Experience the joy and wonder of the wilderness. The blue lakes and rocky shores of northern Saskatchewan have fed Ric Driediger’s soul for nearly fifty years. Here he recounts his most memorable canoe trips, and introduces the reader to many of the people with whom he has travelled—either literally or vicariously—on these wonderful wilderness adventures. Ric brings a spiritual sensibility and a genuineness to his storytelling—and his wisdom, sense of humour, and profound respect for the land shine through on every page.

Discover the wonders of Saskatoon! Share the adventures of two new friends as they explore places important to the city’s culture and heritage.

"A long time ago, Our People came from the Northern Woodlands to the Great Plains looking for food," Grandfather said. "They saw that the Buffalo lived in harmony with Mother Earth the same as Our People did."

Through the Creator, the buffalo gave themselves as a gift for the sustenance and survival of the Plains Cree people. The largest land animal in North America once thundered across the Great Plains in numbers of 30 to 50 million. They provided shelter, food, clothing, tools, hunting gear, ceremonial objects and many other necessities for those who lived on the Plains.

But by 1889, just over a thousand buffalo remained, and the lives of the Plains Cree people changed. The buffalo is honoured to this day, a reminder of life in harmony with nature as it was once lived. This is the story of how the buffalo came to share themselves so freely.

Memories of a northern childhood. Aldred Neufeldt grew up in the small Mennonite community of Horse Lake, northern Saskatchewan, in the 1940s—a place considered by everyone else to be “the boonies” and a time when the devastating effects of the Great Depression were still being felt. Though times may have been tough, it was a childhood of wonder and discovery, nurtured by energetic and resourceful parents who expressed their Christian faith and community values through deeds more than words. <br><br>Neufeldt recounts what it was like to live in the log house built by his father; run along deer trails in the nearby Nisbet Forest Reserve; walk to school on the old Carlton Trail; model home-sewn fashions inspired by the latest Eaton’s catalogue; navigate the social dynamics of a small one-room school; and come to understand how the diverse personalities that made up his extended family—from hardworking pioneer grandparents to an infamous distant cousin accused of murder—helped to shape his own identity. <br><br>Told with zest and a keen eye for humorous detail, Horse Lake Chronicles immerses readers in a way of life now scarcely remembered, and in doing so invites us to reflect on our own origins and pathways to adulthood.

A grandma’s love cannot be broken ... no matter what! A funny, poignant exploration of a child’s quest to understand the meaning of a grandma’s love. I Will Always Love You ... No Matter What! will resonate with today’s grandmas as they negotiate their role in an ever-changing family dynamic.

"My parents and my three older sisters were already in the Model T Ford. I think it was old because it had no top. It was moving day. My dad had filed on a homestead and we were about to begin the two-hundred-mile trek from Watrous to Carrot River, Saskatchewan. My powder blue dress was scattered with tiny pink flowers. Mother had fashioned it from pieces that had once been part of a dress she had worn. To me, the move mattered not at all. The usual aura of family security prevailed. How could a child of barely five years know the hardships that lay ahead?"

Ileen (née Sheehan) Boechler's plainspoken memoir of a childhood spent homesteading beyond the 53rd parallel tugs at the roots of northern life, peeling back the layers of family and community connections to reveal the growth that is possible because of them.

Quirky record store owner Jackson Hill doesn't know it, but his routine life in Saskatoon is about to take a bumpy ride. When his father dies unexpectedly, Jackson heads down the highway to his hometown in southern Saskatchewan. He knows the funeral will be rough, but he doesn't expect to meet a handsome stranger along the way or to face-off with his brother about dark issues of the past. A humorous tale of one man's fascination with rock 'n' roll, Dead Rock Stars is a stirring account of sibling rivalry, acts of forgiveness, and growing up gay on the Canadian Prairies.