A novel whose star is a radio show host who illustrates life using the supposed adventures of his eccentric Cousin Ted. Quite enjoyable in small doses - which is a good thing, since the average chapter is about three pages!

A mixture of autobiography and area history, as seen through the eyes of a native of Merasheen, Placentia Bay.

A slim volume recounting the author's harrowing experiences while adrift on an ice-pan off Newfoundland's cold north coast. Includes an introductory biography and a concluding interview with the leader of his rescuers.

A novel for boys, and the first of three starring Billy Topsail and his friends. Set mostly in a small remote northern outport, the story is full of action, adventure, and danger, and consists of 38 chapters, each a short story in itself and each with a brief introduction summarizing the action. The author's style tends to include a lot of conversations in local dialect.

A novel, specifically a fictional biography, about George Cartwright, who spent some years in Labrador in the later 1700s running a fur trapping operation. Supposedly based on Cartwright's own published journals, but also self described as fiction. The book jumps around a lot, and is sometimes presented in the form of diary entries. At times quite interesting, but more often not. The first third of the book does not take place in Newfoundland. And why a fictional biography of a real person?

Subtitled "Surviving in Newfoundland and Labrador's Great Outdoors". A mixture of how-to information about camping and living off the land, and the author's experiences and insights. Chock full of detailed information, especially food recipes and cooking tips.

[8-3/4x11-1/4 format] A very slim collection of short mediocre Christmas stories for children.

A slim (30 pages) retelling of Dickens' classic Christmas tale with Scrooge and Marley recast as Scrounge and Morley, owners of an outport fish business. Written in an outport dialect, and illustrated on every page. Cute, but doesn't compare to the original!

Hopefully the subject, one of Newfoundland's most prominent journalists, had a more interesting life than what is portrayed in this generally boring (and skimpy) work. One highlight is the second appendix, which reprints "The Newfoundland Story", the text of a speech delivered by Perlin in 1958.

A slim adventure tale for young readers. It's 1919, and eight-year old Ralphie, the middle of seven children, is caught up in the excitement of Alcock and Brown preparing to attempt a flight across the ocean from a nearby field on the outskirts of St. John's. Includes black&white line drawing illustrations.

A memoir of working on the railroad in the 50s to 70s. Only 100+ pages, and half of that photos, but the author has an entertaining style.

[8-1/2x11 format] More memories of the railroad, with an emphasis on names of co-workers and vignettes of some of them. Again many photos.

[8-1/2x11 format] Subtitled "Stories of Passenger Trains and Ferry Service in Newfoundland". More memories of the railroad, with many photos.

A novel about the Beothuks, but this time including narration from "Nancy April's" (Shanawdithit) point of view.

Subtitled "a second Newfoundland folk alphabet". Booklet. An illustrated poem using the letters of the alphabet to begin locally flavored verses.

Subtitled "a St. John's memoir". An episodic autobiography of growing up in a poor section of downtown St. John's. The author was born in 1936, and the story goes through the war years and the 50s. Written as a series of related, although not consecutive in time, short chapters - thirty-eight chapters averaging around 6 pages. Often funny, often gritty, and always interesting and entertaining.

Subtitled "The Pride Of The Newfoundland Coastal Service". A very readable history of the famous Reid railway coastal boats - the Argyle through the Meigle.

A memoir of pretty much the author's entire life. Told as forty-eight mostly brief chapters divided into three broad categories: boyhood in Notre Dame Bay, work around Newfoundland before entering the political arena, and his life in politics. The boyhood and early work stories are often interesting, but the book tends to bog down as it progresses, and contains a lot of information that is likely to be of little interest outside of the author's family. Still, an entertaining read overall.

A fact based story of the drowning of two fishermen, one the author's father. Set in Englee, the story jumps around a lot, with reinvented and contrived thoughts and conversations for many neighbors and friends (and particularly for the two men on their fatal fishing trip), lots of dreams and premonitions from various of the characters, and numerous scriptural quotes and a heavy overlay of religion. Probably of little interest outside of Englee.

[8x8 format] A very slim (32 pages) illustrated slice of history about the famous ship's captain, to be read with a young child.

Subtitled "The Story of Port au Choix". Not about the community in the modern (European) era, bur rather about pre-historic and historic archaic Indian settlements, with lots of black&white and color photos of various artifacts.

Subtitled "A Newfoundland Folk Alphabet". An illustrated alphabet, with each letter described in rhyming poetry.

A story told as a series of poems. Not my cup of tea!

Subtitled "A nostalgic and humorous look at life in St. John's during the 1940s and 1950s". Autobiographical. Good writing style. A fast read.

A mystery set in the present along the Southern Shore, although with appropriate changes in local details, it could be set most anyplace. In a lot of ways more a soap opera than a murder mystery, and the characters tended toward the two-dimensional.

Subtitled "Bond's Path and Southeast Come Home Year 2006". [8-1/2x11 format]. A history and remembrance of the two named settlements in Placentia Bay. Packed with information, including numerous captioned photos. A quality product, far superior in content and appearance to what is typical of this genre.

Subtitled "A True Story of Secrecy and Tragedy". [Note - the rating is not for the writing style, but for the subject matter] A dramatic telling of the life and untimely death of a fourteen year old girl who was living in a foster home in a small Newfoundland outport, and was being abused. The story is framed out with interviews with other foster children from the same community and a younger sister of the deceased who lived in the same foster home, and details from various archives of complaints - mostly ignored or whitewashed. The author presents a strong and highly detailed condemnation of the RCMP and all levels of Newfoundland government who failed miserably in providing any protection for this young girl and others like her, and then later took great pains to avert any blame resulting from their inactions.

Subtitled "A Pictorial Souvenir of the Crossroads of the Atlantic". [8-1/4x10-3/4 format] A sparse narrative jumping across the Island, accompanied by seventy or so black&white photos with terse captions. Nevertheless, very interesting.

Non-fiction. A one-volume history of Newfoundland.

A very slim book containing essays on four topics: law and order, poor relief, fire protection, and incorporation of the city.

Subtitled "Newfoundland Short Stories". A collection of eighteen romance and adventure oriented short stories by either or both of the authors. Appears to be for pre-teen readers.

[8x8 format] A slim (35 pages) illustrated story for young readers, set in 1861 and telling of the Cape Spear lighthouse keeper's family, and a shipwreck and a rescue. Claims to be based on a true story.

Subtitled "Living in Newfoundland and Labrador". [10-1/4x8-1/4 format] Apparently a text book for 5th graders. A wide-ranging survey of all aspects of life in Newfoundland - history, geography, geology, industries, occupations, religions, education, people, and much more!

A hefty book, detailing the advances made in New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland since Confederation, but Newfoundland, the very late joiner, doesn't really appear until 2/3 of the way through the book, and other than a chapter reviewing Newfoundland's history from 1869 through 1949, one must mine through a lot of material about the other Provinces to find the nuggets about Newfoundland.

Broad coverage of the undersea telegraph cables, concentrating on the sites in Trinity Bay and providing scant details of Placentia’s involvement.

[9-1/2x12-1/4 format]. Detailed color plates illustrate the geography, topography, geology, demographics, and industries, including fishery, forestry, agriculture, plus more!

[11-3/4x9-1/2 format] A slim volume of color photos, mostly of the St. John's vicinity. No particular order to them. Some of the photos are quite captivating, but the sparse narration fails to do them justice.

A slim volume of the 'what and how to' of vegetable gardening on Newfoundland's Avalon peninsula. Numerous black&white drawings, mostly of various vegetables.