Service Alert
Delay in delivery of CDs
We are currently experiencing a delay with CD production. CDs are being sent and will be delivered as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
We are currently experiencing a delay with CD production. CDs are being sent and will be delivered as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Showing 1 - 20 of 245 items
By Kim Spencer. 2022
By Melanie Florence, Richard Scrimger. 2022
Two kids from different worlds form an unexpected friendship.Cody’s home life is a messy, too-often terrifying story of neglect and…
abuse. Cody himself is a smart kid, a survivor with a wicked sense of humour that helps him see past his circumstances and begin to try to get himself out.Autumn is, quite literally, on the other side of the tracks from him. Her home life is loving and secure, and she is “in” with the popular girls at school, even if she has a secret life as a glasses-wearing, self-professed comic book nerd at home. And even if the pressure to fit in at school requires hours of time spent making herself look “perfect.”Returning home from a movie one evening, Autumn comes across Cody, face down in the laneway behind her house. All Cody knows is that he can’t take another beating from his father like the one he just narrowly escaped. He can’t go home, but he doesn’t have anywhere else to go either. Autumn won’t turn her back on him, even if they never really were friends at school. She agrees to let him hide out in her dad’s art studio at night.Over the next couple of days of Autumn sneaking Cody food and bandages, his story comes out. And so does hers.Told in alternating narratives, Autumn Bird and the Runaway is a breathtaking collaboration by two of Canada’s finest writers of books for young readers. Infused with themes of identity, belonging and compassion, it’s a story that reminds us that we are all more than our circumstances, and we are all more connected than we think.By Suri Rosen. 2023
A story of two kids trying to save the world they know and heal the families they have.It’s the summer…
of 2003 and thirteen-year-old astronomer Noah Cooper has just moved to Queensport, a small town with a vast amateur sky full of stars. There he meets Tara Dhillon, a lonely girl and aspiring filmmaker. When the two team up to produce an astronomy movie and enter a film contest, they discover a secret plan to turn their rural hamlet into a huge subdivision.Noah and Tara must use their unique skills to identify the culprits who plan on paving over the historic county — and try to save the infinite beauty of the stars. As if that’s not enough to have at stake, Noah needs to win the prize money to buy a new telescope for his unemployed father — an ex-astronomer who’s almost given up on the stars, as well as life on earth.Touching on themes of activism, environmental anxiety and mental health, A Bucket of Stars will have readers cheering for Noah, a boy whose head is in the stars, and Tara, a girl who lives in a world of digital images — and their special bond that just might mend the world around them.By Sarah Everett. 2023
“One of the best books I have read this year (maybe ever).” —Colby Sharp, Nerdy Book ClubNPR Books We Love…
2023 | Publishers Weekly Best of 2023 | Winner of the Governor General's Literary Awards for Young People's LiteratureA heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever.Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5.5 trillion and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out.But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84.7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end.But over the course of the four days, even facts don’t feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be “better for her family” isn’t very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family’s truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi's whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye."My heart hurt as I raced through the last chapters of this unique book that shines a light on family, friends, grief, and love." —Lisa Yee, author of Maizy Chen's Last ChanceBy Della Parker. 2016
'Brims with laughs, love, family and friendship. You will love this heartwarming read!' Trisha Ashley. Meet the Reading Group: six…
women in the seaside village of Little Sanderton come together every month to share their love of reading. No topic is off-limits: books, family, love and loss . . . and don't forget the glass of red!Grace knows that the holiday season is going to be different this year. No turkey, no tinsel, no gorgeously wrapped gifts under the tree . . . how on earth is she going to break it to her little boys that Christmas is effectively cancelled? And can she bear to tell anyone her embarrassing secret? Enter the Reading Group: Grace's life might have turned upside down but there's no problem they can't solve.By Joanna Cole. 1997
By Candice Leathem, Michael Head. 2015
The narrative Rainbow Custodians describes the incredible efforts of creatures to rise against the environmental destruction caused since the European…
invasion of Australia. The central characters Bert and Bennie Koala rally all manner of wildlife to jolt humans into growing a conscience and acting to save endangered creatures and the environment. Rainbow Custodians is designed to link to school curriculum and focuses on important issues such as indigenous people's relationship to land, creation, spiritual connection to mother earth and custodianship. The text exposes environmental degradation, human apathy towards extinct and endangered species and sustainability. Cultural inclusion, sustainability and right relationship are further topics that can be used to enhance the application of this book. Australian wildlife is proudly paraded throughout to familiarise the reader with our unique and wonderful creatures. Poetry is woven throughout the text to enchant the audience with this tale of perplexing complications, intelligent solutions and climactic inspirational codas. The text assumes a life of its own through the brilliant illustrations of Candice Leathem that adorn the cover and each of the ten chapters. These images are designed to delight viewers, provoke discussion and are superb teaching tools. The intended audience ranges from middle - upper primary to early secondary levels, as the text relates to key concepts explored within educational curriculum, but it also has inherent appeal for an older audience. The issues explored within this book have global appeal and it is hoped that a wider audience may enjoy this text and learn from the experience. Thank you for taking the time to read Rainbow Custodians.By Larry Watson. 2013
The celebrated author of Montana 1948 (over 400,000 copies sold) returns to the American West in this riveting tale of…
familial love and its unexpected consequences.Dalton, North Dakota. It's September 1951: years since George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son James when he was thrown from a horse; months since his widow Lorna took off with their only grandson and married Donnie Weboy. Margaret is steadfast, resolved to find and retrieve her grandson Jimmy - the one person in this world keeping James's memory alive - while George, a retired sheriff, is none too eager to stir up trouble. Unable to sway his wife from her mission, George takes to the road with Margaret by his side, traveling through the Dakota badlands to Gladstone, Montana. When Margaret tries to convince Lorna to return home to North Dakota and bring little Jimmy with her, the Blackledges find themselves entangled with the entire Weboy clan, who are determined not to give up the boy without a fight. From the author who brought us Montana 1948, Let Him Go is pitch-perfect, gutsy, and unwavering. Larry Watson is at his storytelling finest in this unforgettable return to the American West.By Jim Kraus. 2012
A wonderfully quirky, heart-breaking, heart-warming and thought-provoking story of a woman's dog who not only talks to her, he talks…
to God. Recently widowed Mary Fassler has no choice except to believe Rufus, the miniature schnauzer, who claims to speak to the Divine. The question is: Will Mary follow the dog's advice, and leave everything she knows and loves? Is this at the urging of God? Or is it something else? Will Mary risk it all or ignore the urgings of her own heart?By Margaret Daymond, Lauretta Ngcobo. 1990
This is the untold story of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, told by a woman who lived it. It…
is the story of the ordinary women of South Africa who, forced to scratch a living from the land, still found the strength to ask for respect and, in the process, made a revolution.By Vicki Lansky. 1986
This delightful read-aloud story for children uses parenting author Vicki Lansky's lovable unisex character, KoKo Bear, to show that toilet…
training is only a part of the larger process of growing up. Both boys and girls can identify with young KoKo's growing ability to learn just how nice dry diapers can be. Told through a fun and pleasurable story, KoKo helps children understand all the issues of potty training--what to expect and what's expected.Color illustrations on each page add warmth to the simple story that children can easily understand and convey the family's happiness with KoKo's success and their patience with accidents and hesitations.Every page contains read-aloud text in large type for the child as well as a box containing two or three practical tips in smaller type for the parent. Each tip provides helpful information on how to assess, respond and deal with a toddlers's predictable behavior during the often long period of time that training can take.By Victoria Roberts, Charles Kreloff, Patty Brown. 2004
By Melinda Worth Popham. 2013
"Brand X and his fellow coyotes . . . are meticulously observed in the desert environment that Ms. Popham seems…
to know like her backyard. And so are the people of this fable--old Hallie and Albert . . . and the several varmint-hunters, callous or alcoholic or both. There is a parable of how we might relate to the creatures that share the world with us; and a parable of dreams versus realty; and a parable of home, of known territory with its comparative safety; and a parable of making the best of a world short of everything. The people and the creatures of Ms. Popham's fable are right, they belong, and they mean." --Wallace Stegner "This spare and affecting novel has the precision and the stinging sweetness of a fable. A wonderful book." --Thomas McGuane "Refreshing . . . Life-affirming . . . The first book I've read in a long time that left me with teary eyes at the end."--The San Diego Tribune "Captivating . . . The animals' arduous westward journey down the Colorado River to the Gulf suggests a coyote world view that is subtly sustained by their mysterious ways." --Publishers Weekly "With dramatic urgency and imaginative tenderness, Melinda Popham has given the world a painful, poetic, and delightfully unpredictable story that pulsates with hope and healing meaning." --Al Young, California Poet Laureate Emeritus "Rich with poetic resonance." --Los Angeles Times Book Review "Evoking a rich sense of place and animal behavior, [Popham] lets us see through very different eyes." --The Seattle Times "A daring and visionary tale. [Popham] dares to tell us what a coyote thinks and sees and feels and dreams. . . . A hero of the classic kind--a furry, howling, water-seeking version of the Hero with a Thousand Faces." --James D. Houston "Masterful . . . Astonishing . . . Remarkable . . . Put down the latest technothriller and bask awhile in the descriptive prose of Skywater." --L.A. LifeBy Renée Thompson. 2011
Bird-watchers will love this journey back to the 1880s West Coast when vast populations of wild birds still filled the…
skies in annual migrations. But the birds were imperiled by plume hunters intent on personal fortune. This story of violence, love, and loss portrays the advent of the Audubon Society.A moving story of conflict, friendship, and love, The Plume Hunter follows the life of Fin McFaddin, a late-nineteenth century Oregon outdoorsman who takes to plume hunting - killing birds to collect feathers for women's hats - to support his widowed mother. In 1885, more than five million birds were killed in the United States for the millinery industry, prompting the formation of the Audubon Society. The novel brings to life an era of our country's natural history seldom explored in fiction, and follows Fin's relationships with his lifelong friends as they struggle to adapt to society's changing mores.Renée Thompson writes about wildlife, her love of birds, and the people who inhabit the American West. Her first novel, The Bridge at Valentine, received high praise from Pulitzer Prize-winner Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove. Renée lives in Northern California with her husband, Steve, and is at work on a short-story collection.The Plume Hunter won the 2012 da Vinci Eye Award, presented by the Eric Hoffer Award for Books, for its superior cover art."I really enjoyed this book. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of a bird hunter and the complex social, economic and personal issues swirling around the birth of the conservation movement." --David Sibley, author of THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS"...Renée Thompson's gripping novel transports the reader to a time when our nation was trying its best to grow up, yet seemed mired in its own awkward "teen" years...I read this book in one sitting, finding it no easier to put down than Fin did his hunting guns." -- Bill Thompson III, Editor, Bird Watcher's Digest"...Renée Thompson brings us to a place of semi-darkness, with its confused emotions, and allows us to witness the "Hunter" changing from within. This is a story of process and a quest to redeem. I love it." - Fr. Tom Pincelli, Former Chairman, American Birding Association"...A compelling chronicle of avarice, betrayal, and redemption."- Tim Gallagher, author of The Grail BirdBy Sharona Muir. 2014
"An amazing feat of imagination." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Invisible Beasts is a strange and beautiful meditation on love and seeing,…
a hybrid of fantasy and field guide, novel and essay, treatise and fable. With one hand it offers a sad commentary on environmental degradation, while with the other it presents a bright, whimsical, and funny exploration of what it means to be human. It's wonderfully written, crazily imagined, and absolutely original." -ANTHONY DOERR, author of All the Light We Cannot See and The Shell CollectorSophie is an amateur naturalist with a rare genetic gift: the ability to see a marvelous kingdom of invisible, sentient creatures that share a vital relationship with humankind. To record her observations, Sophie creates a personal bestiary and, as she relates the strange abilities of these endangered beings, her tales become extraordinary meditations on love, sex, evolution, extinction, truth, and self-knowledge.In the tradition of E.O. Wilson's Anthill, Invisible Beasts is inspiring, philosophical, and richly detailed fiction grounded by scientific fact and a profound insight into nature. The fantastic creations within its pages-an ancient animal that uses natural cold fusion for energy, a species of vampire bat that can hear when their human host is lying, a continent-sized sponge living under the ice of Antarctica-illuminate the role that all living creatures play in the environment and remind us of what we stand to lose if we fail to recognize our entwined destinies.Sharona Muir is the author of The Book of Telling: Tracing the Secrets of My Father's Lives. The recipient of a Hodder Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, her writing has appeared in Granta, Orion magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. She is a Professor of Creative Writing and English at Bowling Green State University. Invisible Beasts is her first novel.By Jim Kraus. 2013
Jake Wilkerson, a disillusioned young pastor who is an expert at hiding his fears, takes on a new assignment at…
a small rural church in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. It's a far piece from anywhere and full of curiously odd and eccentric people, including Emma Grainger, a single woman and a veterinarian who dismisses all Christians as "those people," and Tassy, a young runaway with a secret. His first day on the job, however, Jake is adopted by Petey - a cat of unknown origins and breed - but of great perception. Petey believes that he is on a mission from God to redeem Jake and bring him and his quirky friends back to the truth.By Andrea Cheng, Sarah McMenemy. 2017
2018 Green Earth Book Award Finalist Lionel lives in a Paris apartment building but loves keeping bees with his Aunt…
Celine at her farm outside the city. But when her bees start dying, how can he help? The solution, he realizes, is in the rooftop gardens and window boxes of his apartment neighbors, representing a varied and continuously blooming array of flowers that the bees will love. Aunt Celine must bring her bees to Paris! But first he and his friends Alice and Samir must convince their skeptical neighbors and landlord, Mr. Dubi, that this is a good idea. Adorned with Parisian skylines, Bees in the City is a love letter to the City of Light and a celebration of the can-do spirit of kids. Sarah McMenemy’s illustrations recall the Parisian magic of Madeleine. The book’s backmatter explores urban beekeeping and rooftop gardening in greater depth. Fountas & Pinnell Level PBy Marco Milani, Louise Loehndorff. 2018
At the foot of the village of Colicchio there is a mysterious laboratory carrying out secret experiments. No one knows…
what is really going on until an extraordinary fact is revealed that will change reality and reverse the roles of humans and animals. A cat, a monkey, a dog and a mouse lead the revolt. A story that knows how to touch people and make them think. An intense and fast-paced book. A manifesto that is not only antivivisectionist but also antispeciesist, it presents us with a truth too often ignored: revenge is never the right path to take.By Sherri Cook Woosley. 2018
For fans of American Gods, a dark, humorous, and richly written, dystopian fantasy about the unbreakable bonds of family and…
the undying strength of a mother's love.The end of the world begins as fire rains down from the heavens. Ancient gods are released from their prison, eager to reestablish their long-lost power. But Rachel Deneuve has bigger, more contemporary concerns than a divine war.Her son Adam is in the middle of a fight against leukemia, and Rachel is determined to keep focused on that battle. But when humans begin picking sides and the fighting escalates, their home in Baltimore becomes a war zone, one she can’t ignore.Desperate to stay away from the carnage—as well as the germ-ridden refugee center—Rachel and Adam flee to their remote mountain cottage, only to find their refuge marred by mutated, grotesque plants and animals. Eventually, the cancerous cells in Adam's body begin evolving as well, threatening his life and forcing Rachel to venture back into the eye of the storm. Left with no other choice but to sacrifice her own freedom for her son's safety, she must become an unwilling warrior in a battle unlike anything seen in millennia, or lose everything she holds dear.By Margo Catts. 2017
For fans of authors like Barbara Kingsolver and Leif Enger, a stunning new voice in contemporary literary fiction."Tragedy and blessing.…
Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart." Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the deadly fire she accidentally set as a child, to her mother's abandonment, and now to an unwanted pregnancy, she knows better than most that small actions can have terrible consequences. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado by her latest bad decision, she's intent on putting off the future. Perhaps there she can just hide in her grandmother's isolated cabin and wait for something–anything–to make her next choice for her. But instead of escape, she finds reminders of her own troubles reflected from every side–the recent widower and his two children adrift in a changed world, Elena's own mysterious family history, and the interwoven lives within the town itself. Bit by bit, Elena begins to reconsider her role in the tragedies she's held on to and the wounds she's refused to let heal. But then, in a single afternoon, when threads of cause and effect tangle, Elena's fragile new peace is torn apart. It's only at the prospect of fresh loss and blame that she will discover the truth of the terrible burdens we take upon ourselves, the way tragedy and redemption are inevitably bound together–and how curses can sometimes lead to blessings, however disguised.