In the tradition of Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain on Music and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia, Bad Singer follows the delightful journey of Tim Falconer as he tries to overcome tone deafness — and along the way discovers what we’re really hearing when we listen to music.

Tim Falconer, a self-confessed “bad singer,” always wanted to mak …

1
One hungry heron,
tall and still,
crooks her leg
and tips her bill.
2
Two drowsy catfish,
way down deep,
snuffle through the muck,
then go to sleep.
3
Three darting dragonflies
hover and dip.
Whiz! Pause! Whiz!
Zoom! Zoom! Zip!

The scene starts out quietly enough, but soon the lone heron is joined by two lazy catfish and three darting dragonflie …

With a dozen original songs percolating in his head, bestselling author Eric Siblin had two chance encounters in the same month: one with a real estate agent named Jo, a talented singer with pop star dreams; and the other with a college acquaintance named Morey, a fiery guitarist, record exec turned digital music producer, and manager of his teenag …

Our favorite odd-couple friends explore the wilds of their house after dark in book two of the Buddy and Earl series.

Buddy is just settling in for the night when Earl announces that he’s going on a trip.

Where will Earl go? Wherever the road leads him, of course!

Before Buddy knows it, he and Earl are off on another grand adventure. While exploring …

Caramba is a sweet, shy cat who bravely accepts that he is different, and then discovers his own special talent.

Award-winning author and illustrator Marie-Louise Gay, best known for her Stella and Sam books, brings us an endearing character in Caramba, a sweet, shy cat who bravely accepts that he is different, and then discovers his own special tal …

Non-profits are big business. According to a recent Johns Hopkins report, third-sector institutions in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Japan, the U.S. and Canada have been growing at an average rate that is twice the growth rate of their GDPs. Canada is home to the second largest non-profit workforce in the world, employing 2 million paid staff and co …

Welcome to Crooked River, Ontario. Population 2,851 and falling. Eli has lived in Crooked River his whole life, and he knows better than anyone about that sinking number. His father, uncle and grandmother are dead; he didn't know his mother, and his grandfather Clarence, an eccentric builder of hotels and a now-underwater castle, walked to the rive …

In the last twenty years, the number of texts written on clinical pastoral supervision has accelerated. Thomas St. James O’Connor analyzes these texts, nearly 300 of them, in light of three fundamental questions about the praxis of clinical pastoral supervision: (1)what is distinctive about the praxis? (2)what is an appropriate theological method …

The current interest in spirituality has intensified the quest to incorporate spirituality in non-sectarian therapy. Spiritual Care and Therapy is a hands-on, up-to-date clinical guide that addresses this concern.

Peter VanKatwyk explores spiritual care, from pastoral traditions to essential psychotherapies, in individual, couple, and family therap …

Contemporary states are generally presumed to be founded on the elements of nation, people, territory, and sovereignty. In the Horn of Africa however, the attempts to find a neat congruence among these elements created more problems than they solved. Leenco Lata demonstrates that conflicts within and between states tend to connect seamlessly in the …

Margaret Atwood's classic picture book is a perfect integration of words and pictures.

This story about the adventures of two children who live up in a tree is vintage Atwood -- playful, whimsical and wry. The perfect integration of words and pictures creates a coherent and delightful whole.

When this charming book was first published in 1978, there …

A fascinating look at empires and imperialism, and the new kind of empire the United States has become. An excellent introduction for young adults.

The United States presides over the most far-flung imperial system ever established. Empire compares the American Empire to those of the past, finding that much can be learned from the fates of the Briti …

An investigation of the origins of democracy in a range of countries and societies, from ancient Greece to modern times, and the threats that democracy is under today. An excellent introduction to democracy for young adults.

In this eye-opening work, political scientist and award-winning author James Laxer warns readers that our common assumptions a …

Being Muslim is written for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It presents a readable explanation of the most complex and emotion-laden issues of our troubled times. The varying branches of Islam are analyzed and their history outlined — but the focus is on the present.

In speaking about and crossing political, cultural and religious divisions, this b …

On September 2, 1998, a fire in the cockpit sent Swissair Flight 111 plunging into the sea off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 men, women and children on board perished, including Ivy Bannister's sister, Patty. Set in Dublin, New York and the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Blunt Trauma is the true story of how one family's life was ravaged by the t …

Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel combine their writing and illustrating talents with their own family memories to produce a very unique travelogue.

Family vacations are supposed to be something to look forward to. Unless, that is, your parents have a habit of turning every outing into a risky proposition -- by accident, of course. So instead of drea …

Now available in one bundle for the first time, the first seven books of the Jack Taggart Mystery series are gathered together, including the latest mystery, Corporate Asset.

"Ripped from the headlines … Easton, an ex-Mountie, knows his police work." - Globe and Mail

"One of the best hard-nosed series in Canada." - Hamilton Spectator

"Swift action, …

In an expanding and socially fractious early twentieth-century Winnipeg, Lewis Benjamin Foote (1873-1957) rose to become the city’s pre-eminent commercial photographer. Documenting everything from royal visits to deep poverty, from the building of the landmark Fort Garry Hotel to the turmoil of the 1919 General Strike, Foote’s photographs have …

A unique retelling of WWII’s most dramatic escape, told through first-hand recollections of the soldiers who experienced it.

On the night of March 24, 1944, 80 Commonwealth airmen crawled through a 336-foot-long tunnel and slipped into the forest beyond the wire of Stalag Luft III, a German POW compound near Sagan, Poland. The event became known …

Metaphysical Licks, a hybrid prose-poem/novella riffing on the lives and works of Austrian poet Georg Trakl and his sister, Grete, is the restless new work by writer and translator Gregoire Pam Dick [a.k.a. Mina Pam Dick, Jake Pam Dick et al., author of Delinquent (Futurepoem, 2009)]. With a mix of high and low, tragic and comic, abstract and concr …

Les sautes d’humeur extrêmes d’une personne pourraient être les manifestations d’un trouble bipolaire (ou trouble maniaco-dépressif). Ces hauts et ces bas peuvent se produire sans rapport avec ce qui arrive dans la vie de la personne. De plus, les symptômes du trouble bipolaire se répercutent sur sa façon de penser, d’agir et de se co …

Finalist, ReLit Award

Amazon.ca's 50 Essential Canadian Books selection

First published in 1997 to much critical acclaim, Salvage King, Ya! is a novel firmly rooted in Canada’s favourite national pastime—hockey. Critics have called Salvage King, Ya! “the great Canadian novel,” and a “postmodern Canadian classic.” Drinkwater, Jarman’s n …

Five Little Bitches chronicles the rise and fall of the all-woman band, Wet Leather. Each of the women is plagued by her own unique demons, but their devotion to music and the punk lifestyle keeps them pushing on. As the band progresses, they tour Canadian, American and European towns and cities—and all the alleys, gutters, back stages, vans, hot …

The making of the Blue Jays’ 2013 season.

After a disastrous 2012 season, the Blue Jays had a major makeover, adding an array of star players through trades and free-agent signings, including R.A. Dickey, the best pitcher in the National League last year, and ticket sales have since soared. Starting with a behind-the-scenes look at the offseason …

In this story, the young girl Ra-Eli watches as her family agonizes over the illness of her baby brother Samson. When they approach a healer, the answer comes:
"Hold a ceremony to honor your ancestors and ask them to help, a joyful ceremony filled with guests."
"Joyful?" my mother said. "How can we be joyful at a time like this?"
"A joyful cere …

Shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award: Fiction and selected as a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book

Juliet Friesen is ten years old when her family moves to Nicaragua. It is 1984, the height of Nicaragua's post-revolutionary war, and the peace-activist Friesens have come to protest American involvement. In the midst of this tumult, Juliet's …

Titled after the Latin term for “unknown land”—a cartographical expression referring to regions that have not yet been mapped or documented—Terra Incognita is a collection of poems that creatively explores various racial discourses and interracial crossings both buried in the grand narratives of history and the everyday experiences of being …

Warning: this book may encourage a series of ungrammatical thoughts!

Welcome to the poetic landscape of Mark Truscott, where less is more than you bargained for. Said Like Reeds or Things is a book of micropoetic and linguistic koans. With a quirky, off-centre sense of humour, these poems uncover a language that has malfunctioned only to find itself …

Winner of the 2010 A. M. Klein Poetry Prize

Shortlisted for the 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize

Descartes asked, How can I know that I am not now dreaming? The Certainty Dream poses similar questions through poetry, but without the trappings of traditional philosophy. Kate Hall’s bracingly immediate, insistently idiosyncratic debut collection lays bare t …

In this updated edition of Treaty Talks in British Columbia, Christopher McKee traces the origins and development of treaty negotiations in the province. Through an examination of Native concerns, he analyzes conflicting points of view and suggests alternatives for achieving consensus.

The new edition includes:

• an overview of the Supreme Court of …

When Andy Warhol's a, A Novel was first published in 1968, The New York Times Book Review declared it "pornographic." Yet over four decades later, a continues to be an essential documentation of Warhol's seminal Factory scene. And though the book offers a pop art snapshot of 1960s Manhattan that only Warhol could capture, it remains a challenging …

"It would be possible to argue," writes William Nicholls, "that the pivotal subject of debate among theologians for the past two hundred years has been the relationship between modernity and the Christian tradition."

What is modernity—a philosophical outlook or a set of ideas? What is modernization —a social process? Is modernity the same as sec …

Winner of the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year, the Geoffrey Bilson Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, and an ALA Notable Books List selection

Martin O'Boy's life is not easy. His beloved Granny has just died, his pregnant mother and father fight all the time and his twin, Phil, is completely incapacitated. Martin is the one his mother cou …

June 1964, Sara has never been out of the tiny town of Hope, Ontario, where she has been in an orphanage all her life.

After a fire destroys the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls, clues about her parentage—a medical certificate and a Star of David—lead her to Germany. Despite her fears—she doesn’t speak the language, she knows no one in …

Dans la conférence prononcée comme récipiendaire de la médaille Symons en 2013, le très honorable Paul Martin, vingt-et-unième premier ministre du Canada, s’appuie sur tout le savoir et le vécu de sa remarquable carrière publique, afin d’expliquer le défi d’obtenir justice pour les peuples autochtones du Canada. Se penchant sur les r …

People often recognize that their drinking is causing problems in their lives long before they are ready to seek help. Knowing that there is a problem can be a good first step to cutting back or quitting drinking, but it can be hard to know what further steps to take to make changes and stick to them.

Saying When presents a step-by-step program to h …

In the summer of 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada issued rulings on five copyright cases in a single day. The cases represent a seismic shift in Canadian copyright law, with the Court providing an unequivocal affirmation that copyright exceptions such as fair dealing should be treated as users’ rights, while emphasizing the need for a technolog …

Real barbecue taste comes from mastering the art of slow-cooking meat at a low temperature for a long time, using wood smoke to add flavour. And this is the book that shows you how to do it! For the first time, Jeff Phillips is publishing the information he has compiled on his incredibly popular website, www.smoking-meat.com.

With step-by-step instr …

If you read the papers and listen to the “experts,” you’ve heard the usual pitches about retirement: you’ll need a million dollars so you better start an RRSP early and maximize your contributions, trust the stock market and mutual funds for the best returns and put your faith in a financial advisor. But what if this advice is wrong? By rea …

Nicola’s adorable little dog, June Bug, keeps getting into trouble. She steals the neighbor’s turkey, yanks down the Christmas tree and destroys Mum’s almost-finished giant crossword. Everyone is mad, and it looks as though June Bug’s days are numbered.

Will doing a good deed make up for June Bug’s bad behavior?

Nicola certainly hopes so. A …

A gorgeously illustrated, lyrical non-fiction picture book about loons.

It’s summertime, and as darkness falls there is a haunting sound from the lake — Ooh-hoo-oo, ooh-hoo-oo. It is a loon calling to its family across the water.

This lyrical story follows the life cycle of two loon chicks. We see them breaking out of their eggshells, then learni …

Lesley Choyce's novella The Summer of Apartment X is a beach book for grownups who remember how they got that way. Fred Winger and his two buddies, Richard and Brian, intend to take the beach resort town by storm. It's the fateful summer between high school and university, early 1970s version. Equipped with two barely mobile cars and a seized-up MG …

A fascinating look at hip hop, the world’s most popular music, and what it means to young people all over the globe, written by an acclaimed pop-culture critic. An excellent introduction to hip hop for young adults.

Hip hop is arguably the predominant global youth subculture of this generation. In this book Dalton Higgins takes vivid snapshots of …

A book about media power, media ethics, media corporations and the need for reliable, unfiltered international news. An excellent introduction to the news for young adults.

Too many of us have no choice about the type of news we receive. Too many of us remain ignorant of major issues and diverse opinions because the news isn't providing them. Over t …

This fascinating look at Africa refutes the common assumption that the Western world is the solution to the challenges the continent faces. An excellent introduction to the subject for young adults.

Think Africa, and many people think of brutal war, endless famine, pervasive corruption, unworthy rulers, universal poverty, an AIDS epidemic out of con …

This book examines the meaning of law from a global perspective and the many connections between law and law enforcement. An excellent introduction to the subject for young adults.

Most of us in liberal democratic countries think that we live under the rule of law. Governments make the rules, we live by them and the police enforce them if we try to …

A thought-provoking look at the demands and expectations we place on our growing cities in the twenty-first century. An excellent introduction to the subject for young adults.

Today, more people live in cities than in rural areas. The search for better housing, transit, economic opportunity, and security within neighbourhoods forces today's city-dwe …

What is genocide? Why does it happen, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again? These urgent questions are clearly and concisely explored for young adult readers.

Some view the systematic killing, rape and destruction of homes in Darfur as a grave humanitarian crisis. For others, it’s a clear example of the ultimate crime against hu …

When Native and Métis unrest escalated into the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, settlers in southern Alberta's cattle country were terrified. Three major First Nations bordered their range, and war seemed certain. In anticipation, 114 men mustered to form the Rocky Mountain Rangers, a volunteer militia charged with ensuring the safety of the open ran …

Beavers are the great comeback story—a keystone species that survived ice ages, major droughts, the fur trade, urbanization and near extinction. Their ability to create and maintain aquatic habitats has endeared them to conservationists, but puts the beavers at odds with urban and industrial expansion. These conflicts reflect a dichotomy within o …