Service Alert
July 1 - Canada Day
CELA will be closed on Tuesday, July 1st for Canada Day. Our office will reopen and our Contact Centre services will resume on Wednesday, July 2nd. Enjoy your holiday!
CELA will be closed on Tuesday, July 1st for Canada Day. Our office will reopen and our Contact Centre services will resume on Wednesday, July 2nd. Enjoy your holiday!
Showing 1 - 14 of 14 items
By Michelle Kadarusman. 2023
In a collection of powerful stories by Governor General’s Award-nominated author Michelle Kadarusman, eight children on islands around the world…
are each changed by a chance meeting with a turtle as they find their own grounding in an increasingly unpredictable world.By Aisha Saeed. 2025
When a thunderstorm grounds all flights following a huge Muslim convention, four unlikely kids are thrown together. Feek is stuck…
babysitting his younger sister, but he'd rather be writing a poem that's good enough for his dad, a famous poet and rapper. Hanna is intent on finding a lost cat in the airport--and also on avoiding a conversation with her dad about him possibly remarrying. Sami is struggling with his anxiety and worried that he'll miss the karate tournament that he's trained so hard for. And Nora has to deal with the pressure of being the daughter of a prominent congresswoman, when all she really wants to do is make fun NokNok videos. These kids don't see to have much in common--yet. 'Told in alternating points of view, at Hurston Airport, four unlikely kids' lives are changed forever when their flight is grounded by weather following a Muslim conventionBy Celia Krampien. 2025
A group of sixth graders participating in an annual Halloween tradition to pacify the ghost of Abigail Snook quickly realize…
that the Bellwoods contains an even bigger threat to their townBy Uma Krishnaswami. 2025
"The sequel to the award-winning Book Uncle and Me features bird lover Reeni and her quest to save her city's…
bird count event when the mayor tries to shut it down. Reeni is wild about birds! So when she and her best friend, Yasmin, have to pick a survey topic for a school project, asking their neighbors what they know about birds is an obvious choice. They are shocked to learn that no one -- not one single person! -- has heard about Bird Count India and the major event it is about to launch all over the country. Thousands of birdwatchers will be out counting birds as part of a global movement. Global means world, and isn't this city part of the world? How come people don't seem to care about the threats to city birds? And why is the mayor intentionally thwarting their city's bird count event? Reeni and Yasmin enlist help from Book Uncle, Reeni's family and even their school bus driver. They must get people interested in the bird count, get them to ask the city government to support the event. After all, what's good for the birds is good for all of us ... right? A funny, triumphant story about learning to advocate for both the human and non-human inhabitants of your community."By Angela Ahn. 2024
Temporarily sidelined from her swim team by an earache, Julia won't be kept down in this buoyant novel for ages…
7 to 10 by acclaimed writer Angela Ahn.As a member of the Vipers Swim Team, Julia Nam's always in the pool. Mountainview Community Center is like her second home, not only because swimming at the aquatic center is her favorite thing in the world, but also because her parents run the center's sushi café. Julia would much rather be in the pool than sitting behind the counter of Sushi on the Go! watching other people swim. She's the youngest swimmer on the team, but definitely not the slowest. Julia can't wait for Personal Best Day -- the most important day for all of the swimmers. If their times are good enough, they can enter a big regional swim meet. But then the worst thing happens. A sharp pain in Julia's ear reveals an infection and she's forbidden to swim for ten days. How can she get timed during Personal Best Day when she's not allowed in the water? Julia is desperate to get back in the pool, even if it means having to go behind her parents' backs in order to do so. But Julia's solution lands her in a sticky situation, and it's going to require the entire community center to come together to help her out of it!By Jessica Outram. 2024
It's the summer of 1914. Eight-year-old Bernice lives with her family in a lighthouse on Georgian Bay. Bernice doesn't get…
to explore much farther than their island, but she has her books to fuel her imagination, including her favorite, Treasure Island. One day Bernice wakes up to find a stranger named Tom Thomson sleeping in their living room. When she overhears him talk about gold on a nearby island, Bernice is determined to find it. Inspired by her beloved Mémèr's stories of their Métis family's adventures and hardships, Bernice takes the treasure map the stranger left behind and sets out in a rowboat with nothing more than her two dogs for company and the dream of changing her family's fortunes foreverBy Roza Nozari, Nadia L Hohn. 2024
By Mary Sullivan. 2020
By Ann Marie Stephens. 2019
Ten chicks spend their days counting and playing with a lonely little mouse longing to join in. When the Arithmechicks…
try to reach a basketball net, they realize they could use the help of their furry, new friend. Uncontracted braille. PRINT/BRAILLE. For preschool-grade 2. 2019By Oge Mora. 2019
When all of their special Saturday plans go awry, Ava and her mother still find a way to appreciate one…
another and their time together. Uncontracted braille. PRINT/BRAILLE. For preschool-grade 2. 2019By Mo Willems. 2007
Piggie is determined to fly and Elephant is skeptical of the situation. When Piggie gets a little help from others,…
they discover amazing things can happen. Uncontracted braille. PRINT/BRAILLE. For preschool-grade 2. 2007By Robin Stevenson. 2024
"This book for middle grade readers explores the history of queer activism in North America and the fight for equality…
for LGBTQ+ folks. The content is structured in an A-Z format, with such entries as "A Is for Activism" and "C Is for Coming Out." Readers will learn about the Stonewall Riots, Marsha P. Johnson, Indigenous queer activism, the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, Pride flags and so much more. Young readers will be especially interested in learning about youth activists such as Gavin Grimm, the first Gay-Straight Alliance and the history of banned children's books in America. Award-winning author Robin Stevenson brings this history to life in a way that is equally informative, inspiring and accessible for young readers. Her books have received a Stonewall Book Honour and won the Silver Birch Award. Extensive end matter includes short biographies of historical figures, glossary, timeline, resources for kids, author's sources and index."By Salini Pera. 2024
"In this collection of short fiction, ten outstanding authors explore the theme of home -- home as a place, a…
concept, as a way of thinking about the body -- through prose, verse and graphic storytelling. In "In a Flash" by Marty Chan, three kids come across a camera that traps the people it photographs. But can they figure out how to get out? When a lady from church comes to visit bringing "gifts," Hunter sees his home on the rez in a new light in "Home Fires" by Michael Hutchinson. In "The Secret Cousin" by Chad Lucas, Lonnie is spending Thanksgiving with his mother's family, who he hardly knows. Lonnie navigates the tension and discomfort of being one of two Black people in the house. But he finds new friendship in his cousin Ethan. These stories and more, compiled and edited by Jael Richardson, acclaimed author and Artistic Director of the Festival of Literary Diversity, bring together perspectives on belonging from BIPOC authors from across the country."By Elizabeth MacLeod. 2024
"Meet Jim Egan, the activist who fought for equality and human rights for gay Canadians at a time where it…
was often dangerous for LGBTQ2S+ people to speak up. Born in 1921, Jim had an ordinary childhood. But as he grew up, he knew he was a little different from his friends. He didn't like girls the same way they did. As a young man, Jim joined the war effort and travelled the world. He discovered there were other people like himself -- he was gay. Jim hadn't even known there was a word for it when he was growing up. That's because at the time, being identified as a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community wasn't safe. People lost their jobs and their families, got put in jail -- or worse -- so they hid who they were. But not Jim. He picked up his pen and started to fight for his rights. At first, he wrote letter after letter, in an attempt to get the media to stop portraying gay people in a negative way. Soon he was given a column to write about his community. Jim used his platform to talk about the need for tolerance and for the decriminalization of homosexuality. It was a fight that culminated in the 1995 Supreme Court ruling Egan v. Canada, a case that began in 1987 when Jim wanted his partner Jack to receive the same Old Age Security payment that a married person could get. Jim didn't win, but the case led to sexual orientation becoming a protected ground against discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which opened the door to other equal rights including same-sex marriage."