It's hard to beat for the price.
The screen resolution isn't great, but for occasional recipes and kids books with larger text it should be okay I'd think. It's an IPS display and while not all are created equal it should have decent viewing angles (I know the similar spec Fire does). It'll work fine for Netflix and the like and also for most games. It has the regular Google Play store and you'll have no problem getting the Kobo, Netflix and Youtube apps. Being in Canada the built in store stuff probably won't be of much, if any, use for you.
As for no names from China, that's basically what the Nook tablet is, with B&N's name slapped on it.
Tablets from the likes of Samsung, Asus or Lenovo are likely to run you 2 or 3 times the Nook's $50, of course they'll generally have better specs too but that's unlikely to matter for your stated usage.