-
Pier 21 Listen to My Story
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Discover some of the most important moments of Canada’s history by getting to know the children and their families who arrived at Halifax’s Pier 21. From countries as far away as Estonia, Italy, and the Ukraine (just to name a few), these immigrants all travelled through the “gateway to freedom” to call Canada home.
“Guest child” Jamie from Scotland and Jewish orphan Mariette were both sent to Canada as children to escape the same war. Heili’s Estonian family boarded the Walnut to sail away from Russian Communist rule. Luigi’s family came from Italy to find work in Canada after the war, while Maryke’s arrived from Holland in search of farmland.
Now renamed the Canadian Museum of Immigration, Pier 21 accepted over one million new Canadians between 1928 and 1971. Many were nervous about their new home, but although they arrived from distinct countries and cultures, each family embraced the safety and possibility of a life in Canada. To arrive was to escape the past while keeping memories of their homelands close. Pier 21 was the first step toward a new life.
With over 40 photos, a glossary, timeline, and sidebar features on the pier itself and the home countries of those who passed through it, Pier 21: Listen to My Story provides an excellent introduction for chilldren to this key landmark in Canada’s immigration history.
-
Be a Beach Detective
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Can anything eat prickly sea urchins? Can dead jellyfish still sting you? Why does water squirt up when you walk along the beach?
Biologist and artist Peggy Kochanoff answers these questions and more in this illustrated guide to solving beach mysteries. From the puzzling tidal life of barnacles to the stunning variety of seaweeds, Kochanoff dives deep into our coastal habitats and comes up with an entertaining and enlightening look at life by the ocean. Full of fascinating facts and surprising solutions, Be a Beach Detective is the perfect book for curious beachcombers of any age!
-
Apples and Butterflies
Artist: Tamara Thiébaux-HeikaloPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95From patchwork-quilt farmland to the winding red roads, from sandy beaches to the endless stars at night, Apples and Butterflies shows Prince Edward Island shining in the bright blue and gold light of fall. Shauntay Grant’s award-winning poetry and Tamara Thiébaux Heikalo’s rich and wild illustrations pull the reader towards the wide-open space of the island. New softcover edition.
-
The City Speaks in Drums (pb)
Artist: Susan TookePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Available for the first time in paperback, the award-winning The City Speaks in Drums follows two boys from North End Halifax as they explore their neighbourhood and the city beyond, finding music everywhere. At the skate park, by the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden Road, and on the boardwalk, drums and saxophones and dancers and basketballs create the jumbled, joyful, pulsing rhythm of Halifax. Shauntay Grant’s playful spoken word-style poem and Susan Tooke’s vivid illustrations create a wildly energetic and appealing journey through the big, bright city.
-
Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95The story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters is a very old Mi’kmaw legend. It happens in the North Sky as the stars that show the story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters move around Tatapn, the North Star.
In pictures in this book you can see how these stars, shown as they appear two hours before dawn, move through the night sky. They are in a different position each of the seasons because they are the time-keepers, the calendar. All through the year, as the stars and plants travel through the sky, the Mi’kmaq watch the story of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters as it unfolds before their eyes.
-
-
Black Ice
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95In 1895, The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes was formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was Twenty-five years before the Negro Baseball Leauges in the United States, and twenty-two years before the birth of the National Hockey League. The Colored League would emerge as a premier force in Canadian hockey and supply the resilience necessary to preserve a unique culture which exists to this day. Unfortunately their contributions were conveniently ignored, or simply stolen, as white teams and hockey officials, influenced by the black league, copied elements of the black style or sought to take self-credit for black hockey innovations. Black Ice is the first written record of the Colored Hockey League in the Maritimes.
This title is no longer available, to order the new 20th anniversary edition click here!Â
-
Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea A Living History
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$25.95“It is a good tale, well told, which opens the door to the wanderings of the imagination.” —The Globe and Mail
The history of Nova Scotia is an amazing story of a land and a people shaped by the waves, the tides, the wind, and the wonder of the North Atlantic. Choyce weaves the legacy of this unique coastal province, piecing together the stories written in the rocks, the wrecks, and the record books of human glory and error. In this newly revised sweeping true-life adventure, he provides a thoughtful down-to-earth journey through history that is both refreshing and revealing.
Here, well into the twenty-first century, he looks back at the full story of Nova Scotia from the geological history to the civilization of the Mi’kmaq, the arrival of the Europeans, and beyond to the stormy history of English and French. Choyce takes a critical look at the wars that helped shape the province, the scoundrels and the heroes who lived here down through the centuries, and the seas and storms that swept through the land of the Bluenosers. The original edition of Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea was published to acclaim by Penguin Books in 1996. This new edition brings the story up to date and looks at the changes in politics, economy, and global climate that will challenge Nova Scotians in the years ahead.
“Lesley Choyce’s writing captures the ebb and flow of Nova Scotia seafaring, from its Golden Age of Sail to the disasters and crimes at sea.” —The Halifax Chronicle Herald
-
Be a City Nature Detective
$14.95How do bedbugs get into your home? Why are some grey squirrels black? Does goldenrod cause hay fever?
Naturalist and artist Peggy Kochanoff answers these questions and more in this illustrated guide to solving nature mysteries in the city.
From the author of Silver Birch-nominated Be a Nature Detective series comes a new adventure full of fascinating facts and original watercolours. From scuttling cockroaches to waves of starlings to burdock heads on your clothes, Kochanoff takes the reader through city streets to show them the amazing nature growing there. Features a glossary, identification page, and further reading.
-
Be a Weather Detective Solving the Mysteries of Cycles, Seasons, and Elements
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95Unravel the secrets of weather, from hurricanes to snowflakes, with naturalist Peggy Kochanoff’s newest book in the Be A Nature Detective series. This fascinating and entertaining guide, packed with detailed watercolour illustrations, is the perfect tool for young readers to learn about the mysteries of weather patterns in Atlantic Canada and beyond.
-
-
Abandoned Alberta
Photographer: Joe ChowaniecPublisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.$29.95The stunning images found in Abandoned Alberta offer a window into our past, showing life as it was then, and stirring in us the emotions of wonder and curiosity about those who have gone before us and the lives they lived. Joe Chowaniec started the Facebook page Abandoned Alberta in January 2017, which today has more than 26,000 members.
Alberta is in Joe Chowaniec’s blood, and you might say Abandoned Alberta is his love letter to the province. Where others may see only decay and rot in these long-forgotten locations, Chowaniec sees exquisite beauty.
-
-
-
-
-
The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson (3rd ed)
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$21.95Set on the East Coast, and focusing on 69-year-old Jonas, this novel reflects the title character’s energy, rage and humour as he looks upon his world, past and present, and is filled with memorable characters, adventures, and a pervading rugged gentleness.
-
Van Gogh’s Grasshopper
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95Van Gogh’s Grasshopper is a collection of fifty poems about insects and other very small creatures. Each poem focuses on particular aspects of a specific tiny life form: their name and what it means, their overall design and structure, the superstitions we have about them, and their particular strategies to survive.
-
-
Trips That Went South From Point A to Beware
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$22.95If you’ve wondered how trips can go sideways, Torti vulnerably shares her misadventure archives from Ecuador, Colombia, Thailand, Newfoundland, Belize, Iceland, China and beyond.
-
-
Butter Tart Island
Publisher: Acorn Press$17.95Twelve-year-old Jane Smith isn’t surprised when her parents announce they’re relocating, but her life is about to change, big-time. Maybe she isn?t the only one with secrets.
-
-
Titanic True Stories of Her Passengers, Crew, and Legacy
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$25.95This book tells the lives of the passengers on the Titanic‘s ill-fated voyage, and shines a spotlight on the vessel’s lost treasures, its celebrated send-off from Belfast, its animal passengers, the iconic music and movies inspired by the story, and the many, many tales of heroism and bravery that arose from this tragedy. Richly illustrated with archival photographs and newspaper clippings, as well as a comprehensive index, timeline, and suggested further reading, this all-ages book presents an accessible, fascinating history of the world’s most famous ship. Includes over 50 black and white photos.
-
Joe & the Wreck of the Tribune
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing Limited$14.95Middle grade historical fiction inspired by the real 18th-century shipwreck off Halifax Harbour, and the local boy who risked his life to save those on board.
-
-
-
My Nova Scotia
Artist: Martyna CzubPublisher: Nimbus Publishing Limited$13.95Whether you call it home or are just here to visit, Nova Scotia welcomes you with campfire storytelling, blueberry fields, and rocky beaches. With joyful rhymes and whimsical illustrations, My Nova Scotia celebrates all the diverse cultures, people, and traditions that make this province unique. What’s your Nova Scotia?
-
-
-