Age

Catalog sorted by age group

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

This lavishly illustrated book brings Gordon Lightfoot’s heart-stirring song to readers. Commissioned by the CBC in 1967 to mark Canada’s centennial year it eloquently describes the construction of the transcontinental railway, a great feat of nation building that changed Canada forever. Award-winning illustrator Ian Wallace brings the song to visual life with his sweeping landscapes and evocative portrayals of the people who lived the building of the railroad. The book includes Gordon Lightfoot’s music and lyrics, a brief history of the railroad and notes on the illustrations.

Oops!

In a distinctive oversize package, Oops! follows a family through the streets of Paris as they try to get to the airport for their vacation. Back at their apartment, their house-sitting aunt slips on some soap, setting off a chain reaction of events that create some extreme roadblocks for the family’s trip. A movie shoot, a parade, policemen, rampaging bears, aliens, and much more collide in this remarkable new picture book adventure. The book includes a gatefold page at the end that explains in detail the train of chaos on the previous pages. 

Rama and Sita

A children’s retelling of the epic story from India and Southeast Asia. Rama marries beautiful Sita, but Ravana, the 10-headed, 20-armed Demon King, falls in love with her, too. He captures her and takes her in his chariot to the Demon Kingdom, Lanka. Rama has to find a way to rescue Sita, and he seeks the help of the monkey general Hanuman, and Jambuvan, the King of the Bears. Rama, his brother Lakshman, and the band of monkeys and bears battle their way to the Kingdom of the Demons. With the help of the fish, they build a bridge to cross the sea and find Sita locked in Hanuman’s tower, guarded by demonesses. After a final, terrible battle, the Demon King is defeated and Rama and Sita are reunited. The touching ritual at the heart of the Hindu festival of Diwali features the lighting of earthen lamps, called “divas,” which celebrate Rama’s and Sita’s return home.

In Front of My House

A whimsical celebration of a child’s imagination and all the places it can travel. Filled with inventive twists, this charming circular story begins and ends in a tidy front yard, but in between winds its way through the wilds of a magical reality.

Departure Time

Departure Time is the amazing journey of a girl in two stories. The girl in the hotel with the fox and the rat, and the girl whose father travels a lot, who suggests they write a story together, a story about talking animals. She doe sn’t wan to. She is angry with him, because he can’t make it home in time for her birthday.

Once

Once I escaped from an orphanage to find my Mum and Dad. Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house. Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh. My name is Felix. This is my story.

The 10 p.m. Question

Worry-prone Frankie keeps his family secret under control — until a bold, inquisitive girl enters his life — in this warm, witty, and captivating YA novel.Twelve-year-old Frankie Parsons is a talented kid with a quirky family, a best friend named Gigs, and a voice of anxiety constantly nibbling in his head: Could that kidney-shaped spot on his chest be a galloping cancer? Are the smoke alarm batteries flat? Has his cat, The Fat Controller, given them all worms? Only Ma, who never leaves home, takes Frankie’s worries seriously. But then, it is Ma who is the cause of the most troubling question of all, the one Frankie can never bring himself to ask. When a new girl arrives at school — a daring free spirit with unavoidable questions of her own — Frankie’s carefully guarded world begins to unravel, leading him to a painful confrontation with the ultimate 10 p.m. question. Deftly told with humor, poignancy, and an endearing cast of characters, The 10 P.M. Question will touch everyone who has ever felt set apart.

Flightsend

Flightsend is Charlie’s new home, whether she likes it or not. Her mother sees it as an end to all that’s gone so tragically wrong. They had been a proper family. Mum; her boyfriend, Sean; and Charlie, with a new baby sister on the way. But the baby died before she was born and everything changed. Gradually, Charlie’s mother pushed Sean away, before resigning from her job and selling the house. Charlie is certain that the move to a ramshackle cottage, miles from anywhere, can only make things worse. She couldn’t be more wrong. For Charlie’s mum there’s a new business and the fresh start that she knew she needed. And for Charlie there’s a new job, new friends, a newly discovered talent for art, and new feelings for two very different men. It’s a summer of beginnings, not ends; a summer that Charlie will never forget.

Maui and the Secret of Fire

Måaui forces the mud hens to tell him the secret of how to make fire.