Can Lit: Aviation Nation, Julie Chan is Dead and more

April is a great time to catch up on some great Canadian reading — just like every other month on the calendar.

Aviation Nation: How Canadians Contributed to Flight and Space Around the World

Michael Hood, Tom Jenkins

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) celebrated its centennial in 2024. In 2025, the RCAF Foundation has its sights set on the next 100 years of flight. On April 1, it launched Aviation Nation, aimed at school kids in the Grade 4 range — a.k.a. “future aviators.”

Illustrated by Josh Rivers, the book is colourful, accessible and concise, with punchy chapters covering all the bases, from bush pilots to astronauts, and air cadets to rocket scientists, Snowbirds and musicians in the RCAF Band. There are stories of flying aces Billy Bishop and William Barker, pioneers like engineer Elsie McGill, who was dubbed “Queen of the Hurricanes” during the Second World War and today’s high-tech NORAD Santa trackers.

Kids may get a kick out of the RCAF 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron’s 2021 mission following a mudslide in B.C. Three helicopters landed in precarious conditions to carry 311 people, 26 dogs and one cat to safety.

Adults are also likely to find Aviation Nation informative and engaging. And those future aviators will find a range of career options to ponder — firefighter, technicians and weather specialists as well as pilots and groundcrew.

Look for the book in school libraries, aviation museums across the country and online at rcaffoundation.ca, where teachers can find information about downloadable classroom resources for Grades 4-8.

REDress: Art, Action and the Power of Presence

Edited by Jaime Black-Morsette

Elders, artists, community activists and bereaved family members lend their voices to this anthology edited by Métis artist Jaime Black-Morsette.

In 2010, Black-Morsette created the REDress Project, in which red dresses were displayed in public spaces to highlight the need for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. She shares her experiences and welcomes other Indigenous women to join the call for justice and to remember and honour their sisters.

Sadly, the book’s release is especially timely in Black-Morsette’s home province, Manitoba, where four victims of a serial killer have now been identified. The remains of two women, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, were discovered recently in a landfill on the outskirts of Winnipeg, and in late March, a victim formerly known as Buffalo Woman was identified as Ashlee Shingoose.

“Julie Chan has nothing. Her twin sister has everything. Except a pulse.”