Can Lit: Aviation Nation, Julie Chan is Dead and more

Yahoo

22-04-2025

April is a great time to catch up on some great Canadian reading — just like every other month on the calendar.
Aviation Nation: How Canadians Contributed to Flight and Space Around the World
Michael Hood, Tom Jenkins
RCAF Foundation
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) celebrated its centennial in 2024. In 2025, the RCAF Foundation has its sights set on the next 100 years of flight. On April 1, it launched Aviation Nation, aimed at school kids in the Grade 4 range — a.k.a. 'future aviators.'
Illustrated by Josh Rivers, the book is colourful, accessible and concise, with punchy chapters covering all the bases, from bush pilots to astronauts, and air cadets to rocket scientists, Snowbirds and musicians in the RCAF Band. There are stories of flying aces Billy Bishop and William Barker, pioneers like engineer Elsie McGill, who was dubbed 'Queen of the Hurricanes' during the Second World War and today's high-tech NORAD Santa trackers.
Kids may get a kick out of the RCAF 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron's 2021 mission following a mudslide in B.C. Three helicopters landed in precarious conditions to carry 311 people, 26 dogs and one cat to safety.
Adults are also likely to find Aviation Nation informative and engaging. And those future aviators will find a range of career options to ponder — firefighter, technicians and weather specialists as well as pilots and groundcrew.
Look for the book in school libraries, aviation museums across the country and online at rcaffoundation.ca, where teachers can find information about downloadable classroom resources for Grades 4-8.
REDress: Art, Action and the Power of Presence
Edited by Jaime Black-Morsette
Highwater Press
Elders, artists, community activists and bereaved family members lend their voices to this anthology edited by Métis artist Jaime Black-Morsette.
In 2010, Black-Morsette created the REDress Project, in which red dresses were displayed in public spaces to highlight the need for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. She shares her experiences and welcomes other Indigenous women to join the call for justice and to remember and honour their sisters.
Sadly, the book's release is especially timely in Black-Morsette's home province, Manitoba, where four victims of a serial killer have now been identified. The remains of two women, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, were discovered recently in a landfill on the outskirts of Winnipeg, and in late March, a victim formerly known as Buffalo Woman was identified as Ashlee Shingoose.
Julie Chan is Dead
Liann Zhang
Simon & Schuster
'Julie Chan has nothing. Her twin sister has everything. Except a pulse.'
Best. Blurb. Ever. Now I have to know how supermarket cashier Julie Chan fares in this debut thriller after she pretends to be her late twin sister, influencer Chloe VanHuusen. Will Julie fake it till she makes it? Or will she fall victim to the same secret menace that killed her sister?
Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck
Eve Lazarus
Arsenal Pulp Press
Journalist, author and podcaster (Cold Case Canada), Eve Lazarus takes a deep dive into the tragedy of the RMS Empress of Ireland, which sank in the St. Lawrence River on May 28, 1914, minutes after it was hit by a Norwegian coal ship.
Canada's worst maritime disaster took the lives of more passengers than the Titanic. The ship went down so fast that only 220 of its 1,056 passengers managed to survive, and most were adult men. Lazarus visits the site of the shipwreck and taps into historical records and first-hand accounts from survivors, to paint a gripping picture of the scene. She also takes an opportunity to debunk myths that have endured for decades, and her true-crime chops come into play when she recounts another story involving the ship's captain, Henry Kendall. Four years before the Empress of Ireland sank, Kendall had alerted Scotland Yard when infamous murderer Dr. Hawley Crippen and his lover boarded a ship en route to Canada disguised as father and son.
The Paris Express
Emma Donoghue
Harper Avenue
Irish-Canadian novelist Emma Donoghue (Room, Learned by Heart, Slammerkin), is often inspired by women and events from history. This time out, she was captivated by photographs of the 1895 train crash disaster at Paris Montparnasse station.
Her fictional train journey is populated by a diverse cast of multinational characters who are literally divided by class — from luxury first-class riders to standing-room travellers in the third-class car — as well as politics. There's an anarchist onboard, and the dramatic tension builds with every minute as the train makes its way from the seaside town of Granville to Paris, less than eight hours away.