughter of the big boys when I’d suggested that I could dive from the rocks like them. I decided I was going to do this and surprise those big b...