Americas

Materials from the Americas

Have I Got A Book For You!

Mr. Al Foxword is a salesman. Al can sell anything. You can’t help but be impressed by his lineup of satisfied customers: he’s sold an icebox to a penguin, an umbrella to a fish and a dirt vacuum to a mole. Al knows you’re looking for a great book, and this is your lucky day. Say goodbye to books that leave you bored and uninspired. Research shows that 100 percent of Al’s customers notice a dramatic increase in happiness after buying his book. Not totally convinced yet? Just when you think you’re ready to close the book on this relentless salesman, he comes up with a clever tactic that you simply can’t refuse. The retro design and the sheer absurdity of Foxword’s powers of persuasion make for an off-the-wall picture book with major crossover appeal that pokes fun at our hard-sell society.

Stanley’s Beauty Contest

Stanley’s people are so preoccupied with primping him for the dog show in the park that they forgot his breakfast. This makes Stanley “very” grumpy. At the park, Stanley meets up with his old friends Nutsy, Alice and Gassy Jack. Together the friends look longingly at the grand prize: the biggest, most scrumptious-smelling dog cookie ever. Once Stanley gets a whiff of its bubbling cheese, sizzling bacon and apple pie aromas, he’s determined to win. So what if he’s not the fastest, most talented or most beautiful dog in the show? We know that Stanley’s rumbling tummy always leads him into adventure — or a big pile of trouble — and this time is no exception. Join Stanley and his friends in the best dogpile ever as they show us humans that dogs know best, and that what really counts is having fun!

The Legend Of Ninja Cowboy Bear

The ninja, the cowboy and the bear do everything together — they paint pictures, compare cloud shapes in the sky, fly kites and much more. Though each friend is very different from one another, they enjoy each other’s company. Until one day when they begin quarreling and compete to see which one is the best. The bear can pile up rocks the highest. The cowboy can collect the most raspberries. The ninja can catch the most rabbits. When each contest leads to more resentment, it seems the friends will never stop disagreeing. Only when they learn to be considerate of their differences do they finally realize how much they appreciate each other. The cute, yet stylized artwork combined with a fun story about friendship and celebrating differences make this legend an unforgettable one. This playfully illustrated picture book also includes instructions for the Ninja-Cowboy-Bear game, which is similar to Rock Paper Scissors except that kids use their whole body.

The White Stone in the Castle Wall

It may not be true but it could be – this story of how a single white stone came to be in the wall surrounding Casa Loma, the magnificent medieval castle that stands in the middle of Toronto. John Tommy Fiddich lives in Yorkville, tends the family vegetable patch, and considers himself the “luckiest boy in town.” When a hailstorm wipes out the vegetables, he goes from being the luckiest to the unluckiest. Then word gets out that Henry Pellatt, the eccentric millionaire who brought light to the city and built Casa Loma, is offering one dollar for brown stones to place in the wall going up around the castle. After trudging through the city all day with his stone, John reaches the castle only to find that rain has washed it white. But Henry Pellatt accepts the stone for his wall, rewarding John for his hard work, making him again “the luckiest boy in town.” The trip through the streets of Toronto, from Yorkville to Casa Loma, makes for a book as enchanting to young and old as the fabulous castle that inspired it.

Coyote Winter

In the worst winter in living memory. The people in the tiny northern Alberta Hutterite colony are confined by the relentless snow. Finally the thaw comes and the colony’s school children and their teacher are able to take their first walk of spring.To their dismay, the children discover a coyote caught in a trap. When they release it they are amazed to find that the animal makes no attempt to bite or to run away. Instead, it scampers like a dog, delighting in a freedom that every living creature can understand.The recording of this extraordinary event was the teacher’s dying wish. Her sister, Jacquelinne White, has told the story in evocative words and paintings.

Click!

As morning breaks over a snowy landscape, a little cub eagerly starts the day. And in a snow-covered cabin, a small hunter bounces on the great hunter’s bed as he too gets ready for a big adventure. But the moment this delightful parallel story progresses, the reader sees that the “hunters” are armed with cameras only, as they look for an opportunity to take a picture from a safe distance.But little bears and little hunters have a way of wandering off. And even though their mothers take care to protect the young, it isn’t long before bear and boy find themselves face to face. Then, CLICK, the little hunter gets his shot before the two go their separate ways to find their mothers again.A rhythmic fantasy for all young adventurers ready to explore, Click! captures just the right balance of gentle humor and comforting warmth.

Ortega

With a thick finger he slowly traced the path of a stray raindrop that had landed near the corner of his eye and trickled down his cheek. And he thought to himself that it was probably a very good thing that gorillas didn’t know how to cry. Raised in a laboratory, Ortega might seem nearly human to his scientist-caregivers, but to the children at his new school, a talking gorilla is nothing but a freak. Unless he wants to spend the rest of his life locked in a cage, however, Ortega is going to have to change people’s minds. More than a comic-adventure novel, Ortega asks the reader to reflect upon the limits of science, imagine how it feels to be profoundly different from those around you and, most of all, consider what it really means to be human.