The author's first collection of satirical short stories previously published in his column in Newfoundland newspapers. More than five dozen on a wide range of subjects as the author makes light of life around him. Best read in small doses.

A collection of thoughts on anything and everything about Newfoundland, concentrating on the first half of the 20th century in Bonavista Bay. The author's opinions are expressed as a series of short stories with his "Uncle Bill" as the speaker. Topics are many and varied, and the author is not shy about stating sharply what he approves of and what he disapproves of.

[7-1/2x8-1/2 format] A very slim (28 pages) illustrated adventure tale for young readers, in which a group of forest friends, led by Martin the pine martin and Bethany the beaver, wander out of their forest and meet Penny the puffin by the seashore.

Subtitled "Five Stories and a Novella". The strength is in the novella, with the shorter stories being a bit of a mixed bag. Nothing exciting here, just slightly out of the ordinary events in the lives of ordinary people, but still a set of finally tuned verbal pictures woven by an excellent wordsmith.

Eleven stories, supposedly based on fact, but fairly obviously embellished, of life in Labrador. Adventures involving snow, ice, cold, shipwreck, starvation, isolation, and other tribulations, with pieties sprinkled in (often liberally). These stories are most based on events that happened to others, not to the author.

[8-1/4x5-1/2 format] A slim (49 pages) collection of ten folk tales of the Nascaupi-Montagnais Indians of Labrador, with explanatory notes as to the meanings of the stories.

Subtitled "the Newfoundland Railway". [8-1/2x11 format] Various vignettes of railroad events and people, accompanied by numerous photos. Includes the coastal steamers.

Subtitled "Newfoundland Railway 1881-1988". [8-1/2x11 format] Various vignettes of railroad events and people, accompanied by numerous photos.

Subtitled "Newfoundland Railway 1881-1988". [8-1/2x11 format] Various vignettes of railroad events and people, accompanied by numerous photos. Includes the coastal steamers.

Subtitled "The Newfoundland Railway 1881-1988". [8-1/2x11 format] Various vignettes of railroad events and people, accompanied by numerous photos. Includes the coastal steamers.

Subtitled "A Century of Newfoundland Short Fiction". An anthology of two dozen short stories by two dozen authors, written from 1901 to 1994, originally compiled for an undergraduate course in Newfoundland literature. Unfortunately, as the editors state in the preface, they opted for a broad range of subject matter and setting, including a sampling of both male and female writers, well-known and more obscure authors, and such things as availability and cost. The result is that while some of the stories are excellent, some others are mediocre.

Subtitled "Heritage Architecture in Newfoundland". [10x7 format] Vignettes of ten selected towns, accompanied by hand drawn local maps and short town histories, and for each town a few buildings (mostly houses) with brief histories and detailed drawings that appear to have been made from photos.

A slim booklet (20 pages) using a poem to count down from 10 to 0 as the original 10 little caplin leave the poem one by one. Nice color drawings. Cute.

Subtitled "A Tale of the Wilds of Labrador". An outdoor adventure novel, starring Jim MacLean, who in his father's will is urged to quit college and go into the Labrador woods to work as a lumberjack to learn the family business from the ground up. Adventure, hardships, survival, intrigues - and possibly murder. Looks to be for pre-teens or young adults.

An edited selection of Guy's satirical newspaper columns about life in Newfoundland. Probably better if read when originally published.

A growing-up novel about Mahala, spirited, a bit of a tomboy, almost twelve years old, and from a small community in Notre Dame Bay, who at first dislikes but eventually befriends a new boy her own age. A slice of her life and of those around her - including her parents and grandparents. Claims to be loosely based on the author's growing up memories. Looks to be for pre-teens.

A series of Newfoundland stories by a Newfoundland story-teller, or so implies the back cover. Various autobiographical stories, with the author's experiences within the Salvation Army featured. Would be better if more of the stories were interesting.

A slim memoir of the author's early years in Fogo and her first teaching assignments in the Great Northern Peninsula, Labrador and St. John's. Includes numerous black&white photos. Very entertaining.

A novel set in a small outport, centered around seventy or so years of the life of one woman, but mostly about the current generation of her and a neighbor's families. Jumps back and forth abruptly in time, so keep track of the names that go with each era! Most of the main characters are depicted as being very flawed. Secrets! Shame! Leans pretty heavily on stereotypical outport dialect, but colorful and entertaining.

Subtitled "Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador". The author's rousing and absorbing travelog through Newfoundland and Labrador, loosely following the century old travels of his great-grandfather, weaving history with current events. Not every area is visited, and some of the historical sources might have been better selected, but a terrific read nonetheless!

A slight memoir of the author's involvement with live theatre, mostly with small local groups. Newfoundland doesn't appear until about the midpoint of the book, and the content is mostly the titles of the plays and the names of people encountered.

[8.5x8.5 format] A very slim (29 pages) book to be read with a young child. Concerns a polar bear that is frequently sighted by a young girl, but by no one else! Color illustrations by Joanne Snook.

Subtitled "Social Changes in Three Newfoundland Communities". An academic look at three Newfoundland communities that didn't resettle in the late 60s, each with it's name disguised, but certainly two of them easily identifiable. The author visited the communities a few times and interviewed samples of the populations, so the research data is largely anecdotal rather than based on first hand experience. Essentially, each of the three communities chose not to resettle, claims to be self-sufficient, but not only depends heavily on government funding such as welfare and unemployment, but wants and needs more government funding to survive. Already old research when published, now very old.

Subtitled "The Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit 1939-1946". More of a keepsake for those who were there than a history of what they did. Lots of photos and names and places, but scant detail of the day to day work and living.

The stories of the bush airlines and their pilots who flew in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, including remembrances of those who died. Numerous photos not seen elsewhere (the primary reason for the rating).

[11x8-1/2 format] Thoughts and views around Newfoundland after the start of the cod moratorium in 1992. Observations of people, with black&white photos (taken independently of the narrative and with minimal captioning that usually just identifies the locale and year) of people and places. The narrative is mostly of Labrador and northwest Newfoundland. Presented as a series of vignettes and observations - laments for a way of life disappearing. The photos are the better part (there is also an accompanying cd).

A fairly slim novel set in an outport and centering on a few weeks out of the life of a soon-to-be high school graduate and his friends and classmates. The central characters are self-righteous teens with liberal amounts of angst, hormones, and coarse language, thus pandering to the intended mid-teen audience.

A novel written in the form of a journal of a year of one person's life in recent St. John's. A bit uneven. Started out well, kind of dragged in the middle, and then got more interesting again in the last third.

Edited versions of scripts from some of Guy's radio show "Skipper Eph" character. Satire, but probably worked better in the original audio format.

Newfoundland has just entered confederation. Consists of a useful photo section with descriptive texts, a brief pedestrian history of the new province, and a less than useful photo gallery, ostensibly of notable Newfoundlanders, but really mostly the current St. John's "elite", with brief tributes by J R Smallwood.

[7-1/4x9-5/8 format] A view of Newfoundland, it's history, it's resources, and it's people, written as a textbook for grade schoolers. The photos are all black&white, but numerous explanatory drawings are included, along with questions to provoke further thought.

Subtitled "Images of Newfoundland and Labrador". [9-1/2x12 format] Transcripts selected from seven years of interviews with people around Newfoundland and Labrador, speaking out on and/or reminiscing about a very broad range of topics. Some very brief, others up to a few pages. Accompanied by many color photos, although many have nothing to do with any particular interview.

Subtitled "A Heritage Lost". Photos by John deVisser. A coffee table book [10x10-5/8 format], with sparse text strewn among pages of captionless mostly mediocre photos. Pretty much a moan about resettlement, offering a nostalgic portrayal of a noble and idyllic lifestyle that never existed.

A very slim children's book starring the title character as a boy narrating the story of D'Iberville's raids from Placentia.

Subtitled "The U-boat menace to Allied shipping in Newfoundland and Labrador waters World War I and World War II". The rather lengthy subtitle is a fair description. Includes a chapter on the St. John's dockyard and a few personal remembrances. Numerous photos. Describes the action rather than dramatizing it. Very readable.

[8-12x11 format] A typewritten manuscript, reprinting three stories from the end of the 19th century, including the full length story "Skipper George Netman" by Rev. George Bond, subtitled "A story of out-port Methodism in Newfoundland". The content is more in the tone of religious enthusiasm than in the underlying events in the life of the title character.

A very slim volume. The stories of the losses of three sailing ships.

Subtitled "Essays on Newfoundland society and culture". A baker's dozen essays and book excerpts, including an essay by the author, on various subjects. Uneven and disjointed, often pedantic and dull.

A memoir of the author's grandfather, James Lewis Little of Bonavista, a man of many occupations, including MHA in the 1920s, who was born in 1871 and lived to the age of 96. Presented as a mixture of family history, odds and ends of information about Bonavista, and verbatim reprints of seemingly every newspaper article that had anything at all to do with either his grandfather or Bonavista. Some of the black&white photos of Bonavista are interesting, but the book is an uneven read and probably of little interest except to descendants of the subject.

A fisherman/vacationer's photo tour through much of coastal Newfoundland and Labrador, starting with a fairly lengthy and interesting introduction to the natural beauty and resources, followed by 133 mostly excellent and captioned photographs (many of which have later appeared in other books, often without attribution), and ending with a nice selection of period advertisements.

The author, a writer and sometime explorer, travels from Britain to Newfoundland's Labrador in 1910, and, along with friend Geoffrey Hardy and Newfoundland guide Robert Porter, travels by canoe and foot 200 miles west from Nain on the Atlantic coast, up the Fraser River, and across the height of land to the George River in Canadian Labrador. Although the George River had been previously reached by other explorers, this was via a new northerly route. The story is often gritty and interesting, especially when describing the seemingly endless onslaughts of huge swarms of black flies and mosquitoes, but unfortunately the author seems to assume that the reader is very familiar with the locales and terrain. Some interesting black&white photos are included, both of the terrain and indigenous people. About half of the book describes the exploration, with the other half consisting of the author's pronouncements on a series of local topics, including the Eskimos, the Indians, settlers, and caribou.

A very warm and nice novel for early to middle grade school readers, starring Thunder, a Newfoundland dog, and Tom, the 13-year old who rescued him from the sea. Set along the Burin Peninsula in a tiny island community that is hit with the tidal wave from the 1929 earthquake.

Subtitled "House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching, And Other Tales From A Newfoundland Fishing Village". [7-1/2x9-1/4 format] An undersized "coffee table book" on high quality paper and containing numerous nice color photos and line drawings. Contains quite a lot of details about Tilting (on Fogo Island) in particular, with a lot of the information applicable to many communities. Interesting details and drawings on local architecture, including wharves, stages, buildings and houses. Although weighed down by the insertion of numerous interviews with local residents, making this book more for someone familiar with Tilting and it's residents, there is still a lot here for everyone

A Smallwood ode to Smallwood. A few bits of interest, but mostly an ego exercise under the guise of an autobiography - who he met, where he went, what he did. Strictly a vanity piece.

Subtitled "An Island's Heritage". To paraphrase the back cover, the author recalls his 30 years as a teacher and a coach, and compares his experiences and career with those of his uncle, who taught several decades earlier. An entertaining read.

Philosophy? Experiences? Opinions? Humor? Satire? A mixture of all of the aforementioned, used to tell a dozen tales on such themes as "School Inspectors" and "Public Speaking as a Vocation". A decidely mixed bag, and most are just too long; he tends to start a topic and then just run on and on - like a dog worrying a bone.

Although the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries catalog lists this book as being Newfoundland and Labrador fiction, it is not about Newfoundland. And the author is not a Newfoundlander.

[11x8-1/2 format] An imaginary autobiography of William Coaker's daughter Camilla (1902-1978), based primarily on her scrapbooks and other published sources. The story is mainly Camilla describing her father's activities. A handsome book with a glossy layout, with many photos and other graphics, but why a fake autobiography when the story is mainly about her father, a well known - and well documented - person?

An account of 30+ years of pleasure sailing in Newfoundland coastal waters, mostly on the northern coast.

Subtitled "William Coaker and the Fishermen's Protective Union in Newfoundland Politics, 1908 - 1925". Well documented, well organized, and, for a work of this type, a fairly decent read.

A novel, sequel to "The Corrigan Women". Picks up with the life of Tess, the youngest of the women from the first book. Set in 1972, she returns as an adult to her outport home, enters politics, and ends up rekindling an old romance with her first love. A good read.

Subtitled "The Newfoundland Constabulary On The Home Front World War Two". Concentrates on the war years - 1939 to 1945, and consists of ninety-one brief chapters, mostly two or three pages each. Presents seemingly every bit of available information on any activity in Newfoundland - particularly in St. John's - that had even a remote involvement with the Constabulary - including interviews, official records and newspaper articles. The author is somewhat random in his approach in that the chapters appear to be in no special order, and he does wander off topic at times, but he does present a very readable look at wartime conditions as seen through the eyes of a policeman, with special emphasis on the actions of sailors and soldiers while off their ships and bases, and the constant worry about saboteurs and spies. Includes lists of the names of those who served in the Constabulary, plus a useful bibliography.

An action adventure novel set in 1708 in Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, the Quebec area, and Boston. Starts and ends at a fictional harbour settlement south of Placentia in Placentia Bay, but most of the story takes place in the other locales (otherwise the rating would be higher). The central character is lovestruck, but events interfere with his plans. First the British navy "borrows" him and his ship, leading to involvements with Hudson Bay and some native people, with the French navy at Quebec, and with the British at Boston before finally returning to his Newfoundland settlement. Most of the story takes place at sea - and includes lots of details about sailing ships and furious battles. Generally rousing action, with intrigues and plot twists.

Subtitled "A Short Message from your Premier". Published by the "Action for Joey Committees" and distributed free as an aid toward his re-election. The first half comprises lists detailing accomplishments and increased spending after twenty years of Confederation, while the second half presents Smallwood's vision for a future of further industrialization, particularly an oil refinery and an aluminum smelter, plus requests for more federal money. Ends with a plea to the people for re-election. Obviously very dated, but still interesting.

Subtitled "A Capsule History of St. John's Newfoundland". And a brief summary of the province's history too. A slim volume - "history light" for those who don't want to be burdened with much information!

Subtitled "Stories from the Forgotten Coast". Tales of ships and shipwrecks in the seas around Newfoundland. The author's fourth book on this theme.

A slim (65 pages) book for grade schoolers. The arguments for and against confederation come to a small outport as both Smallwood and Cashin visit to try to convince the voters. Told through the eyes of a pre-teen.

A memoir of the author's two year stay as a high school teacher in a small outport in the Twilllingate vicinity around 1970. A generally good read, but slows down where teaching specifics are detailed. The author seems to be pretty impressed with himself, and pretty critical of the community and most of the people.

Originally published 1966. A novel, centered on a boy named Eli during the time of his 15th and 16th years. The setting is a small outport in the 1930s, where most of the people, including Eli's parents, are members of a small fundamentalist Christian sect, where judging others seems to be life's most important concern. Eli and a few others, not being believers, are almost outcasts. Excellent descriptive detail, but seriously marred in other ways: those who are religious are cast as being ignorant, while those who are non-religious are cast as being enlightened; the main characters speak textbook English - in a remote outport in the 30s - not realistic regardless of an implausible explanation offered by the author on the first page; the overall tone of the story leans away from the realistic and toward the idealistic (and artificial). Flawed, but overall still an absorbing read.

Claims to be what two teacher friends who had moved away from Labrador "would have seen had they returned in January 1993 and made a snowmobile trip from Mary's Harbour to Norman Bay", but is mostly the author's thoughts and memories of various events and people, with an emphasis on drownings. About half of every page is a drawing, a photo, or blank. Not much to it, unless you are a local who happens to know the numerous characters presented.

A novel consisting of a dozen stories, most set in Newfoundland, with several of them sharing characters. Many of the stories were previously published. To quote "exploring life and love, terror and joy, fury and deep sorrow". The central characters are all women, each searching for a more fulfilling life.

A novel set in the outport village of Bareneed, "home to a vivid cast of characters who, one by one, come down with a mysterious breathing disorder" (quoted from the dust jacket). Mystery, fantasy, nightmares and reality, ghosts, and even legendary beasts! But generally uninteresting characters. Never quite comes together. Took about half way in to the 470 or so pages to really get my attention, and even then could well have stood half of the remaining verbiage being edited out.

Picture book featuring hundreds of antique Newfoundland furniture items. Suffers for lack of color and at times the quality of the photos.

Subtitled "Newfoundland in the First World War, 1914-1918". A book of pictures of the Newfoundland Regiment, from homeside training through battle and the aftermath. Minimal narration, letting the photos tell the story and add human faces.

Subtitled "Hiking in Eastern Newfoundland". A general introduction to the Avalon, including geography and history, followed by specifics of various hiking expeditions. Rough maps included.

Subtitled "The Story of Danny". A memoir of living and trapping in Labrador, with his longtime friend Danny Campbell most notable among many characters, and covering the period from their first meeting in 1936 right up to the late 1980s. Much more about the author than about his friend Danny, and provides many colorful and interesting insights from a man who spent much of his life as a trapper. Includes a section of black&white photos.

An adventure tale of olden times pirates and treasure - and present day mystery and danger - on a small island near the south shore of Conception Bay. Starring two 14 year old boys - a visiting mainlander and a local resident. For pre-teens and younger teens.

A novel of buried pirate treasure, set in Conception Bay. The heroes of the story are locals, who rationalize their actions, such as tax dodging, smuggling, and assault, by their belief that any treasure that may be buried locally is somehow by rights theirs to be found. A few convenient - and weak - plot devices, and enough duplication within the narrative to suggest that two drafts of the story were blended together to add length.

Contains 241 stories in about half as many pages, so most items are either short or very short. Quips, stories, puns - most set in Newfoundland, but many have also been set in other locales. A mixed bag, but there should be some smiles for everyone.

Subtitled "Selected from books published by Harry Cuff Publications Limited". Poems and/or short stories selected from about thirty books published from 1979 to 1983. A good selection of work from many Newfoundland writere.

Subtitled "A Newfoundland Soldier's Story of the First World War". Originally published in 1916, a closeup look at the author's own experiences from enlistment, through training in Britain, service and wounding in the trenches at Gallipolli, and then recovery and tranfer home. [Note - Newfoundland Regiment actions in France are not covered, since the author had been invalided home before that time.]

Subtitled "Letters and Journal of Edward Caldwell Moore". An edited and annotated selection of Moore's letters and notes written during his relatively brief (about a month and a half) journey to Labrador in 1905, including the ferry crossings, the trains, and other travel details. Moore describes what he sees, and not only his impressions of the land and people, but also of the already renowned Dr. Grenfell, with whom he is both very impressed and highly critical. His generally down to earth descriptions of living and working conditions - and his opinions of Grenfell - make for a very worthwhile read. Includes biographical sketches of both Moore and Grenfell.

An adventure novel for boys. The local doctor, an outdoorsman himself, has brought copies of the Boy Scout Handbook home with him and decides to start Labrador's first Boy Scout troop. A near murder and a stolen silver fox pelt start the doctor and several teens on an outdoors adventure, every activity of which is recounted in great detail as if a hands-on training session from the scout manual. Cold, snow, ice, dogs, wolves - and an upbeat ending!

A dozen of the author's short stories, some previously published. Most are set in Newfoundland, in and around St. John's.

Subtitled "Early Homes and Families of Newfoundland and Labrador". A sort of fractured light history of some still existing (and restored) old buildings and a notable family from each of the selected locales. Many nice black and white photos of the buildings.

A true Labrador adventure. In the fall of 1930, the author and his wife left New York and headed north to explore Labrador. They travel with trappers and canoe and portage far inland, hunting and trapping - and meeting endless onslaughts of mosquitoes. A hardy adventure tale, including details of where they went, what they saw, and who they encountered.

Human faces added to the 1929 tidal wave in the Burin. [For some reason, the author frequently uses the word "gelid". I don't think I've ever run across it more than once in a single book before.]

[8-1/2x11 format] A slim (32 pages) very nicely illustrated tale of young Susan and her Newfoundland pony Kit, who the residents of Tickle Cove suspect has been getting into their turnip patches at night.

A dozen short stories by a dozen Newfoundland writers, including Irving Fogwill, Percy Janes, Bernice Morgan and Paul O'Neill. Unfortunately, not all short stories are interesting stories. A mixed bag.

an academic yet interesting treatise on the history of whaling in Newfoundland. A view of the topic as an industry, containing lots of details of plants, owners, ships and kill statistics, but virtually nothing on the workers at the plants or the work itself. Numerous black&white photos are a strength. Extensive appendices, footnotes, and bibliography. Somewhat dry and at times bogs down in detail, but still provides worthwhile information.

The story of what are claimed to be two Newfoundlanders who won the Victoria Cross in World War I, but one of them left Newfoundland at the age of 4, never to return, and served in the Canadian armed forces. The other man was Thomas Ricketts, a liflong Newfoundlander, who was honored for his courageous actions while under fire in battle in 1917. The second half of the book (the part supposedly about Ricketts) is more a fairly detailed retelling of the last few months of the war than about Ricketts, but is still quite interesting.

[11-7/8x10-5/8 format] A book of color photographs (by Hansen) and impressionist color paintings (by Roy), often with a photo and painting paired for a scene. Brief captions. Many of the paintings are quite interesting.

A sampler of work from numerous Newfoundland poets, including Tom Dawe, Percy Janes, Kevin Major, Paul O'Neill, Al Pittman and Geraldine Rubia. The rating is for the book's usefulness as an introduction to the many poets, rather than as an evaluation of the poems themselves.