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Shortlisted for the 2005 Young Adult Canadian Book Award Susanna's Quill is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Susanna Moodie, writer and pioneer, by award-winning author Julie Johnston. The story takes us into Susanna’s genteel English childhood, through her humorous teenage attempts at writing, growing to her burgeoning independence, marriage to Dunbar Moodie, and their decision to emigrate from England. To the Moodies, Canada was the answer to their prayers. They would have th...

Long before Oscar Peterson became a virtuoso jazz pianist, he was a boy who loved to play the trumpet. When a bout of childhood tuberculosis weakened his lungs, Oscar could no longer play his beloved instrument. He took up piano and the rest is history: Oscar went on to become an international jazz piano sensation. Oscar Lives Next Door is a fictional story inspired by these facts. The book imagines a next-door neighbor for Oscar named Millie, who gets into mischief with him but also appreciates...

Canada's greatest war hero brought vividly to lifeAs a boy, Billy Bishop was a crack shot - he had a sharp eye and great aim. Nearly flunking out of Royal Military College in Kingston, he eagerly signed up for duty when the First World War broke out. Sent first to England, Bishop discovered his true love: the Royal Flying Corps. Up in the air, the fighting may have been "cleaner" - no trenches, no mud, no mustard gas - but it was extremely dangerous and difficult. In fact, most fighter pilots in...

During World War II, nurse Aileen Rogers and her stuffed bear, Teddy, greet English "guest children" sent overseas for safety. Teddy befriends homesick, young William and his sister Grace, sharing the experience of the cross-country train ride and five years on a host family's farm. Based on real events. During World War II, 10,000 children from British cities were sent to live with host families in Canada, the United States, and other nations away from the war zone. Bear on the Homefront tells...

The Golden Road is a 1913 novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. The plot is based around the character Beverley who remembers his childhood days with his brother Felix and friends and cousins Felicity, Cecily, Dan, Sara Stanley (the "Story Girl"), hired-boy Peter and neighbor Sara Ray. The children often played in their family's orchard and had many adventures, even creating their own newspaper, called Our Magazine.

A warm and witty portrait of child prodigy and world-famous classical musician Glenn Gould.  Glenn was a child who knew his own mind — he liked boats but did not like fishing; he enjoyed puns and pranks but did not like bullying; he loved learning but did not like school … but more than anything else he loved to play the piano.  Glenn had a professional performing career by the time he was fifteen; he gave concerts all over the world in his twenties. He became best known for his interpretation o...

Although Kathy loves poetry, she is far too shy to recite it in front of her class. But the story of Pauline Johnson, renowned as the "Mohawk Princess," inspires Kathy to overcome her stage fright. Pauline, from the Grand River Reserve in Ontario, crisscrossed the country, reciting her poems to far-flung communities, making her among the most beloved literary figure of the Edwardian era. The Poet is one book in the Tales from Big Spirit series. Tales from Big Spirit is a unique seven-book graph...

For any child who loves art, it would be the gift of a lifetime to be able to study with a great contemporary artist. This delightful story-poem recreates the wonderful world of "the art room," where famous Northwest Coast painter Emily Carr taught drawing and painting to children to support herself in the early 1900s. Filled with Carr's love of animals, her insistence on painting from life and nature, and the sense of fun and freedom that she inspired in her young students, author Susan Vande G...

A gorgeous picture book that pays homage to aviator Freddie Carmichael — the first Indigenous commercial pilot in the Arctic —with each month of the year highlighting moments from his life, the beauty of the North and the power of dreams. When Freddie was young, he saw a plane up close for the first time when it dropped off supplies at his family’s remote bush camp. He was instantly hooked. Freddie has flown for nearly seventy years, doing everything from supply runs to search and rescue to tr...

Even hockey legends start with hand-me-downs. A beautifully illustrated true childhood story about hockey great Bobby Orr. Bobby eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. So when his birthday is coming up, he only wants one thing: new skates. He's seen the exact pair he wants in the shop window: sparkling blades, shiny leather, clean new laces tied in perfect bows. But when Bobby opens his gift, he's dismayed to find hand-me-down skates: scuffed leather, nicked blades, floppy laces. Once Bobby breaks...