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Mrs. Beaton’s Question My Nine Years at the Halifax School for the Blind
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95Robert Mercer’s life could have been very different. He was born with very low vision and, as a youngster, struggled in school. But through the intervention of a caring teacher and the support of his family, he found his way to the Halifax School for the Blind and into the classroom of Mrs. Beaton. It was there that he discovered his voice, a voice he uses to recount his remarkable journey from a shy little boy to a community leader.
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Ashes of My Dreams
Publisher: Acorn Press$22.95Pregnant, abandoned by her lover, and cut off from her family, free-spirited and independent Gracie is determined to keep her baby and to raise him on her own.
Protecting Elijah Blue from the nuns eager to adopt him out to a “better” home is only Gracie’s first battle…
It takes a whole community of colourful neighbours and friends—and the dream-wisdom of spirits that protect her—for Gracie to navigate the cruel and impoverishing systems that judge and harass her as a single mom on PEI.
She gets through with pride, grit, and humour—but nothing can protect her from her growing son’s desire to know his father’s identity.
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Eating Well with Karin
Publisher: Acorn Press$24.95Eating well has never tasted so good! Karin Antolick brings her experiences from her catering and farmer’s market business to the page for the first time. Scrumptious recipes include classics such as Miso Soup and Hummus, but also include some of Karin’s signature recipes such as Karin’s Crazy Cheese Ball, African Chick Pea and Peanut Stew, and Spelt, Cranberry and Walnut Cake a.k.a Catch (or Keep) a Husband Cake. Working with fresh ingredients that can be sourced locally, Karin has compiled healthy and delicious recipes that include vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free options — options for every body!
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This Navy Doctor Came Ashore
Publisher: Acorn Press$17.95Dr. Read entered the Royal Canadian Navy in 1943 and worked for three years as a flight surgeon. When the war was winding down, he realized that his career as a flight surgeon was also over. But he remembered how much he had enjoyed the three weeks he spent in Charlottetown when he relieved the medical officer at HMCS Queen Charlotte. This city of 20,000, in which this landship was ‘moored’, was much to his liking partly because he had grown up in Amherst, Nova Scotia, just across the Northumberland Strait, where he thought the culture was very similar. He also knew that as the only medical officer there would be independence, significant responsibility and virtual freedom from naval protocol and politics. One couldn’t ask for more.  But this was during prohibition on the Island and little did he know that a great deal of his time would be spent writing “prescriptions” for alcohol so that the officers could be allowed to drink. Nor did he know that because of the lack of family physicians on the Island, he would be asked to open a general practice in a rural area of the province. For a flight surgeon who had little experience in family medicine, this would be a whole new adventure. This book chronicles some of the noteworthy events of the time he spent spent as a country doctor.
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What If ? – Springvale
Publisher: Acorn Press$9.95Students of Valerie Dockendorff’s grade 5/6 at Springvale Elementary, Halifax, have written and illustrated a book to address a variety of world issues in a positive manner. We wish to raise awareness about problems faced by kids all over the world by imagining what it would be like if the problems didn’t exist! All messages and illustrations depict positive images that send a message of hope and provide concrete ways for readers to take action to celebrate and improve our world….word by word.
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Sky Pony
Publisher: Acorn Press$12.95Elaine Breault Hammond, the author of the best-selling The Secret Under the Whirlpool, Under the Waterfall, and Explosion at Dawson Creek, has lived in six provinces as well as in the United States. She and her family lived on Prince Edward Island. Now she divides her time between PEI in the summertime and Kingston, Ontario, the rest of the year, where she is close to four of her seven grandchildren
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Poems and Lyrics by a Super-Centenarian I Needed the Quiet
Publisher: SSP Publications$9.95Garvie Samson’s 4th edition of poems penned in French and English by a Cape Breton teaching nun, who lived throughout 3 centuries (1891–2004).
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A Wholesome Horror Poor Houses in Nova Scotia
Publisher: SSP Publications$15.95Brenda Thompson’s poignant treatise on the treatment of the poor in Nova Scotia and the evolution of private and government-subsidized poor houses. None of these 32 buildings remain. This is a very important book that makes us pause and ask serious questions.
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Witnesses to a New Nation
Publisher: SSP Publications$29.95From pioneer houses to elegant neo-Classical churches, this collection from Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia is based on an exhibition of the same name that toured the province in 2017, to great acclaim. A must-have for historians, conservationists and architecture buffs, this volume is replete with great colour images and solid research and writing.
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Vintage Moncton A History in Pictures
Publisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.$29.95In 2012, Ryan Gagné found a photo of the pink subway and posted it to his personal Facebook page. In less than an hour, he had more than 100 likes. He was floored by the interest and wanted the photo to reach more people, and the Vintage Moncton Facebook page was born. Today it has more than 17,000 followers.
So, do you remember the pink subway? Do you remember the UFO pizza shop or the ridiculously narrow Gunningsville bridge? With more than 140 photos—many of them seen here for the first time—Vintage Moncton: A History in Pictures offers a one-of-a-kind portrait of the Hub City.
Vintage Moncton: A History in Pictures provides a look back at just how much the city has changed over the years.
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Ashtanga Yoga
This ground–breaking guide to Ashtanga yoga, by two of the world’s leading teachers, Manju Jois and Greg Tebb, is the only book on yoga you’ll ever need.
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One Strong Girl
$21.95One Strong Girl is a mother’s vivid account of what it is like to lose her daughter, India, to a rare debilitating disease. The story is a bold description of what it means to deal with deep sorrow and still find balance and beauty in an age steeped in the denial of death. At ten, India climbed the highest on the rope at gymnastics, yet by sixteen was so weak she was unable to even dress herself. The narrative follows the six-year fight for answers from the medical community. Finally, after the genetic testing of India’s DNA, it was discovered there were two mutations on her ASAH1 gene, a deadly combination. Today her cells are alive in a research lab at the University of Ottawa. This is a legacy that cuts both ways, a point of pride and pain. One Strong Girl is a story of what it’s like to outlive an only child. It describes the intensity of loving a dying child and most importantly, the joy to be found, even amidst the sorrow.
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Ten Wooden Boats You Can Build
$27.45The beauty of this book is that the construction bugs have already been worked out of the designs. Plans, step-by-step instructions, material lists photographs and detailed diagrams.
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Robin’s Impossible, Crazy Idea
$8.95Ever since starting grade four, Robin’s days at Ernest Lee Elementary School have been dreary. At the center of this unhappiness is her teacher, Ms. Beetroot, whose stern looks and endless lists of rules leave no room for fun. All this changes when Robin and her class are greeted by a wild and wonderful substitute teacher.
“Welcome, children! My name is Mr. Cunningham. That’s cunning as in sly, and ham as in joking around. I will be your substitute grade 4 teacher for today. Let the show begin!” He turned, opened the large door, and gave a welcoming bow.”
Mr. Cunningham brings excitement and fun back into the grade 4 classroom, but that night Robin must face the inevitable – Beetroot would be back the next day. That is when an impossible crazy idea begins to take shape in Robin’s mind. But how will she convince the grade 4 class that this crazy idea will work and how will she keep this impossible idea a secret from Ms. Beetroot?
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Summer Feet
$22.95From those first barefoot days, wobble-dy walking over rocks and pebbles, to wandering-wild while searching for sea glass and, finally, huddled-up cozy at a late-summer bonfire, these summer feet flutter kick, somersault, hide-and-seek, and dance in the rain, soaking up all the season has to offer. With Sheree Fitch’s classic lip-slippery, lyrical rhymes and Carolyn Fisher’s bright and colourful illustrations, Summer Feet will be an instant summertime favourite.
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Chocolates, Tattoos, and Mayflowers
$24.95Did you know that goose grease apparently cures the common cold, while salt fish draws a fever? How about the fact that “Torpedos” (automobiles) were manufactured in Kentville in 1910? These are just some of the tidbits of Maritime wisdom and little-known facts that you will find in Chocolates, Tattoos, and Mayflowers.
Collected over the years for Clary Croft’s popular radio column on CBC’s Mainstreet, these stories, memories, photographs, and advertisements show a fascinating side of Maritime popular culture and history. From accounts of sea monsters and famous duels to the history behind Maritime staples like Pot of Gold chocolates and Morse’s Tea, these entertaining and evocative pieces are sure to spark conversations around your kitchen table—just like any good Maritime subject!
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The Secret of the Silver Mines
$12.95Just when Dylan Maples is settling down after last summer’s trip to Ireland’s Eye, the parental units are at it again—planning another family adventure. Only this time, it’s not a summer vacation, but an extended trip way up north to Cobalt, Ontario, in the middle of a bitter winter. Once a thriving silver mining community, all that’s left of the town’s rich history are the long abandoned mines.
A Toronto millionaire has hired Dylan’s dad to retrieve a fortune in silver allegedly stolen from his grandfather back in the early part of the twentieth century. But was the fortune really stolen? And if so, where has it been hidden? The answers to these questions reside with one man—Theobald T. Larocque, Cobalt’s oldest citizen. But no one has seen him in years. And no one seems at all eager to help Dylan’s dad locate him—except, of course, his devoted son Dylan, and Dylan’s newfound friend and accomplice, Wynona Dixon.
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Bone Beds of the Badlands
$12.95Bone Beds of the Badlands transports readers to the heart of dinosaur country in the most gripping and terrifying Dylan Maples Adventure yet!
Dylan and his best friends, Terry, the Bomb, and Rhett, have won first place in the National Science Fair for their amazing mechanical T-rex. The prize: a parent-free trip to one of the coolest places on Earth—the badlands of Alberta, home to ancient dinosaur remains and a landscape that looks like the surface of an alien planet. Unfortunately, it is also the scene of a manhunt for a desperate killer. Recently escaped from custody, known as “the Reptile,” this bizarre seven-foot man was last seen heading straight for the badlands, a perfect place to hide if you never want to be found.
When the boys and their new friend Dorothy get separated from their guided tour of Dinosaur Provincial Park, they may be lost, but they’re not alone…
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Monster in the Mountains
$12.95After Dylan Maples’s terrifying adventure in Alberta, the holiday his “parental units” plan in British Columbia’s Rocky Mountains seems like a dream. Swimming, hiking, and loafing around are welcome distractions from vivid memories of his narrow escape from “The Reptile,” the frightening criminal who pursued him and his friends through the badlands. But Dylan soon discovers that he is heading into an area teeming with legends of real-life monsters, among them the sea serpent Ogopogo and the awesome sasquatch. In fact, more mysterious creatures are said to exist in BC than in any other place in the world….
Dylan tries not to take it all too seriously. But when he arrives in the resort town of Harrison Hot Springs and meets his eccentric uncle, Walter Middy, he is pulled right into the heart of the sasquatch mystery. Before you can say, “I see a monster!”, Dylan, Walter, and their new friend Alice are deep in the wilderness, on the trail of the deadly beast.
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The Mystery of Ireland’s Eye
$12.95Dylan is twelve years old and embarking on his first ocean kayaking trip with his parents. He has spent the last year convincing them that he is ready for the challenging—and very dangerous—adventure. In fact, he has been determined to go ever since he heard about the destination: Ireland’s Eye. The small island off the coast of Newfoundland is the easternmost settlement in Canada. Or it was. It is now hauntingly empty, a ghost town clinging to the edge of the unforgiving Atlantic. What is it about Ireland’s Eye that so captivates Dylan he is willing to take such risks to get there? Does the ghost town have anything to do with the dreams Dylan keeps having of his favourite grandfather who has just passed away? And why does the old man on St. John’s docks grimly whisper, “Don’t go to Ireland’s Eye” when he hears of Dylan’s plans?