Rosemary Aswani's book, Rain Dance, tells the story of a young girl in Kenya and her perceptions of and relationship with the rain - its moods, its sounds, its rhythmic nature. Through the eyes of a child, we see how the music of the rain can be both comforting and joyful. Colourful, woodcut illustrations by talented artist, Elizabeth Webb complete this fine work. With vocabulary suitable for an older child, this delightful little book is sure to please. Richard Patz, Teacher Rain Dance is a beautifully illustrated fireside story from Kenya. A realistic thunderstorm experience for the reader Suggestions for classroom use/Curriculum: 'Literacy' - Reading Comprehension Strategy of 'Visualizing' (descriptions paint a picture for the reader) - 'Character Builds' trait: Courage (overcoming fears, bravery) 'The Arts' - Music: creating a soundscape of the thunderstorm - Drama: creating tableaux of 4-5 key events in the story - Dance: movements to represent various parts in the story...Create a 'Rain Dance' Social Studies - Study storytelling traditions from around the world (discuss storytelling similarities to folktales and fairy tales in Canada) - Rewrite a story you remember hearing from your childhood (especially at Hess as most students come from different countries/cultures) Recommended Grade Levels: This book would be fantastic for Grade 2, especially because Grade 2 studies 'Traditions Around the World' (storytelling). However, it would be appropriate for all Primary grades (K-3). Amy Onat, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, Hess Street School, Grade 2

A story for all ages, Alone: a Winter in the Woods quickly engages the reader in thirteen year-old John Turner's adventures. Forced to grow up quickly, while left alone on the family's land grant in a virtually unsettled township, in the winter of 1797, John has to overcome devastating isolation and loneliness. With only a couple of oxen, a pregnant cow, a handful of chickens and his dog to keep him company, everyday tasks become ten times more difficult than they were while Pa was still with him, building their tiny cabin. Meanwhile John's mother has adopted the orphaned Jos phine, who keeps a journal recording the life of the Turners and her own experiences, while the family waits for Pa to return to Adolphustown to escort his wife and young children up the lake to the new settlement once spring allows water traffic to start up again. This tale explores the differences between family life and expectations in the eighteenth century and the present, as John and Jos phine reflect on what home, family, and friendship mean to them and struggle to find the courage, determination and faith needed to face the future. Alone: a Winter in the Woods is written in the spirit and quality of Fredrick Philip Grove's, Governor General Award winning novel, Settlers of the Marsh. Felicity Sidnell Reid brings the Young reader a spell binding pioneer life story of survival. The young reader will be captivated by vivid descriptions of the northern landscape. This historically accurate story of endurance will be equally enjoyed by girls and boys of any age.

From its quirky sonnets on each of Canada's Prime Ministers to its ruminations on the history and landscape that have helped mould this country, Way's redirection is solidly a Canadian book. The poems are a tour-de-force that shifts in genre, tone, style and theme. Modernist interests are fused with postmodern sensibilities-anything goes as the poems slide from topic to topic, form to form. A charming ode of sorts on Al Purdy gives way to a sustained ode on the death of the author's great uncle in World War I, a satire about the odd compulsion of neighbours to decorate their driveways sits next to a comic haiku eulogy about an exotic pet owner who loved baby tigers, an elegy on his mother's death by cancer is followed by an ironic lyric recounting a child's doomed visit to see Queen Elizabeth-the language of Way's work is always precise and unswerving-agile, exact, arcane, blunt. This is a poetry in which imagination, translated into language as effectively as words can manage, offers us a new, often redirected view of the world as Way sees it-sometimes funny, sometimes brutal, but always honest, genuine. And always with that ineffable sense that this is a Canadian seeing himself and Canada inside and out, and the world beyond. From its innovative sonnet sequence on Canada's Prime Ministers to myriad ruminations on matters local and intimate, national and universal, Way's redirection is a Canadian book of poetry that seeks, unceasingly, to lay bare the Canadian psyche and that of the world beyond.

Raccoons are curious by nature and love to eat just about anything. Robbie and Ricki are no different. When mother raccoon is not around they learn a valuable lesson when they take off on an adventure to find out what smells so scrumptious. Robbie Raccoon and The Big Black Blob is a fun, lesson-filled story told from an inquisitive raccoon's perspective. Reviews: A story as charmingly sweet as the big black blob itself. Ted Staunton - http: //www.tedstauntonbooks.com Author of Puddleman, one of Canada's most perennially popular picture books Robbie and Ricki are young, hungry raccoons whose curiosity lands them in a sticky situation. A delightful tale of what can happen when Mom is away and two adventurous youngsters decide to let their noses take them on a delicious but dangerous adventure. David Milliken, retired Senior Vice President, Canada News Wire Ltd. Irene Davidson Fisher's debut is a charmer that will be especially fun bedtime reading for anyone who's camping, at the cottage, or who wishes they were. Edward Kay, Author of Sink and Destroy, STAR Academy, and Dark Secrets

Lifting the Veil published by Hidden Brook Press - 978-1-897475-48-5 With a sharp eye for details, Karen Cole takes us on a journey to the other side, those mysterious places called convents and priories, letting us see for ourselves what few have experienced and even fewer written about. Like the Joni Mitchell song she quotes in the book, she has seen life from both sides now. The courage that took, as well as the courage to write about it, has to be applauded. Francine Pelletier, Journalist and Filmmaker Karen Cole will get thee to the nunnery and then turn your habit inside out. You will find yourself falling in love with the charming Sister Bridget as she journeys behind the veil to discover the life of a Benedictine nun. Funny, poignant -- and sometimes saucy -- this honestly told memoir fascinates as it elucidates just what goes on behind the walls of the Motherhouse. Collette Yvonne, author of The Queen of Cups

Before I Lose Light, ISBN - 978-1-927725-06-1, is Sarah Richardson's travel log through life. She will not just transport you through parts of her life but though parts of your also. This is not an angst, angry portrayal of life. Sarah will take you on a gentle canoe ride with the natural waves of life that keeps you on your toes as you take a smooth, cool stone for a walk. It seems that Sarah's desire is to live life to the fullest before she loses the light.

Grandfather, Father and Me: Memories, Poetry and Good Food is a warm, fun, family filled book of memories in prose, poetry and recipes. Read this book aloud at the dining room table with the whole family. It will make young and old laugh and cry. Editor, Donna Clark Goodrich, has done a wonderful job bring you sincere and heartfelt stories about grandfathers, fathers and father figures. This book is the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie in the family memoir series subtitled: Memories, Poetry and Good Food. You will want more than one piece of this pie.

This 2nd Edition is even more fab than the first edition. The release of Window Fishing: the night we caught Beatlemania, just in time to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, Sunday, February 9th, 1964, is an important cultural event, in that it encapsulates a significant historical period with its impact upon the sensibilities of a number of writers from around the world for whom the Beatles were a major inspiration. The British band banned in Cuba, China and the Soviet Union managed to sing beyond those walls and capture the imagination of young people growing up in repressive regimes. American poet Robert Sward writes Doesn't think he knows anything for sure only Ed Sullivan and the Beatles, Canadian poet Betsy Struthers confirms the spontaneous orgasm of screaming girls in her autobiographical account of her attendance at a Beatle concert in Toronto When it's over, we slump in our seats as others shuffle past, limp, spent. Sis's face a mask of streaked mascara, smudged lipstick. She's panting softly now, eyes closed, hands folded on her breasts as if in prayer. My shift plastered to my spine, thighs gummed together, parched throat. Ears tingle in the aftermath. The scream that fades into this little death. With record sales of over two billion to date, the Beatles remain a cultural phenomenon without parallel. What began in England in 1961, spread throughout North America in 1964, and continues to inspire writers from all over the world lives on in the work of fifteen-year old Korean poet, Paul Jeong who writes, Imagine silence/after the fall/total quiet/where eyes are opened/amid awakening. In this poem he equates the falling of rain all over the planet with the impact of the Beatles on the awakening consciousness of people all over the world. John B. Lee, Canada's premier anthologist, brings together several generations of writers, from China, Russia, Korea, United States, and Canada, in celebration of the movement that struck a spark in the imagination of people all over the world. For his part he puts it this way in his own poem, Encountering Fame, a poem concerning a brief interaction with Paul McCartney, and my heart pounded/like a child trapped in a trunk/marked 1964. David McGimpsey in his hilarious poem writes, ... Maybe it's just me. I've seen people singing classic Beatles songs- from Hey, Moon Cat to Love Is So Lovely- and they all seemed perfectly happy to me.

What is this book about: This collection of short stories is sometimes a bit dark in nature. Unlike Grove's previous collection of light and fun short stories under the title of The Family Reunion these are more about the consternations of life; the troubles of a life long dream burning to the ground, a boyhood character coming to terms with forgiveness and the psycho babble of Will Farnaby and his aquarium life. These stories are bout the cycles of life, challenges and growth. Psycho Babble and the Consternations of Life was born, primarily, out of three stories; The Consternations of Will Farnaby, The Inner Voice, and H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. Other stories and poems lent themselves to the theme of inner struggle and the cycles of life so were included, not just to make the book longer but to flesh out the theses and help round out this collection. The Consternations of Will Farnaby started off as a collection of unlinked short stories about different characters - some closer to life than others. Eventually they were put into an order with Bob as the main character linking them all together and then, for fun, I turned Bob into Will Farnaby after reading Huxley's Island - See author notes at the end of the book. These stories are purposefully dry and sometimes mundane in the depth of difficulties that Will Farnaby faces. These stories, like others are undoubtedly biographical on some level; how can they not be? The Inner Voice was a struggle for me to write until I found the vehicle to carry the thesis of spiritual growth - the journey. After studying metaphysics, meditation, Tai Che and very specifically Christian Science for most of my life this short story came to life. Much had to be edited out and rewritten before my biggest fear with this story, the fear of proselytizing, was overcome. My journey need not be the same for anyone else. I am still on my journey as you are still on yours, no matter how slow, fast, crooked or straight our paths might be. Am I the truck driver or Andy or a combination of both? It was only with the scrupulous editing from my friend, my editor and now my publisher, R.D. Roy, that this story is seeing the light of day. You will never see the editing notes that I ignored from him. You will never know if this story could have been better if I had followed all of his advice. I have been on the spiritual road of learning about my true spiritual nature for many years. Writing this story was part of that journey. Finally H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is, for me, the other keystone to this book. First, do you know what the title means? It is an acronym for the word Hell - H-E-LL. The double hockey sticks being the double LL. H-E-Double Hockey Sticks was a slick way that a childhood friend's mother used to say the word - hell. I have heard it many times since and did not realize that everyone did not understand, its not-so-subtle, meaning. Follow the journey with this young lad and see if he thinks he will go to hell for stealing matches or not. In the end this short story has become the foundation for a short novel still in progress but still works fine in this original form. All of the other stories and poems in this book including one of my favorites The Glen Manor Inn are about cycles of life, challenges and growth in some way or another. They are all fiction and simply part of my journey. I hope you enjoy them.

The Last Stoic is a story about appetite and fear, both modern and ancient. Half of the story's narrative occurs in the time and place of the ancient Roman Empire; the other half occurs in the present-day United States. A central conceit of the novel is that the parallels between the two eras are so strong that the narrative can continue uninterrupted as the setting shifts from historic Rome to modern America, alternating from chapter to chapter. Marcus, a young man from a northern provincial border town, journeys deep into the heart of the empire and witnesses first-hand the excesses that can lead to ruin, both personal and political. His story offers an ancient commentary on the preoccupations of our own turbulent times. Shortly after his arrival, the empire is thrown into a panic by an unprecedented barbarian attack on the capital. Suspicion and paranoia abound. A young Roman/American runaway named Patrick, disillusioned with his own life and the state of his country, becomes convinced that Marcus is a dangerous traitor. Culminating in a public accusation made by Patrick, Marcus is wrongfully imprisoned, exiled and tortured as an enemy of the state. In prison, he confronts the many contradictions he has found in his adopted home, and in himself. Throughout the story, in both eras, the writings of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius (The Meditations) insinuate themselves unexpectedly into Marcus' life. In prison, he is saved by a chance meeting with Sextus Condianus, the last Stoic of the title, a cell-mate who is able to fully recite Aurelius' words and impart their wisdom. Ultimately, it is this unanticipated and unbidden instruction that gives the young man the strength he requires to survive. It becomes evident that the words of the venerable Stoic emperor have as much relevance to our own era as they did to his.

Over the past four decades, the short stories of Norma West Linder have appeared in leading magazines, such as Chatelaine and Horizon, at home and internationally. Her fiction has been anthologized numerous times. In No Common Thread Ms. Linder has selected 33 of her personal favourites from well over 100 published pieces. While a couple of these stories are set in southeast Asia, many are based not far from Lake Huron, the environment in which she grew up during the Great Depression. They depict people living their fragile lives against a backdrop of human passions and failures. Throughout these stories, men and women struggle to understand the mystery inherent in human relationships: parent and child, husband and wife, friends and lovers. Readers who have enjoyed her novels will certainly like these luminous stories. The accomplishments of this talented author are many, and the high standard which she has maintained throughout her writing career is a credit to contemporary Canadian literature.

Batchawana Silly Stuff by Emily Hearn, illustrated by Gailon Valleau is a wonderful, silly, colourful, rhyming poetry book - 8.5 X 8.5 perfect bound. Parents and child alike will enjoy fun times laughing over every page. You will find orange hippos in the porridge, a turkey in a blue shoe, dragons in a black sack and much, much more. The author says - I hope you had fun with this book. There are ever so many more colours. Maybe you could pick a colour and make up your own rhymes and draw pictures to go with them. I had fun doing that and you can too Emily

Eel Pie Island Dharma: A hippie memoir/haibun By Chris Faiers Published by Hidden Brook Press ISBN - 978-1-897475-92-8 www.hiddenbrookpress.com This book is one of the most important historical document of the 60s, a memoir in haibun form. It is part of the Hidden Brook Press, celebrated North Shore Series - the 28th book in this renowned Canadian literature series. This memoir of a sixties survivor has become a haiku/haibun classic and an oft-quoted reference for the heady ferment which was the tail end of the 1960s. Meet a Beatle Attend the first Glastonbury music festival Fight cops and skinheads at the infamous 144 Piccadilly squat Hear a banshee and walk across Ireland ... live in the derelict Eel Pie Island Hotel with hippies, junkies and bikers ... be seduced by school girls ... drop acid in Cambridge ... sleep in a cave on Formentera ... Before the draft for the Vietnam War called, Chris Faiers was a shy bookworm. But he read his Kerouac, and when the draft notices kept coming, Canadian Chris hit the dharma road feet first and didn't look back for three years.

46 Words: Window Fishing: The Night we caught Beatlemania is so populare it is now in the third edition with new stories, poems and essays. It will be cherished by anyone that lived in the Beatles eara or wants to understand the significance of the pop fanomenon called Beatlemania. 97 Words: If you are a Beatles lover, a music eficianato, or just a rock and role fan you should have Window Fishing: The Night we caught Beatlemania in your collection. This fine book of poetry and prose, edited by John B. Lee, the worlds greatest Beatles fan, will fill you in on what was going on in the hearts of Beatles fans around the world. So populare it is now in the second edition with brand new content. It will be cherished by anyone that lived in the Beatles eara or wants to understand the significance of Beatlemania. 120 Words: The release of Window Fishing: the night we caught Beatlemania, just in time to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, Sunday, February 9th, 1964, is an important cultural event. The book encapsulates a significant historical period with its impact upon the sensibilities of a number of writers from around the world for whom the Beatles were a major inspiration. The British band, banned in China and the Soviet Union, managed to sing its way into the hearts of millions. This book celebrates how important Beatlemania was for the entire world. Understand the significance of this pop fanomenon from the eyes and ears of writers from around the world, here, between these covers.

What a pleasure it has been to visit Camp Madawaska, on Victoria Lake, for the last few years. Along with other guests we bask in the glory of Northern Ontario. Camp Madawaska is a slice of heaven that holds the sky filled mirror, Victoria Lake, that in turn holds an ecologically untouched, majestic, tree covered island known as Weston Island. Victoria Lake is fed by the Opeongo River that flows directly from Algonquin Provincial Park into the loon skimmed, moose trudged, deer wandered lake. Stars sparkle there in the unpolluted black night sky. Wolves yowl their dissonance in the distant echoing hills while bears keep their invisible distance. Thank you Genny for the wonderful opportunity provided to us. Photography has been one of my passions since the age of thirteen with the purchase of my first single-lens-reflect camera that was encouraged and 1/2 sponsored by my artist, nature loving, father, Marvin Grove. Back in those dinosaur days of film I timidly shot one precious picture at a time. The longest moments would be spent focusing on a subject until I was convinced that I was not about to waste the costly film and processing. The valuable lesson of composition grew out of my restrained student budget.

Bottle and Glass is a story of survival and escape told from the barstools of two dozen boisterous Kingston taverns at the close of the War of 1812. The novel follows the fortunes of Jeremy Castor and his cousin, Merit Davey, two young men snatched from the Cornish coast by the Royal Navy in the summer of 1813. A year later, they arrive in Kingston, in Upper Canada, a town tense with the fear and deprivation of war. Paid, pent, and thirsty, their first riotous night ashore is spent at a tavern, the novel's namesake, Violin, Bottle, and Glass. On this Saturday night it seems like the entire town is crammed into the two-story clapboard roadhouse. It is thick with spicy bodies, sour tobacco, sweet liquor, and traces of sea-salt. Each reveler has their own private need. The bos'n's mate looks to drink something other than lime-leavened rum and he thinks of home. The young seamstress hopes to meet a midshipman and she thinks of away. The bored need a distraction. The bottled, a release. Jeremy and Merit meet sixteen-year-old Amelia Barrett, newly and unhappily married to Colonel Noble Spafford, a Peninsular War veteran many decades her senior. When, later that evening, Jeremy stumbles upon a dead man linked to the Colonel, the lives of these three people seeking freedom become bound together forever.

The second edition of Encyclopedia of Rock, Pop & Folk Music in Canada is the most comprehensive book of its kind. It details the wide diversity of musical talent in this country. This long-awaited book, updates the 1994 first edition with more record labels and numbers as an answer to the hundreds of letters requesting additional information.

In order to complete this Canadian treasure, Rick Jackson has done an extensive study as a result of his interviews with Canadian artists since 1973.

From Terry David Mulliigan from MUCHMUSIC: Rick Jackson is to be commended for his dedication to the industry and his love of the music and the people that make it.

From Valdy: It will become the reference source for years to come. Well done, Rick Jackson. I'll use this book weekly.

Kathleen Whelan writes with one of the most unique voices in Canadian literature I've ever heard. These stories are surreal and yet they don't fit cleanly into the surrealist genre. These stories are also real without being realist and, at the same time, absurd in the tradition of Kafka and Beckett. They are absurdly real. Perhaps, the best description of Whelan's style is absurd-realism, but the truth is Things I Will Tell You When I'm Dead is so original it defies all genre categories; it surprises and unsettles like a strange, yet somehow beautifully crafted dream.

Jacob Scheier,

Governor General Award winning author of

'More to Keep us Warm' (ECW Press, 2007)

Kathleen Whelan's distinctive voice shines through in Things I Will Tell You When I am Dead, her first book of stories. Readers of Whelan's work have been waiting for her debut collection, and the waiting is finally over. The appealing directness of Whelan's prose, her startling images and irreverence--Whelan's stories both wrench the heart and clench the gut in often hilarious stories that are relayed in a wildly entertaining and startling, moving style that is uniquely Kathleen Whelan's.

J. Jill Robinson

author of the novel 'More in Anger'

and four collections of short stories.

Kathleen Whelan lives in her own, strangely slanted world - much like the rest of us. The difference is, she knows how to open the door to her world, even if only a crack, and invite you to peek in. If you're brave enough, you might actually enter. But don't enter if you're looking for some kind of redemption. Do it with an open mind and you'll encounter a fear that borders on elation and that will tear you open and make you cry, either with sorrow, or with joy, and often with both simultaneously.

Kathleen's sentences are ragged at the edges, like strips of cloth flapping in the wind, they twine together, then shiver apart, suggesting a chaos that never quite materializes, but also never ceases to threaten the narrative.

I read a lot of these stories years ago and was awestruck and mystified by Kathleen's way. I didn't know exactly how she did it, but I wanted more... and she was kind enough to share more with me. Reading these stories again now, I am still mystified. Kathleen reminds me that it is still possible for me to be lost. It's okay to be lost. Lost is a valid, and often wondrous place to be.

Ken Sparling

is the author of six novels,

has been shortlisted for the Trillium Award.

byzantine proceeds through shallow breaths and heavy swells. Individual poems change their tenor, their voice, their perspective, and their concerns even as the collection builds a continuity of experiences and reflections on various contexts, historical and contemporary, and perspectives or voices. The collection oversees at least three generations: poet, father, grandfather. It moves from Canada to Cyprus. It heaves through academic prose and notes and it flits through soft reflections. This book is Greek and English. Historical and modern. Coy, sad, and ideological. The collection merits reading from front to back. It is something like a novel, deconstructed with respect to character, setting, and plot. Yet the title reveals a great deal about its content. Byzantium is an enigma, as characterized popularly, when it is regarded at all. Put simply, it was the continuation of the Roman Empire post its move to Constantinople from Rome and post its Christianization in the fourth century. Intricate court life. Mystical hierarchies and structures. Decline and fall. Byzantium is a space remember largely through negative connotation in the western world and through mythologizing and memory in the eastern world. Byzantium is a space of historical lore, spiritual exercise and patience, and intellectual efflorescence. The poet standing at his window could very well be overlooking the Bosphorus in contemporary Istanbul. He looks at the world around him, the world past, and the world he could only imagine through stories, and weaves his tale accordingly.

Poems and short stories mingle in this provocative memoir that simultaneously explores and re-imagines one young woman's pursuit of excitement in a world of drugs, booze, boys, rock and roll. On the border of Detroit and Windsor the stories Bridget Ryan recreates from her past reveal the immense pressures and pursuits that surround youth, beauty, and the need to win big and live fast. Tennis tournaments riddled with hallucinogenic episodes, romantic first sightings with Ferris Wheels on the horizon and tragedy lurking in further conquests, these short narratives create an overall journey through some of life's greatest obstacles. Bitches With Problems re-appropriates the strength women are often denied through an objectifying gaze and gives the protagonist and her many fascinating female cohorts an agency and a power wrought through sheer survival, conflict, and hard-won camaraderie.