April Raintree

The highlight of my writing career has been my first novel, In Search of April Raintree. I was asked recently if I minded being continually identified with my first novel. Not at all, I told her. What April and Cheryl did for my community twenty-five years ago and continues to do today is amazing!

Earlier this year, a woman told me that about the time my novel first came out, she was living off the streets. Her aunt gave her my book and told her to read it. She scoffed at the idea and tossed it aside. She said that’s the way she was at the time – too tough to learn anything new. Later when she was alone, she picked up the book and read it. She said that book turned her life around.

Printed Editions

These are all the editions that have been printed since April 1983:

In Search of April Raintree, 25th Anniversary Edition
by Beatrice Mosionier,
Winnipeg: Portage & Main Press,
September 2008

For the general market

ISBN 978-1-55379-173-7 (241 pp.)
$18



In Search of April Raintree, Critical Edition
by Beatrice Culleton Mosionier,
edited by Cheryl Suzack,
Winnipeg: Portage & Main Press,
October 1999

The university edition, containing nine essays by academics, and one by me.

ISBN 978-1-894110-43-3 (352 pp.)
$24

April Raintree
by Beatrice Culleton,
First published by Pemmican Publications,
December 1984,
Reprinted by Peguis Publishers
(later, Portage & Main Press), 1992

The revised edition for high schools.
ISBN 978-1-895411-41-6 (196 pp.)
$19

In Search of April Raintree
by Beatrice Culleton, first published by Pemmican Publications, April 1983,reprinted by Peguis Publishers (later, Portage & Main Press), 1992
Now out of print.

25th Anniversary Edition

Portage & Main Press decided to publish a 25th anniversary edition. Meanwhile organizers for the Winnipeg Foundation unanimously chose In Search of April Raintree to launch the first year of a literacy pilot project, to run from October 2008 to April 2009.

Mass-Reading Project

Manitoba Reads was Manitoba’s very first mass-reading project. Organizers felt that in its 25th year, “the book is poised as a classic of Canadian literature, touching on important themes that resonate with readers today as strongly as they did when the novel was first published.”

Want to Learn More?

• You can read excerpts of reviews. Besides choosing mostly complimentary ones, of course, some of the reviews contain fascinating information that can add to your knowledge. In the future, I’ll replace some with others.
• I also include readers’ letters, many of them from high school students. Sometimes when I’m organizing my files, I’ll come across these letters and I’m drawn into reading them. They give me such inspiration to continue writing and working in our community. And that is why my office is still unorganized.

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