Americas

Materials from the Americas

Fiendish Deeds (Joy Of Spooking)

Do you dare set foot in Spooking?

It’s the terrible town on the hideous hill — and Joy Wells is a proud resident. A fan of classic horror stories, Joy is convinced that famous author E. A. Peugeot based his spine-tingling tales on Spooking. Take the eerie similarities between the nearby swamp and the setting of his masterpiece, “The Bawl of the Bog Fiend.” Could the story be true? Could the bog fiend be on the loose?

Things become truly horrifying when Joy learns that Darlington, the despicable suburban city where she is forced to go to school, is planning to build a water park over her beloved bog. It is up to her to safeguard the endangered area and its secrets. Little does she know that there is someone determined to destroy not only the bog but the town of Spooking itself — and anyone who dares stand in his way.

P. J. Bracegirdle spins a yarn of delicious devilry and macabre mayhem in the very first book of The Joy of Spooking trilogy.

Lord of the Sky

A breathtakingly illustrated tribute to the art and mythology of West Coast native culture. In this exquisitely illustrated picture book, based on the animated short film of the same name, Linda Zeman-Spaleny transports young readers to a bygone time when nothing lived in the universe, when “out of the darkness came the Great Raven, who brought the Sun to the children of the North Pacific Coast.” Legend tells of a boy, living by the sea, who befriends the ravens, sharing his food with them. But some of the ravens are greedy, and the village boys decide to teach them a lesson by sending a swift and fatal arrow. When darkness descends upon the land, the wise elder tells the villagers that only the Lord of the Sky can restore the Sun, so the boy begins an arduous journey in search of him. . . .In this riveting folktale, Linda Zeman-Spaleny pays tribute to her emigration from Eastern Europe and her arrival in British Columbia, where she saw beautiful totem poles for the first time. Award-winning artist Ludmila Zeman’s lush, vibrant artwork complements this timeless tale with modern themes and the message that we need to care for our world in order to preserve it.

Rhymes Round the World

Sweet and full of wonder, from catchy to quiet, children’s poems captivate readers of all ages. Here, familiar nursery rhymes and folk songs join poetry selections from many traditions. Recall old favorites and discover new poems, from Poland to Mozambique, Japan to Mexico, and every corner in between. Cheerful illustrations capture the beauty of diversity the world over.

Kira (Shadow Of The Dragon)

Under no circumstances are girls EVER to be allowed anywhere near dragons. THE PENALTY FOR ANY GIRL CAUGHT BREAKING THE FIRST LAW IS DEATH. Kira is twelve, and strong willed. The daughter of a retired dragon knight, she yearns for adventure and dreams of following in her father’s footsteps astride her own magnificent mount. But this can never happen. According to the ‘stupid laws’ of the kingdom, she must be married by thirteen. Kira hates it, but being a girl she has no choice. Then Lord Dorcon arrives, in a whirl of destruction and fire and Kira knows the real fight is just beginning. To stand a chance of seeing her family again, and to protect the life of her younger sister, she will need every bit of willpower she can find. Let the battle commence.

The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus (3 Complete Adventures In One Volume, Vol. 1)

As all Tintin fans know, once you’ve read one of his terrific adventures, you’ve got to read another and then another. Each of these collections contains three classic and fully complete Tintin adventures. Packed with all the color, wit, and derring-do that has made Tintin one of the world’s most beloved comic characters, these books are easy to carry and fun to read. each.

The Corps Of The Bare-Boned Plane

When an accident leaves teenage cousins Meline and Jocelyn parentless, they come to live with their unknown and eccentric Uncle Marten on his private island. They soon discover that the island has a history as tragic as their own: it was once an air force training camp, led by a mad commander whose crazed plan to train pilots to fly airplanes without instruments sent eleven pilots to their deaths. Jocelyn, Meline, and Uncle Marten are soon joined on this island of wrecked planes and wrecked men by an elderly Austrian housekeeper, a very mysterious butler, a cat, and a dog. But to Jocelyn and Meline, being in a strange new place around strange new people only underscores the fact that the world they once knew has ended. Told in the alternating voices of four characters dealing with grief in different ways, Polly Horvath’s new novel is a rich and complicated story about loss and the possibility— and impossibility—of beginning again.

Landing, The

Will Ben ever escape the Landing? The hardscrabble farm on the shores of Lake Muskoka can’t generate a living, so Ben’s Uncle Henry sells goods and gas to cottagers from the dock known as Cooks Landing. It had never been much of a living and since the Depression hit, it’s even less. Ben’s thinking a lot these days, and it’s making him miserable. He’s thinking about how unfair it is that his uncle only cares about work. He’s thinking about what he really wants to do: play the violin. These days, he’s lucky to snatch the odd bit of practice between chores, playing to the chickens in the henhouse. A new job fixing up the grand old cottage on nearby Pine Island seems at first to be just one more thing to keep Ben away from his violin. After he meets the island’s owner, Ben changes his mind. Ruth Chapman is a cultured and wealthy woman from New York who introduces Ben to an unfamiliar, liberating world. After Ben plays violin for Ruth and her admiring friends, it only makes him more desperate to flee. Then, during a stormy night on Lake Muskoka, everything changes.

A Wizard In Love

A retired wizard and his cat discover love in a most unexpected way!Hector, a retired wizard, lives happily with his cat, Poison, in a dilapidated house at the edge of the forest. Hector and Poison are content to pass the time in front of the TV, munching cookies. Their days are peaceful and quiet. That is until a dreadful noise begins to pour out of the old abandoned house across the road. It seems Hector and Poison have a new neighbor, and things will never be the same again.

The Hollow Tree

Winner of the 1999 Canadian Governor General’s Award. It is 1777, and 15-year-old Phoebe Olcott is thrown headlong into the turmoil of war when her beloved cousin Gideon is hanged for being a British spy. When she finds a secret message from Gideon, containing the names of Loyalist families to be protected by the King’s soldiers, she decides to deliver it to the British general at Fort Ticonderoga. Thus begins an enthralling wilderness journey, where Phoebe is accompanied by a cat, a bear cub, and Jem Morrissay, a young Loyalist heading to British Canada himself. Award-winning author Janet Lunn has brought a little-known piece of our history to vivid life.