Title search results
Showing 1 - 16 of 16 items
The great fire
By Jim Murphy. 1995
An account of the conflagration that levelled much of Chicago in 1871. Chronicles events from the fire's outbreak and rapid…
spread to its extinguishment by rain, as reported by survivors and in documents of the period. Examines the origins, circumstances, and official failures that contributed to the disaster. Grades 5-8. A 1996 Newbery Honor Book. c1995.Survivors!: true death-defying escapes
By Larry Verstraete. 2003
Think about your worst fears - being attacked by a wild animal, swept away by a killer storm, trapped in…
a wrecked car or a burning building. Here are 29 stories of real people who survived life-threatening situations. Each section includes Survival Tips that give readers essential information about what to do in dangerous circumstances. Some descriptions of violence. Winner of the 2004 Silver Birch Award. Grades 4-7. Bestseller 2005. 2003.Interweaves an account of the 1857 sinking of the SS Central America that carried a cargo of gold bullion and…
minted coins with the story of the shipwreck's discovery in 1988 by Tommy Thompson. Describes Thompson's feat of developing technology to locate and retrieve artifacts from a wooden-hulled ship in eight thousand feet of water. Winner of the 2000 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 1998.Sand dance: by camel across Arabia's great southern desert
By Bruce Kirkby. 2000
In the winter of 1999, three Canadians and three Omani Bedu set out across Arabia's great southern desert in an…
attempt to authentically recreate the 1947 crossing by Sir Wilfred Thesiger. Here they share the adventures and misadventures they experienced while crossing the vast, desolate desert. Winner of the 2001 Torgi Talking Book of the Year Award.On board the Titanic: what it was like when the great liner sank (I was there book)
By Shelley Tanaka, Ken Marschall. 1996
The story of the Titanic, once the world's largest ocean liner, as told through the experiences of two of its…
survivors. Detailed explanations about the ship, passengers, and crew are interwoven with an account of its tragic sinking in 1912. Grades 4-7. Winner of the 1997 Silver Birch Award. c1996.At the edge: daring acts in desperate times
By Larry Verstraete. 2009
A young man in Nunavut fights off a polar bear to save his friend, a Canadian peacekeeper in the Congo…
risks his own life to save those of stranded tourists, and ordinary people show extraordinary character during the Halifax Explosion, the Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina, the Tiananmen Square protests, and September 11, 2001. Over twenty true-life stories about life-threatening situations and the wrenching choices made by the people facing them. Winner of the 2010 Silver Birch Award for Non-fiction. Grades 5-8. Some descriptions of violence. 2009.A good place to come from
By Morley Torgov. 1974
An account of life in a small town community in Sault Ste. Marie in the late 1930's and early 1940's.…
Winner of the 1975 Stephen Leacock Award for humour. Strong language. 1974.The private capital: ambition and love in the age of Macdonald and Laurier
By Sandra Gwyn. 1984
A compelling account of private life in the age of Macdonald and Laurier. The author has used personal letters, diaries,…
scrapbooks, memoirs and social columns. 1984 Governor General's Award winner. c1984.Whirligig: selected prose and poetry
By Ernest Buckler. 1977
Village of the small houses: a memoir of sorts
By Ian Ferguson. 2003
Ferguson has crafted a delightfully idiosyncratic account of growing up in the North, where Fort Vermilion Alberta seemed as exotic…
as Australia or Mexico. The memorable cast of characters includes Lloyd Loonskin, Sixtoes Mitchell, Ellen "No Refunds" McTeer, and Ferguson's father Hank, a con man of consummate charm. 2003.Touch the dragon: a Thai journal
By Karen Connelly. 1992
Karen Connelly, 17 years old and bored with her life, was accepted by an exchange program which took her from…
Calgary to a small town in Thailand. She describes her assimilation into the Thai language and culture and her despair at leaving when the year came to an end. Winner of the 1993 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. 1992.The shining mountain: two men on Changabang's west wall
By Peter Boardman, Joe Tasker. 1984
Recounts the endurance and determination of two British mountain climbers in making a forty-day ascent up the treacherous west wall…
of Changabang Mountain in the Indian Himalayas. Winner of the John Llewelyn Rhys Memorial Prize. 1984.Stupid white men -- --and other sorry excuses for the state of the nation!
By Michael Moore. 2001
Author of "Downsize This!" criticizes the U.S. government of the twenty-first century. Laments that "nothing seems to work" and rants…
against the 2000 election and the administration's policies. Some strong language. Bestseller. Winner of the 2004 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 2001.The boat who wouldn't float
By Farley Mowat. 1969
Take my family - please!
By Gary Lautens. 1981
Lautens, winner of the 1981 Leacock Medal for humour, shares his hilarious and entertaining recollections of living, loving, and savouring…
his experiences with a wife, three children, and a dog. Nominated for the 1984 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. Winner of the 1981 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal. 1981.An anthropologist on Mars: seven paradoxical tales
By Oliver W Sacks. 1995
Case histories of people with neurological disorders who reconstruct the world according to their needs. Comfortable with his forty-five years…
of blindness, one man is confused by the sudden restoration of his sight. An autistic zoology professor is at ease with animals but cannot bear human contact. Each tale portrays a patient with a condition such as Tourette's Syndrome, deafness, or amnesia. Bestseller. Winner of the 1997 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 1995.