Melanie Jackson

Pets are family. It's time B.C.'s housing laws recognize it. Will you add your voice to make a change?  spca.bc.ca/advocate/202...

The 1986 breeding season: birds fly to the N. Cal coast, feed on oily fish. Then, oil they weren't expecting: a massive crude spill. We gut-feel their horror via #BrionyPenn's riveting account of that + the ensuing court case. @theseaboardreview.ca @harbourpublishing.bsky.social shorturl.at/r7Sjn

In the spirit of palaeontologists like Canada's own #WendySloboda, the protag of Marian's Big Dig finds a fossil—& builds a dinosaur! By #LauraBontje, illos by #ScotRitchie, she will inspire inquiring young minds. &, she rocks! #TheSeaboardReviewofBooks @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social shorturl.at/HZxad

In @charlotteparent.bsky.social's Muriel and the Mystery, our shrew protag meets a blobby thingamy. Tho puzzled, she doesn't believe in destroying something just because it's different. Fun & thought-provoking for readers 4-7 &, really, all ages. #TundraBooks @theseaboardreview.ca shorturl.at/WgFA5

Nonsense can 🟰 wisdom? You bet! Fun examples: #kathystinson's Boogy & Tee and Twinkle & Hew, with rhymes à la Lear, and our hapless boaters coping in a storm. #GroundwoodBooks In #sarahhowden's The Wise Pickle, our crunchy protagonist enjoys escaping its brine—for now. #TundraBooks shorturl.at/Jiuvz

Forget Macavity, Sylvester et pawl. Take it from a 🐈 person: real cats r the most fascinating, as 2 delightful children's books prove: #jilliantamaki's poignant Young Cat, Old Cat & #mangeshigpawissteckley's whimsical Mooz Moose. @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca shorturl.at/kdlwB

#TomDoyle doesn't miss a beat in his engaging bio Ringo: A Fab Life. Quoting #PaulMcCartney on 1st hearing Ringo play, "...f---, what is this? And that was the beginning, really, of the Beatles.” Fascinating to watch it all Come Together. @theseaboardreview.ca @ecwpress.bsky.social l1nq.com/o4a4ew2

Clever dialogue, fun characters, and more plot twists than a Bavarian pretzel! #StanleyIndustrialAllianceStage #ArtsClubVancouver artsclub.com/shows/2026-2...

#BardonitheBeach artistic director #christophergaze's The Road to Bard is so engaging you feel like a traveller alongside him. And, sharing the motivational thoughts that kept him going, Gaze shows fate can indeed be not in our ⭐️s but in ourselves. @harbourpublishing.bsky.social shorturl.at/j4T6p

Meet Henri and Miko, the mouse & bee protags of #rebeccagreen’s cosy, seasonal picturebooks. & the duo are round, the shape kids find comforting (cf a certain other mouse). Each book has two stories, plus—talk about well-rounded—recipes & more. #TundraBooks @theseaboardreview.ca tinyurl.com/y4uma5mf

In grim times humour can be a challenge to find. But where there's a #WillFerguson, there's a way. In Meanwhile, Back in Nokomis: Tales from Canada and Elsewhere, he enchants with ironic, wry & affectionate travel tales. Enjoy! @theseaboardreview.ca @douglasandmarty.bsky.social tinyurl.com/7n3v6um3

Whale, That Was Unexpected by #caseylyall & #kathryndurst, & #KelseyGarrityRiley's Fritz: A Mushroom Story delightfully upend clichés. Swallowed by a whale, tough Maude is no damsel in distress. Fritz shows u can be both introvert & extrovert. tinyurl.com/mtud4xb4 #TundraBooks @theseaboardreview.ca

Fascinating to leaf through: Plants of the Pacific Coast: From Alaska to Oregon, including British Columbia and Washington. A fun, helpful guidebook for planning strolls, by #JimPojar, #AndyMacKinnon, #JamieFenneman, and #LeighJoseph (Styawat). #CanScienceBooks @theseaboardreview.ca l1nq.com/h4w0a2u

With her homonymic picturebook #fakegnus, #LeslieHelakoski gives kids a fun start on fibs vs. facts, with young reporter Scoop Jackson as the mischievous guide. Take it from this Scoop Jackson, reviewer: #FakeGnus is genuine value. l1nq.com/khymot3 @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca

What a hoot! #DeborahHodge and #KarenReczuch reveal that, without so much as blinking a golden eye, #TheBurrowingOwlsofthePrairieGrasslands take over burrows dug by prairie dogs, badgers, etc. Worth reading the book? Owl say! sl1nk.com/587cuoq @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca

Summertime, and the reading is easy—especially with intriguing works by BC/Yukon members of the #TheWritersUnionofCanada to choose from. It was my pleasure to assemble news of these in the edition of TWUC's WestWords. Tx to rep #RhonaMcAdam and TWUC staff for their support! bit.ly/westwords-ju...

Pushing Hope is #RaymondSantana's powerful graphic memoir of wrongful imprisonment, w 4 others, for the rape of a Central Park jogger. When the real perpetrator confessed, they were free—as free as they could be, after such a nightmare. #AstraPublishingHouse @theseaboardreview.ca sl1nk.com/t342wyx

In Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza, #HassanKanafani describes the ruin of his country by Israeli bombs. His family's home, now a fragile tent. “In the darkness... a doorless prison—a cramped space where anxiety and dread cling to the air.” @arsenalpulp.bsky.social l1nq.com/wx9t5j5

In My Humble Opinion: My So-Called Life is #SorayaRoberts' tribute to the classic '90s TV show. As Roberts notes, often there's no ambiguity to characters. Not so on MSCL. When a reply is required of her, Angela shrugs out the classic irritated-teen "I don’t know." #ECWPress shorturl.at/g1vHw

Our latest newsletter is out featuring news from BC's kidlit creators! #readlocal #readBC #ireadcanadian

Loved reviewing Return to Paueru Gai: 50 Years of Vancouver’s Powell St. Festival. Editor #emikomorita: the annual event is "a poignant, living expression of continuity, resilience, & cultural exchange.” Aug. 1-2, #OppenheimerPark C u there! @theseaboardreview.ca #arsenalpulppress shorturl.at/bTyKK

Oh, shoot! Who was the real #calamityjane? In Calamity Before Jane, by #noahvansciver, a graphic novel I revued 4 #theseaboardreviewofbooks, Sciver profiles the youthful runaway (1852-1903) & the lively stories she shared in the Wild West Show of #WildBillHickok..https://shorturl.at/6RmuC #TOONBooks

Against a grim #SaultSteMarie residential school, a bright-faced, exasperated girl—who will survive: the cover of Shirley: An Indian Residential School Story, bio of #ShirleyFletcherHorn by #JoanneRobertson. My privilege 2 revu 4 #TheSeaboardReviewofBooks. #SecondStoryPress #canlit shorturl.at/DDvuX

Definitely a brush with enjoyment to read & revu this historical fiction mystery starring #emilycarr. Author #catherinewalker draws—sorry, another art pun—you in with rich character studies and an engaging plot that includes, gasp, murder. @theseaboardreview.ca #InannaPublications shorturl.at/P2jOs

Thanks, @theseaboardreview.ca 4 the chance 2 review Yes! To Canada: When Grampa Refused to Fight in The Vietnam War, by #robertdavies. An agonizing but understandable choice, to flee one's home in protest of a war even Defense Secretary #RobertMcNamara condemned. #harppublishing shorturl.at/Gca6J

Seamus and the Shiny Things, by #carakansala, is a children’s book to crow about. Seamus is greedy about collecting shiny objects, only to find out that friendship is what truly shines. Take a beak, I mean, peek at my review! @theseaboardreview.ca @breakwaterbooks.bsky.social tinyurl.com/4a73udm2

The fun, brrr!-illiantly plotted Blood Typed is my type of mystery. Tickled to have reviewed it for this issue of @theseaboardreview.ca. Whodunit, you ask? The novel's author is #JaneDoucet. The murderer? That, you'll have to read Blood Typed to find out. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/blood-type...

Honoured to revu for @theseaboardreview.ca the reissue of #DavidARobertson's powerful graphic novel 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga. As a comics writer, Robertson sought to replace lies & ignorance with a new foundation to build on. Illustrator: #scottbhenderson #HighwaterPress shorturl.at/FNkMg

A children's book all ages can delight in and learn from: #richardwagamese's The Inquisitive Raven, which I'm delighted to review in @theseaboardreview.ca. The sharp-eyed protag, Raven, inspires us 2 ask questions & thus protect the world around us. #Douglas&McIntyre #CanLit @theseaboardreview.ca

If #agathachristie's #themousetrap went #NorthernGothic, it'd become—with (sleigh) bells on!— #ShanePeacock's A Place of Secrets. You'll be entertained +, in the best Christie fashion, whodunit-surprised. Here's my @theseaboardreview.ca revu: www.theseaboardreview.ca/.../a-place-.... #CormorantBooks

Thanks to #theseaboardreviewofbooks for featuring my review of #JohnCullen's Curling Rocks!: Chronicles of a Roaring Game, a comprehensive, fun history of a sport too often stereotyped as being fusty. What!? No way! r@douglasmcintyre.bsky.social shorturl.at/BQUOx

Thanks to my friend and colleague, #PublicationCoach #DaphneGray-Grant, for featuring me in her weekly Wednesday Interview: www.publicationcoach.com/melanie-jack.... And hey, interested in writing easily more easily? Daphne's your go-to pro. Writing guidance and encouragement doesn't get any better.

Thanks to @theseaboardreview.ca for publishing my tribute to #ThomasBecket. This was definitely one from the heart. May all resistors to tyranny be so meddlesome. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/thomas-bec...

Was tickled to review two children's books for @theseaboardreview.ca, one about an animal I love, the other about an animal I'm now, as a result, feeling a lot less cringey toward. Challenge: guess which is which. @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social lnkd.in/gN4mrpsshttp...

B4 Armstrong & co., NASA's high flier was Ham. I love #OriGersht's novel #hamsheaven, about the adorable chimp whose space trip set the course 4 humans. > ever I appreciate #JaneGoodall 4 ensuring animals aren't mistreated as Ham was. @warblerpress.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca shorturl.at/7vXAj

As important now as ever: Partisans, fighting for freedom. I was delighted to have the chance to read and review the compelling, inspiring new comic book about Partisans for @theseaboardreview.ca @btlbooks.com www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/partisans-...

New issue just dropped! www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/the-seaboa... #canlit #bookreviews

Fragile letters, ink faded, by his wife's great-grandfather proved a treasure for Canadian historian #brandonmarriott. From them he's written the riveting Till We Meet Again: A Canadian in the First World War. Here's my revu in @theseaboardreview.ca shorturl.at/RA7O8 @simonandschuster.bsky.social

The covers of the books reviewed in the October 8th issue of The Seaboard Review of Books. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/the-Seaboa... #canlit

This seals it: #gingerngo's Emerson the Elephant Seal, based on the real Em in #VictoriaBC, is now a literary star! In the @theseaboardreview.ca I also celebrate #sandraboynton's When Pigs Fly! A song for dreamers. @harbourpublishing.bsky.social @simonandschuster.bsky.social shorturl.at/rLCB1

In our era of rapid change, innovation keeps @branksome.bsky.social not only apace but ahead. Deputy Interim Principal Kimberly BROOKER Carter’96: "[We] ensure Branksome stays responsive to today’s learner and today’s ever-evolving demands and possibilities." My interview with Kimberly in #TheROAD:

@billarnott.bsky.social's latest travelogue, #APerfectDayforaWalkbytheWater, is well worth the reading plunge! The latest issue of @theseaboardreview.ca just 💧ed – here's my review. @arsenalpulp.bsky.social www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/a-perfect-...

At #TheWriters'UnionofCanada table, at the always festive and fun #WordVancouver, yesterday: fellow TWUC-er #DeborahPatz and I enjoy each others' books. (The fellow behind my left shoulder appears to be a would-be photo bomber.)

Bubbly day in #NelsonPark, #WestEnd, #VancouverBC.

Congratulations, @theseaboardreview.ca!

Reporting live from, well, the pages of CBC TV news correspondent Brian Stewart's riveting memoir #OntheGround: my review in today's edition of @theseaboardreview.ca. Thanks to editor James Fisher for the chance to relive Brian's adventures!

The sunny faces of #WhistlerBC. These lovelies, aka Black-Eyed Susans or Rudbeckia hirta, are everywhere.