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Don't touch that toad & other strange things adults tell you
By Catherine Rondina. 2010
Have your parents ever told you that you shouldn't swallow a watermelon seed because a watermelon will grow in your…
stomach? Or not to cross your eyes, because they'll stay stuck like that? Takes a look at many of the old sayings you've heard, examines them and their history, and gives you the truth about them. You'll find out if holding your breath will cure the hiccups, and if eating sugar will really make you hyper. Winner of the 2012 Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award. Grades 3-6. 2010.Christmas in Quebec: heartwarming legends, tales, and traditions (Amazing stories)
By Megan Durnford. 2004
Christmas is a time for celebrating with friends and family and for sharing stories, memories, and good cheer. This compilation…
brings to life the very best holiday stories from across Quebec. From the early days of exploration to the modern day, and from heartwarming inspirational tales to dangerous escapades, this is a collection to treasure for many years to come. 2004.Chinese New Year: a celebration for everyone (Orca origins.)
By Jen Sookfong Lee. 2017
From its beginnings as a farming celebration marking the end of winter to its current role as a global party…
featuring good food, lots of gifts and public parades, 'Chinese New Year' is a snapshot of Chinese culture. Award-winning author and broadcaster Jen Sookfong Lee recalls her childhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, and weaves family stories into the history, traditions and evolution of Chinese New Year. Grades 3-6. 2017.With hope in their eyes: compelling stories of the Windrush generation (Unseen history)
By Vivienne Francis. 1998
The stories of the Windrush generation - Britain's first post-war immigrants from the Caribbean. These early pioneers, who came to…
Britain with high expectations, tell it like it really was, covering over fifty years of black presence in Britain.Diwali: festival of lights (Orca origins)
By Rina Singh. 2016
During Diwali, Hindus, Sikhs and Jains celebrate the legends and stories that describe the triumph of good over evil and…
justice over oppression. The author explores her Indian roots as she tells the Diwali stories, which remind us that eventually light will prevail over darkness. Enriched by personal stories and spiced with festive recipes, "Diwali" brings to life the holiday's traditions, food and rituals and takes you on a journey to see how this festival is celebrated around the world. Grades 4-7. 2016Ox bells and fireflies: a memoir
By Ernest Buckler. 1968
Christmas: from solstice to Santa / (Orca origins)
By Nikki Tate. 2018
Christmas is a popular holiday celebrated by people all over the world. Learn about the games played, foods eaten, music…
played and favourite ways of decorating in different parts of the world. With lots of fun facts (about everything from frumenty to the jolly old man in red himself) and recipes, there's plenty in this volume to satisfy anyone with an interest in the festive season. Grades 4-7. 2018.Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.: A Memoir
By Jenny Heijun Wills. 2019
Winner of the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for NonfictionA beautiful and haunting memoir of kinship and culture rediscovered.Jenny…
Heijun Wills was born in Korea and adopted as an infant into a white family in small-town Canada. In her late twenties, she reconnected with her first family and returned to Seoul where she spent four months getting to know other adoptees, as well as her Korean mother, father, siblings, and extended family. At the guesthouse for transnational adoptees where she lived, alliances were troubled by violence and fraught with the trauma of separation and of cultural illiteracy. Unsurprisingly, heartbreakingly, Wills found that her nascent relationships with her family were similarly fraught. Ten years later, Wills sustains close ties with her Korean family. Her Korean parents and her younger sister attended her wedding in Montreal, and that same sister now lives in Canada. Remarkably, meeting Jenny caused her birth parents to reunite after having been estranged since her adoption. Little by little, Jenny Heijun Wills is learning and relearning her stories and those of her biological kin, piecing together a fragmented life into something resembling a whole.Delving into gender, class, racial, and ethnic complexities, as well as into the complex relationships between Korean women--sisters, mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, aunts and nieces--Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. describes in visceral, lyrical prose the painful ripple effects that follow a child's removal from a family, and the rewards that can flow from both struggle and forgiveness.Nobody Ever Talks About Anything But the End: A Memoir
By Liz Levine. 2020
A genuinely moving, funny, and inventive account of loss and grief, mental illness and suicide, from film and TV producer…
Liz Levine (Story of a Girl), written in the aftermath of the deaths of her sister and best friend.I feel like I might be a terrible person to be laughing in these moments. But it turns out, I’m not alone. In November of 2016, Liz Levine’s younger sister, Tamara, reached a breaking point after years of living with mental illness. In the dark hours before dawn, she sent a final message to her family then killed herself. In Nobody Ever Talks About Anything But the End, Liz weaves the story of what happened to Tamara with another significant death—that of Liz’s childhood love, Judson, to cancer. She writes about her relationship with Judson, Tamara’s struggles, the conflicts that arise in a family of challenging personalities, and how death casts a long shadow. This memorable account of life and loss is haunting yet filled with dark humor—Tamara emails her family when Trump is elected to check if she’s imagining things again, Liz discovers a banana has been indicted as a whistleblower in an alleged family conspiracy, and a little niece declares Tamara’s funeral the “most fun ever!” With honesty, Liz exposes the raw truths about grief and mourning that we often shy away from—and almost never share with others. And she reveals how, in the midst of death, life—with all its messy complications—must also be celebrated.The Art of Leaving: A Memoir
By Ayelet Tsabari. 2019
WINNER OF THE CANADIAN JEWISH LITERARY AWARD FOR MEMOIRFINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTIONAn unforgettable memoir…
about a young woman who tries to outrun loss, but eventually finds a way home. Ayelet Tsabari was 21 years old the first time she left Tel Aviv with no plans to return. Restless after two turbulent mandatory years in the Israel Defense Forces, Tsabari longed to get away. It was not the never-ending conflict that drove her, but the grief that had shaken the foundations of her home. The loss of Tsabari’s beloved father in years past had left her alienated and exiled within her own large Yemeni family and at odds with her Mizrahi identity. By leaving, she would be free to reinvent herself and to rewrite her own story. For nearly a decade, Tsabari travelled, through India, Europe, the US and Canada, as though her life might go stagnant without perpetual motion. She moved fast and often because—as in the Intifada—it was safer to keep going than to stand still. Soon the act of leaving—jobs, friends and relationships—came to feel most like home. But a series of dramatic events forced Tsabari to examine her choices and her feelings of longing and displacement. By periodically returning to Israel, Tsabari began to examine her Jewish-Yemeni background and the Mizrahi identity she had once rejected, as well as unearthing a family history that had been untold for years. What she found resonated deeply with her own immigrant experience and struggles with new motherhood.Beautifully written, frank and poignant, The Art of Leaving is a courageous coming-of-age story that reflects on identity and belonging and that explores themes of family and home—both inherited and chosen.What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal
By Eldon Yellowhorn, Kathy Lowinger. 2019
"There is no death. Only a change of worlds.” —Chief Seattle [Seatlh], Suquamish Chief What do people do when their…
civilization is invaded? Indigenous people have been faced with disease, war, broken promises, and forced assimilation. Despite crushing losses and insurmountable challenges, they formed new nations from the remnants of old ones, they adopted new ideas and built on them, they fought back, and they kept their cultures alive. When the only possible “victory” was survival, they survived. In this brilliant follow up to Turtle Island, esteemed academic Eldon Yellowhorn and award-winning author Kathy Lowinger team up again, this time to tell the stories of what Indigenous people did when invaders arrived on their homelands. What the Eagle Sees shares accounts of the people, places, and events that have mattered in Indigenous history from a vastly under-represented perspective—an Indigenous viewpoint.Trending: How and Why Stuff Gets Popular
By Kira Vermond, Clayton Hanmer. 2020
Fads and trends: How do they start? Why do they spread? And how deep can their impact be? Although trends…
might seem trivial, if you dig deeper, you’ll find that our desire to chase the next big thing can have an even bigger impact than expected. Established middle-grade author Kira Vermond and cartoonist Clayton Hanmer team up in this fun and accessible nonfiction look at fads. In four short chapters, the book explores what a fad is, how the latest crazes catch on, and what makes us jump on the bandwagon. Finally, it looks at the fascinating and even frightening effects of fads both modern and historic. Who knew the beaver pelt craze in 17th century Europe would change ecosystems, start wars, and disrupt life as people knew it? Comic-strip illustrations, an upbeat tone, and reader-friendly text make this a fun and timely tool for young readers who are building critical-thinking skills in the age of fake news and a world gone viral.Tough trails (Orca soundings)
By Irene Morck. 2003
Seventeen-year-old Ambrose takes tourists on trail rides while working for his uncle in Alberta's Rocky Mountains. He buys an older…
mare out of compassion but faces disaster when the animal can't make it up a pass. Uncontracted braille. For senior high and older readers. 2003See It, Dream It, Do It: How 25 people just like you found their dream jobs
By Colleen Nelson, Kathie MacIsaac. 2023
From award-winning author Colleen Nelson, and literacy advocate Kathie MacIsaac, twenty-five profiles present a plethora of jobs, and people, making…
it easier than ever for young people to see their dreams and to live their dreams!