Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Gift Certificates
Gift certificates are now available!
Perfect for Christmas gift giving.
Sylvan Lake Library membership gift certificates $20
Sylvan Lake Film Society gift certificates $8
(good for one film).
Get yours today!
Friday, November 21, 2014
Rogers Writer's Trust Fiction Winner 2014
The winner of the Rogers Writer's Trust $25 000 prize is Miriam Toews for All My Puny Sorrows
Miriam Toews is beloved for her irresistible voice, for mingling laughter and heartwrenching poignancy like no other writer. In her most passionate novel yet, she brings us the riveting story of two sisters, and a love that illuminates life. You won't forget Elf and Yoli, two smart and loving sisters. Elfrieda, a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die. Yolandi, divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men as she tries to find true love: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive. Yoli is a beguiling mess, wickedly funny even as she stumbles through life struggling to keep her teenage kids and mother happy, her exes from hating her, her sister from killing herself and her own heart from breaking. But Elf's latest suicide attempt is a shock: she is three weeks away from the opening of her highly anticipated international tour. Her long-time agent has been calling and neither Yoli nor Elf's loving husband knows what to tell him. Can she be nursed back to "health" in time? Does it matter? As the situation becomes ever more complicated, Yoli faces the most terrifying decision of her life. All My Puny Sorrows , at once tender and unquiet, offers a profound reflection on the limits of love, and the sometimes unimaginable challenges we experience when childhood becomes a new country of adult commitments and responsibilities. In her beautifully rendered new novel, Miriam Toews gives us a startling demonstration of how to carry on with hope and love and the business of living even when grief loads the heart.
Author Notes:
Miriam Toews is the author of five previous bestselling novels: Summer of My Amazing Luck , A Boy of Good Breeding , A Complicated Kindness (Canada Reads 2006, Canada Reads Canadian Bestseller of the Decade 2010), The Flying Troutmans , and Irma Voth , and one work of non-fiction, Swing Low: A Life . She is a winner of the Governor General's Award for Fiction, the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the Writers Trust Marian Engel/Timothy Findley Award. She lives in Toronto.
Miriam Toews is beloved for her irresistible voice, for mingling laughter and heartwrenching poignancy like no other writer. In her most passionate novel yet, she brings us the riveting story of two sisters, and a love that illuminates life. You won't forget Elf and Yoli, two smart and loving sisters. Elfrieda, a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die. Yolandi, divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men as she tries to find true love: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive. Yoli is a beguiling mess, wickedly funny even as she stumbles through life struggling to keep her teenage kids and mother happy, her exes from hating her, her sister from killing herself and her own heart from breaking. But Elf's latest suicide attempt is a shock: she is three weeks away from the opening of her highly anticipated international tour. Her long-time agent has been calling and neither Yoli nor Elf's loving husband knows what to tell him. Can she be nursed back to "health" in time? Does it matter? As the situation becomes ever more complicated, Yoli faces the most terrifying decision of her life. All My Puny Sorrows , at once tender and unquiet, offers a profound reflection on the limits of love, and the sometimes unimaginable challenges we experience when childhood becomes a new country of adult commitments and responsibilities. In her beautifully rendered new novel, Miriam Toews gives us a startling demonstration of how to carry on with hope and love and the business of living even when grief loads the heart.
Author Notes:
Miriam Toews is the author of five previous bestselling novels: Summer of My Amazing Luck , A Boy of Good Breeding , A Complicated Kindness (Canada Reads 2006, Canada Reads Canadian Bestseller of the Decade 2010), The Flying Troutmans , and Irma Voth , and one work of non-fiction, Swing Low: A Life . She is a winner of the Governor General's Award for Fiction, the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the Writers Trust Marian Engel/Timothy Findley Award. She lives in Toronto.
Governor General Literary Award Winners 2014
The winners of the Governor General Literary Awards for 2014 were announced recently. The winners were:
Fiction: Thomas King for The Back of the Turtle
This is Thomas King's first literary novel in 15 years and follows on the success of the award-winning and bestselling The Inconvenient Indian and his beloved Green Grass, Running Water and Truth and Bright Water, both of which continue to be taught in Canadian schools and universities. Green Grass, Running Water is widely considered a contemporary Canadian classic. In The Back of the Turtle, Gabriel returns to Smoke River, the reserve where his mother grew up and to which she returned with Gabriel's sister. The reserve is deserted after an environmental disaster killed the population, including Gabriel's family, and the wildlife. Gabriel, a brilliant scientist working for Domidion, created GreenSweep, and indirectly led to the crisis. Now he has come to see the damage and to kill himself in the sea. But as he prepares to let the water take him, he sees a young girl in the waves. Plunging in, he saves her, and soon is saving others. Who are these people with their long black hair and almond eyes who have fallen from the sky? Filled with brilliant characters, trademark wit, wordplay and a thorough knowledge of native myth and story-telling, this novel is a masterpiece by one of our most important writers.
Non-Fiction: Michael Harris for The End of Absence: Reclaiming what we've lost in a world of constant connection
Only one generation in history (ours) will experience life both with and without the Internet. For everyone who follows us, online life will simply be the air they breathe. Today, we revel in ubiquitous information and constant connection, rarely stopping to consider the implications for our logged-on lives. Michael Harris chronicles this massive shift, exploring what we've gained-and lost-in the bargain. In this eloquent and thought-provoking book, Harris argues that our greatest loss has been that of absence itself-of silence, wonder and solitude. It's a surprisingly precious commodity, and one we have less of every year. Drawing on a vast trove of research and scores of interviews with global experts, Harris explores this "loss of lack" in chapters devoted to every corner of our lives, from sex and commerce to memory and attention span. The book's message is urgent: once we've lost the gift of absence, we may never remember its value.
Poetry: Arleen Paré for Lake of Two Mountains
Drama: Jordan Tannahill for Age of Minority: three solo plays
Three of Jordan Tannahill's fresh and riveting works are featured in this collection, including Get Yourself Home Skyler James , Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes , and rihannaboi95 . Based on a true story, Get Yourself Home Skyler James follows the harrowing journey of a young lesbian who defects from the army when she is outed by fellow soldiers. Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes chronicles the last hour of Peter Fechter's life, a teenager in East Berlin shot while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall in 1962 with his companion. Finally, the award-winning rihannaboi95 centers around a Toronto teen whose world comes crashing in when YouTube videos of him dancing to songs by his favourite pop heroine go viral. Together these solo plays explore the lives of three queer youth and their resilience in the face of violence and intolerance. #147;#133;one of Canada's most promising young independent theatre artists."#151;Alison Broverman, Toronto Star Jordan Tannahill is a Toronto-based playwright, director, and filmmaker. Through his company Suburban Beast, he has developed and presented plays at theatres including Buddies in Bad Times, Canadian Stage, Theatre Passe Muraille, and the Theatre Centre. Jordan is the 2011 recipient of the Inside Out Film Festival's Emerging Canadian Artist Award, the 2011 Ken McDougall Award for Emerging Directors, and the 2012 Enbridge playRites Award. He runs a storefront theatre called Videofag in Toronto's Kensington Market with his partner William.
Children's Literature-Text: Raziel Reid for When Everything feels like the Movies
An edgy and extravagant YA novel about a glamorous boy named Jude. School is just like a film set: there's The Crew, who make things happen, The Extras who fill the empty desks, and The Movie Stars, whom everyone wants tagged in their Facebook photos. But Jude doesn't fit in. He's not part of The Crew because he isn't about to do anything unless it's court-appointed; he's not an Extra because nothing about him is anonymous; and he's not a Movie Star because even though everyone know his name like an A-lister, he isn't invited to the cool parties. As the director calls action, Jude is the flamer that lights the set on fire. Before everything turns to ashes from the resulting inferno, Jude drags his best friend Angela off the casting couch and into enough melodrama to incite the paparazzi, all while trying to fend off the haters and win the heart of his favourite co-star Luke Morris. It's a total train wreck! But train wrecks always make the front page.
Children's Literature-Illustration: Jillian Tamaki for This One Summer
Rose and Windy are summer friends whose families have visited Awago Beach for as long as they can remember. But this year is different, and they soon find themselves tangled in teen love and family crisis. From the creators of Skim comes an investigation into the mysterious world of adults. Sure, Rose's dad is still making cheesy and embarrassing jokes, but her mother is acting like she doesn't even want to be there. Plus, being at the cottage isn't just about going to the beach anymore. Now Rose and Windy are spending a lot of their time renting scary movies and spying on the teenagers who work at the corner store, as well as learning stuff about sex no one mentioned in health class. Pretty soon everything is messed up. Rose's father leaves the cottage and returns to the city, and her mother becomes more and more withdrawn. While her family is falling to pieces, Rose focuses her attention on Dunc, a teenager working at the local corner store. When Jenny, Dunc's girlfriend, claims to be pregnant, the girls realize that the teenagers are keeping just as many secrets as the adults in their lives. No one seems to want to talk about the things that matter. When the tension between Dunc and Jenny boils over, Jenny makes a desperate and destructive move and Rose's mother is galvanized into action. In the aftermath, nothing is completely resolved, but secrets have been aired, which means that things are at least a bit better for everyone. For Rose and Windy, the end of summer brings the realization that, while Awago Beach might always be the same, they have both been changed forever. From Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, creators of the multi-award-winning graphic novel Skim, comes a stunning and authentic story of friendship, illustrated with subtly heart-breaking moments and pure summer joy.
Translation -French to English: Peter Feldstein for Paul-Émile Borduas : A critical biography
Fiction: Thomas King for The Back of the Turtle
This is Thomas King's first literary novel in 15 years and follows on the success of the award-winning and bestselling The Inconvenient Indian and his beloved Green Grass, Running Water and Truth and Bright Water, both of which continue to be taught in Canadian schools and universities. Green Grass, Running Water is widely considered a contemporary Canadian classic. In The Back of the Turtle, Gabriel returns to Smoke River, the reserve where his mother grew up and to which she returned with Gabriel's sister. The reserve is deserted after an environmental disaster killed the population, including Gabriel's family, and the wildlife. Gabriel, a brilliant scientist working for Domidion, created GreenSweep, and indirectly led to the crisis. Now he has come to see the damage and to kill himself in the sea. But as he prepares to let the water take him, he sees a young girl in the waves. Plunging in, he saves her, and soon is saving others. Who are these people with their long black hair and almond eyes who have fallen from the sky? Filled with brilliant characters, trademark wit, wordplay and a thorough knowledge of native myth and story-telling, this novel is a masterpiece by one of our most important writers.
Non-Fiction: Michael Harris for The End of Absence: Reclaiming what we've lost in a world of constant connection
Only one generation in history (ours) will experience life both with and without the Internet. For everyone who follows us, online life will simply be the air they breathe. Today, we revel in ubiquitous information and constant connection, rarely stopping to consider the implications for our logged-on lives. Michael Harris chronicles this massive shift, exploring what we've gained-and lost-in the bargain. In this eloquent and thought-provoking book, Harris argues that our greatest loss has been that of absence itself-of silence, wonder and solitude. It's a surprisingly precious commodity, and one we have less of every year. Drawing on a vast trove of research and scores of interviews with global experts, Harris explores this "loss of lack" in chapters devoted to every corner of our lives, from sex and commerce to memory and attention span. The book's message is urgent: once we've lost the gift of absence, we may never remember its value.Poetry: Arleen Paré for Lake of Two Mountains
Drama: Jordan Tannahill for Age of Minority: three solo plays
Three of Jordan Tannahill's fresh and riveting works are featured in this collection, including Get Yourself Home Skyler James , Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes , and rihannaboi95 . Based on a true story, Get Yourself Home Skyler James follows the harrowing journey of a young lesbian who defects from the army when she is outed by fellow soldiers. Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes chronicles the last hour of Peter Fechter's life, a teenager in East Berlin shot while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall in 1962 with his companion. Finally, the award-winning rihannaboi95 centers around a Toronto teen whose world comes crashing in when YouTube videos of him dancing to songs by his favourite pop heroine go viral. Together these solo plays explore the lives of three queer youth and their resilience in the face of violence and intolerance. #147;#133;one of Canada's most promising young independent theatre artists."#151;Alison Broverman, Toronto Star Jordan Tannahill is a Toronto-based playwright, director, and filmmaker. Through his company Suburban Beast, he has developed and presented plays at theatres including Buddies in Bad Times, Canadian Stage, Theatre Passe Muraille, and the Theatre Centre. Jordan is the 2011 recipient of the Inside Out Film Festival's Emerging Canadian Artist Award, the 2011 Ken McDougall Award for Emerging Directors, and the 2012 Enbridge playRites Award. He runs a storefront theatre called Videofag in Toronto's Kensington Market with his partner William.
Children's Literature-Text: Raziel Reid for When Everything feels like the Movies
An edgy and extravagant YA novel about a glamorous boy named Jude. School is just like a film set: there's The Crew, who make things happen, The Extras who fill the empty desks, and The Movie Stars, whom everyone wants tagged in their Facebook photos. But Jude doesn't fit in. He's not part of The Crew because he isn't about to do anything unless it's court-appointed; he's not an Extra because nothing about him is anonymous; and he's not a Movie Star because even though everyone know his name like an A-lister, he isn't invited to the cool parties. As the director calls action, Jude is the flamer that lights the set on fire. Before everything turns to ashes from the resulting inferno, Jude drags his best friend Angela off the casting couch and into enough melodrama to incite the paparazzi, all while trying to fend off the haters and win the heart of his favourite co-star Luke Morris. It's a total train wreck! But train wrecks always make the front page.
Children's Literature-Illustration: Jillian Tamaki for This One Summer
Rose and Windy are summer friends whose families have visited Awago Beach for as long as they can remember. But this year is different, and they soon find themselves tangled in teen love and family crisis. From the creators of Skim comes an investigation into the mysterious world of adults. Sure, Rose's dad is still making cheesy and embarrassing jokes, but her mother is acting like she doesn't even want to be there. Plus, being at the cottage isn't just about going to the beach anymore. Now Rose and Windy are spending a lot of their time renting scary movies and spying on the teenagers who work at the corner store, as well as learning stuff about sex no one mentioned in health class. Pretty soon everything is messed up. Rose's father leaves the cottage and returns to the city, and her mother becomes more and more withdrawn. While her family is falling to pieces, Rose focuses her attention on Dunc, a teenager working at the local corner store. When Jenny, Dunc's girlfriend, claims to be pregnant, the girls realize that the teenagers are keeping just as many secrets as the adults in their lives. No one seems to want to talk about the things that matter. When the tension between Dunc and Jenny boils over, Jenny makes a desperate and destructive move and Rose's mother is galvanized into action. In the aftermath, nothing is completely resolved, but secrets have been aired, which means that things are at least a bit better for everyone. For Rose and Windy, the end of summer brings the realization that, while Awago Beach might always be the same, they have both been changed forever. From Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, creators of the multi-award-winning graphic novel Skim, comes a stunning and authentic story of friendship, illustrated with subtly heart-breaking moments and pure summer joy.
Translation -French to English: Peter Feldstein for Paul-Émile Borduas : A critical biography
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Giller Prize Winner 2014
If you haven't heard, Sean Michaels is the Giller Prize winner for his novel Us Conductors. He wins $100 000 and the coveted statue.
Us Conductors is a beautiful, haunting, brilliant novel inspired by the true life and loves of the Russian scientist, inventor and spy Lev Termen--creator of the theremin. In a finely woven series of flashbacks and correspondence, Us Conductors takes us from the glitz and glam of New York in the 1930s to the gulags and scientific camps of the Soviet Union. Lev Termen is imprisoned on a ship steaming its way from New York City to the Soviet Union. He is writing a letter to his "one true love," Clara Rockmore, the finest theremin player in the world. From there we learn Termen's story: his early days as a scientist in Leningrad, and the acclaim he received as the inventor of the theremin, eventually coming to New York under the aegis of the Russian state. There he stays, teaching eager music students, making his name, and swiftly falling in love with Clara. But it isn't long until he has fallen in with Russian spooks, slipping through the shadows of a budding Cold War, with cold-blooded results. The novel builds to a crescendo as Termen returns to Russia, where he is imprisoned in a Siberian gulag and later brought to Moscow, tasked with eavesdropping on Stalin himself. Us Conductors is a book of longing and electricity. Like Termen's own life, it is steeped in beauty, wonder and looping heartbreak. How strong is unrequited love? What does it mean when it is the only thing keeping you alive? This sublime debut inhabits the idea of invention on every level, no more so than in its depiction of Termen's endless feelings for Clara--against every realistic odd. For what else is love, but the greatest invention of all?
I had never heard the theremin, check it out!
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
War Stories for Young Adults
Every November we take time to remember those fallen soldiers who gave their lives in service of their country, and for our freedom.
Below are a selection of War Stories geared towards a Young Adult audience, available from the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library.
"Some things are worth fighting for.
Of all his friends, Ivan is the only one looking forward to war.
That's because Ivan has never backed down from a fight--especially when it comes to fighting for what's right. He has protected his friends from bullies for years. And now, as war erupts in Vietnam, Ivan wants nothing more than to fight for his country, just as his father did in World War II.
Enlisting in the United States Army, Ivan is trained to be a sniper. And he's good at it. Very good. But Vietnam is not the war he was expecting. Somehow the glory and heroism of his father's war stories do not come so easily in the jungle.
Now, for the first time, Ivan is forced to question what he's really fighting for . . . and whether it's a fight he can hope to win." - Scholastic Press
These titles and more available at your Library!
Below are a selection of War Stories geared towards a Young Adult audience, available from the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library.
Crescent, by Homer Hickam
"Crescent is a crowhopper—a genetically modified mercenary programmed for ruthless warfare. For her it’s a disaster when a young man denies her the chance to die in battle. When Crater Trueblood captures her, takes her home with him to Moontown, and actually treats her kindly? That’s beyond comprehension.
Crater is weary of war. He’s a miner, not a soldier. He’d rather spend time working than battle the infernal crowhoppers and their bosses from earth. When he captures a little crowhopper and brings her home, he’s surprised to enjoy her company. When she’s falsely accused of murder, he becomes an outlaw to help her escape.
Maria Medaris, like her grandfather, is a ruthless competitor in business and in life. She’s well on her way to building an empire for herself. But she’s haunted by the memory of a young man she traveled with three years earlier, the man she’s vowed never to see again.
Crater Trueblood.
When a murderous band of assassins attack, Crescent, Crater, and Maria escape into the “big suck” and trek with a caravan of mining pioneers toward a lunar ghost town called Endless Dust. To survive they must do more than navigate the beautiful, desolate moonscape and battle a persistent band of crowhoppers. They must decide what—and who—is truly worth fighting for." - Homer Hickam
The Prisoner, by Robert Muchamore
"Out Now!
JUNE 1943 Marc Kilgour is imprisoned in a brutal German labour camp and living on starvation rations. Fearing that he'll be unable to survive the coming winter, he plots a daring escape with three bunkmates, but the plan goes horribly wrong ..." - hendersonsboys.com
I am David, by Anne Holm
"'You must get away tonight,' the man had told him. David escapes from the concentration camp where he has spent his entire life and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone - who can he trust? What will await him? And all the while, how can he be sure that they won't catch up with him...This is the remarkable story of David's introduction to the world: sea, mountains and flowers, the colours of Italy, the taste of fruit, people laughing and smiling, all are new to David. David learns that his polite manner, his haunted eyes and his thin features are strange to other people. He must learn to fend for himself in this strange new world. This is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas meets Jonathan Safran Foer for children. It is an incredible story of survival against all odds and self discovery." - EGMONT BOOKS
Navy Seal Dogs, by Mike Ritland
"Trident K9 Warriors gave readers an inside look at the Navy SEAL teams' elite K9 warriors—who they are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake to save lives. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and highest skilled working animals on the planet. Mike Ritland's job is to train them.
This special edition re-telling presents the dramatic tale of how Ritland discovered his passion and grew up to become the trainer of the nation's most elite military working dogs. Ritland was a smaller-than-average kid who was often picked-on at school—which led him to spend more time with dogs at a young age. After graduating BUD/S training—the toughest military training in the world—to become a SEAL, he was on combat deployment in Iraq when he saw a military working dog in action and instantly knew he'd found his true calling.
Ritland started his own company to train and supply working and protection dogs for the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, and other clients. He also started the Warrior Dog Foundation to help retired Special Operations dogs live long and happy lives after their service.
Navy SEAL Dogs is the true story of how Mike Ritland grew from a skinny, bullied child, to a member of our nation's most elite SEAL Teams, to the trainer of the world's most highly skilled K9 warriors." - St. Martin's Griffin
Learn about the Warrior Dog Foundation here:
Sunrise Over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers
"From Walter Dean Myers comes a powerful and timely novel about the heroics and horror of war---a gripping companion to FALLEN ANGELS.
Robin "Birdy" Perry, a new army recruit from Harlem, isn't quite sure why he joined the army, but he's sure where he's headed: Iraq. Birdy and the others in the Civilian Affairs Battalion are supposed to help secure and stabilize the country and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. Officially, the code name for their maneuvers is Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the young men and women in the CA unit have a simpler name for it:
WAR." - Scholastic Press
Check out the TeenReads review here:
The Bite of the Mango, by Mariatu Kamara
"As a child in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, Mariatu Kamara lived peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Rumors of rebel attacks were no more than a distant worry.
But when 12-year-old Mariatu set out for a neighboring village, she never arrived. Heavily armed rebel soldiers, many no older than children themselves, attacked and tortured Mariatu. During this brutal act of senseless violence they cut off both her hands. Stumbling through the countryside, Mariatu miraculously survived. The sweet taste of a mango, her first food after the attack, reaffirmed her desire to live, but the challenge of clutching the fruit in her bloodied arms reinforced the grim new reality that stood before her. With no parents or living adult to support her and living in a refugee camp, she turned to begging in the streets of Freetown.
As told to her by Mariatu, journalist Susan McClelland has written the heartbreaking true story of the brutal attack, its aftermath and Mariatu’s eventual arrival in Toronto where she began to pull together the pieces of her broken life with courage, astonishing resilience and hope." - Annick Press
Free-Fire Zone, by Chris Lynch
"When Rudi is drafted by the US Marine Corps, no one expects him to succeed. To everyone's surprise, however, Rudi turns out to be a very good soldier. That's because Rudi has decided to live by a simple code: He will follow orders. No matter how big or small. No matter how frightening.
But will following orders be enough to keep Rudi alive? And if he does survive the war, will his best friends even recognize him on the other side?" - Scholastic Paperbacks
Beyond Bullets: a Photo Journal of Afghanistan, by Rafal Gerszak
"Stunning photos reveal an Afghanistan we rarely see.
Award-winning photographer Rafal Gerszak spent a year embedded with the American military in Afghanistan, where he used his camera to document everyday life in the war-torn country. While there, he developed a deep affection for the land and its people, and he later returned on his own. Despite the dangers around him, he continued taking photos, exposing the plight of that besieged country.
Framed by journal entries that relate his experiences on two levels -- as a foreigner looking for a deeper connection to a country that has stirred him and as a journalist looking for another side to the story -- Beyond Bullets addresses the volatile situation in Afghanistan with sensitivity and profound insight. Through Gerszak's lens, readers can see the shattered aftermath of military attacks and dismal hospitals and refugee camps, but they can also experience the vibrant activity of life in the markets, at home and on the Muslim day of rest.
Featuring more than 40 of Gerszak's photographs and at once harrowing and heartrending, Beyond Bullets is as illuminating as it is riveting." - Annick Press
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War, by Deborah Ellis
"Joint winner of the South Asia Book Award, long-listed for the Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award, selected for the IRA Notable Books for a Global Society List, the Bankstreet College of Education's Best Children’s Books of the Year 2013, the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, and the CCBC Choices List
Since its publication in 2000, hundreds of thousands of children all over the world have read and loved The Breadwinner. By reading the story of eleven-year-old Parvana and her struggles living under the terror of the Taliban, young readers came to know the plight of children in Afghanistan.
But what has happened to Afghanistan's children since the fall of the Taliban in 2001? In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find out. She interviewed children who spoke about their lives now. They are still living in a country torn apart by war. Violence and oppression still exist, particularly affecting the lives of girls, but the kids are weathering their lives with courage and optimism: "I was incredibly impressed by the sense of urgency these kids have — needing to get as much education and life experience and fun as they can, because they never know when the boom is going to be lowered on them again."
The two dozen or so children featured in the book range in age from ten to seventeen. Many are girls Deb met through projects funded by Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (www.cw4wafghan.ca), the organization that is supported by royalties from The Breadwinner Trilogy. Parvana’s Fund provides grants toward education projects for Afghan women and children, including schools, libraries and literacy programs.
All royalties from the sale of Kids of Kabul will also go to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan." - Groundwood Books
Hold the Oxo! A Teenage Soldier Writes Home, by Marion Brooker
"Short-listed for the 2014 Forest of Reading - White Pine Award for Non-Fiction
Canada was young during the First World War, and with as many as 20,000 underage soldiers leaving their homes to join the war effort, the country's army was, too. Jim, at 17, was one of them, and he penned countless letters home. But these weren't the writings of an ordinary boy. They were the letters of a lad who left a small farming community for the city on July 15, 1915, a boy who volunteered to serve with the 79th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.
Jim's letters home gloss over the horrors of war, focusing instead on issues of the home front: of harvesting, training the horses, and the price of hogs. Rarely do these letters, especially those to his mother and father, mention the mud and rats, the lice and stench of the trenches, or the night duty of cutting barbed wire in no man's land. For 95 years his letters remained in a shoebox decorated by his mother.
Jim was just 18 when he was wounded and died during the Battle of the Somme. Hold the Oxo! tells the story that lies between the lines of his letters, filling in the historical context and helping us to understand what it was like to be Jim." - Dundurn Books
The Cold War, by C.B. Jones
"All the important aspects of the war are explained and explored, from what JFK and his assassin had in common to a discussion of whether the tension ended after the fall of the Berlin Wall
The Infinite Sea, by Richard Yancey
"How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.
Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.
Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate." - Rick Yancey
One Shot Kill, by Robert Muchamore
"Spring, 1943. The war is turning against Germany, but Hitler isn't giving up. In a secret bunker deep in occupied France, scientists are hard at work on Hitler's latest deadly weapon: code name FZG-76.
Back in England Henderson's boys will need to undergo advanced sniper training if they've any chance of infiltrating the bunker. Parachuting into occupied France, they track down a secret dossier filled with invaluable material - and uncover the meaning of the enigmatic code.
For official purposes, these children do not exist." - Hachette Children's
How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff
"“Every war has turning points and every person too.”
Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way." - Meg Rosoff
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Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
"After graduating from high school, Richie Perry signs up for the army and gets shipped off to Vietnam. In a battlefield jungle where every move can mean the difference between death and survival, Richie meets Peewee, Lobel, Johnson, and Brunner. They all came there for different reasons, but now they share a single dream—getting out alive." - Scholastic Paperbacks
Sharpshooter, by Chris Lynch
"Crescent is a crowhopper—a genetically modified mercenary programmed for ruthless warfare. For her it’s a disaster when a young man denies her the chance to die in battle. When Crater Trueblood captures her, takes her home with him to Moontown, and actually treats her kindly? That’s beyond comprehension.
Crater is weary of war. He’s a miner, not a soldier. He’d rather spend time working than battle the infernal crowhoppers and their bosses from earth. When he captures a little crowhopper and brings her home, he’s surprised to enjoy her company. When she’s falsely accused of murder, he becomes an outlaw to help her escape.
Maria Medaris, like her grandfather, is a ruthless competitor in business and in life. She’s well on her way to building an empire for herself. But she’s haunted by the memory of a young man she traveled with three years earlier, the man she’s vowed never to see again.
Crater Trueblood.
When a murderous band of assassins attack, Crescent, Crater, and Maria escape into the “big suck” and trek with a caravan of mining pioneers toward a lunar ghost town called Endless Dust. To survive they must do more than navigate the beautiful, desolate moonscape and battle a persistent band of crowhoppers. They must decide what—and who—is truly worth fighting for." - Homer Hickam
The Prisoner, by Robert Muchamore
"Out Now!
JUNE 1943 Marc Kilgour is imprisoned in a brutal German labour camp and living on starvation rations. Fearing that he'll be unable to survive the coming winter, he plots a daring escape with three bunkmates, but the plan goes horribly wrong ..." - hendersonsboys.com
"'You must get away tonight,' the man had told him. David escapes from the concentration camp where he has spent his entire life and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone - who can he trust? What will await him? And all the while, how can he be sure that they won't catch up with him...This is the remarkable story of David's introduction to the world: sea, mountains and flowers, the colours of Italy, the taste of fruit, people laughing and smiling, all are new to David. David learns that his polite manner, his haunted eyes and his thin features are strange to other people. He must learn to fend for himself in this strange new world. This is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas meets Jonathan Safran Foer for children. It is an incredible story of survival against all odds and self discovery." - EGMONT BOOKS
Navy Seal Dogs, by Mike Ritland
"Trident K9 Warriors gave readers an inside look at the Navy SEAL teams' elite K9 warriors—who they are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake to save lives. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and highest skilled working animals on the planet. Mike Ritland's job is to train them.
This special edition re-telling presents the dramatic tale of how Ritland discovered his passion and grew up to become the trainer of the nation's most elite military working dogs. Ritland was a smaller-than-average kid who was often picked-on at school—which led him to spend more time with dogs at a young age. After graduating BUD/S training—the toughest military training in the world—to become a SEAL, he was on combat deployment in Iraq when he saw a military working dog in action and instantly knew he'd found his true calling.
Ritland started his own company to train and supply working and protection dogs for the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, and other clients. He also started the Warrior Dog Foundation to help retired Special Operations dogs live long and happy lives after their service.
Navy SEAL Dogs is the true story of how Mike Ritland grew from a skinny, bullied child, to a member of our nation's most elite SEAL Teams, to the trainer of the world's most highly skilled K9 warriors." - St. Martin's Griffin
Learn about the Warrior Dog Foundation here:
Sunrise Over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers
"From Walter Dean Myers comes a powerful and timely novel about the heroics and horror of war---a gripping companion to FALLEN ANGELS.
Robin "Birdy" Perry, a new army recruit from Harlem, isn't quite sure why he joined the army, but he's sure where he's headed: Iraq. Birdy and the others in the Civilian Affairs Battalion are supposed to help secure and stabilize the country and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. Officially, the code name for their maneuvers is Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the young men and women in the CA unit have a simpler name for it:
WAR." - Scholastic Press
Check out the TeenReads review here:
The Bite of the Mango, by Mariatu Kamara
"As a child in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, Mariatu Kamara lived peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Rumors of rebel attacks were no more than a distant worry.
But when 12-year-old Mariatu set out for a neighboring village, she never arrived. Heavily armed rebel soldiers, many no older than children themselves, attacked and tortured Mariatu. During this brutal act of senseless violence they cut off both her hands. Stumbling through the countryside, Mariatu miraculously survived. The sweet taste of a mango, her first food after the attack, reaffirmed her desire to live, but the challenge of clutching the fruit in her bloodied arms reinforced the grim new reality that stood before her. With no parents or living adult to support her and living in a refugee camp, she turned to begging in the streets of Freetown.
As told to her by Mariatu, journalist Susan McClelland has written the heartbreaking true story of the brutal attack, its aftermath and Mariatu’s eventual arrival in Toronto where she began to pull together the pieces of her broken life with courage, astonishing resilience and hope." - Annick Press
Free-Fire Zone, by Chris Lynch
"When Rudi is drafted by the US Marine Corps, no one expects him to succeed. To everyone's surprise, however, Rudi turns out to be a very good soldier. That's because Rudi has decided to live by a simple code: He will follow orders. No matter how big or small. No matter how frightening.
But will following orders be enough to keep Rudi alive? And if he does survive the war, will his best friends even recognize him on the other side?" - Scholastic Paperbacks
Beyond Bullets: a Photo Journal of Afghanistan, by Rafal Gerszak
"Stunning photos reveal an Afghanistan we rarely see.
Award-winning photographer Rafal Gerszak spent a year embedded with the American military in Afghanistan, where he used his camera to document everyday life in the war-torn country. While there, he developed a deep affection for the land and its people, and he later returned on his own. Despite the dangers around him, he continued taking photos, exposing the plight of that besieged country.
Framed by journal entries that relate his experiences on two levels -- as a foreigner looking for a deeper connection to a country that has stirred him and as a journalist looking for another side to the story -- Beyond Bullets addresses the volatile situation in Afghanistan with sensitivity and profound insight. Through Gerszak's lens, readers can see the shattered aftermath of military attacks and dismal hospitals and refugee camps, but they can also experience the vibrant activity of life in the markets, at home and on the Muslim day of rest.
Featuring more than 40 of Gerszak's photographs and at once harrowing and heartrending, Beyond Bullets is as illuminating as it is riveting." - Annick Press
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War, by Deborah Ellis
"Joint winner of the South Asia Book Award, long-listed for the Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award, selected for the IRA Notable Books for a Global Society List, the Bankstreet College of Education's Best Children’s Books of the Year 2013, the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, and the CCBC Choices List
Since its publication in 2000, hundreds of thousands of children all over the world have read and loved The Breadwinner. By reading the story of eleven-year-old Parvana and her struggles living under the terror of the Taliban, young readers came to know the plight of children in Afghanistan.
But what has happened to Afghanistan's children since the fall of the Taliban in 2001? In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find out. She interviewed children who spoke about their lives now. They are still living in a country torn apart by war. Violence and oppression still exist, particularly affecting the lives of girls, but the kids are weathering their lives with courage and optimism: "I was incredibly impressed by the sense of urgency these kids have — needing to get as much education and life experience and fun as they can, because they never know when the boom is going to be lowered on them again."
The two dozen or so children featured in the book range in age from ten to seventeen. Many are girls Deb met through projects funded by Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (www.cw4wafghan.ca), the organization that is supported by royalties from The Breadwinner Trilogy. Parvana’s Fund provides grants toward education projects for Afghan women and children, including schools, libraries and literacy programs.
All royalties from the sale of Kids of Kabul will also go to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan." - Groundwood Books
Hold the Oxo! A Teenage Soldier Writes Home, by Marion Brooker
"Short-listed for the 2014 Forest of Reading - White Pine Award for Non-Fiction
Canada was young during the First World War, and with as many as 20,000 underage soldiers leaving their homes to join the war effort, the country's army was, too. Jim, at 17, was one of them, and he penned countless letters home. But these weren't the writings of an ordinary boy. They were the letters of a lad who left a small farming community for the city on July 15, 1915, a boy who volunteered to serve with the 79th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.
Jim's letters home gloss over the horrors of war, focusing instead on issues of the home front: of harvesting, training the horses, and the price of hogs. Rarely do these letters, especially those to his mother and father, mention the mud and rats, the lice and stench of the trenches, or the night duty of cutting barbed wire in no man's land. For 95 years his letters remained in a shoebox decorated by his mother.
Jim was just 18 when he was wounded and died during the Battle of the Somme. Hold the Oxo! tells the story that lies between the lines of his letters, filling in the historical context and helping us to understand what it was like to be Jim." - Dundurn Books
"All the important aspects of the war are explained and explored, from what JFK and his assassin had in common to a discussion of whether the tension ended after the fall of the Berlin Wall
With extensive
discussion of the global effects of the Cold War as well as the role of
individuals, this book provides readers the opportunity to understand
the global reach of the 45-year-long conflict that shaped the latter
half of the 20th century. From the definition of the term "cold war" and
an explanation of the conflicting ideologies of communism and
capitalism, through to the rise of Yeltsin and the Cold War in film,
this is a truly comprehensive look at the conflict." - Hodder and Stoughton
"How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.
Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.
Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate." - Rick Yancey
One Shot Kill, by Robert Muchamore
"Spring, 1943. The war is turning against Germany, but Hitler isn't giving up. In a secret bunker deep in occupied France, scientists are hard at work on Hitler's latest deadly weapon: code name FZG-76.
Back in England Henderson's boys will need to undergo advanced sniper training if they've any chance of infiltrating the bunker. Parachuting into occupied France, they track down a secret dossier filled with invaluable material - and uncover the meaning of the enigmatic code.
For official purposes, these children do not exist." - Hachette Children's
How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff
"“Every war has turning points and every person too.”
Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way." - Meg Rosoff
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
"After graduating from high school, Richie Perry signs up for the army and gets shipped off to Vietnam. In a battlefield jungle where every move can mean the difference between death and survival, Richie meets Peewee, Lobel, Johnson, and Brunner. They all came there for different reasons, but now they share a single dream—getting out alive." - Scholastic Paperbacks
Sharpshooter, by Chris Lynch
"Some things are worth fighting for.
Of all his friends, Ivan is the only one looking forward to war.
That's because Ivan has never backed down from a fight--especially when it comes to fighting for what's right. He has protected his friends from bullies for years. And now, as war erupts in Vietnam, Ivan wants nothing more than to fight for his country, just as his father did in World War II.
Enlisting in the United States Army, Ivan is trained to be a sniper. And he's good at it. Very good. But Vietnam is not the war he was expecting. Somehow the glory and heroism of his father's war stories do not come so easily in the jungle.
Now, for the first time, Ivan is forced to question what he's really fighting for . . . and whether it's a fight he can hope to win." - Scholastic Press
These titles and more available at your Library!
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Writers' Trust of Canada Award for Fiction 2014
The Writers' Trust Award for 2014 was announced November 4th. The winner was Miriam Toews for All My Puny Sorrows
Scotiabank Giller Prize Miriam Toews is beloved for her irresistible voice, for mingling laughter and heartwrenching poignancy like no other writer. In her most passionate novel yet, she brings us the riveting story of two sisters, and a love that illuminates life. You won't forget Elf and Yoli, two smart and loving sisters. Elfrieda, a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die. Yolandi, divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men as she tries to find true love: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive. Yoli is a beguiling mess, wickedly funny even as she stumbles through life struggling to keep her teenage kids and mother happy, her exes from hating her, her sister from killing herself and her own heart from breaking. But Elf's latest suicide attempt is a shock: she is three weeks away from the opening of her highly anticipated international tour. Her long-time agent has been calling and neither Yoli nor Elf's loving husband knows what to tell him. Can she be nursed back to "health" in time? Does it matter? As the situation becomes ever more complicated, Yoli faces the most terrifying decision of her life. All My Puny Sorrows , at once tender and unquiet, offers a profound reflection on the limits of love, and the sometimes unimaginable challenges we experience when childhood becomes a new country of adult commitments and responsibilities. In her beautifully rendered new novel, Miriam Toews gives us a startling demonstration of how to carry on with hope and love and the business of living even when grief loads the heart.
Three additional authors won each for their contributions to Canadian literature. They were: Joan Thomas - Engel/Findley Award, Susan Musgrave- Matt Cohen Award and Cary Fagan- Vicky Metcalf Award. Tyler Keevil won the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for his short story "Sealskin" .
Scotiabank Giller Prize Miriam Toews is beloved for her irresistible voice, for mingling laughter and heartwrenching poignancy like no other writer. In her most passionate novel yet, she brings us the riveting story of two sisters, and a love that illuminates life. You won't forget Elf and Yoli, two smart and loving sisters. Elfrieda, a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die. Yolandi, divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men as she tries to find true love: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive. Yoli is a beguiling mess, wickedly funny even as she stumbles through life struggling to keep her teenage kids and mother happy, her exes from hating her, her sister from killing herself and her own heart from breaking. But Elf's latest suicide attempt is a shock: she is three weeks away from the opening of her highly anticipated international tour. Her long-time agent has been calling and neither Yoli nor Elf's loving husband knows what to tell him. Can she be nursed back to "health" in time? Does it matter? As the situation becomes ever more complicated, Yoli faces the most terrifying decision of her life. All My Puny Sorrows , at once tender and unquiet, offers a profound reflection on the limits of love, and the sometimes unimaginable challenges we experience when childhood becomes a new country of adult commitments and responsibilities. In her beautifully rendered new novel, Miriam Toews gives us a startling demonstration of how to carry on with hope and love and the business of living even when grief loads the heart.
She wins a monetary prize of $25 000. Congratulations Miriam.
The inaugural Latner Writers' Trust Poetry prize of $25 000 was won by Ken Babstock for an exceptional body of work.
Three additional authors won each for their contributions to Canadian literature. They were: Joan Thomas - Engel/Findley Award, Susan Musgrave- Matt Cohen Award and Cary Fagan- Vicky Metcalf Award. Tyler Keevil won the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for his short story "Sealskin" .
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NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month
November 1-30
November 1-30
Have you ever dreamed of writing the great Canadian novel?
Now is the time!
Now is the time!
Will you accept our 50,000 word
National Novel Writing Month Challenge?
Here’s how it works:
1. Come to the Library to work on your novel or work at home.
1. Come to the Library to work on your novel or work at home.
2. You have until November 30 to reach the 50,000 word count. Once you’ve
accomplished this goal fill out a ballot at our in-house display.
3. Ballots will be accepted until December 5 when we will draw for a prize.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
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