Public school students weigh in on the pros and cons of the last day of school
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CP24's Arda Zakarian talks to the students of Ogden Junior Public School about how excited they are on the last day of the school year.
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Winnipeg Free Press
16 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
All aboard… for chills
Linwood Barclay, the U.S.-born, Ontario-based author of many bestselling thrillers and mystery novels, tries his hand at a supernatural thriller oozing with homages to Stephen King in Whistle. Annie Blunt, a bestselling children's book author, is suffering from a traumatic pair of events. Inspired by her popular picture book character Pierce the Penguin, a young boy tries to fly using cardboard wings and plummets to his death. While Annie struggles with feeling responsible for this tragedy, her husband is killed in a hit-and-run car accident. At the behest of her editor, Annie and her young son Charlie retreat to a rented mansion in upstate New York to try and recover some sense of normalcy. The quiet, slow pace of country life seems to be working until Charlie comes across an old model train set. Daniel Crump / Free Press files After setting it up and obsessively running the toy along its track, a number of strange events begin to unfold. And veering away from the cuddly Pierce, Annie's new idea for a character is much darker and more sinister than anything she's attempted before. There's a second storyline woven into the pages of Whistle, one that follows Harry Cook, the chief of police in the small town of Lucknow, Vt. and taking place not long after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Beginning with the mysterious disappearances of two men, a number of odd accidents befall the town, all seeming to somehow connect with the new specialty shop Choo-Choo's Trains and its eccentric owner Edwin Nabler. Fans of Stephen King will likely see a parallel to the 1991 novel Needful Things. Barclay is not shy about how much King has influenced this particular novel, and he includes a number of nods to other King titles including Christine, It and Maximum Overdrive. As well as drawing heavily on Needful Things and its villain Leland Gaunt, Whistle's villain also bears some resemblance to Andre Linoge, the creepy and mysterious bad guy of the 1999 made-for-TV miniseries Storm of the Century, also penned by King. Barclay is clearly a fan and makes no secret of the various influences which have inspired his foray away from thrillers and into supernatural chiller territory. Given that Barclay is playing (at least partially) with a less-modern setting, he might have been better suited to push the timeline back even further, to when model trains were actually popular. There are a couple of half-hearted snipes at video games and other modern toys compared to the precision and uniqueness of the trains, but it seems a stretch that these characters would have taken the slightest interest in this hobby without the supernatural persuasion of Edwin Nabler. Ellis Parinder photo Linwood Barclay And while the titular spooky shop called Needful Things catered to the many tastes of the town residents, Choo-Choo's Trains feels a little too niche for its influence to spread through the whole town. Billed as a spooky chiller, Whistle certainly has elements of horror, but doesn't really evoke many scares. For fans of Barclay's previous oeuvre and other mysteries, this is probably just enough spookiness to remain enjoyable, whereas devoted horror fans may find this one a touch too cozy. And while Barclay uses the split narrative akin to It, breaking the narrative into two branches does cut the tension. In Whistle readers' connection to Annie and Charlie builds, when the narrative suddenly breaks and introduces a whole slew of new characters in Harry's storyline. And because the reader knows Harry's plot takes place 20-some-odd years before Annie's, it can be difficult to invest in that plot. The two plot threads eventually do come together, though it does seem a little forced and relies heavily on coincidence. But like many King novels, Whistle works best when not taken too seriously and simply enjoyed as a thrill ride. A breezy and fun read, Whistle will appeal to fans of vintage Stephen King, particularly the stories set in the Castle Rock region. It doesn't reinvent the formula or introduce anything new, but it might just scratch that particular itch for the type of story King doesn't seem to be as interested in producing anymore. Whistle Keith Cadieux is a Winnipeg writer and editor. His latest story collection, Donner Parties and Other Anti-Social Gatherings, is out now from At Bay Press. He also co-edited the horror anthology What Draws Us Near, published by Little Ghosts Books.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Curling legend Jones' memoir coming this fall
One of Canada's most decorated and beloved curlers will tell her life's story in a memoir slated to be released this fall. Winnipeg-born, Ontario-based Jennifer Jones, who has won two world championships, an Olympic gold medal and many more accolades (and whose face adorns the wall of the St. Vital Curling Club), will release Rock Star: My Life On and Off the Ice, on Aug. 26 via HarperCollins. The book, co-written with curling writer Bob Weeks, chronicles juggling a law career with throwing rocks, the strains that emerged between teammates and the challenges of balancing her curling schedule and motherhood. Behind You Buy on ● ● ● B.C.-born, Winnipeg-based Art Miki has won the $10,000 Canada-Japan Literary Award for his book Gaman — Perseverance: Japanese Canadians' Journey to Justice, published by Talonbooks. Buy on Released in December 2023, in Gaman the former president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians details the path to reconciliation and resolution taken by Japanese-Canadians around and after the Second World War, when many were interned. The prize was awarded to Miki by the Canada Council for the Arts. ● ● ● Award-winning Ontario author Catherine Hernandez has been named the fall 2025 Jake MacDonald writer-in-residence by the University of Winnipeg. Hernandez is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and the author of four novels for adults, including 2017's Scarboorugh, a Canada Reads finalist, as well as Crosshairs and The Story of Us. Her latest, Behind You, was published in 2024 by HarperCollins. Buy on Hernandez will be available for manuscript consultations and to answer questions from Sept. 8-Dec. 8. She'll also be participating in a number of other activities while serving in the position, including readings, lectures, Q&As, masterclasses and more. For more information, see ● ● ● I Hope This Finds You Well Last week it was noted in this space that Winnipeg Cree author Rosanna Deerchild had received two honorary doctorates in a month. This week it was announced she has won the Indigenous Voices Award for poetry published in English — and the accompanying $5,000 prize. Deerchild won the prize for her collection She Falls Again, published by Coach House Press. Buy on In the published prose category, Kanien'kehá:ka author Wayne K. Spear and Dene politician and advocate Georges Erasmus won for Hòt'a! Enough!: Georges Erasmus's Fifty-Year Battle for Indigenous Rights, published by Dundurn Press. Buy on Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. ● ● ● Natalie Sue has won the 2025 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour for her novel I Hope This Finds You Well, published by HarperCollins. Buy on The Calgary-based author edged out former Winnipegger Greg Kearney's An Evening With Birdy O'Day (published by Arsenal Pulp Press) and Patricia Parsons' We Came From Away (published by Moonlight Press) for the top award, which comes with a $25,000 prize. Each of the runners up receive $5,000. books@ Ben SigurdsonLiterary editor, drinks writer Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press's literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben. In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press's editing team before being posted online or published in print. It's part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Public school students weigh in on the pros and cons of the last day of school
Video CP24's Arda Zakarian talks to the students of Ogden Junior Public School about how excited they are on the last day of the school year.
