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Steal away home: one woman's epic flight to freedom-- and her long road back to the South
By Karolyn Smardz Frost. 2017
Fifteen-year-old slave Cecelia Reynolds made her dangerous bid for freedom from the United States, across the Niagara River and into…
Canada. Escape meant that she would never see her mother or brother again. She would be cut off from the young mistress with whom she grew up, but who also owned her. Cecelia found a new life in Toronto’s vibrant African American expatriate community. Her rescuer became her husband, a courageous conductor on the Underground Railroad helping other freedom-seekers reach Canada. Widowed, she braved the Fugitive Slave Law to cross back into the United States, where she again found love, and followed her William into the battlefields of the Civil War. Finally, with a wounded husband and young children in tow, she returned to the Kentucky she had known as a child. But her home had changed: hooded Night Riders roamed the countryside with torches and nooses at the ready. When William disappeared, Cecelia relied on the support and affection of her former mistress - the Southern belle who had owned her as a child. Winner of the 2018 Speaker's Book Award. 2017.Smiley: a journey of love
By Joanne George. 2017
Smiley, a most remarkable Golden Retriever, was born without eyes. He was rescued from a puppy mill and has become…
a superb therapy dog, providing therapy to people all over the world through social media and television. This is his story. Winner of the 2018 Silver Birch Express Award. Winner of the 2019 Red Cedar Information Book Award. Winner of the 2019 Hackmatack Award for non-fiction. Grades 4-6. 2017. Smiley, the therapy dog -- Smiley and Joanne -- Smiley and Joanne's new family -- St. John Ambulance therapy dogs -- Smiley, the blind therapy dog -- Smiley, the celebrity -- Ways you can help.Stormy seas: stories of young boat refugees
By Mary Beth Leatherdale. 2017
The plight of refugees risking their lives at sea has, unfortunately, made the headlines all too often in the past…
few years. This book presents five true stories, from 1939 to today, about young people who lived through the harrowing experience of setting sail in search of asylum: Ruth and her family board the St. Louis to escape Nazism; Phu sets out alone from war-torn Vietnam; José tries to reach the United States from Cuba; Najeeba flees Afghanistan and the Taliban; and after losing his family, Mohamed abandons his village on the Ivory Coast in search of a new life. Grades 4-7. Winner of the 2018 Silver Birch Non-Fiction Honour Book Award. 2017.Shadows in the sun: Travels To Landscapes Of Spirit And Desire
By Wade Davis. 1992
The diversity of humankind and the relationship to landscape, from the high Arctic and the northern forests to the swamps…
of the Orinoco, is hunted, gathered and appreciated here by Davis. He recounts a dozen journeys, some in search of ethnobotanicals; others for spiritual and poetic influences. 1992.Sit how you want
By Robin Richardson. 2018
Plane crashes and automobile mishaps are the backdrop for female narrators who grapple with terror, anxiety, and powerlessness: "When I…
say I'm fine I mean the sky has opened / like an old wound under scurvy." In their grim wit, sinister straight talk, and sometimes violent bawdiness, Richardson's poems work as counter-charms against the lingering trauma of abusive relationships, both familial and romantic. The book embodies a belief in poetry as an instrument of change, a tool for transforming pain into exuberant verbal energy: "It is the thrill of ruination / makes us innovate." Winner of the 2019 Trillium Book Award for Poetry. 2018.Snowshoes & spotted dick: letters from a wilderness dweller
By Chris Czajkowski. 2003
The uplifting and often humourous story of one woman's life in the raw wilderness. The author describes her experiences as…
she builds a cabin in the wilderness and relates the complications of the "simple life" - how she breaks trails by snowshoe, encounters grizzly bears, builds a stone oven and learns to bake bread - and spotted dick. 2003.At nine years old, Eugenie Clark developed an unexpected passion for sharks after a visit to the Battery Park Aquarium…
in New York City. At the time, sharks were seen as mindless killing machines, but Eugenie knew better and set out to prove it. Despite many obstacles in her path, Eugenie was able to study the creatures she loved so much. From her many discoveries to the shark-related myths she dispelled, Eugenie made wide scientific contributions that led to her being nicknamed Shark Lady. Winner of 2018 Forest of Reading The Blue Spruce Award. Grades K-3. 2017.Shirley Jackson: a rather haunted life
By Ruth Franklin. 2016
Still known to millions only as the author of the "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) remains curiously absent from the…
American literary canon. A genius of literary suspense, Jackson plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America better than anyone. Biographer Ruth Franklin reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the author behind such classics as 'The Haunting of Hill House' and 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle'. Placing Jackson within an American gothic tradition of Hawthorne and Poe, Franklin demonstrates how her unique contribution to this genre came from her focus on "domestic horror" drawn from an era hostile to women. With its exploration of astonishing talent shaped by a damaged childhood and a troubled marriage, this is the definitive biography of a generational avatar and an American literary giant. Winner of the 2017 Edgar Award for best critical / biography book. 2016.Stalin's daughter: the extraordinary and tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
By Rosemary Sullivan. 2015
Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin.…
Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy--the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father. As she gradually learned about the extent of her father's brutality after his death, in 1967 Svetlana shocked the world by defecting to the United States. But she could not escape her father's legacy; her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Winner of the 2015 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the 2016 British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, and the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize. Bestseller. 2015.Scrapes with snakes!: true stories of adventures with animals (National geographic kids. Chapters)
By Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, Brady Barr. 2017
Join National Geographic expert and TV personality Brady Barr on some wild adventures with snakes! Readers won't believe their eyes…
as they read Barr's hilarious--and completely true!--accounts of his interactions with some of the biggest, weirdest, and craziest snakes on Earth. Grades 2-4. 2017.Stephen Harper
By John Ibbitson. 2015
Stephen Harper has made government smaller, justice tougher, and provinces more independent. Those who praise Harper point to the Conservatives'…
skillful economic management, the reformed immigration system, the uncompromising defence of Israel and Ukraine, and the fight against terrorism, while critics accuse the Harper government of being autocratic, secretive and cruel. Ibbitson explores Harper’s suburban youth, the forces that shaped his tempestuous relationship with Reform Leader Preston Manning, how Laureen Harper influences her husband, his devotion to his children--and his cats. Ibbitson explains how this shy, closed, introverted loner united a fractured conservative movement, defeated a Liberal hegemony, and set out to reshape the nation. Bestseller. Winner of the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. 2015.Soul of a dog: reflections on the spirits of the animals of Bedlam Farm
By Jon Katz. 2009
Katz illuminates the interaction between humans and animals. Although he features his ever-faithful border collie Rose, Katz also includes revealing…
observations about Mother the murderous barn cat, Elvis the doughnut-loving steer, and his other dogs - Izzy, Lenore, and Pearl. 2009.Spirit of the horse: a celebration in fact and fable
By William Shatner. 2017
From his first time riding at age ten, William Shatner has felt a deep love for horses. Whether riding them,…
communicating with them, or simply appreciating their beauty, he has been enthralled by horses ever since he was a child. And for decades, he has sought to bring that joy to others -- children, veterans, and those with disabilities, among others -- through his annual Hollywood Charity Horse Show. In this book, Shatner speaks from the heart about the remarkable effect horses have had on his life, and on the lives of others. Drawing not just from his own decades of experience but also from a wealth of classic horse stories, this book captures the unique connection between humans and horses -- and the power, courage, mindfulness, and healing that they can inspire in us. 2017.Starting out in the afternoon: a mid-life journey into wild land
By Jill Frayne. 2002
After Jill Frayne's long-term relationship with her lover ended and her daughter left home, she packed up her life and…
headed for the Yukon. Sleeping in her car or pitching a tent by the road, she became a solitary traveller and lived close to the natural world. What started out as a three-month trip became a personal journey that lasted several years. 2002.A Los Angeles family, weary of city living, found a satisfactory alternative in northern British Columbia. The years in the…
wilderness, highlighted by the discovery of an important jade deposit, are humourously described. c1977.Some more horse tradin'
By Ben K Green. 1972
This 1972 sequel to Green's "Horse Tradin'" offers more of the same type of anecdotal stories about raising and selling…
horses. Green was a veterinarian in Texas, and he came across a number of colourful characters - some four-legged - throughout his career. Some descriptions of violence. 2000, c1972.Sir Walter Raleigh and the quest for El Dorado
By Marc Aronson. 2000
Biography of the adventurous English explorer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. Describes the numerous expeditions to the New World…
in search of a golden kingdom and how court politics determined his fortunes. For junior and senior high readers. Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. 2000.Seven fallen feathers: racism, death, and hard truths in a northern city
By Tanya Talaga. 2017
Over the span of ten years, seven high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The seven were hundreds of…
miles away from their families, forced to leave their reserve because there was no high school there for them to attend. Award-winning journalist Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this northern city that has come to manifest, and struggle with, human rights violations past and present against aboriginal communities. Bestseller. Winner of the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize and the 2018 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. 2017.Silence of the songbirds: how we are losing the world's songbirds and what we can do to save them
By Bridget Joan Stutchbury. 2007
Migratory songbirds are disappearing at an alarming rate; by some estimates we have already lost half the songbirds that filled…
the skies 40 years ago. Stutchbury demonstrates why this decline should concern us all by arguing that songbirds truly are the canaries in the coal mine. Examines the most threatening factors to this vital element in our ecosystem: pesticides, the destruction of vital habitat, coffee plantations, bright lights and structures of our cities, the notorious cowbird, and global warming. 2007.Shingwauk's vision: native residential schools in Canada
By J. R Miller. 1996
A comprehensive study of residential schools, the institutions where attendance by Native children was compulsory as recently as the 1960s.…
Former students have come forward in increasing numbers to describe the psychological and physical abuse they suffered in these schools, and many view the system as an experiment in cultural genocide. Miller explores all three players in the story: the government officials who authorized the schools, the missionaries who taught in them, and the students who attended them. Co-winner of the 1996 Saskatchewan Book Award for nonfiction. Some descriptions of sex and violence, some strong language. 1996.