Ava is asked to dress up as an inspirational figure for her school assembly, but who should she choose? Granny suggests famous familiar figures such as Winifred Atwell, Mary Seacole, and Rosa Parks, and tells Ava all about their fascinating histories, but Ava’s classmates have already claimed them and she must choose someone else. But who? When Ava finds a mysterious old suitcase and Granny shares her own history, and how she came to England on the Empire Windrush many years ago. She tells her story through the precious items that accompanied her on the original voyage, each one evoking a memory of home. As Ava listens to how Granny built a life for herself in England, determined to stay against the odds and despite overwhelming homesickness, and she realizes that there is a hero very close to home, her very own brave and beloved granny.
Age
Catalog sorted by age group
Catch Me If I Fall
Twins Ashleigh and Aiden have always promised to protect each other, but after an accident on a school trip, Aiden starts behaving strangely. Are they just growing apart, or is something more sinister going on?
When Dad’s Hair Took Off
One day, Dad’s hair decided it was tired of being brushed and combed. It wanted a life of its own, to see the world. It took off.
Skating Wild On An Inland Sea
Two children wake up to hear the lake singing, then the wind begins wailing or is it a wolf? They bundle up and venture out into the cold, carrying their skates. On the snow covered shore, they spot tracks made by fox, deer, hare, mink, otter and the wolf! In the bay, the ice is thick and smooth. They lace up their skates, step onto the ice, stroking and gliding, and the great lake sings again.
Grandpa And The Kingfisher
Life affirming and lyrical, this beautiful picture book celebrates the awesome power of nature and the circle of life. Over the course of a year, a young child and their dog watch kingfishers by the river with Grandpa. As spring turns to summer and autumn to winter, the kingfishers raise a family, while Grandpa teaches his grandchild about the power of nature and the circle of life.
I Will Swim Next Time
At first the big blue sea makes them feel small and scared. Then the child visits a lake and a river, and their fear of water gradually starts to ebb as curiosity begins to flow.
Cleaning Up
Jess finds a secret diary and imagines what it would be like to be a girl who has everything. Will she become so wrapped up in someone else’s life that she misses a chance to create her own? Jess cleans houses to save money for college, because her dad, unemployed and off the wagon yet again and has moved the two of them out of the city into a decrepit borrowed tent and trailer. Jess wavers between anger at her father and fear that poverty and addiction may be her fate, too, and she decides she will do whatever it takes to avoid it. She gets a gig cleaning a gorgeous country home and discovers the trashed bedroom of the teenaged daughter, Quinn. Jess wonders how a girl with a perfect life, private school, horseback riding and could have wrecked such a beautiful room. As she cleans, she finds troubling clues, including, tucked behind the bed, a diary.
Gradually Jess learns that Quinn’s life is not what it’s supposed to be. Jess begins to imagine becoming friends with Quinn, and when she begins to write down a new story for Quinn, she risks turning her back on the opportunities that are right in front of her new friends, new interests, a fresh beginning.
Layers: A Memoir
Bagieu reflects on her childhood and teen years with her characteristic wit and unflinching honesty. The result is fifteen short stories about friendship, love, grief, and those awkward first steps toward adulthood.
Hopeless In Hope
We live in a hopeless old house on an almost-deserted dead end street in a middle of nowhere town named Hope. This is the oldest part of Hope; eventually it will all be torn down and rebuilt into perfect homes for perfect people. Until then, we live here: imperfect people on an imperfect street that everyone forgets about. For Eva Brown, life feels lonely and small. Her mother, Shirley, drinks and yells all the time. She’s the target of the popular mean girl, and her only friend doesn’t want to talk to her anymore. All of it would be unbearable if it weren’t for her cat, Toofie, her beloved nohkum, and her writing, which no one will ever see.
When Nohkum is hospitalized, Shirley struggles to keep things together for Eva and her younger brother, Marcus. After Marcus is found wandering the neighbourhood alone, he is sent to live with a foster family, and Eva finds herself in a group home. Furious at her mother, Eva struggles to adjust and being reunited with her family seems less and less likely. During a visit to the hospital, Nohkum gives Eva Shirley’s diary. Will the truths it holds help Eva understand her mother?
Waaa Waaa Goes Táwà
A fresh and funny look at a universal childhood problem by an emerging Nigerian talent.What parent or caregiver hasn’t wished to disappear when their usually delightful charge erupts with a volcanic tantrum? Somehow small kids manage to make their wishes known in the loudest way possible before they are able to talk. Tantrums are always unpredictable, happen at the worst time, and are often in public. On a walk, at the market, or getting new braids, Tawá is quick to cry “Waa Waa”for no apparent reason. The day becomes more and more exasperating for anyone near her. It’s not until bedtime when the exhausted grown ups treat Tawá to their own cries, that the surprised little noise maker is finally subdued.