Category: author

Imagine
TD Bank Financial Group, the Toronto Public Library, and Library and Archives Canada are proud to support literacy in Canada by offering the TD Summer Reading Club to Canadian children across the nation in both English and French. This is a great program for parents, librarians, and teachers across the country!

Imagining is creating! What a wonderful introduction to Imagine, the theme of the TD Summer Reading Club 2012. As its name suggests, this theme will familiarize young readers with literature of the fantastic. Readers will be charmed by fantasy stories and novels and they will be enthralled by tales of wonder. They will discover the Gothic and steam-punk worlds where unusual creatures and strange machines can be found in mysterious locales.

Here is a list of our books that are on the TD Summer Reading Club’s various English book lists:

Legends, Folklore, Myths:
Spirits, Fairies, and Merpeople
Native Stories of Other Worlds
Written by C.J. Taylor
Hardcover | Ages 9-12 | Nonfiction
ISBN: 978-0-88776-872-9
C. J. Taylor draws from those stories and from her own Mohawk heritage in this collection of haunting tales about some of the powerful spirits who touch the lives of human folk. The spirits of heaven and earth from the Ute help bring an understanding of the stars in the sky. Illustrated with her own powerful oil paintings, this is a collection to read and an excellent story-teller’s resource.

Sindbad
From the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights
Retold by Ludmila Zeman
Trade Paperback | Ages 7-11 | Nonfiction
ISBN: 978-1-77049-264-6
Perhaps the best known of the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights are those about Sindbad the Sailor. For centuries, people have been fascinated by the stories of a simple, sometimes confused, sailor who mistakes a giant whale for a lovely island and the egg of the Roc (a bird so huge that she can carry an elephant in her talons) for a mountain. Sindbad encounters many dangers, but he prevails in this irresistible trilogy, thanks to nothing but his own wits.

Magic:
Daughter of the Great Zandini
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Cybèle Young
Hardcover | Ages 8-10 | Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-88776-534-6
Tradition is important to the Great Zandini, the great magician of Paris. His grandfather was a magician, his father was a magician, and his son will be a magician too. Unfortunately, his son Theodore does not feel the same way. Zandini won’t hear of opposition. Besides, his arch nemesis, newspaper reporter A. S. Besette, has begun a smear campaign, suggesting the old master is washed up. Zandini creates a new magic show to introduce Theodore as his successor. There’s only one problem: Theodore is a hopeless magician.

Mythical Creatures:
Monsterology
Fabulous Lives of the Creepy, the Revolting, and the Undead
Written by Arthur Slade
Illustrated by Derek Mah
Trade Paperback | Ages 11-12 | Nonfiction
ISBN: 978-0-88776-714-2
Monsterology: Fabulous Lives of the Creepy, the Revolting, and the Undead is the most fun anyone can have with some of the nastiest creatures ever imagined! Who can resist morsels like the fact that “Drakul” means “son of the dragon” in Romanian, that the first Golem may have been Enkidu, who appeared in the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, and that Frankenstein’s Monster was first inspired by Mary Shelley’s nightmare?

Scary Stories:
Don’t Go In There!
Written by Veronika Martenova Charles
Illustrated by David Parkins
Trade Paperback | Ages 5-7 | Easy Readers
ISBN: 978-0-88776-781-4
Ghostly tales of strange things lurking in forbidden places tie these three stories together. The boys have been warned not to go into a certain room while they are pet-sitting for the neighbor, but, of course, their bravado leads to a session of one-upmanship and the distinct possibility that the cats they are looking after may not be cats at all. Stories from Russia, the United States, and the West Indies are highlighted.

Don’t Talk to Strangers!
Written by Veronika Martenova Charles
Illustrated by David Parkins
Trade Paperback | Ages 6-8 | Easy Readers
ISBN: 978-0-88776-847-7
This time a lost dog sparks the theme of strangers and the wisdom in avoiding them. And what a collection of strangers they are! Headless trolls, people with pointy ears and huge eyes, and long-lost “aunties,” who enjoy eating their guests. Stories from Scandinavia, Sierra Leone, and Iraq are highlighted in this universal warning.

The Fortress of Kaspar Snit
Written by Cary Fagan
Trade Paperback | Ages 8-10 | Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-88776-665-7
Kaspar Snit is a villainous villain who is determined to steal all the fountains in the world. Why? Fountains are beautiful and give people pleasure, two things he can’t abide. Can a family of four who love fountains rescue them from the hands of this dastardly scoundrel? Especially when that family is made up of the four most eccentric individuals you’d care to meet?

Time Travel:
The Battle for Duncragglin
Written by Andrew H. Vanderwal
Hardcover | Ages 11+ | Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-88776-886-6
Set in the time of William Wallace, this is historical fiction at its bloody best! One of history’s most turbulent times comes to vivid life in this thrilling novel. Twelve-year-old Alex has been raised by his uncle since his parents disappeared on a trip to Scotland many years ago. He’s resigned to spending the summer in Scotland with yet another relative and finds himself on a farm near the ruined remnants of an ancient castle that is rumored to be haunted. Could it have a connection to his parents’ disappearance?

The TD Summer Reading Club is sponsored by TD Bank Group in co-operation with the Toronto Public Library and Library and Archives Canada. A team of children’s librarians from the public libraries of Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal developed the theme and the materials for the program. The participating regions are: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Please click here for more information about DuÅ¡an Petričić, the illustrator who created the artwork for this year’s Reading Club!

Past TD Summer Reading Clubs: 2010 and 2011