Local

s promised eaurtier, this week we have three of the
entries inthis year’s Roderick Haig-Brown Regional
Prize portion of the annual B.C. Book Prizes.

But first of all, what is the
Roderick Haig-Brown Regional
Prize?

Named for the well-known
author, naturalist and sports fish-
erman who passed away in 1976,
this award is made to the author of
anon-fiction book which, accord-
ing to the competition guidelines,
“contributes mast ta the en-
joyment and understanding of
British Columbia ... (and) may deal
with any aspeci of the province
(people, history, geography,
oceanography, etc.)...”"

Books are judged according to
several criteria, including originali-
ty, lasting value, organization,
editing and, where applicable,
appropriate use of any illustrations
employed.

The judging itself is a lengthy,
two-part process enacted over a
period of several months. The first
determines the short-list of poten-
tial winners and the latter the ac-
tual winner.

That this ordeal {and it is an
ordeal, especially for the hopeful
authors) is so time-consuming is
hardly a surprise considering the
number of entries this prestigious
award attracts: 21 books are in the
running this year.

Some have already appeared in
this column; here are three that
have not.

Widow Smith of Spence’s
Bridge, by Jessie Ann Smith as told
to }. Meryl Campbell and Audrey
Ward, is a simple but touching
story of the hardships and trium-
phs of a pioneer family.

fessie Aan. born an Scotland in
1853, emigrated to Canada io
1684 shortly atter wedding Joha
Smith, a childhood sweetheart.
Their destination: Spence'’s Badge,
British Columbia.

What makes Widow Smith of
Spence’s Bridge (Sonotek Press:
128 pp.; $9.95) a rather special {it-

MIKE
STEELE

book review

tle book is the fact that it's really
an autobiography, as Campbell
and Ward (Jessie Ann's grand-
daughters) explain: “’...she began
to write about her experiences
when she was nearly 90 years old.
She had the manuscript nearly
completed, even to her introduc-
tion which she wrote on her 92nd
birthday, July 17, 1945, less than a
year before her death .... Her
work lay dormant for nearly half a
century, but in the conviction that
many readers will find enjoyment
in the story, we are presenting it
essentially as she wrote and told
it.’”

This Was Our Valley (Detselig
Enterprises: 401 pp.; no price
available, hardcover) by Earl K.
Pollon and Shirlee Smith
Matheson also has an undeniably
poignant aspect to it.

In This Was Our Valley, Pollon
and Matheson chrontcle the
damning at the mighty Peace
River - what did to the fives of
the people, Natwe aad non-
Native, who hved there, what they
lost and how they were victimized
by a heavy-handed government
that iznored not only the human
variables in the equation but also
those of ecology, history and
ethics,

This Was Our Valley will inspire
great sympathy for the WLA.C.
Bennett Dum’s victims aad make
readers mad as hell at B.C. Hydro
and the provincial government
that permitted its activities in the
Peace River region during the
1960s. Stay away from this one if
you have high blead pressure.

Barnstorming To Bush Flying
(Sono Nis Press; 242 pp.; $18.95 in
softcover) is not one story but
hundreds: those of the men and
women who risked their lives as
B.C.'s pioneers of aviation.

Author Peter Corley-Srith, a
history curator and prolific writer
of flying-related titles, has done a
tremendous job of researching this
well-illustrated book which is in-
tended to be the first in a series
(the years 1910 to 1930 are
covered in this one).

Barnstorming To Bush Flying
may seem a bit narrowly focused
for a general-interest audience,
and indeed there is a wealth of
technical detail here which the
average reader can safely (and
would probably prefer to) ignore.

This is not the criticism it may
seem. Barnstorming To Bush Fly-
ing was obviously never intended
for the ‘average reader’ in the first
place but it may appeal to a
broader number both for its histor-

teal value and its enc redible cam

25 - Wednesday, February 14. 1990 - North Shore News

authors give insight into B.C.

ponent oranecdotes .

Z—— & RESTAURANT

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