The Black Sheep

This teen romance is rather wholesome, and that’s not just because it’s about a girl who goes to live with a save-the-earth, granola-eating hippie family. Sandy Rideout and Yvonne Collins depend on the formulae of ... Read More »

June 18, 2007

Baboon

By David Jones

Returning to the African savannah where they study baboons, 14-year-old Gerry and his biologist parents go down in a plane crash. When Gerry awakens, his parents are gone and he is transformed. Suddenly, he is ... Read More »

June 18, 2007

The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places

By Cora Lee and Gillian O'Reilly; Virginia Gray, illus.

Given the growing list of titles like this that combine fiction and non-fiction, it’s time to coin a new term to describe such a book. Perhaps “info-fiction” might be appropriate.The “info” part of this book ... Read More »

June 18, 2007

Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission

By Christopher Paul Curtis

Christopher Paul Curtis’s first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, won the Newbery Honor, the Coretta Scott King Honor, and others, and his next book, Bucking the Sarge, received similar acclaim. Most recently, ... Read More »

June 18, 2007

Island of Hope and Sorrow: The Story of Grosse Ile

By Anne Renaud

During its 105 years of service as a quarantine station, Grosse Île was the first stop in the New World for more than 4 million immigrants. Part of a new Lobster Press series on Canadian ... Read More »

June 18, 2007

★ From Boneshakers to Choppers: The Rip-Roaring History of Motorcycles

By Lisa Smedman

It is hard to imagine a better read for young motorcycle enthusiasts than From Boneshakers to Choppers. As the subtitle suggests, this book looks at the history of the motor bicycle, as it was first ... Read More »

June 18, 2007

Essex County Vol. 1: Tales from the Farm

By Jeff Lemire

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a young boy on a farm discovers he can fly. That the boy is only daydreaming is where Jeff Lemire’s Tales from the Farm departs from more familiar ... Read More »

June 18, 2007 | Filed under: Graphica

Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life

By Heather Mallick

In her latest book, former Globe and Mail columnist Heather Mallick offers her characteristically outspoken and unapologetic opinions on this mess we call modern life.Her perspective, in these previously unpublished essays, is that the world ... Read More »

June 14, 2007 | Filed under: Reference

Whose War Is It?: How Canada Can Survive the Post-9/11 World

By J.L. Granatstein

Both of these books are concerned with defining Canada’s “national interests.” Granatstein’s Whose War Is It? holds that the country’s interests lie firmly with the U.S., while McQuaig, in Holding the Bully’s Coat, argues that ... Read More »

June 14, 2007 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs