Nonfiction

Nonfiction genre

Beyond the Moongate

MOONGATES DOTTED THE LANDSCAPE OF OLD CHINA. Ancient Chinese architects had sculpted stone piled on sculpted stone to form round doorways, with the spiritual symbolism of the full moon. To step through one of these doorways was to step into a world of peace and happiness…

And so it was in the 1920s that the Lee King family – father, mother, and six children, aged ten months to seven years – traveled from their home in Canada, across the Pacific Ocean, to inland China. There, they had the opportunity to step beyond the moongate into a land not yet touched by modern warfare or political unrest.

The story of the moongate, tells of the two “golden” years the family spent with Grandmother in a remote village in the south, which hadn’t changed for centuries.

Step inside and live the long lazy days of a China forever gone. The moongate beckons…

Funny in Farsi

This new Readers Circle edition includes a reading group guide and a conversation between Firoozeh Dumas and Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner.” In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since. Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas’s wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot. In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies?—a complete mystery), American traditions (Thanksgiving turkey?—an even greater mystery, since it tastes like nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh’s parents laugh uproariously at Bob Hope on television, although they don’t get the jokes even when she translates them into Farsi).Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all laughing—without an accent.

A Little Book of Sloth

Hang around just like a sloth and get to know the delightful residents of the Avarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, the world’s largest sloth orphanage. You’ll fall in love with bad-boy Mateo, ooh and ahh over baby Biscuit, and want to wrap your arms around champion cuddle buddy Ubu!

From British filmmaker and sloth expert Lucy Cooke comes a hilarious, heart-melting photographic picture book starring the laziest—and one of the cutest—animals on the planet.

The Neighbor’s Son

What if you awakened one day and realized your parents were part of unspeakable evil? Do you turn away from them and therefore yourself? The unique coming of age story of Liesel and her preoccupation with finding her neighbor’s son is extremely eventful and takes the reader from postwar Germany to England, Africa and the United States. It explores interconnectedness between victim and perpetrator and touches on universal themes of family, forgiveness, guilt and justice. This candid account of a family’s history combined with a flawed protagonist’s sexual history will strike deep emotional responses in a thoughtful reader.

No god but God: The Origins and Evolution of Islam

In this invaluable introduction to a faith that for much of the West remains shrouded in ignorance and fear, Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed scholar of comparative religion, examines Islam: its rituals and traditions, the revelation of Muhammad as Prophet and the subsequent uprising against him, and the emergence of his successors. Aslan’s comprehensive text explores the complex history of the fastest-growing religion in the world.   No god but God is an engaging, accessible, and thought-provoking book for young people that is sure to stimulate discussion and encourage understanding of the Islamic faith and the people who follow it.

Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron

One day in 1798, woodsmen in southern France returned from the forest having captured a naked boy. He had been running wild, digging for food, and was covered with scars. In the village square, people gathered around, gaping and jabbering in words the boy didn’t understand. And so began the curious public life of the boy known as the Savage of Aveyron, whose journey took him all the way to Paris. Though the wild boy’s world was forever changed, some things stayed the same: sometimes, when the mountain winds blew, “he looked up at the sky, made sounds deep in his throat, and gave great bursts of laughter.” In a moving work of narrative nonfiction, Mary Losure invests a compelling story from history with vivid and arresting new life.

What If . . .

Students in grade 5/6 at Springvale Elementary, Halifax, have written and illustrated a book to address a variety of world issues in a positive manner. They wished to raise awareness about problems faced by kids all over the world by imagining what it would be like if the problems didn’t exist. All messages and illustrations depict positive images that send a message of hope and provide concrete ways for readers to take action to celebrate and improve our world wordby word.

Lion

The story of a lion, from birth to adulthood, photographed on location in the wild by an award-winning American photographer, who specializes in work with newborn animals. The text shows all the aspects of the animal’s life in the wild, accompanied by close-up pictures of the family group in its natural habitat. A spread at the back of the book gives further conservation information, including useful websites.

Cheetah

Cheetah cubs love to play with their mom. She lets them climb all over her! Follow a family of cheetahs from birth to adulthood in this unique wildlife book for young children, photographed close-up in the wild by an award-winning photographer. See how the mother cheetah protects her cubs, washes and feeds them, and teaches them how to hunt for their own food. And watch the cubs play – chasing, tackling and play-fighting. At last, at two years old, the cubs are ready to look after themselves, and one day they will start a family of their own.