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Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Gordon Lightfoot, Ian Wallace
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press
The text of Gordon Lightfoot’s classic 1967 ballad, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” is enhanced with Canadian artist Ian Wallace’s detailed illustrations that bring to life the details of the building of our national railway. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, Canada’s diverse landscapes are united by the “ribbon of steel”, whose construction involved financiers, navvies, immigrant workers, and First Nations, all whose input was critical to its completion. Their toils, small pleasures, and accomplishments are given depth in this illustrated book that integrates history, art, music and poetry beautifully.
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Fatty Legs
Christy Jordan-Fenton, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, Liz Amini-Holmes
Annick Press
The moving memoir of an Inuit girl who emerges from a residential school with her spirit intact. Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a black-cloaked nun who immediately dislikes her. Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to all the girls — all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant Margaret is the laughingstock of the entire school.
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Highway of Heroes
Kathy Stinson
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
A boy's father, a Canadian soldier, has died in Afghanistan. Using photographs and quotes this book shows how his father is repatriated to CFB Trenton and then travels the Highway of Heroes, part of Highway 401, to Toronto. The support of strangers standing on bridges and on the roadsides during the winter trip helps the boy and his family cope with the loss of his father. They realize Canadians are thankful and proud for the sacrifice his father, a Canadian hero, made. Learn how this section of Highway 401 came to be named the Highway of Heroes as well as how the Route of Heroes was named.
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No Safe Place
Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press
This is a story of hope and dreams. Abdul, along with two other illegal migrants, embark on a journey that will take them to England where they hope for a better life. Abdul sneaks onboard a smuggler’s boat and meets Cheslav from Russia and Rosalia from Romania, who like him, are trying to start over in a new land. Throughout the novel the three do their best to avoid each other, but end up having to rely on each other in other to achieve their goal.
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Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet
Janet Wilson
Second Story Press
Through picture book style with painted illustrations, the profiles and achievements of ten young environmental activists from around the world are presented. The profiles are inspiring and the causes are important for the future of our planet. Included are Kruti Parekh from India who makes magic with recycling, Janine Licare in Costa Rica, who co-founded Kids Saving the Rainforest and Ryan Hrelijac from Canada, who is building wells in Africa to provide clean water for the people. Each story is simply told with portraits and photos. Readers are left with the knowledge of how each young person is helping the earth and they can too!
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Out of Darkness: The Jeff Healey Story
Cindy Watson
Dundurn Press
From the moment three-year-old Jeff Healey first laid a guitar across his lap in what was to become his signature style, it was clear he was no ordinary kid. Losing both eyes to retinoblastoma opened a door to another world for Jeff, a newly adopted infant. Out of darkness he created music, becoming one of the most influential blues-rock and jazz performers of our time, beginning with his first hit album, See the Light.
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The Second Wife
Brenda Chapman
Raven Books/Orca Book Publishers
Gwen Lake is a forty-five-year-old police officer with a desk job, an ex-husband and a future not even close to the American dream. A year after her divorce, and more out of boredom and curiosity than anything else, she agrees to a meeting with her ex's new wife. She has no idea that the encounter will lead to murder. And she has decidedly mixed emotions when her ex-husband is arrested for the crime.
Instead of accepting the lead detective's advice to book a Club Med vacation and leave the investigation to the professionals, Gwen decides to work the case on her own. Her life is about to get a lot less predictable and a lot more dangerous.
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Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged
Jody Nyasha Warner, Richard Rudnicki
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press
In Nova Scotia, in 1946, an usher in a movie theatre told Viola Desmond to move from her main floor seat up to the balcony because she was black. She refused to budge. In no time at all, the police arrived and took Viola to jail. The next day she was charged and fined, but she vowed to continue her struggle against such unfair rules.
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