Shortlisted for Ontario Silver Birch Award 2010

Selected, Canadian Children's Book Centre's "Best Books for Kids & Teens" (Starred selection, 2009)

Since Halloween, things are getting back to normal for Cat Peters. Now the big drama in her life isn’t a battle against diabolical fairies, but a battle of the sexes on the soccer field. Meanwhile, ever …

Three battles that shook the British Isles and changed the course of world history. Three renowned experts each take up one crucial day when the future of the throne, or Europe itself, hung in the balance.

Hastings 1066

In 1066, a foreign invader won the throne of England in a single battle and changed not only the history of the British Isl …

Carroll Aikins’s play The God of Gods (1919) has been out of print since its first and only edition in 1927. This critical edition not only revives the work for readers and scholars alike, it also provides historical context for Aikins’s often overlooked contributions to theatre in the 1920s and presents research on the different staging techni …

Thomas would do anything to make his mother come back.

On his fifth birthday, Thomas’s mother left, and he hasn’t seen her since. The last thing he remembers is her making a delicious dish of poutine for his birthday. Into the concoction of French fries, gravy and melted cheese curds, she stuck five green candles for him to blow out.

On the day …

Koala Hospital kicks off the new 4-book Wildlife Rescue series from Owlkids Books. Each book introduces a species of animal in danger somewhere in the world and invites readers inside a rescue center that helps them. Inviting photos by award–winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas give readers a rare view of the animals and the high level o …

Malaika’s mother can’t buy her a carnival costume — will she still be able to dance in the parade?

It’s carnival time — the first carnival since Malaika’s mother moved to Canada to find a good job and provide for Malaika and her grandmother. Her mother promised she would send money for a costume, and Malaika marks off the days on her cal …

Long before Oscar Peterson became a virtuoso jazz pianist, he was a boy who loved to play the trumpet. When childhood tuberculosis weakened his lungs, Oscar could no longer play his beloved instrument. He took up piano and the rest is history: Oscar went on to become an international jazz piano sensation.

Oscar Lives Next Door is a fictional story i …

William has been a part of the Stick family since the first day of school when Wrickety Stick became his best friend. He knows the secret about their unusual bones but he would never tell anyone. The Sticks’ can make their bendable bones go soft and flat which means they can do amazing things like slide under doors, squeeze between cracks and flo …

Is it possible to live forever? People have been trying to figure out a way to escape mortality since, well, forever. This book takes readers on a fast-paced tour of several wacky and wise methods humans have used to try prolonging their lives, from ancient immortality elixirs and quests for a fountain of youth to modern-day research into cryogenic …

Bartleby the Scrivener meets Catch-22 in this charmingly sardonic tale of love, war and fertilizer.

WINNER OF THE PRIX DES COLLAGIENS

Simon turned his thoughts to her daily. There were few enough
of them, but each one lingered. He imagined their life together.
Sometimes even their children’s lives. Sometimes he set his fantasies in Spain, sometim …

In a society where we discuss sex openly, the most embarrassing secret is to admit that you can’t make “it” happen. I’m Coming is a hilarious and provocative novel about why women fake it.

Ever since her sexual debut, Julie has faked orgasms. One day she decides she’s had enough and locks herself in the bedroom with food, baby oil, and Mr. …

In 1991, nineteen-year-old Tammy Marquardt gave birth to a baby boy, Kenneth. Two years later he was dead. Tammy was convicted of his murder and sent to prison for life. Her conviction hinged largely on the evidence given by Dr. Charles Smith, the pediatric forensic pathologist at Toronto's famed Hospital for Sick Children. At the time, Dr. Smith w …

The fifth volume in the “Forging a Nation” series begins in 1791. The year a new province is created in the country that will one day be called Canada. The year Hope Cobman’s life turns around. At thirteen, she must leave the orphanage where she has lived since her mother’s death one year ago. Alone in the world, she dreams of finding her f …

Best friends Dana and Janelle had big plans for grade six. Run on the cross-country team together. Try out for volleyball. They’d even planned to be partners for the class geography project. Neither girl could have known that a biking accident would land Janelle in the hospital all summer long. Dana is convinced that everything will go back to no …

A century after the beginning of the Great War, the contributions of the Maritimes to the formation of the Canadian Expeditionary force remain relatively unexplored. Till the Boys Come Home examines the conduct of the war through the eyes of one particular agricultural and coal-mining community.

As the clouds of war gathered across the Atlantic, the …

A View from the Porch is an illuminating collection of 22 essays about the points where design touches life and the big and small things that make us appreciate, or become disconnected from, our homes and neighbourhoods.

Drawing on his experiences as an architect, planner, world traveller, and educator, Friedman delves into issues such as the North …

When ten-year-old Cyrus sees a For Sale sign plunged into his front lawn, it’s a complete and utter disaster.

Usually, his younger brother, Rudy, is the scaredy-cat, but for the first time in his life, Cyrus is terrified. He’s lived at 637 Petunia Boulevard since he came to live with his adoptive mom and dad at two months old. Won’t he go hurt …

Mothers, Mothering and Motherhood across Cultural Differences, the first-ever Reader on the subject matter, examines the meaning and practice of mothering/ motherhood from a multitude of maternal perspectives. The Reader includes 22 chapters on the following maternal identities: Aboriginal, Adoptive, At-Home, Birth, Black, Disabled, East-Asian, Fem …

Award-winning author Caroline Pignat's new historical novel recreates the world of a Virginia tobacco plantation in 1858. Through the different points of view of slaves, their masters and a visiting bird-watcher the world of the plantation comes to live in this verse novel.
Phoebe belongs to Master Duncan and works in the plantation kitchen.
She …

In this sequel to the national bestseller The Man in the Red Suit, we continue our journey with readers as we explore the true meaning of Christmas. Santa invites us along for his visits with the young and the old, the healthy and those in medical need – including the infants in the Children’s Hospital on Christmas Eve. These are heartwarming s …

Suri and Lacey have been best friends since kindergarten. Suri, the photographer, has always been the safe, responsible one, afraid to take risks. Now that the pair is in high school, she''s afraid that her more outgoing and adventurous friend will outgrow her.
Then Lacey''s wild, risk-taking personality leads her down a dangerous path -- and Suri …

An alphabetical tour through the coolest jobs you can imagine—and some you might never have heard of! With a sophisticated, minimalist design and visual jokes to interpret on every page, Work: An Occupational ABC introduces children both to the alphabet and to a range of alternative careers.

The ideal reader for this book is the child (or adult) w …

Ever since she averted disaster in the class production of The Wizard of Oz, Oddrey has been making new friends at school. Her classmates have come to appreciate her irrepressible charm and Oddrey, in turn, encourages them to be their own unique selves. So when Oddrey's teacher introduces a new girl, Maybelline, to the class, Oddrey, ever the optim …

Sam’s sister, accompanied by their father, is in a hospital far away from their home on a remote island off the West Coast. Determined to be with his family for Christmas, Sam catches a ride on a Santa Boat, a vessel that will bring Santa Claus and gifts to the children all along the coast before delivering Sam at last to the hospital.

Recommended …

Gregory loves numbers — they don't change and he can count on them, literally. Numbers also keep Gregory's mind off his father who died in a car crash. Ever since, Gregory has not been able to return to the accident scene despite the fact that it lies directly on the way to school. It has become an obstacle of the heart and mind, a physical space …

"May you live in interesting times." So goes the ancient Chinese curse. In Quebec, we are always living in "interesting" times. Where else in Canada, perhaps even the world, do you have official language police that patrol the highways and byways of the province looking for missing accents, illegal apostrophes and on/off switches in the wrong langu …

Understanding and Addressing Girls’ Aggressive Behaviour Problems reflects a major shift in understanding children’s aggressive-behaviour problems. Researchers used to study what went wrong with a troubled child and needed to be fixed; we now aim to understand what is going wrong in children’s relationships that might create, exacerbate, and …

An emergency room doctor recounts harrowing stories about his time at a combat hospital in Kandahar.

Combat Doctor presents the stories of the victims of the War in Afghanistan, as told by the last Canadian Officer Commanding at the Kandahar Role 3 Multinational Hospital.
In 2009, Marc Dauphin, an experienced emergency-room physician, served a fu …

A mysterious letter has reached retired FBI agent Frank Malloy. A letter bearing a name from a lifetime ago, from a woman who claims she saw what really happened on the day John F. Kennedy died in Dallas. Many were there to film the president, but Helena Storozhenko snapped a photo on November 22, 1963, that would have changed everything. Then she …

As a longtime pediatrician, Richard Goldbloom placed a high value on connecting with and communicating with his patients and their parents. His ability to reach an audience is evident in this engaging memoir of his life.

Born and raised in a Jewish medical family in Montreal at a time when the gulf between English and French was deep, Goldbloom's ph …

Morgan doesn't like to skate, and he's determined not to learn. What he really wants to do is go to see Monster Truck-A-Rama with Charlie. Aldeen is not impressed since Morgan already agreed to go to Princesses on Ice with her. Can Morgan avoid conflict and keep everyone happy, or is he skating on thin ice?

With a situation young readers will recogn …

Thirteen-year-old Cody is aching to get back onto the pitch. Last year he had a tumor removed from his leg. Though it's a struggle, Cody tries out for the Lions and makes the team as a "super sub" -- one of eleven players who jokingly named themselves that because they're never allowed to play. Secretly Cody is relieved, since he hasn't told anyone …

Nominated for a 2014 Saskatchewan Book Award

Françoise Mouly, an editor and publisher of uncommon taste and creativity, and an artist in her own right, has spent nearly four decades transforming comics. With her husband, Art Spiegelman, Mouly founded the landmark magazine RAW, which showcased artists such as Ben Katchor, Chris Ware, Charles Burns …

In Karen Connelly's first collection of poetry since The Border Surrounds Us, the poet offers up a searing, complex portrayal of her troubled family. Refracted, augmented, drawn through various cities, streets and fields, over mountain ranges and foreign landscapes, this portrayal grows into an authentic homage to people who are often invisibilized …

Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories is one of the best-loved story collections ever written for children. Now Ian Wallace, one of Canada's most accomplished children's book illustrators, reinterprets the famous tales with his vibrant art, bringing Kipling to a whole new generation of young readers.

Kipling wrote the stories for his young daughter, who …

In Seas of South Africa, the sixth volume in the best-selling Submarine Outlaw series, it has been over two years since the young explorer first set sail in his own submarine, with his dog and seagull crew. Now, almost seventeen, Alfred is on the cusp of switching from exploring the world to playing an active environmentalist role in protecting the …

Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories is one of the best-loved story collections ever written for children. In this companion to Volume I, published in fall 2013, acclaimed children’s book illustrator Ian Wallace once again reinterprets the famous tales with luminous art, bringing Kipling to a new generation of young readers.

Many of the tales are o …

Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration

Award-winning artist Matt James takes the iconic song "Northwest Passage" by legendary Canadian songwriter and singer Stan Rogers and tells the dramatic story of the search for the elusive route through the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific, which for hundreds of years and once ag …

Families who would want to honour a parent’s request to not die in hospital, encounter obstacles that can defeat even accomplished health professionals. Autumns’ Grace is a story that spans a ten-month period as the Campbell family comes to terms with the father’s diagnosis of cancer. The diagnosis seems a particularly unfair blow to a veteri …

Part comedy, part mystery, part allegory, On Fire is narrated alternately by two characters: Matti Iverly, a fourteen-year-old girl with Tourette Syndrome. In Matti’s case, her tics are primarily vocal. As she confides early in the book, “At school they called me Tourette’s Girl, like I came out of a phone booth wearing a costume and made fun …

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 …

p>Un grand nombre de personnes savent que leur consommation d’alcool est problématique bien avant d’être prêtes à demander de l’aide. Cette reconnaissance du problème peut être une première étape importante en vue d’arrêter de boire ou de réduire sa consommation d’alcool. Toutefois, il est parfois difficile de déterminer les au …

It seems like Kat's parents have done little but prepare for her sister Hannah's return since she was sent away to a home for troubled teens. Everyone is determined to find out what went wrong with Hannah and make things right again -- everyone except Kat, that is.
Kat dreads going back to a life dominated by her sister's tantrums and rule-breakin …

This book presents a collection of writings by expert researchers from Canada, the United States, and Australia who are committed to finding common cause and common ground in the prevention of eating disorders and obesity.

The ten chapters in this book seek to create a new public health approach to the prevention of weight-related disorders, one th …

Some days, it doesn't pay to be a lapsed pretend Buddhist . . . particularly when you're charged with a lengthy list of war crimes. Vida Zankovic has done many things to stay alive. A wily young man caught in the insanity of the Balkan wars, Vida has dealt drugs, been forced to join the army, and then deserted when he tried to save a young boy trap …

Since Dexter's parents' death, he's been living with his aunt in her Scarborough apartment. Even though it's been two years, Dexter is still struggling to control his anger and so far the best way for him to do this is through sports. Then one day he snaps and attacks the pitcher during a baseball game, and Dex suddenly finds himself off the team. …

Ever since he was small, Franklin has been soothed by fire.

Staring into the flames helps Franklin forget his problems. And right now, he's got a lot to forget. Franklin's mother has left the family home to be with her hairdresser boyfriend. Franklin's father, the mayor of Montreal West, is too busy worrying about his public image to do anything abo …

Since moving hundreds of miles to a new school, Daria has become increasingly dependent on her cell phone.

Texts, Facebook and phone calls are her only connection to her friends in Calgary, and Daria needs to know everything that is going on at home to feel connected to her old life. Her cell phone habit looks a lot like addiction to her mother and …

This study marks a major step in making collaboration between seniors, academic researchers, and community researchers a reality. Many aging adults are motivated to undertake research projects in later life or even return to university after retirement. Grey Matters is the result of a pilot project developed to study the effectiveness of collaborat …

Qualitative methods are increasingly useful as psychiatry shifts from a focus on symptom reduction to enabling people to live satisfying and meaningful lives. It becomes important to achieve a deeper understanding of the ways in which mental illness interferes with everyday life and the ways in which people can learn to manage and minimize illness …