Best Book Club Questions for "Not Cancelled"

Many of us are just emerging from lockdown measures due to COVID-19. Slowly moving towards our new normal, we are starting to re-engage in pre-pandemic activities such as eating out, playing sports or visiting with friends.

For those who are part of a book club, a new normal of meeting virtually rose out of the ashes. Whether your club has chosen to start re-convening in person again or you are still meeting in cyber space, here are the best discussion questions for what is the perfect nonfiction post-corona book club book: Not Cancelled: Canadian Kindness in the Face of COVID-19.

What is the book about?

In a time when it felt like everything from sports gatherings to birthday parties were being cancelled, a realization emerged that important things such as love, kindness, and ingenuity can never be cancelled. This book is a collective heartbeat and history of our nation as we navigated personally and as a whole through these unusual times.

Not Cancelled is a collection of non-fiction essays from across Canada during the pandemic lockdown in early 2020. From a dancing Sikh in the Yukon to a couple’s first wedding dance in British Columbia to a talking Schnauzer in Quebec to a real-life Spider-Man walking the streets of Newfoundland to a pilot flying in a heart-shaped flight path over Nova Scotia after Canada’s deadliest shooting, we realized that, for the most past, Canadians were kind, creative, and most importantly, resilient . . .

After authors Heather Down and Catherine Kenwell wrote many stories and collected others—forty-nine in all, representing Canada’s worldwide address of the forty-ninth parallel—a challenge was how to combine so many voices, styles, and approaches to create one cohesive book. Stories came from every single province, spanning Indigenous people to new immigrants—and everybody whose family has occupied this country in a timeframe in between. In this celebration of Canada’s diversity, the collective voices in this book have variation but still sing the same tune.

Reading these stories has reminded me that hope, love, and kindess are never muted!

- Matthew Heneghan, author of "A Medic's Mind"

In Not Cancelled, the reader will find narratives, reflections, past-tense and present-tense essays, polished literary pieces, and stories from newly minted writers who are sharing their soul the best they can. Like the wood grain of a plank from a maple tree, there are various textures, colours, and veins. But together, they make the perfect whole, just like the country its leaf represents.

Book Club Questions

Not Cancelled: Canadian Kindness in the Face of COVID-19

ISBN 9781989664025 |. Wintertickle Press

1. You may have noticed that the book consists of both narrative chapters (as indicated by the heart graphic) and reflective chapters (as indicated by the woodgrain graphic). Does the mix of writing styles work in your opinion? Why or why not? Which style do you prefer—the narratives or the reflections?

2. What was your favourite story and why? Which story could you relate to the most and why? Is your favourite and most relatable story the same story?

3. Looking back on the lockdown in early 2020, what did you personally find the most challenging?

4. In the chapter entitled “Peace Is Not Cancelled,” author Michelle Sertage finds a silver lining, even with the sadness of the failing health of her father. Did you have any “silver lining” moments during the pandemic that you would like to share?

5. In the chapters entitled “Bread Delivery Is Not Cancelled,” author Shelley Hofer writes about an online group that was set up to serve her community. Did you come across any other online groups that jumped in to help?

6. A lot of things went viral on social media, probably because of the timing in relationship to the pandemic such as Pluto the talking schnauzer and Mary Janet MacDonald’s Tunes and Wooden Spoons. Even Tara Shannon talks about how her drawings Rabbit & Bear needed the right time to be relevant. Can you think of other examples of things that went viral during this time?

7. A lot of businesses had to pivot. Many were hit hard by the lockdown, while others rose. In the story “Ingenuity Is Not Cancelled,” author Catherine Kenwell shines a light on a business that pivoted to meet the demand for hand sanitizer. What other businesses did you witness rise from the ashes?

8. Many things such as weddings and funerals were either cancelled or greatly altered because of the pandemic. In the stories “First Dance Is Not Cancelled” and “Mourning Is Not Cancelled,” you can see examples of this. What examples do you have from your own life of things that moved forward in a different format?

9. This book is uniquely Canadian. How do you think Canada handled this crisis compared to other countries?

10. Many of the stories were featured on various news stations. Did you learn anything new about a story that you were already familiar with? If so, what was it?

11. Who was your hero during the lockdown and why?

12. What are the biggest lessons you learned as you navigated this time in history?

13. What do you foresee as the new normal going forward?

Not Cancelled is available everywhere fine books are sold.