The Life Of Margaret Laurence


James King - 1997
    The magnificent and long-awaited biography of the beloved writer who gave us the Manawaka novels, including The Diviners and The Stone Angel.

Kat's Fall


Shelley Hrdlitschka - 2004
    Ten years ago she was convicted of throwing Darcy's baby sister off a fifth floor balcony. Kat survived, but Darcy has spent the last decade raising his sister, giving her the love and support she has been denied by an absent mother and an uncaring father. Now, with their mother about to be released, their father has decided he has had enough of parental responsibility and is determined to return the children to their mother's care. Darcy is horrified, and adamant that he will not subject his sister to the woman who once tried to murder her. Struggling to understand and control the anger and resentment that has consumed him, Darcy is forced to confront his feelings and engage with the outside world. With newfound friendships and the unflagging support of his teacher, Darcy is able to understand some of the pain of the past and accept that he cannot control everything. As he grudgingly re-establishes ties with the mother he thinks he hates, he is accused of a horrific act. It will take incredible strength--his own and others--to fight the charges, but he finds that truth is often an elusive concept and that trust--and love--are powerful allies.

Pigeon


Karen Solie - 2009
    Now, with Pigeon, this singer of existential bewilderment takes another step forward. She finds an analog for the divine in a massive, new model tractor and an analogue for the malign in the face of the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez. Her poems are X-rays of delusions and mistaken perceptions, intellectual explorations of bad luck, creeping catastrophe, and the eros of danger come dressed to kill. Her ear is impeccable and her syntax the key to a rare, razor-sharp poetic intelligence. Pigeon expands Solie’s growing readership, making clear to anyone who encounters her that there is still fresh, unmapped territory in the world of poetry. As poet Michael Hofmann said, “Solie’s work should be read wherever English is read.”

OCDaniel


Wesley King - 2016
    Which really means he’s the water boy. He spends football practice perfectly arranging water cups—and hoping no one notices. Actually, he spends most of his time hoping no one notices his strange habits—he calls them Zaps: avoiding writing the number four, for example, or flipping a light switch on and off dozens of times over. He hopes no one notices that he’s crazy, especially his best friend Max, and Raya, the prettiest girl in school. His life gets weirder when another girl at school, who is unkindly nicknamed Psycho Sara, notices him for the first time. She doesn’t just notice him: she seems to peer through him.Then Daniel gets a note: “I need your help,” it says, signed, Fellow Star Child—whatever that means. And suddenly Daniel, a total no one at school, is swept up in a mystery that might change everything for him.With great voice and grand adventure, this book is about feeling different and finding those who understand.

Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom


Susin Nielsen - 2010
    Violet's younger sister reacts by bed-wetting, and her mother ping-pongs from one loser to another, searching for love. As for Violet, she gets angry in ways that are by turns infuriating, shocking, and hilarious.When her mother takes up with the unfortunately named Dudley Wiener, Violet and her friend Phoebe decide that they need to take control. If Violet's mom can't pick a decent man herself, they will help her snag George Clooney. In Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, Susin Nielsen has created a truly original protagonist in Violet and a brilliant new novel that will delight readers into rooting for her, even when she's at her worst.

The World of Christopher Robin: The Complete When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six


A.A. Milne - 1958
    It is a world in which Christopher Robin and Alice watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and where James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree takes great care of his Mother, though he is only three. In this timeless wonderland, the Little Black Hen is much too busy to lay eggs for anyone (except Christopher Robin), and the three little foxes play in the forest, keeping their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes. The King plaintively asks for butter for the Royal slice of bread. And at the end of an active day, a little boy kneels at the foot of his bed: Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Christopher Robin is saying his prayers. Here in one irresistible volume you will find When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, the two collections of verses which A. A. Milne wrote for his only son-verses that are cherished by everyone who has had the good fortune to become acquainted with them. To add to the excitement, Ernest Shepard, whose beloved black-and-white drawings in the original books have delighted millions of children, contributed endpapers and eight full-page illustrations, all in full color. Of course, Pooh, that remarkable bear, refuses to stay out of these pages, even though he has two books of his own. But his appearance here should cause no surprise. After all, he belongs. For as Christopher Robin is fond of saying, Wherever I am, there's always Pooh, There's always Pooh and Me.

Instructions


Neil Gaiman - 2010
    Sometimes, we need those two things the most" (Brightly.com, citing "Books That Teach Kids What It Means to Be a Kind Person").In this breathtaking jacketed picture book, Neil Gaiman's lyrical poem guides a novice traveler through the enchanted woods of a fairy tale—through lush gardens, a formidable castle, and over a perilous river—to find the way home again.Illustrated in full color by Charles Vess, Instructions features lush images of mythical creatures, magical landscapes, and canny princesses. Its message of the value of courage, wit, and wisdom makes it a perfect gift.

A Question of Loyalty


Barbara Greenwood - 1940
    If she is caught hiding Dan, her family will be branded as traitors and their barn burned. If she turns him over to the sheriff, he will be hanged! Deborah is torn between a father she has always trusted to be right, and the wounded boy who begs for her help. A gripping story of divided loyalty.

black is brown is tan


Arnold Adoff - 1973
    White-skinned daddy, not white like milk or snow, lighter than brown, With pinks and tiny tans, whose face gets tomato red when he puffs and yells their children into bed. Children who are all the colors of the race, growing up happy in a house full of love. This is the way it is for them; this is the way they are, but the joy they feel extends to every reader of this book.Black is brown is tan is a story poem about being, a beautiful true song about a family delighting in each other and in the good things of the earth.

I Like Bugs


Margaret Wise Brown - 1938
    Green Bugs. Fat Bugs. Buggy Bugs. I like bugs!It's time for YOU! Pick your favorite spot to read. This is going to be a great book!

Mr. Elephanter


Lark Pien - 2010
    Elephanter looks after the peppy elephanties! A charming, quirky picture book debut by an acclaimed cartoonist.Early every morning, Mr. Elephanter arrives at the Elephantery to care for his diminutive charges, who greet him with toots and trumpets. There are hugs and hellos all around! They all eat pancakes, paddle and splash in the neighborhood pool, and parade through the bustling city. After naps, Mr. Elephanter pretends he’s a tunnel, tower, and bridge, while the elephanties play all around him. In fresh watercolors exuding warmth and whimsy, Lark Pien introduces the doting Mr. Elephanter—and the most adorable miniature creatures you’ll ever meet.

Basketball Blues


Thalia Kalkipsakis - 2005
    But can cheerleading make Angie happy, or is basketball her real love?   It's lucky Angie is more than just a pretty face!

A Wake For The Dreamland


Laurel Deedrick-Mayne - 2015
    It is a Canadian summer in 1939 and Robert and Annie’s love has blossomed, even as the inevitability of the boys joining up means separation and the first of many losses. Fearing he might not return, Robert makes William promise to take care of Annie. Every arena of their lives is infiltrated by the war, from the home front to the underground of queer London to the bloody battlefields of Italy. Even in the aftermath, in the shadow of The Dreamland, these friends fight their own inner battles: to have faith in their right to love and be loved, to honour their promises and ultimately find their way “home.”

The Sudden Weight of Snow


Laisha Rosnau - 2002
    Seventeen-year-old Sylvia (Harper) Kostak is caught between her mother’s regrets and the strictures of small-town life in the interior of British Columbia. When Harper meets Gabe, an intense and enigmatic young man living on the ’60s-style arts commune outside of town, she is transfixed. Gradually we learn Gabe’s story and what led him to join his estranged mother on the commune, where, in a bid for freedom, Harper eventually finds herself, setting in motion a series of events leading to tragedy. Resonant with longing and a sense of isolation, the novel brings alive the agonies and ecstasies of growing up, sexual discovery, and how the need to belong can shape both decisions and destinies.Author Biography: Laisha Rosnau was born in Pointe Claire, Quebec, and grew up in Vernon, British Columbia. She has worked as a child-care worker, a landscaper, a waitress, a fruit picker, an interpretive guide, a journalist, and an editor. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, where she was the Executive Editor of PRISM international. Her poetry and short fiction have been published in literary journals and anthologies in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The Sudden Weight of Snow is her first novel. Laisha Rosnau lives in Vancouver, where she is at work on a collection of poetry and on her second novel.

Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope


Jean Little - 2001
    In 1897, in Guelph, Ontario, eleven-year-old Victoria chronicles her family's experiences when they take in twelve-year-old Mary Anna, an orphan, who has been separated from her siblings