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Clary Croft: My Charmed Life in Music, Art, and Folklore
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95“I have led a charmed life. I know that, and I am grateful every day.”— Clary Croft
Folklorist, recording artist, actor, songwriter, broadcaster, storyteller, author, archivist, artisan, and designer: over a career spanning more than fifty years, Clary Croft has woven the threads of his vast array of talents into a tapestry that has enveloped the life of an artist, and in the process he’s become a household name in Nova Scotia and beyond.
With charming humility and cheeky humour, Clary shares memories and anecdotes of an eclectic career including his work with The Privateers, Sherbrooke Village, Singalong Jubilee, Neptune Theatre, CBC Mainstreet and, perhaps most importantly, his collaboration with eminent folklorist Helen Creighton.
Featuring a foreword by writer, broadcaster, and former co-host of CBC’s Singalong Jubilee Jim Bennet, and with more than fifty images in both colour and black and white, Clary Croft: My Charmed Life in Music, Art, and Folklore is an inspiring and entertaining chronicle of a creative life well lived.
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My Hair is Beautiful
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$9.95Celebrate natural hair with Governor General’s Award-nominated author Shauntay Grant in this joyful board book. With accessible text and vibrant photos of toddlers sporting afros, cornrows and everything in between, My Hair is Beautiful brings a powerful message of self-love.
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Imagining Anne L. M. Montgomery’s Island Scrapbooks
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$32.95Fall in love with Anne of Green Gables and the Island all over again through L. M. Montgomery’s scrapbooks, annotated by Montgomery scholar Elizabeth Epperly. Covering a period from 1893 to 1910, these full colour pages give the reader insight into the young author during the period when Anne Shirley came to life.
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Come Back to Earth, Esther!
Artist: Josée BisaillonPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Prepare for liftoff! Award-winning illustrator Josée Bisaillon makes her authorial debut with the story of fun-loving, space-obsessed Esther, who dreams of building a spaceship to explore the galaxy. This STEM-friendly book, featuring an exceptional protagonist and a loving, diverse family, shows young readers there is no outer limit to the imagination.
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The Wereduck Code Book 3 of the Wereduck Series
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95The thrilling conclusion to the entertaining, critically acclaimed Wereduck series. Catch up with fourteen-year-old Kate, wereduck in a family of werewolves, as she races to uncover a way to undo the curse that haunts her family. High stakes meet humour in the engaging third installment of the popular series from author Dave Atkinson.
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The Last Time I Saw Her
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95It’s been almost a year since Charlotte Romer set foot in her hometown of River John, Nova Scotia. She’s been living at a boarding school hours away, safe from the trauma and broken relationships she left behind. All she has left in the small town is her older brother, Sean, who is struggling to keep the lights on in their run-down family home. Charlotte hasn’t spoken to her best friend, Sophie, since the night she fled. It’s not exactly a celebratory homecoming.
On her first night home, Charlotte shows up unannounced to Sophie’s eighteenth birthday party. The trickle-down effects of that decision haunt Charlotte for weeks. But when Charlotte reconnects with Sophie’s ex-boyfriend, Max, the two of them begin to slowly unravel what happened the night of the accident the summer before—the night that changed everything. Somebody knows something, and that somebody really doesn’t want Charlotte and Max to figure it out.
With a fast-paced, high-stakes plot, Alexandra Harrington’s debut YA novel will leave readers breathless until the final, shocking conclusion.
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Are You Kidding Me?! Chronicles of an Ordinary Life
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95For the first time, sixteen years’ worth of Cape Bretoner Lesley Crewe’s finest newspaper columns are collected in one place. The bestselling novelist, columnist and humorist employs a sharp, versatile wit, anchored by a tender centre, to bring readers laughter and tears. Crewe celebrates life, and all its warts, in this side-splitting, heartwarming collection.
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Wild Pond Hockey
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Ravens and wolves slip on a pond of ice and the game is on! A fun reimagining of the origin of Canada’s favourite sport with vivid artwork by veteran nature artist and writer Jeffery Domm.
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A Beginner’s Guide to Goodbye
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$13.95Ten-year-old Laney is struggling with grief, and distracts herself by writing letters to her little sister, who has recently died. As the summer progresses, so do Laney’s coping mechanisms. An important book about acknowledging and processing grief in order to overcome it.
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Throw Down Your Shadows
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Sixteen-year-old Winnie is a creature of habit, a lover of ritual and stability. If she had her way, not much would change. But when a new family moves to town, Winnie and her three best friends—all boys—find themselves changing quickly and dramatically to impress Caleb, their strange and charismatic new companion. Under Caleb’s influence, Winnie and her friends test boundaries, flirt with danger, and in the end, illuminate darkness within each other and themselves.
Following a before and after structure that pivots around a mysterious and devastating fire at a local winery, Throw Down Your Shadows is a compelling exploration of the contours of young friendship and the development of powerful new appetites.
Reminiscent of The Girls by Emma Cline and Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, this literary coming-of-age story feeds a growing demand in adult fiction for candid portrayals of the young female experience as complex and provocative, and announces a bold new voice in Canadian fiction.
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Silver Hair and Golden Voice Austin Willis, from Halifax to Hollywood
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Over his extensive career, Halifax-born film, television, and radio performer Austin Willis worked with luminaries from Orson Welles and Peter Sellers to a young William Shatner (his subordinate in CBC’s Space Command—precursor to Star Trek). He bested Goldfinger at cards—with help from Sean Connery’s James Bond—and with his prematurely white hair, he became the debonair, wry host of the 1970s CBC-TV quiz show, This Is The Law.
Through his formidable personal library, his insatiable curiosity, and his conversations with the man himself, oral historian and archivist Ern Dick has brought the voice of Austin Willis to life in the memoir Willis wanted to write—but didn’t, because he never stopped performing.
Featuring a foreword by former CBC Radio personality Costas Halavrezos, afterword by arts and culture commentator Ron Foley MacDonald, and dozens of photos that highlight Willis’s greatest moments of stage, screen, and airwaves, Silver Hair and Golden Voice offers a unique perspective on the life of one of Canada’s most overlooked stars.
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All ‘Bout Canada A Compendium of Canadiana
Artist: Alex MacAskillPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95This fun, informative celebration of Canada is a combination rhyming alphabet book and compendium of factual information about Canada from “Aurora Borealis” to “Zellers” that uses a blend of poetry, prose, posters, jokes, and quizzes—many with a humorous twist—to educate and inform a diverse readership.
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Canada:150 Panoramas (pb)
Photographer: George FischerPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95From frosty Mount Logan in the Yukon to the salty shores of Newfoundland, George Fischer’s stunning landscape photography celebrates the diverse appeal of every province and territory in Canada. With a chapter devoted to each region, Fischer captures the rugged natural beauty, vibrant city life, and abundant flora and fauna of this wide country.
Short, narrative introductions accompany the stunning spreads and include brief historical anecdotes, interesting facts, provincial/territorial flowers, mottos, and capitals, and the date each province/territory joined Confederation. The perfect way to celebrate Canada’s 150th, Canada: 150 Panoramas is an essential collection for any photography lover, whether they call Canada home, or wish they did.
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A Forest for Calum
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95The story is Roddie’s. The stage is his guardian and grandfather Calum’s. A quiet and stoic man, Calum Gillies and his aging friends illuminate for us the changing world around them: the loss of the coal mines, the labour strife and lean years endured, the religious parochialism that divides families and communities and, most important, a disappearing language. The setting is Cape Breton; the themes of cultural and rural change and decline are universal.
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Good Mothers Don’t
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95It’s 1960 and Elizabeth is slowly coming apart. Her reality is splintering and she wants to harm her children. Fifteen years later, Elizabeth is desperately trying to fill in the gaps electric shock therapy has left in her memory. She longs to find her children and explain that she never meant to leave for so long. A moving exploration of illness, memory, and how we fight for who we love.
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Nova Scotia’s Historic Harbours The Seaports that Shaped the Province
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95With twenty-five historical photos, and featuring profiles of more than fifty harbours—from the Bedford Basin to Shelburne Harbour to Cobequid Bay, Louisbourg, and Canso—Nova Scotia’s Historic Harbours explores each harbour’s historical significance and explores how these communities have been shaped by the sea, and how Nova Scotia’s growth has been driven by its harbours.
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Kings of Friday Night The Lincolns
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Over a span of ten years, The Lincolns played rock ‘n’ roll, R & B, and soul, not just in their hometown of Truro but at dances and on campuses across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They changed the lives of small-town kids clamouring for a beat that would move their feet, their hips, and their hearts. Through interviews, stories, and photos, The Lincolns will stir fond memories for the band’s countless fans.
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Prophet of the Wilderness Abraham Gesner
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Shipwreck and arrest were common setbacks in the early nineteenth century, but neither slowed the rise of scientist and inventor Abraham Gesner (1797–1864). He possessed a curious mind and a dynamic speaking style, enlivened by his many fact-finding travels throughout the Maritime provinces and beyond. Of his innovative experiments, the most famous led to a refining method for a new fuel named kerosene, an invention that would change the world.
This biography depicts a man far ahead of his time, as interested in social problems—such as lighting cities at night and establishing decent immigrant settlements—as he was in advancing science and industry. A fascinating and meticulously research account of a man too often not given the credit he deserved.
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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 Hermit
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Eleven year old Danny was hoping to have a simple, fun summer, but his plans are derailed when developers threaten to build condos on his community’s beloved soccer field and when he cultivates an unexpected friendship with a hermit living in the nearby woods. Further uncovered secrets might just help Danny save the soccer field once and for all.
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Under Amelia’s Wing Book 2 of the Ginny Ross Series
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95A STEM-friendly novel about a girl who just wants to learn to fly. Stubborn to a fault, Ginny Ross is enrolled at Purdue University to earn her pilot’s license and help her friend and mentor, Amelia Earhart, recruit more young women into aviation and engineering. But when Amelia goes missing in 1937, Ginny must learn to carry on alone.
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Évangéline The Many Identities of a Literary Icon
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$34.95Sociologist Joseph Yvon Thériault presents three versions of the literary heroine: Évangéline the Acadian, Évangéline the Canadian, and Évangéline the American. Can these three distinct identities be merged, and will survive the effects of globalization?
CBC most anticipated non-fiction of Spring 2021
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Use Your Imagination!
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95A woman becomes obsessed with a story about her family from 1890—when a naked, mute girl stumbled onto their property—and whether or not it really happened. A self-help guru and his chief strategist take their most affluent and unstable clients on a harrowing nature hike that destroys their company. A young convict in a prison creative writing class chronicles the rise and fall of his cellblock’s resident peacemaker. A rural neighbourhood becomes obsessed by the coming of a strange and powerful new homeowner who is in the middle of reinventing herself.
The stories of Use Your Imagination! are about stories, about the way we define and give shape to ourselves through all kinds of narratives, true or not. In seven long stories, Kris Bertin examines the complex labyrinth of lies, delusions, compromise, and fabrication that makes up our personal history and mythology. Sometimes funny, strange, or frightening, these stories represent Bertin’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed, award-winning debut, Bad Things Happen.
