We might think of bodyguards as a modern concept, but they’ve been around since ancient times. The rich, the powerful, the famous, and the infamous have all placed their safety in the hands of bodyguards. From Caesar’s Praetorian Guard to Japanese samurai warriors to Wild West outlaws, bodyguards have played a vital role. They’ve even changed …

It's autumn in Tokyo, and twelve-year-old Akira and his younger siblings, Kyoko, Shige and little Yuki, have just moved into a new apartment with their mother. Akira hopes it's a new start for all of them, even though the little ones are not allowed to leave the apartment or make any noise, since the landlord doesn't permit young children in the bu …

Sam, an Israeli teen whose leg may have to be amputated, and Yusuf, a Palestinian teen who has lost his left eye, find themselves uneasy roommates in a Jerusalem hospital. One night, the boys decide to slip away while the nurses aren’t looking and go on an adventure to the Old City.

The escapade turns dangerous when they realize they’re hopeless …

Although the new girl at Raffi's school is small and fragile looking, he notices that she is quick on her feet. She ducks out of the way of classmates that try to grab her head scarf. It might look like a game, but Raffi sees the tears in her eyes. Raffi knows all about being different. He suffers from sickle cell anemia, which makes it hard for hi …

The sons of Icelandic immigrants and friends since boyhood, the Winnipeg Falcons were a superbly talented team of just eight players who brought home Canada's first Olympic gold medal in hockey in 1920. But before they became world champions, the Falcons endured years of prejudice on and off the ice.

Author and renowned hockey historian Eric Zweig b …

When January Fournier arrives at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, her brother Grey is barely clinging to life in intensive care after a horrible motorcycle crash. She's devastated--but things get worse when the police accuse Grey of a string of bike thefts, claims he's in no condition to dispute.

Jan decides she's the only person who can uncover t …

Trent and Adam were best friends and rally racing buddies until a terrible accident, when Adam was at the wheel, puts Trent in the hospital. After a long separation, the teens try to pick up their friendship where it left off, but Adam's guilty feelings and Trent's odd behaviour make it tough. Why is Trent hanging around Marcus, a guy he says he c …

A New York Times Editors' Choice and an Oprah's Book Club Summer Reading Pick

In this brilliant new collection, Scotiabank Giller Prize and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize nominee Alix Ohlin skillfully displays the full range of human emotions through the subtly powerful dramas of everyday life.

In "You Are What You Like" a young couple finds the …

With a very simple text accompanied by rich, vibrant illustrations a young narrator describes what it means to be a child with rights — from the right to food, water and shelter, to the right to go to school, to be free from violence, to breathe clean air, and more. The book emphasizes that these rights belong to every child on the planet, whethe …

On January 22, 2005, Inuit from communities throughout northern and central Labrador gathered in a school gymnasium to witness the signing of the Labrador Inuit Land Claim Agreement and to celebrate the long-awaited creation of their own regional self-government of Nunatsiavut. This historic agreement defined the Labrador Inuit settlement area, ben …

Jack loves and misses his bus-driving grandfather. When Grandpa Nod got sick, Jack's mother said eight-year-old Jack was too young to visit his grandfather in the hospital. When Grandpa Nod died, Jack's mother said Jack was too young to go to the funeral.

One day after school, Jack gets on the wrong bus. To his surprise he discovers Grandpa Nod is i …

It is the end of the First World War, and thirteen-year-old Meredith yearns to become a teacher. But she must leave school to help support her family, moving to the city to work as a maid in a wealthy doctor's home. As the deadly Spanish Flu sweeps across the city, members of the household fall ill one by one. With the doctor working night and day …

Life is hard for ten-year-old Safiyah in the Kibera slum outside Nairobi. Too poor to go to school, she makes a meager living for herself and her grandmother Cucu by selling things she finds at the garbage dump. After using scavenged paper to fix up the inside of the hut, Safiyah starts a mural on the outside. As word of the paper house spreads, Sa …

At fourteen, Steve Truscott was a typical teenager in rural Ontario in the fifties, mainly concerned about going fishing, playing football, and racing bikes with his friends. One summer evening, his twelve-year-old classmate, Lynne Harper, asked for a lift to the nearby highway on his bicycle and Steve agreed. Unfortunately, that made Steve the las …

Cody Manywounds's intentions are good, but it seems that every time he makes one little mistake, he gets caught. He got into some serious trouble with his friends a while ago, but since then, things have been looking up -- his grades are good, his girlfriend is hot, and the escape to university (and more girls) is just around the corner. Then it al …

Climate is a hot topic. Turns out, it’s been a major mover and shaker since time began. Climate has made it possible for new species to evolve, yet has wiped out others. We might not think about it this way, but it has a hand in determining where we live, what we do, and how well we survive.

The fourth book in Annick’s highly engaging 50 Questio …

Ever since Ariel's mom has been too sick to work they've been moving to progressively lower income neighbourhoods. Then they seem to hit rock bottom--Vancouver's downtown east side, Canada's poorest postal code. Here Ariel gets on the wrong side of a gang of tough girls at school after receiving unwanted attention from their boyfriends. Now she's s …

Alberta’s most insightful political commentator is back with another essential book. Kevin Taft, together with economists Mel McMillan and Junaid Jahangir, follows the money to uncover why Alberta—one of the richest places on earth—still talks poor when it comes to public services.

Do we really spend more than we can afford, more than we can s …

In the 1980s, Canada witnessed a public outcry over child sexual abuse cases. Elected officials sought a remedy through legal reforms. Amendments were made to the Criminal Code of Canada and sexual assault was redefined. The word “rape” was replaced with a continuum of categories intended to reflect the full range of sexually intrusive behaviou …

Is it surprising that a man with a lifelong affinity for dogs would have been born in the Chinese astrological Year of the Dog? Richard Telekey claims that it is not, and his resulting affection for dogs has led him to years of association with them, including not just dog ownership and friendships with other dog-lovers, but a fondness for reading …

The true story of Shannen Koostachin and the people of Attawapiskat First Nation, a Northern Cree community, who have been fighting for a new school since 1979 when a fuel spill contaminated their original school building. Shannen's fight took her all the way to Parliament Hill and was taken up by children around the world. Shannen’s dream contin …

Charlie inherits little more than the brass key that his father pressed into his hand before he passed away

When Charlie Sykes wakes up in hospital in St. John's, he learns that he and his father have been in a car accident and that his father is dying. As far as Charlie knows, he has no family in Newfoundland. But then Uncle Nick shows up and is ke …

John R. Jewitt's story of being captured and enslaved by Maquinna, the great chief of the Mowachaht people, is both an adventure tale of survival and an unusual perspective on the First Nations of the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

On March 22, 1803, while anchored in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Boston was attacked …

The Green Chain looks at the past, present and future of forestry through interviews with environmentalists, loggers, scientists and others. Raw log exports, environmental devastation, making a living . . . all are discussed in this exploration of the problems facing our forests, and the possible solutions.

It's an emotional topic, especially in Bri …

Traveling to be reunited with her family in the arctic, 10-year-old Margaret Pokiak can hardly contain her excitement. It’s been two years since her parents delivered her to the school run by the dark-cloaked nuns and brothers.

Coming ashore, Margaret spots her family, but her mother barely recognizes her, screaming, “Not my girl.” Margaret re …

Award-winning photographer Rafal Gerszak spent a year embedded with the American military in Afghanistan, where he used his camera to document everyday life in the war-torn country. While there, he developed a deep affection for the land and its people, and he later returned on his own. Despite the dangers around him, he continued taking photos, ex …

When Toby climbs too high in a tree to rescue a kite, he tumbles to the ground and has to go to hospital. The doctors stick tubes down his throat and bandage him up - with the result that Toby finds he can't laugh any more.

Shortlisted for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

In a small prairie town like Argue, Saskatchewan, everyone knows everybody else’s business. Everyone knows that the Loney family has been barely hanging on -- the father, George, reduced to drink and despair since the loss of his farm and the death of his wife, Margaret. That the fo …

Technically it was a minor league, but for hockey fans west of the Mississippi, the Western Hockey League provided major-league entertainment for over 25 years.

The WHL was a determined and ambitious professional league, with some 22 teams based in major American and Canadian cities. Known as the Pacific Coast Hockey League prior to 1952, the WHL a …

Until a mere generation ago, black football players were largely unproven as quarterbacks since they were excluded from a position that demanded strategic thinking instead of brute force. So, talented players headed north, rising to stardom in Canada. John Danakas profiles the pioneering athletes who donned new team colours and changed their sport. …

In 1955, two fifteen-year-olds with immeasurable optimism shared a summer working as waitresses in the small town of Franklin's flourishing Britannia Hotel. Forty years later, Hannah, now a successful teacher with a younger lover, rushes home from Toronto to find her mother in hospital while Colleen, still living in Franklin and married with five c …

In this stand-alone sequel to The Mealworm Diaries, Aaron is anxiously waiting for his father to return for the first time since Aaron's mother's death eight years earlier. Aaron works hard with a counselor at school, but he still has problems getting along with and understanding other kids, and he's worried that his dad will think he's weird. As w …

On January 22, 1906, the passenger ship Valencia lost her way in heavy fog and rain and rammed into the deadly rocks at Pachena Point on the west coast of Vancouver Island. As the wreck was shattered by the pounding waves, the survivors clung desperately to the rigging. Few made it the short distance to shore through the frigid and turbulent waves� …

Remarkable cattle drives, famous ranches and legendary characters are at the heart of Ken Mather's account of the early days of ranching in British Columbia. These are stories about drovers, ranchers, cowboys and "mud pups" (the remittance men of the ranching industry). You'll meet such people as:

• the flamboyant Harper brothers, drovers who went …

Winner of the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour

The cops wanted to shoot me, my bosses thought I was a Bolshevik, and a local lawyer warned me that some people I was writing about might try to test the strength of my skull with a steel pipe. What more could any young reporter hope for from his first real job?

The night Mark Leiren-Young drove …

Remy and Alison play on rival soccer teams. Remy hasn't trusted Alison ever since her former friend attended an elite soccer camp in England last summer. When Remy finds out Alison has a special plan to beat Remy's team in the tournament, she becomes convinced that Alison will sabotage her team's players.
Foul Play is an entertaining story of misg …

Day care in Alberta has had a remarkably durable history as a controversial issue. Since the late 1950s, disputes over day care programs, policies, and funding have been a recurring feature of political life in the province. Alberta’s Day Care Controversy traces the development of day care policies and programs in Alberta, with particular emphasi …

In the early hours of April 22, 1914, American President Woodrow Wilson sent Marines to seize the port of Veracruz in an attempt to alter the course of the Mexican Revolution. As a result, the United States seemed on the brink of war with Mexico. An international uproar ensued. The governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile offered to mediate a pe …

“When we were children we made our own fun” is a frequent comment from those who were children in pre-television times. But what games, activities and amusements did children enjoy prior to the mid-1950s?

Recollections of older Canadians, selections from writings by Canadian authors and letters written to the children’s pages of agricultural …

This lively biography of Bishop Edward Cridge and his wife Mary paints a vivid picture of early Victoria as it developed from an isolated Hudson's Bay Company post into the bustling capital of British Columbia. Recruited from England by Governor James Douglas in 1854 to be the Church of England chaplain of Fort Victoria, Edward Cridge became an imp …

Melissa is waiting for the "new life" that her mother Sharlene has promised her since a fire devastated their family. But nothing ever seems to change.

Melissa has difficulty making friends at school, they never have enough money and her little brother Cody is a brat. When Sharlene announces that they will be spending the month of August at a remote …

Most people recognize hockey superstar Bobby Clarke as the tough guy with the toothless grin. This fast-paced and energetic new book tells the story of Clarke's fights on and off the ice -- not with rival hockey players, but with diabetes. Long-time sports editor Nicole Mortillaro examines how Bobby was almost shunned from the league because of the …

Alan Twigg has here recovered the amazing story of how George and Ingeborg while travelling in northern India in 1961 encountered many of the Tibetan refugees who had fled over the mountain passes. Appalled by the condition of the children, huddled together with inadequate bedding, surviving on a diet of thin soup and momos, steamed dumplings of mi …

Josh Johnson's mother wants him to run for class president. Josh just wants to run and hide. If only there were a club to help downtrodden eleven-year-olds escape their parents' ambitions! But since no such club exists, Josh has to invent one—he calls it Dunces Anonymous, and before he knows it, the membership is up to three.

Magnolia and Wang hel …

Ten-year-old Rosario Ramirez and her family are political refugees from Mexico, trying to make a new life in Canada.

After being teased at school, Rosario vows not to speak English again until she can speak with an accent that's one hundred percent Canadian. Since she and her parents plan to spend the whole summer working on BC fruit farms, she will …

Claire's life is a mess.

She's failing math, her depressed mother won't get off the couch, Eric, the boy of her dreams, is dating her nemesis Lucy. While Claire is wishing her life were better, lightning strikes. Soon afterward, everything changes. With Lucy in the hospital and out of the way, Claire attracts Eric's attention and gets the starring r …

Robin can hardly wait for her cousin April and her Aunty Liz to come to the ranch for Christmas. When a devastating car accident sends Aunty Liz to the hospital for several months, Robin can't help but be overjoyed to learn that April will live with Robin and her family while her mother is recuperating. But April has changed, and Robin must deal wi …

My name is Lee Mets (honest), and this is my book I’m part of the writing club, which is fantastic, since what I want to be most is a writer. My mother says that girls don’t grow up to be writers, they can only be nurses or teachers. But it’s the 1960s, not the 50s or 40s, and I think she may be wrong. Mrs. Gowdy, who is my writing teacher, s …

Her hands lay inert and upturned on her lap – probably stunned, she thinks, by the hideousness of the skirt underneath them. Centre seam puckered, zipper mangled, it's handmade in a way that makes people say, 'Did you sew that yourself?' when they mean, 'How can you wear that thing?' But she made it the day after he died, and she talked to him in …

Twelve-year-old Jess and her friends have been playing hockey with the boys in Fort Desperation, Northwest Territories, since they were six years old. They'd like to start a girls' team in their community, but is tiny Fort Desperation ready for it? Somebody is trying to scare them off through acts of vandalism. Not only do Jess and her friends have …