To Every Thing There is a Season A Cape Breton Christmas Story
Artist: Peter RankinPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95It is Christmastime in Cape Breton, and a young boy describes the anticipation his family feels toward the holiday and most of all, to the homecoming of his older brother, Neil, working in Ontario on the “lake boats.”
To Every Thing There is a Season was first published in 1977, yet its impact remains powerful to this day. This new softcover edition features 20 of Peter Rankin’s splendid illustrations, a perfect complement to a classic Canadian Christmas story.
Be a Wilderness Detective
$17.95Why is that tree lumpy? How do insects stay alive in the winter? What are tides, anyway?In Be a Wilderness Detective, biologist and artist Peggy Kochanoff answers these and many more questions. With simple language and beautifully accurate paintings, Kochanoff walks young readers through many nature puzzles, including identifying different types of animal poop and understanding how maple trees can be tapped without being harmed.Clear, precise, and engaging, Be a Wilderness Detective is the perfect book for budding naturalists—and it will also convince couch potatoes to get outside. Science and nature have never been more fun!
The Christmas Secret An Atlantic Canadian Christmas Reader
Editor: Dan SoucoupPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95The Christmas Secret is a homemade collection featuring twenty tales of Atlantic Christmases past and present, plucked from the memories and traditions of famed purveyors of local lore. This edition features a veritable buffet of Atlantic holiday celebrations and experiences, from the heartwarming holidays inside a lighthouse on Bon Portage Island to a struggling Cape Breton coal mining community, to the spirit of “old Christmas” in Island Cove, Newfoundland.
Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens (revised edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Now an established regional classic, Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens was first published in 1970 and became an instant hit, selling more copies than any cookbook ever published in the province. A collection of traditional Nova Scotia recipes, the book remains extremely popular today and has proven to be a practical guide as well as a delight for armchair cooks. Besides providing easy-to-use recipes for the province’s traditional dishes, Marie Nightingale also tells the stories of the people who prepared this unique cuisine.
A Portrait of Lunenburg County Photographs and Stories from a Vanished Way of Life
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The legendary schooner fishing days are gone forever from the coast of Nova Scotia, but the spirit of those days, and the hard and heroic men who endured them, lives on in the stories and photographs of A Portrait of Lunenburg County.
Stripped of romantic myths, told without editorial comment in the stark and simple words of fishermen themselves, here are tales of harsh conditions and sometimes cruel captains, of body-breaking work for low wages, and of tragedy and daring adventure faced amid the awesome forces of the elements. Here, too, are plain, straightforward expressions of human values nurtured in tightly knit communities: close family ties, honesty, kindness, respect, and willingness to share. The stories are accompanied by 48 photographs, black and white portraits of the colourful people and the hard lives that they led.
First published in 1978, A Portrait of Lunenburg County is a moving tribute to the warmth, humour, and vitality of a people whose lives have formed a rich and vital chapter in Canada’s past. This new edition includes a new preface from the author and an updated design.
Big Town A Novel of Africville
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95Seventeen-year-old Early Okander lives with his father in a shack, a white family on the outskirts of the Halifax community of Africville. It is the early 1960s, and Early and his young friends, Toby and Chub, start to hear whispers that the city wants to move the residents of Africville out of their homes. As the three try to sort out what relocation might mean for the community, they also struggle to come to terms with their own problems: Early’s abuse at the hands of his father, Toby’s illness, Chub’s family breakdown.
Written from Early’s unique perspetive, Big Town is an unforgettable account of a community in crisis and the remarkable spirit that persists in the face of adversity.
Christmas with the Rural Mail
$14.95A gentle poem describing the journey of a mailsleigh through rural Nova Scotia at Christmas time, delivering packages and parcels to children, Christmas with the Rural Mail is a holiday classic. The poem is carefully crafted to fit Maud Lewis’s colourful paintings, and the mailsleigh passes children skiing and tobogganing, oxen and Clydesdale horses pulling heavy loads, and the train station, among other classic rural winter scenes.
Lewis’s artwork is ideal for babies and toddlers, with its bright colours and simple forms, and the paintings and poem together perfectly evoke Christmases gone by. This is a sturdy board book edition great for young readers.
Plants for Atlantic Gardens Handsome and Hard-working Shrubs, Trees, and Perennials
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95With all the special challenges associated with gardening in Atlantic Canada, in-depth information and genuine inspiration are even more important. Plants for Atlantic Gardens is your go-to resource for growing perennials, shrubs, and trees on the East Coast. Well-known gardening columnist Jodi DeLong profiles over 100 of the best species for planting in Atlantic Canadian gardens. Each plant description includes essential gardening information, such as growing requirements, hardiness, height, and bloom period. In an accessible, friendly writing style, Jodi also tells prospective gardeners about the plant’s natural history in the region and shares her own experiences-both good and bad!
The book includes a hardiness map, Jodi’s list of preferred further reading, and short sidebars on useful topics like soil type, native plants, and pollinators. Over 200 colour photos provide readers a great opportunity to truly assess each plant’s suitability for their own gardens.
Bluenose Ghosts (2nd Edition)
$22.95Ghosts guarding buried treasure, phantom ships, haunted houses and supernatural warnings of death—these are just some of the strange and mysterious phenomena that you will encounter in Bluenose Ghosts. These unexplained mysteries are all the more chilling because they are based on personal experiences of ordinary people, told to Helen Creighton, one of Canada?s most respected and renowned folklorists, over a period of thirty years. So when the moon is full and the wind is howling, be prepared to be spooked by apparitions and things that go bump in the night. Bluenose Ghosts was an instant hit when it was first published in 1957.
This new edition of Bluenose Ghosts features a new foreword from Nova Scotia writer Clary Croft that explores Creighton’s enduring influence on the province’s folklore.
Christmas with the Rural Mail
Artist: Maud LewisPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95A gentle poem describing the journey of a mailsleigh through rural Nova Scotia at Christmas time, delivering packages and parcels to children, Christmas with the Rural Mail is a holiday classic. The poem is carefully crafted to fit Maud Lewis’s colourful paintings, and the mailsleigh passes children skiing and tobogganing, oxen and Clydesdale horses pulling heavy loads, and the train station, among other classic rural winter scenes.
Lewis’s artwork is ideal for babies and toddlers, with its bright colours and simple forms, and the paintings and poem together perfectly evoke Christmases gone by. This is a sturdy board book edition great for young readers.
The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis
Photographer: Bob BrooksPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$35.95Maud Lewis (1903-1970) was recognized and revered in her own lifetime. She offered her endearing images to the passing world through her roadside sign, “Paintings for Sale,” and was rewarded by the enthusiastic response she received from both the community and tourists as well as from art collectors.
The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis is an invitation to share once again with the world the perceptions of this celebrated Nova Scotia folk artist in prose, photographs, and reproductions of her works.
A Victorian Nova Scotia Christmas
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95It’s Christmas Eve in the fair town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, and sparkling snowflakes crown the pointed roofs of houses as stately as Victorian ladies. It has been a day of well-loved traditions: visits to the ill and elderly, candlights services, and a favourite story told by father at the fireside.
And upstairs in the attic, a little girl has just found a long-lost treasure that will make tomorrow a Christmas to remember for years to come.
Molly Simmons, author and illustrator of A Victorian Nova Scotia Christmas, was that little girl in the attic, and it is through the eyes of a child that she rekindles all the warmth, wonder, and tradition of a time gone by.
This is a magical tale that speaks to the child in everyone, with exquisitely simple prose, delightful drawings, and cherished family recipes that offer a gift that will last for years to come.
Yoga, True Nature 108 Inspirations
Publisher: George Fischer$39.95Yoga: True Nature is a powerful visual unity of ancient yoga postures and unwavering landscapes of the spectacular Îles de la Madeleine. The mind, body, and soul will receive inspiration and liberation from each centreing word, quote, and posture selected by Lori Myles-Carullo, a passionate yogini for 25 years. The art of movement is met by the natural majesty of location photographed by the skillful eye of George Fischer.
Maud Lewis Colouring Book Volume 2
Publisher: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia$6.95The Maud Lewis Colouring & Activity Book Volume 2 features pictures to colour, crosswords, word searches, connect-the-dot, and other activities. Inspired by the artwork of Maud Lewis, Canada’s most beloved and best-known folk artist, this delightful book is suitable for children between the ages of 3-10.
Maud Lewis Activity and Colouring Book
Publisher: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia$6.95Newly published by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is the Maud Lewis Colouring & Activity Book featuring pictures to colour, crosswords, word searches, connectthe-dot, and other activities. Inspired by the artwork of Maud Lewis, Canada’s most beloved and best-known folk artist, this delightful book is suitable for children between the ages of 3-10.Maud Lewis (1903-1970) was recognized and revered in her own lifetime. She offered her endearing images to the passing world through her roadside sign, “Paintings for Sale,” and was rewarded by the enthusiastic response she received from both the community and tourists as well as from art collectors.
Great Cape Breton Storytelling
Editor: Ronald CaplanPublisher: Breton Books$21.95From a lifetime of collecting, Ron Caplan offers tales from the rare complex of Cape Breton Island. From a grim sealing trek to a mother’s courage in a windstorm, to memories of drunken hens, to a shark attack. Mackerel fishermen bag a huge tuna, and an itinerant butcher chases a wild cow. The book includes fables from the island’s Czech, Pakistani, and Lebanese heritage in among stories from the Gaelic, French and Mi’kmaq traditions. Good solid reading in one lasting collection!
Little One A Novel
Publisher: Breton Books$16.95A moment of compassion in the anthill means that Little One will live — a life of new ideas that will challenge the colony’s traditional world. Beautifully written and difficult to classify, Phil Organ’s novel holds up a rare, compelling mirror to human life. Little One demonstrates integrity and commitment to her colony, but eventually, with extraordinary courage, she dares to live out her own vision. Little One possesses kernels of terror and kernels kernels of exquisite light.
For the Children
Artist: Burland MurphyPublisher: Breton Books$19.95Born in 1932, in Whycocomagh, RITA JOE lived a hardscrabble existence, from foster home to foster home, experiences that helped her decide to admit herself to Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, a place most Mi’kmaq people had come to dread. It was a rare example of the child choosing Shubie, “to better myself,” to get an education. That same determination compelled her to write about her personal combination of traditional Mi’kmaw spiritualism and Catholic faith, carrying forward her ‘gentle war’. Her last poem, unfinished, was found in her typewriter when she died in March 2007.
Mère(s) et monde
Publisher: Bouton d'or Acadie$13.95No, my son doesn’t have a father!
From the delivery room where her son was born to the classrooms where he learns, a woman to whom motherhood status is refused explains: her son doesn’t have a father, but he’s got two mothers. She is the other mother. A (m)other, but there is no space for that on the forms, no space for that in the minds of her peers, and no space for that in the minds of the kids who play with her son at school.
Adapted from a 2018 CBC Poetry Prize shortlisted poem, this book tells, with tenderness and accuracy, the difficulties that homoparental families face in being accepted for what they are: loving families.
Flitt’s Call
Artist: K. Shawn LarsonPublisher: Acorn Press$12.95Flitt is a little bank swallow who returns to his beloved Prince Edward Island every spring to nest in the same seaside cliffs. But this year, things are different. The land has changed, he can’t find as many insects to eat, and there are fewer swallows to play with. When his chicks are born, Flitt realizes he needs to teach his little swallows, all the swallows, a special call. Flitt’s Call is a bank swallow’s prayer and plea for the earth. It will open people’s hearts, move others to protect the land, and remind everyone of our shared connection to this fragile, beautiful home called Earth.
Are We Friends Now? An Anthology By and About 2SLGBTQ+ Youth
Editor: Tom RyanPublisher: Acorn Press$17.95
