
In this issue
- Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
- Ducks wins Jan Michalski Prize for Literature
- Mail service resumes
- Best books of the year
- Reading for Truth and Reconciliation
- 2024 CELA favourites
- World Braille Day books
- Books in the news
- Holiday reads
- Go digital!
- New on YouTube
- Webinars for you
- Featured title for adults: Cher: The Memoir, Part One
- Top five books
- Featured title for kids: Rolling On (Roll with It #3)
- Top five for kids
- Top five for teens
- Service tip: Schedule an appointment with our Contact Centre
- Holiday hours
- Stay connected!
Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
Happy Holidays to all who celebrate this time of year.
Even with the holidays approaching, our team is busy behind the scenes.
This month, we are pleased to welcome two new libraries to CELA. Bowen Island and Prince Rupert Public Libraries, both located in BC, are in the process of getting set up and ready to offer CELA services to their users with print disabilities. It’s always exciting for us to be able to support new communities.
Our Audiobook Project participants have finished up with their surveys and the focus groups will be completed before the end of the month. We are grateful for the participation and insights shared by all the participants and look forward to in-depth analysis and sharing results, etc. We will keep you up to date as the project proceeds. You can learn more on our blog.
We’ve also recently added approximately 400 new books to our collection, just in time for cosy winter reading. You can find them by limiting your searches with our date added feature. A few are highlighted below in our newsletter.
And we are working with our colleagues for the World Braille Month celebrations. Louis Braille was born on Jan 4, 1809, and it’s the 200th anniversary of the introduction of his code, which changed the world for people with sight loss. Please join us on Friday, January 17 for a braille discussion about how braille continues to evolve. Learn more and register for the event in our story below.
Now that postal service has resumed, we have begun producing and mailing physical materials. We know our readers will be excited to receive them. While delivery may take a few extra days, we're pleased to let you know they are on their way!
Happy Reading!
Laurie Davidson, Executive Director
Ducks wins Jan Michalski Prize for Literature
Ducks, the graphic novel by Cape Breton cartoonist Kate Beaton has won the 2024 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. The prize includes approximately $80,000 Canadian.
Released in 2022, Ducks has won numerous awards, including 2023 Doug Wright Award for best book and two Eisner Awards, the Harvey Award and the Evergreen Award. In 2023, it became the first graphic memoir to win Canada Reads.
Ducks details Beaton's experiences working in the oil fields in Alberta, where she faced sexual harassment. Throughout the book she grapples with everything from homesickness and loneliness to the impacts of the oil fields on the environment and local Indigenous communities.
CELA is grateful for the involvement of the author and illustrator in the production of the accessible version through eBOUND's Literary Description Project. Kate Beaton wrote or consulted on the image descriptions which are included in the body and narration of the text.
Read Ducks in accessible formats.
Mail service resumes
Canada Post is set to resume deliveries this week. CELA has restarted production and will be mailing CDs, embossed braille, Envoy Connects and printbraille this week. Canada Post has stated that customers should expect delays in processing and delivery, and we appreciate your patience as your books and magazines make their way to you.
If you have specific books that you wish to read soon, you can prioritize holds on your account to receive the books you most want to read first. Information about how to manage holds is available on our My Account help pages. By default, holds will be sent to you in the order they are added to your holds list.
If you have materials to return to us, please use your best judgement based on your own needs and local services.
Best books of the year
We love end of year booklists, and we've rounded up a few for you from some of the popular lists:
The Globe and Mail Best Books of 2024
The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2024
Reading for Truth and Reconciliation
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.
As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy.
How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry's relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, "Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency."
Read this book in our collection in braille and audio narrated by the author.
2024 CELA favourites
Each December, we like to look back to see what books were most popular with our readers. These titles topped our most borrowed books this year.
- The Whispers: A Novel by Ashley Audrain, Serious and literary fiction
- Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, General fiction
- Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page, Biography
- Tom Lake: A Novel by Ann Patchett, Family stories
- The Fury by Alex Michaelides, Suspense and thrillers
You can also check out our top 5 books of 2024 for kids and our top 5 books of 2024 for teens.
World Braille Day books
In honour of World Braille Day, which takes place on Braille’s birthday, January 4, we want to recommend a few books on Louis Braille and the code he developed. We've suggested a few for younger readers and some for adults.
- Out of darkness: the story of Louis Braille by Russell Freedman
- Who Was Louis Braille? by Margaret Frith, Scott Anderson, Robert Squier
- Now We Are Citizens: The Blind in French Society from the Middle Ages to the Century of Louis Braille by Zina Weygand, Emily-Jane Cohen.
- There Plant Eyes By M. Leona Godin
- Braille into the Next Millennium By Judith M Dixon
Read more books about Louis Braille in our collection.
We also invite you to save the date for the World Braille Month event happening Friday, January 17. Learn more about all the celebrations for World Braille Month or register today!
Thanks to the organizations involved in coordinating these events.
Books in the news
After Chrystia Freeland's recent resignation from her position as Finance Minister, House of Anansi Press, publisher of an upcoming biography of Ms. Freeland, scrambled to move the publication date ahead by two months. The book is now due to be released on December 20, 2024.
An article in the Globe and Mail captures "the logistically complicated ballet required to release a book more than six weeks early in the middle of the highly competitive holiday-shopping season."
CELA has reached out to the publisher about the possibility of receiving an accessible copy, and we expect one soon. Check our collection next week to see if it has arrived.
Holiday reads
It might just be the most wonderful time of the year to grab a good book.
If you are in the mood to cosy up with a good mystery, a delightful romance, or an enchanting children's book, we have you covered.
Check out our recommended Holiday reading list for 2024.
Go digital!
Digital access allows you to get books directly to your devices quickly and without worrying about delays due to weather, mail volume or holiday hours.
- If you use an Envoy Connect player, you can download books using a simple, free program called CELA Connect. Learn more:
Envoy Connect and CELA Connect help pages
CELA Connect Software video tutorial
- If you use a DAISY player or the EasyReader app on your phone or tablet to read your books, our Direct to Player service could be for you. Learn more:
Direct to Player service
How to get a zip file from the CELA website video tutorial
- Need some extra help managing your CELA account? You can set a designate who might be a family member or a friend, or someone who typically helps you with choosing your books. A designate can help you to manage your account and select and download books on your behalf. Call our Contact Centre if you would like to add a designate to your account.
Learn more about designates on our website.
New on YouTube
CELA's webinars are recorded and made available on our YouTube channel. We have recently added Accessing CELA Using a Victor Reader Stream DAISY Player. Watch this webinar to learn about how this versatile device lets you read CELA’s books and magazines in audio and e-text formats. This webinar is for new Victor Stream users or those interested in learning new tips.
You can find this video and others on our YouTube channel.
Webinars for you
We host a series of webinars on Zoom to help users access CELA services, to stay up to date on new technologies and to learn more about accessible reading.
On the Webinars for you page, you will find upcoming webinars. On that same page you will find links to other CELA video resources available on our YouTube channel.
Starting with CELA: finding and getting books and magazines
Have you recently registered for CELA or would you like a refresher on how to find and read books and magazines? We’re pleased to share how you can use the 1.4 million titles available to you in this 45-minute webinar.
- Discover how to access a book or magazine using CELA’s site: log in, search and choose a book
- Do you prefer to choose books by phone? Find out how you can learn about new titles and request the ones you like
- Learn about our loaning rules and how to return materials
- Find tutorials and videos for more help
Select the link below to register for this webinar:
Tuesday Jan 14 2:30-3:30pm EST
Ask Us! Come chat with CELA staff and have your questions answered
This hour-long interactive conversation gives CELA users an opportunity to ask questions related to using CELA’s library services. We encourage you to bring your questions and learn from CELA staff, as well as to share experiences with other CELA patrons in the audience. This Q&A aims to support how you access the books, magazines and newspapers in CELA’s multiple format collections for people with print disabilities.
Select the link below to register for this conversation:
Featured title for adults: Cher: The Memoir, Part One
Cher: The Memoir, Part One promises to be an engaging and exciting audiobook experience, befitting this incredible book. Read in part by Cher herself, the book is introduced, and each chapter launched, by the author. Rounding out each chapter as she continues the narrative is celebrated stage actor Stephanie J. Block.
Stephanie starred on Broadway in The Cher Show for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award. Together, Cher and Stephanie share the storytelling duties, alternating within the chapters to create a unique audiobook treatment that will bring listeners fully into this period of Cher's life—from her earliest childhood memories, to her meeting Sonny and their ascent into superstardom, her painful divorce from Bono, her relationship with Gregg Allman and her reach for independence. It is a story of creativity, individuality, motherhood, love, and loss, as only Cher could recount.
"Lending my voice to help deliver Cher's memoir has been an honor and a thrill. Her life is fascinating, glamorous, surprising, exciting... and at times, completely heartbreaking. Her story is a beautiful balance of ULTIMATE stardom and accessibility. She is CHER for a reason and this book helps the reader get behind 'the reason,'" says Block.
"When it came to completing the audiobook, I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all myself due to my dyslexia. But then I thought of Stephanie, who won the Tony for playing me on Broadway in The Cher Show. I knew she would be the perfect choice to get across to the reader the essence of me. I called her and within hours she re-arranged her schedule to start the recording. I felt so safe having her help share my story, and she did a beautiful job," says Cher.
Read Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher.
Top five books
Most popular with our readers this month:
- The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #19) by Louise Penny, Mysteries and crime stories
- The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII by Nahlah Ayed, Women biography
- Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect: A Novel (Ernest Cunningham #2) by Benjamin Stevenson, Mysteries and crime stories
- Tom Lake: A Novel by Ann Patchett, Family stories
- Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, General fiction
Featured title for kids: Rolling On (Roll with It #3)
In this heartfelt companion to Jamie Sumner's acclaimed and beloved novels Roll with It and Time to Roll, Ellie finds herself faced with first love and learning to let go. It's the very end of eighth grade and all everyone can talk about is high school—everyone except Ellie Cowan. Ellie wants to freeze time. Middle school was epic. She moved to Oklahoma, made her best friends, won a baking championship, quit a beauty pageant, and dominated Putt-Putt golf in her wheelchair.
But now her feelings for her best friend Bert are starting to change. When did Bert get so cute? And why are all the other girls suddenly noticing, too? As if that isn't enough to deal with, Grandpa's health takes a turn for the worse. So what do you do when you don't know how to hold on and when to let go?
Read Rolling On (Roll with It #3) by Jamie Sumner.
Top five for kids
Most popular with kids this month:
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Fantasy
- Karen's Birthday: A Graphic Novel (Baby-Sitters Little Sister Graphix) by Ann M. Martin, General fiction
- A History of US, Volume A, Prehistory to 1800 by Joy Hakim, History
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 by Marvel, Movie and television tie-ins
- The Explorer by Katherine Rundell, Adventure stories
Top five for teens
Most popular with teens this month:
- Dancing with Werewolves: Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator by Carole Nelson Douglas, Ghost and horror stories
- A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks, Bestsellers (fiction)
- The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies #4) by Pittacus Lore, Adventure stories
- After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay, Multi-cultural fiction
- Exo: A Novel by Fonda Lee, Adventure stories
Service tip: Schedule an appointment with our Contact Centre
If you have a technical question that our Contact Centre team thinks needs some extra time and attention, we are now able to schedule an appointment with our technical specialists who can walk you through what’s needed to resolve your questions. We know sometimes these things can take a bit of extra effort, and we want to make sure that process is as convenient as possible for you. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Contact Centre: help@celalibrary.ca or 1-855-655-2273.
Our staff can resolve lots of questions or issues on the spot. And we have a great back up team to support them.
Holiday hours
For the holiday season, our Contact Centre will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on December 24. It will be closed on December 25, 26 and January 1 for the holidays. On December 27, 30, and 31, our Contact Centre will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. We will return to normal opening hours on January 2, 2025.
Stay connected!
Visit CELA's social media, including X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and our blog, for more news about what's happening in the world of accessible literature.