iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 2h

In @charlotteparent.bsky.social's Muriel and the Mystery, our shrew protag meets a blobby thingamy. Tho puzzled, she doesn't believe in destroying something just because it's different. Fun & thought-provoking for readers 4-7 &, really, all ages. #TundraBooks @theseaboardreview.ca shorturl.at/WgFA5

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Nonsense can 🟰 wisdom? You bet! Fun examples: #kathystinson's Boogy & Tee and Twinkle & Hew, with rhymes à la Lear, and our hapless boaters coping in a storm. #GroundwoodBooks In #sarahhowden's The Wise Pickle, our crunchy protagonist enjoys escaping its brine—for now. #TundraBooks shorturl.at/Jiuvz

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Forget Macavity, Sylvester et pawl. Take it from a 🐈 person: real cats r the most fascinating, as 2 delightful children's books prove: #jilliantamaki's poignant Young Cat, Old Cat & #mangeshigpawissteckley's whimsical Mooz Moose. @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca shorturl.at/kdlwB

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

#TomDoyle doesn't miss a beat in his engaging bio Ringo: A Fab Life. Quoting #PaulMcCartney on 1st hearing Ringo play, "...f---, what is this? And that was the beginning, really, of the Beatles.” Fascinating to watch it all Come Together. @theseaboardreview.ca @ecwpress.bsky.social l1nq.com/o4a4ew2

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Clever dialogue, fun characters, and more plot twists than a Bavarian pretzel! #StanleyIndustrialAllianceStage #ArtsClubVancouver artsclub.com/shows/2026-2...

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Whale, That Was Unexpected by #caseylyall & #kathryndurst, & #KelseyGarrityRiley's Fritz: A Mushroom Story delightfully upend clichés. Swallowed by a whale, tough Maude is no damsel in distress. Fritz shows u can be both introvert & extrovert. tinyurl.com/mtud4xb4 #TundraBooks @theseaboardreview.ca

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Fascinating to leaf through: Plants of the Pacific Coast: From Alaska to Oregon, including British Columbia and Washington. A fun, helpful guidebook for planning strolls, by #JimPojar, #AndyMacKinnon, #JamieFenneman, and #LeighJoseph (Styawat). #CanScienceBooks @theseaboardreview.ca l1nq.com/h4w0a2u

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

With her homonymic picturebook #fakegnus, #LeslieHelakoski gives kids a fun start on fibs vs. facts, with young reporter Scoop Jackson as the mischievous guide. Take it from this Scoop Jackson, reviewer: #FakeGnus is genuine value. l1nq.com/khymot3 @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

What a hoot! #DeborahHodge and #KarenReczuch reveal that, without so much as blinking a golden eye, #TheBurrowingOwlsofthePrairieGrasslands take over burrows dug by prairie dogs, badgers, etc. Worth reading the book? Owl say! sl1nk.com/587cuoq @groundwoodbooks.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Summertime, and the reading is easy—especially with intriguing works by BC/Yukon members of the #TheWritersUnionofCanada to choose from. It was my pleasure to assemble news of these in the edition of TWUC's WestWords. Tx to rep #RhonaMcAdam and TWUC staff for their support! bit.ly/westwords-ju...

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Pushing Hope is #RaymondSantana's powerful graphic memoir of wrongful imprisonment, w 4 others, for the rape of a Central Park jogger. When the real perpetrator confessed, they were free—as free as they could be, after such a nightmare. #AstraPublishingHouse @theseaboardreview.ca sl1nk.com/t342wyx

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

In Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza, #HassanKanafani describes the ruin of his country by Israeli bombs. His family's home, now a fragile tent. “In the darkness... a doorless prison—a cramped space where anxiety and dread cling to the air.” @arsenalpulp.bsky.social l1nq.com/wx9t5j5

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Oh, shoot! Who was the real #calamityjane? In Calamity Before Jane, by #noahvansciver, a graphic novel I revued 4 #theseaboardreviewofbooks, Sciver profiles the youthful runaway (1852-1903) & the lively stories she shared in the Wild West Show of #WildBillHickok..https://shorturl.at/6RmuC #TOONBooks

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Against a grim #SaultSteMarie residential school, a bright-faced, exasperated girl—who will survive: the cover of Shirley: An Indian Residential School Story, bio of #ShirleyFletcherHorn by #JoanneRobertson. My privilege 2 revu 4 #TheSeaboardReviewofBooks. #SecondStoryPress #canlit shorturl.at/DDvuX

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Definitely a brush with enjoyment to read & revu this historical fiction mystery starring #emilycarr. Author #catherinewalker draws—sorry, another art pun—you in with rich character studies and an engaging plot that includes, gasp, murder. @theseaboardreview.ca #InannaPublications shorturl.at/P2jOs

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Thanks, @theseaboardreview.ca 4 the chance 2 review Yes! To Canada: When Grampa Refused to Fight in The Vietnam War, by #robertdavies. An agonizing but understandable choice, to flee one's home in protest of a war even Defense Secretary #RobertMcNamara condemned. #harppublishing shorturl.at/Gca6J

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Seamus and the Shiny Things, by #carakansala, is a children’s book to crow about. Seamus is greedy about collecting shiny objects, only to find out that friendship is what truly shines. Take a beak, I mean, peek at my review! @theseaboardreview.ca @breakwaterbooks.bsky.social tinyurl.com/4a73udm2

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The fun, brrr!-illiantly plotted Blood Typed is my type of mystery. Tickled to have reviewed it for this issue of @theseaboardreview.ca. Whodunit, you ask? The novel's author is #JaneDoucet. The murderer? That, you'll have to read Blood Typed to find out. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/blood-type...

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Honoured to revu for @theseaboardreview.ca the reissue of #DavidARobertson's powerful graphic novel 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga. As a comics writer, Robertson sought to replace lies & ignorance with a new foundation to build on. Illustrator: #scottbhenderson #HighwaterPress shorturl.at/FNkMg

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Glad to "batter up!" for @theseaboardreview.ca about #BillyCrawford'sDoublePlay by #BradSmith, a funny, clever novel about an aging ballplayer who can't accept he's a has-been. But, in a riff on the baseball term double play, Billy may have other greatness in him—of the moral kind. shorturl.at/26kwe

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

A children's book all ages can delight in and learn from: #richardwagamese's The Inquisitive Raven, which I'm delighted to review in @theseaboardreview.ca. The sharp-eyed protag, Raven, inspires us 2 ask questions & thus protect the world around us. #Douglas&McIntyre #CanLit @theseaboardreview.ca

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

If #agathachristie's #themousetrap went #NorthernGothic, it'd become—with (sleigh) bells on!— #ShanePeacock's A Place of Secrets. You'll be entertained +, in the best Christie fashion, whodunit-surprised. Here's my @theseaboardreview.ca revu: www.theseaboardreview.ca/.../a-place-.... #CormorantBooks

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Thanks to my friend and colleague, #PublicationCoach #DaphneGray-Grant, for featuring me in her weekly Wednesday Interview: www.publicationcoach.com/melanie-jack.... And hey, interested in writing easily more easily? Daphne's your go-to pro. Writing guidance and encouragement doesn't get any better.

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Thanks to @theseaboardreview.ca for publishing my tribute to #ThomasBecket. This was definitely one from the heart. May all resistors to tyranny be so meddlesome. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/thomas-bec...

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

At #TheWriters'UnionofCanada table, at the always festive and fun #WordVancouver, yesterday: fellow TWUC-er #DeborahPatz and I enjoy each others' books. (The fellow behind my left shoulder appears to be a would-be photo bomber.)

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

The sunny faces of #WhistlerBC. These lovelies, aka Black-Eyed Susans or Rudbeckia hirta, are everywhere.

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Tx @theseaboardreview.ca 4 letting me steal a look at glam thieves, fictional (#ToCatchAThief) & real (#AGentlemanandAThief): shorturl.at/r9hNu. I start with, how could I not?, #CaryGrant: "The handsome thief inches along a ledge. From a window, a dowager screams, “Oh!” But, on closer look, 'Oooo…'"

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

‪Fruitful experience! A tart, tasty plum inspired me to reread #RumerGodden's #GreengageSummer. @theseaboardreview.ca kindly features my retrospective review of this classic I first read as a teen. Interesting how reactions to a story change on becoming a (somewhat) mature adult. rb.gy/w1k9qc

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Tickled to have my take on #Antifa, #GordHill's updated history of #antifascism, named🌟review in @theseaboardreview.ca. Hill's vivid, clever illos & captions are at once appealing, inspiring & worrying. But info is power, as fascies know, so go, Gord! @arsenalpulp.bsky.social iny.one/1MtKw9

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

In WWII Ann Charney, her family & other Jews hid from Nazis in a Polish barn. #DOBRYD is Charney's evocative memoir of emerging into liberated Poland. With an intriguing intro re why, on 1st pub in 1973, DOBRYD was largely ignored. A treat to review 4 @theseaboardreview.ca #BarakaBooks rb.gy/izt7fv

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

My pleasure to share the latest issue of WestWords, the #WritersUnionofCanada newsletter highlighting what's new among BC/Yukon members. A treat to showcase so much #TWUC talent! @vancouverlibrary.bsky.social @theseaboardreview.ca @cwillbc.bsky.social

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Delighted to be writing for @theseaboardreview.ca! substack.com/profile/2060...

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

@bartinski.bsky.social and I enjoyed yesterday's @writersfest.bc.ca event featuring the endlessly interesting – and funny! – raconteur/writer/film director #BarrySonnenfeld. Never thought the idea of almost dying in plane crash would be entertaining, but Barry made his own close call hilarious.

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Attendee at the @uoft.bsky.social Alumni Association Vancouver's recent visit to the @vanartgallery.bsky.social admires "Those who would douse it," one of the dazzling, poignant, powerful paintings on exhibit by #FireleiBáez. #BlackHistoryMonth

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Amazing how a story, once out in the world, acquires a life of its own. A teacher shared student trailers for my @orcabook.bsky.social award-winning YA mystery #MedusasScream. From pieces of gold to glowing cat's eyes, + captions with ominously dripping letters: what can one say but, "Snakes alive!"

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Melanie Jackson @mljackson.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Exactly my thoughts, not to mention my soul, #PercivalEverett: "...my interest is in how these marks that I am scratching on this page can mean anything at all. If they can have meaning, then life can have meaning, then I can have meaning."– quote from #James, winner of the #NationalBookAward.

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