Canuck Week Finale with A&C

We are sad to say that the Canuck Week is over, but we sure had a lot of fun! Each and every post was like a present that we got to open each day and we can't thank all of the authors and bloggers enough for taking part! We are also thankful for anyone who blogged, tweeted, commented, added the button or screamed from the rooftops about this event. :)

If you missed any of the posts you can click on the links below. Oh, and, Canuck Week may be over but the giveaways are going on until March 25th at 11:59PM EST so be sure to enter!

Author Joanne Levy

Blogger Tynga

Author Natale Ghent (Giveaway of The Odds Get Even)

Blogger Snowdrop Dreams of Books (Chrystal)

Author Lesley Livingston (Giveaway of Tempestuous)

Blogger Midnight Bloom Reads (Liz)

Author Eileen Cook (Giveaway of The Education of Hailey Kendrick)

As this is the last day of the event we thought that we should share our favourite childhood books with you!

Enjoy!

ASHLEY

LITTLE WOMEN 

BY: LOUISA M. ALCOTT

When I was a child, and still to this day, Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott has been one of my favourite books. Especially when I was young, roughly around the age of 9, I remember reading Little Women and falling in love with it. There is probably a good chance that I watched to movie first, which came out when I was 7, falling in love with the story so much that I asked for the book. I vividly recall the McDonalds birthday party where I was gifted my first copy of Little Women. It was a hardback, possibly edited for children, and I cherished it for a long time. My favourite character was Jo. I really fell in love with her artistic side and the fact that she wasn't afraid to be herself and follow her dreams. Even if that meant saying no to Laurie and breaking my poor little heart. I swear, I've never been the same since. I had problems with Beth, but those issues stemmed from my deep rooted jealous hate for Claire Danes. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jared Leto? I also think at such a young age I was really saddened and didn't quite understand her death. Re-watching it now at the age of 24 I don't dislike Beth and I've slowly begun to get over my Claire Danes dislike. Then I found Amy to be insanely annoying and her marriage to Laurie broke me. I was always Jo and in my alternate Little Women world that I created, Laurie ended up with me. It didn't help that Christian Bale played him in the movie adaptation. This book was just a feel good book, that not only had happy moments, it was filled with real moments. These moments are all things that girls and boys face and I found it help to understand certain situations better. 

I just recently re-purchased this book –– adult edition. I started re-reading it and began remembering all of the little moments that made me love this story so much. Along with Little Women, Judy Blume as well as Harry Potter were both childhood favourites, even though Harry Potter stemmed from grade 7 until grade 12 :) And lets not forgot my absolute fascination with R.L.Stein's Goosebump books. Creepy and eerie! 

CHRISTIE:

Tales of a Gambling Grandma

Dayal Kaur Khalsa

The grandma of this story is different. Not many grandmas teach their granddaughters how to play poker, or take train rides across the country, bathing in fresh orange juice. But this grandma is also not so different. Together grandma and granddaughter go to the movies, drink tea at a Chinese food restaurant, and see a vaudeville show that stars a beer-drinking hippo. Everyday they have lunch together, and grandma tells the story of her life. This is an off-beat, heartwarming tale narrated by a little girl whose grandmother is her best friend.

Dayal Kaur Khalsa may not have been born in Canada but after immigrating here in 1979 she spent the last 10 years of her life in this beautiful country. As a writer, Khalsa always treated her young readers as equals by telling them stories about valuable life lessons. Tales of a Gambling Grandma was the first book that I read by Khalsa and it stuck with me. The relationship between grandmother and granddaughter is unconventional, but it is grounded by one thing: love. 

It has been about 10 years since I've read this book but I still feel its hold on me. To be honest, I have a copy of this book at home that I have never even opened. I am too afraid of cracking the spine, or spilling something on it, that I just keep it up on my shelf out of harms way. Tales of a Gambling Grandma is like a treasure to me, a gem. The beautiful writing and stunning artwork make this book one of the greatest stories ever told. If I ever have children, this book,and Khalsa's many other works, will line the bookshelves in their room.If you have children of your own, or are a child at heart, then you should spend some time lost in Khalsa's world.

**********

Thanks again everyone! We are sending you all some Canuck love!