Someone Else’s Saint, How a Scottish Pilgrimage Led to Nova Scotia
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$22.95The Whithorn Way is a 1600-year-old pilgrimage route from the city of Glasgow to the shrine of St. Ninian—a mysterious Celtic saint whose lonely cave still looks out over the waves toward England, Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man. When the path was recently revived, pilgrimage scholar Dr. Matthew Anderson gathered the first group of Canadians to walk it.
Through My Looking Glass: Nova Scotia: 50 Year Photographic Retrospective 1973-2023
Photographer: Joseph RobichaudPublisher: Pottersfield Press$27.95Through My Looking Glass is the culmination of fifty years of documentary photography in Nova Scotia, spanning from 1973 to 2023. It chronicles a half-century of life in a province where the intertwining of diverse cultures and experiences creates a rich and multifaceted narrative. The striking images in this book reflect the many threads of Indigenous, Acadian, and Black experiences. The Mi’kmaq people, the original stewards of this land, have walked these shores for millennia, forging a deep connection with the natural world. Their resilience has shaped the province?s identity, and their stories are integral to understanding Nova Scotia?s historical and spiritual landscape.
Black Ice The Lost History of the Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925 (Twentieth-anniversary edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Expanded and revised edition of the pioneering work of history about the Coloured Hockey League, founded in Halifax, NS. Now a documentary film.
Black Ice is the first written record of the Colored Hockey League in the Maritimes, founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1895, more than 20 years before the founding of the National Hockey League. The Colored Hockey League was a force in Canadian hockey that was conveniently ignored and whose contributions were stolen as other leagues emerged. Black Ice explores the unique culture that still exists today.
Newfoundland & Labrador Book of Everything Everything you wanted to know about Newfoundland and Labrador and were going to ask anyway
Publisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.$15.00From the number of kilometres of coastline, to the stories behind those unusual place names (hello Blow Me Down) to profiles of Danny Williams and Mary Walsh, no book is more comprehensive than the Newfoundland and Labrador Book of Everything.No book is more fun.
Well-known Newfoundlanders and Labradorians weigh in on a whole range of subjects– Mark Callanan tells us his five favourite Newfinese words; weatherman Bruce Whiffen reveals his Top 5 Newfoundland and Labrador weather stories and Gerald Squires shares his Top 5 memories growing up on Exploits Island. Stories of the First People, the worst weather, Newfoundland and Labrador slang, the Newfoundland moose … It’s all here!
Whether you’re a lifelong resident or visiting for the first time, there simply is no other book that delivers the goods. If you love Newfoundland and Labrador, you’ll love the Newfoundland and Labrador Book of Everything!
Black Boy, Black Boy (pb)
Artist: Ibeabuchi AnanabaPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95A powerful spoken-word poem encouraging Black boys of every shade, size, and passion to reach for the stars. Features vibrant artwork depicting famous Black men such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Chadwick Boseman, and more.
The Last Farm on McNabs | A Family History of Twentieth – Century Life on the Island
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95A personal, historical portrait of Halifax Harbour’s largest and most storied island from 1920–1970, featuring anecdotes, photographs, and maps.
The Friendship Centre
Artist: Zeta PaulPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$13.95A modern story of traditional Indigenous knowledge from the author of The Sharing Circlethat teaches young readers about the importance of the Friendship Centre for urban Indigenous peoples.
Matthew is visiting his uncle in the big city! He can’t wait to tour the Friendship Centre, where Uncle Hunter works, and enjoy all the food, activities, and resources it has to offer. With language classes, drumming circles, feasts, and more, Matthew learns that the Friendship Centre provides a home away from home for urban Indigenous people. It’s a space created for Indigenous people by Indigenous people, and Matthew feels welcomed right away. Matthew drums, smudges, and tastes freshly baked bannock, but his favourite parts of his visit are the people he meets.From the author of Sweetgrass, The Gathering, and The Sharing Circle, and the illustrator of Muinji’j Asks Why, this story welcomes all into a safe and inviting community space.
Tent Dwellers (Trade Edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Albert Bigelow Paine (1861-1937) was an American novelist, biographer, and editor. He was the official biographer and literary executor for Mark Twain.
Albert Bigelow Paine’s account of his three-week fishing adventure in the wilderness of Nova Scotia is a true classic. For over one hundred years, the adventures of the author and his companions, Eddie, Del, and Charlie, have been enjoyed by fishers, canoeists, and armchair travellers alike. Written with an unassuming wit, this nimble narrative captures the camaraderie of the journey and the appeal of life in the woods. Paine’s observations on the art of fishing conveys the elements of meditation, competition, and obsession familiar for those who practise, and enlightening for those who do not. His humorous and poetic depictions of campfire meals, tenting, navigation, encounters with wildlife, and assorted triumphs and blunders are as engaging and entertaining today as when The Tent Dwellers was first published in 1908.
Stories From the Six Worlds (2nd edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95In Stories from the Six Worlds, it is their stories, passed down by word of mouth, that best preserve and present Mi’kmaw culture. For in their tales, the People themselves speak about their world and give us glimpses of how their universe manifests, in all its fascinating otherness. Mi’kmaw stories have many levels: entertainment, instruction, warnings. They might subtly encode maps of the land’s important resources, or of the wheeling skies at night. Telling stories, Elders wove humour and stark tragedy, terror and beauty, to teach their listeners how to survive. More importantly, they underlined, over and over again, how their listeners, as humans, must conduct themselves. Their tales resound with the universal themes included in any worldview—Order and Chaos, Courage and Fear, Change, Revenge and Mercy, Death, Rebirth, and Power—yet are powerfully rooted in Mi’kmaw tradition, Mi’kmaw land. Their voices still speak to us, down the centuries.
Drawing on various sources, Ruth Holmes Whitehead retells the tales in a voice close to that of the original storytellers. This new edition includes an updated design and the original collection of twenty-nine stories. In Stories from the Six Worlds, Mi’kmaw legends are offered to all people whose search for meaning draws them again to the ancient cultures.
Oak Island Gold
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95For over two centuries, the mysterious labyrinth of shafts and tunnels under Oak Island, a tiny island on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, has been the scene of a frantic search by scores of treasure hunters from two continents. They believe that the shafts and intricate man-made flooding system hold the secret to a treasure of untold wealth. Although millions have been spent, bitter feuds have erupted, and men have died, the treasure has remained as elusive as the answers to who built the labyrinth, why and how it was constructed, and the nature of the treasure itself. Until now.
In his second book on the Oak Island mystery, William Crooker meticulously sifts through the evidence unearthed by treasure hunters on the island, past and present. Then, armed with some starling new discoveries, he neatly fits the pieces together to offer a plausible solution to the baffling puzzle of Oak Island.
Mi’kmaq Medicines (2nd edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95In this delightful book, Laurie Lacey’s reflections on the magical world of plant life and the gathering of remedies chronicles more than 70 plants used by the Mi’kmaq as medicines. Since the Mi’kmaq healing process begins with the gathering and preparation of medicines, Lacey takes us into swamps and bogs, the barrens and woods, to explore the habitats of plants with healing properties. He then illustrates each medicinal plant and describes its traditional use or uses. Whether one is hiking through a field listening for the sound of the “sacred plant,” the yellow rattle, exploring bogs in the hope of finding the elusive blue flag, or simply interested in the Mi’kmaq approach to health and healing, Mi’kmaq Medicines will prove a helpful and enjoyable companion.
This new edition includes a fully revised text and a new preface from the author on current perspectives in Mi’kmaq medicines.
Indian School Road
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$25.95In Indian School Road, journalist Chris Benjamin tackles the controversial and tragic history of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, its predecessors, and its lasting effects, giving voice to multiple perspectives for the first time. Benjamin integrates research, interviews, and testimonies to guide readers through the varied experiences of students, principals, and teachers over the school’s nearly forty years of operation (1930-1967) and beyond. Exposing the raw wounds of Truth and Reconciliation as well as the struggle for an inclusive Mi’kmaw education system, Indian School Road is a comprehensive and compassionate narrative history of the school that uneducated hundreds of Aboriginal children.
Historic Black Nova Scotia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The history of Nova Scotia’s black communities is a complex story of triumph and struggle, intertwined with the many stories of ancestors, destinies, and challenges. The knowledge and insight of veteran authors Bridglal Pachai and Henry Bishop provide welcome guidance to the mosaic of Nova Scotian black history in Historic Black Communities. Presented in the engaging format of an Images of Our Past book, this readable history book is interspersed with ample black and white photos, providing a visual link to the stories of the past.
Eleven chapters explore the African presence in Nova Scotia, and range from topics such as the influence of the church and the African United Baptist Association (AUBA); pioneers in publishing, law, politics and business; the legacy of Africville; heroes of sports, military, arts, and volunteer activism; Historic Black Communities provides a comprehensive, but always accessible entry into the many realms of black influence. Above all, the many photos and stories of this historic tribute salute the dignity and achievements of the resilient black community in Nova Scotia, and provide an unshakeable optimism for its promising future.
Historic Annapolis Valley
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The allure of the Valley is its diversity- seacoast and agricultural land; ocean basins and fresh water lakes; tidal rivers and mountain streams; marshlands and meadows, fishing ports and farming hamlets, urban towns and country villages. Historically, the Valley’s heritage is as rich as its soil, with roots reaching back four hundred years. Historic Annapolis Valley is first and foremost about a region, not individual communities, although many are included as part of the overall story. The book covers the Annapolis Valley from Digby to Windsor, with an emphasis on the mid-valley, from Bridgetown to Berwick, beginning with the French in the 1600s and discussing topics relevant to the present day.
Glooscap Legends
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$11.95These stirring tales describe the life-history of Glooscap. Endowed with supreme powers, Glooscap, the benevolent warrior against evil, was credited with the creation of many wild creatures and the change in form of others. Even the land was influenced by his handiwork and several notable landmarks along the Fundy Coast are linked with this story.
In Glooscap Legends, both famous and little-known legends are told of this god who made his home on the mountaintop of Cape Blomidon. He was a giant, a magician and a friend to the oppressed. This edition is illustrated by native artist Teresa MacPhee and includes a map of Glooscap landmarks.
Medicine Walk (new edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95Medicine Walk explores the benefits of “special places,” and includes notes and exercises as aids to control stress, overcome fear, and foster the ability to concentrate and meditate. It opens up avenues of self-discovery and enables the reader to experience the natural, therapeutic value of the healing world of nature. Medicine Walk also includes a section on the spiritual nature of plants and their medicinal value.
Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea A Living History
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$25.95“It is a good tale, well told, which opens the door to the wanderings of the imagination.” —The Globe and Mail
The history of Nova Scotia is an amazing story of a land and a people shaped by the waves, the tides, the wind, and the wonder of the North Atlantic. Choyce weaves the legacy of this unique coastal province, piecing together the stories written in the rocks, the wrecks, and the record books of human glory and error. In this newly revised sweeping true-life adventure, he provides a thoughtful down-to-earth journey through history that is both refreshing and revealing.
Here, well into the twenty-first century, he looks back at the full story of Nova Scotia from the geological history to the civilization of the Mi’kmaq, the arrival of the Europeans, and beyond to the stormy history of English and French. Choyce takes a critical look at the wars that helped shape the province, the scoundrels and the heroes who lived here down through the centuries, and the seas and storms that swept through the land of the Bluenosers. The original edition of Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea was published to acclaim by Penguin Books in 1996. This new edition brings the story up to date and looks at the changes in politics, economy, and global climate that will challenge Nova Scotians in the years ahead.
“Lesley Choyce’s writing captures the ebb and flow of Nova Scotia seafaring, from its Golden Age of Sail to the disasters and crimes at sea.” —The Halifax Chronicle Herald
Black Ice The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95In 1895, The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes was formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was Twenty-five years before the Negro Baseball Leauges in the United States, and twenty-two years before the birth of the National Hockey League. The Colored League would emerge as a premier force in Canadian hockey and supply the resilience necessary to preserve a unique culture which exists to this day. Unfortunately their contributions were conveniently ignored, or simply stolen, as white teams and hockey officials, influenced by the black league, copied elements of the black style or sought to take self-credit for black hockey innovations. Black Ice is the first written record of the Colored Hockey League in the Maritimes.
Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95The story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters is a very old Mi’kmaw legend. It happens in the North Sky as the stars that show the story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters move around Tatapn, the North Star.
In pictures in this book you can see how these stars, shown as they appear two hours before dawn, move through the night sky. They are in a different position each of the seasons because they are the time-keepers, the calendar. All through the year, as the stars and plants travel through the sky, the Mi’kmaq watch the story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters as it unfolds before their eyes.
The City Speaks in Drums (pb)
Artist: Susan TookePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Available for the first time in paperback, the award-winning The City Speaks in Drums follows two boys from North End Halifax as they explore their neighbourhood and the city beyond, finding music everywhere. At the skate park, by the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden Road, and on the boardwalk, drums and saxophones and dancers and basketballs create the jumbled, joyful, pulsing rhythm of Halifax. Shauntay Grant’s playful spoken word-style poem and Susan Tooke’s vivid illustrations create a wildly energetic and appealing journey through the big, bright city.
Apples and Butterflies
Artist: Tamara Thiébaux-HeikaloPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95From patchwork-quilt farmland to the winding red roads, from sandy beaches to the endless stars at night, Apples and Butterflies shows Prince Edward Island shining in the bright blue and gold light of fall. Shauntay Grant’s award-winning poetry and Tamara Thiébaux Heikalo’s rich and wild illustrations pull the reader towards the wide-open space of the island. New softcover edition.
Pier 21 Listen to My Story
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Discover some of the most important moments of Canada’s history by getting to know the children and their families who arrived at Halifax’s Pier 21. From countries as far away as Estonia, Italy, and the Ukraine (just to name a few), these immigrants all travelled through the “gateway to freedom” to call Canada home.
“Guest child” Jamie from Scotland and Jewish orphan Mariette were both sent to Canada as children to escape the same war. Heili’s Estonian family boarded the Walnut to sail away from Russian Communist rule. Luigi’s family came from Italy to find work in Canada after the war, while Maryke’s arrived from Holland in search of farmland.
Now renamed the Canadian Museum of Immigration, Pier 21 accepted over one million new Canadians between 1928 and 1971. Many were nervous about their new home, but although they arrived from distinct countries and cultures, each family embraced the safety and possibility of a life in Canada. To arrive was to escape the past while keeping memories of their homelands close. Pier 21 was the first step toward a new life.
With over 40 photos, a glossary, timeline, and sidebar features on the pier itself and the home countries of those who passed through it, Pier 21: Listen to My Story provides an excellent introduction for chilldren to this key landmark in Canada’s immigration history.
Jujijk Mi’kmaw Insects
Artist: Gerald GloadePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$10.95The English language is noun-based, referring to people, places, and things. Jujijk, an illustrated bilingual guide to bugs and insects in Atlantic Canada, showcases the beautiful verb-based Mi’kmaw language. Featuring vibrant artwork and concise, fascinating descriptions, Jujijk will have you searching out “the one that looks like a little owl” (moth) and “the one that sings before she bites you” (mosquito).
Created to promote and preserve the Mi’kmaw language, this book includes a pronunciation guide, a Mi’kmaw-English matching game, and an abridged version of the Smith-Francis orthography.
Evangeline for Young Readers
Artist: Patsy MacKinnonPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, Evangeline, tells the story of two young people deported from beautiful Acadie just before they are to be married and their search for each other that lasts the rest of their lives. First published in 1847, the poem has been important to Acadian identity ever since.
In Evangeline for Young Readers, the tragic story of Evangeline and Gabriel’s Deportation is recounted to a new generation. In simple prose true to Longfellow’s poem, Hélène Boudreau describes the utopian village of Grand-Pré where Evangeline grows up, the traumatizing Deportation, and Evangeline’s relentless search across America for her true love. Patsy MacKinnon’s stunning illustrations bring the story to life in full colour.
Evangeline for Young Readers is a vital interpretation for children of Longfellow’s classic.
The Children of Africville (2nd edition)
$17.95The children of Africville, Nova Scotia, lived in a special community where everyone knew their neighbours, and all helped and cared for each other. It was the perfect place for children to play and grow up. The Children of Africville is the remarkable story of these children during the community’s final years, before it was torn down and its families were relocated. Full of photographs and stories from Africville people, this book is an important celebration of Nova Scotia black history, its vibrant community, and the children who lived there.
The Sky’s The Limit! Canadians Who Blazed a Trail in Aviation
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The first juvenile non-fiction book celebrating diverse Canadian aviators, from the author of Birchtown and the Black Loyalists.
Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island
Artist: Laurie Ann Marie MartinPublisher: Acorn Press$13.95The Mi’kmaq people have been here since the ice began to melt over this great land. They learned the medicines in nature to keep them healthy and they hunted the animals of the land and fished the waters of the sea. During the summer months they would gather in large community groups to celebrate, dance and sing. When the cold winds started to blow, they would go off in their own little family units to survive the winter. It was a hard life and it was always a struggle to make it through the long cold winters. One thing is certain, at night, by the campfire under the stars those families would tell stories, stories about who they were, where they came from, and all the lessons they needed to learn about life. Those stories passed on traditions, songs, language and the culture of the Mi’kmaq people.
Here we present to you just a couple of those stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Hear them, learn from them, experience them, but most of all enjoy them!
Memoirs of a Lightkeeper’s Son 2nd edition
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95William (Billy) G. Budge was born in 1948 in the small fishing village of Neil’s Harbour on the northern tip of Cape Breton. In 1955 his father accepted the position of lighthouse keeper on St. Paul Island, a rugged and forlorn mountain in the sea. Positioned at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, this island is subject to violent gales, snowstorms and is often shrouded in fog. Early seafarers called it the “Graveyard of the Gulf” due to the vast numbers of ships and countless lives that were lost along its shores.
Billy moved to St. Paul Island with his parents and younger sister in September of 1955. For the next five years they lived at the southwest light station in almost total isolation. His family quickly learned to cope in a world without neighbours, electricity, schools, or any sports activities. They lived off the land – hunting ducks along the coast, berry picking, and jigging cod on the sea. Almost daily there were hardships to overcome and problems to be resolved. Life on the island was one of both tragedy and triumph. Billy tells his story of survival on that lonely rock. Sense the lush green of the island in summer in the midst of a crystal blue sea and feel the harshness of winter while buried under snow and surrounded by drift ice.
Share with Billy the excitement of unexpected guests, the arrival of a supply ship as well as the sadness of sickness and loss. Experience the many technical problems such as a fire in the lighthouse and learn how the entire family worked together to restore service.