Category: author

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Earth Day 2012

Today is Earth Day! Here are some beautiful books that celebrate our planet’s environment and creatures:

Cube Book
By Jessica Bruin
Board Books | 48 pages | Ages 4-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-325-4
“The Cube Book by Jessica Bruin is a fun way to learn about endangered animals. Striking photos fill six board books designed for little hands, each with information about four animals, ranging from the giant panda to a clown fish. You can join the books together to form a puzzle panel, or create a cube….” – The Calgary Sun

Who Will Save My Planet?
By Cristina Urrutia
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-281-3
“Each double-page spread in this thought-provoking book pairs photos of similar subjects, letting viewers study the differences and draw their own conclusions…. Apart from the title, the book is wordless, but the environmental message is abundantly clear … the book has potential for classroom units on the environment.” – Booklist

Going Ape!
By Eduardo Bustos
Illustrated by Lucho Rodriguez
Hardcover | 24 pages | Ages 5-8
ISBN: 978-1-77049-282-0
There are more than 200 species of primates in the world. Going Ape! is a wonderful introduction to some of the most fascinating ones for children just discovering the world of animals. From Japan’s macaques to Africa’s gorillas, brilliant images and brief, informative text will capture the imagination of young children.

Creatures Great and Small
By Karen Patkau
Paperback | 32 pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-309-4
“Creatures Great and Small is a book that uses every possible surface to inform and impress the reader. While author/illustrator Karen Patkau writes in short, simple sentences, her vocabulary is often rich an descriptive. Given that making comparisons is part of school curriculum and proper pedagogy, this book is a good resource to support both.” – Quill & Quire

Creatures Yesterday and Today
By Karen Patkau
Paperback | 32 pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-310-0
“…the amazing science will engage dinosaur fans with the wonder of evolution and the evidence of fossils. A time chart and a world map showing the distribution of the prehistoric creatures and fossils wrap up the text, which will be wonderful for beginning classroom science discussions.” – Booklist

Who Needs a Swamp?
By Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-991-7
“Karen Patkau provides ‘just enough’ clear information on each double page spread to keep her readers interested and moving forward. She fills her collages with intense color and abundance to show a coherent view of this ecosystem and its many inhabitants. We become aware of the wildlife in her vivid descriptions of the sounds and sights in the swamp and through her carefully constructed artwork. The constantly changing page designs encourage her audience to search carefully through the text for clues to what is happening in the art, and the art is filled with details that have the child’s eyes searching for each new and delightful discovery.” – Sal’s Fiction Addiction

Who Needs an Iceberg?
By Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-993-1
“Nonfiction picture books are not nearly as common as they once were, but author and illustrator Karen Patkau proves that the genre is not dead. Her beautiful illustrations and maps present information in an easy to understand format for young readers…. Each book includes simple text for beginning nonfiction readers supported by detailed illustrations of the plant and animal life in each ecosystem…. All of the books in this series contain valuable information supported with illustrations that help young readers understand the content. The message in each is clear. We need to care about these different ecosystems.” – Highly Recommended, CM Magazine

Who Needs a Jungle?
By Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-992-4
“…Patkau offers a series of vibrant scenes … striking illustrations. The text both interprets the visual content … and offers paragraphs of diverse facts.” – Booklist

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Scrabble Day

Read Word Nerd and play a game of Scrabble today with your friends and family!

Word Nerd
Written by Susin Nielsen
Ages 9+ | 256 pages
HC ISBN: 978-0-88776-875-0
TR ISBN: 978-0-88776-990-0
eBook: 978-1-77049-075-8

Twelve-year-old Ambrose is a glass-half-full kind of guy. A self-described “friendless nerd,” he moves from place to place every couple of years with his overprotective mother, Irene. When some bullies at his new school almost kill him by slipping a peanut into his sandwich – even though they know he has a deathly allergy – Ambrose is philosophical. Irene, however, is not and decides that Ambrose will be home-schooled.

Alone in the evenings when Irene goes to work, Ambrose pesters Cosmo, the twenty-five-year-old son of the Greek landlords who live upstairs. Cosmo has just been released from jail for breaking and entering to support a drug habit. Quite by accident, Ambrose discovers that they share a love of Scrabble and coerces Cosmo into taking him to the West Side Scrabble Club, where Cosmo falls for Amanda, the club director. Posing as Ambrose’s Big Brother to impress her, Cosmo is motivated to take Ambrose to the weekly meetings and to give him lessons in self-defense. Cosmo, Amanda, and Ambrose soon form an unlikely alliance and, for the first time in his life, Ambrose blossoms. The characters at the Scrabble Club come to embrace Ambrose for who he is and for their shared love of words. There’s only one problem: Irene has no idea what Ambrose is up to.

In this brilliantly observed novel, author Susin Nielsen transports the reader to the world of competitive Scrabble as seen from the honest yet funny viewpoint of a boy who’s searching for acceptance and for a place to call home. But you don’t have to take our word for it, see what some readers have been saying:

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Tuesdays with Tundra 19

Tuesdays with Tundra is a monthly post on our new releases. The following books are available today in stores and online!

Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom
By Susin Nielsen
Paperback | 240 pages | Ages 11-14
ISBN: 978-1-77049-295-0
eBook: 978-0-88776-978-8
“Nielsen (Word Nerd) has created a narrator as sassy and candid as this memorable novel’s title…. Nielsen skillfully balances her story’s keen humor…with poignancy. Especially affecting are Violet’s struggles to accept her father’s new family….” – Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

The Green Man
By Michael Bedard
Hardcover | 320 pages | Ages 10-14
ISBN: 978-1-77049-285-1
eBook: 978-1-77049-293-6
“…Bedard takes full advantage of the genre’s atmospheric creepiness and sepia-toned timelessness. O is a contemporary character, but the story is refreshingly free of hoodies, malls, product placements, and texting…. For more plot-hungry Goosebumps graduates, there are dark strangers, abandoned mansions, ghostly glowing, chilling coincidences, and otherworldly portals galore.” – Starred Review, Quill & Quire

Here Comes Hortense!
By Heather Hartt-Sussman
Illustrated by Georgia Graham
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 4-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-221-9
“…Here Comes Hortense should be a welcomed addition for those seeking stories that explore intergenerational relationships. Georgia Graham’s artwork is truly delightful…. The drawings suit the story so well and are complemented with large bold text in many strategic places. The theme park, depicted in all its ‘over the top’ garish features, is appealing and humorous. The results are playful, quirky, colourful and action-packed artwork!” – Highly Recommended, CM Magazine

The Last Song
By Eva Wiseman
Hardcover | 232 pages | Ages 11+
ISBN: 978-0-88776-979-5
eBook: 978-0-88776-980-1
“With spies and informers on all sides, the story builds to a gripping climax…readers will easily be caught by the young girl’s personal heartbreak and conflict and will want to find out more.” – Booklist

Pub Date Giveaway: Tell us which new release of ours you would love to read in the comments below and one lucky reader will receive their requested book!

One request per person and please review our rules. This giveaway ends at midnight on Thursday, April 12, 2012!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Heather, a copy of The Last Song will be sent to you!

PS: Our next Pub Date Giveaway will be on May 8, 2012.

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2012/2013 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Awards Nominations


The nominations are in for the 2012/2013 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Awards and we are happy to say that Tundra has two nominated books! They are:

From Then to Now: A Short History of the World
Written by Christopher Moore
Illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski
Hardcover | 192 pages | Ages 10+
ISBN: 978-0-88776-540-7
eBook: 978-1-77049-120-5
“Moore does an admirable job not only getting so much history in, but displaying how it can be cyclical, a constant succession of societies rising and falling. That premise will prompt much discussion among curious young minds.” – Quill & Quire

Shipwrecks, Monsters and Mysteries of the Great Lakes
Written by Ed Butts
Trade Paperback | 88 pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-206-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-259-2
“Guelph author Ed Butts delves into the history of the Great Lakes to produce this intriguing look at the tragedies they’ve caused…. While this book is geared to children ages nine to 12, cottagers and boaters of all ages will revel in each chapter and gain new respect for our Great Lakes.” – The Waterloo Region Record

The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award is an Atlantic Canadian book award which allows children to choose their favourite Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books. This year, the children will read from a selection of forty books divided in four categories: English Fiction, English Non-fiction, French Fiction and French Non-fiction, chosen for their literary, cultural and enjoyment factors. The books have generally been published within two or three years of selection.

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2011 Finalists for the Book of the Year Award

ForeWord Reviews‘ Book of the Year Awards were established to bring increased attention to librarians and booksellers of the literary and graphic achievements of independent publishers and their authors.

Here is a list of the 2011 Tundra Finalists in their respective categories:

Young Adult Nonfiction Category:
“Scribbling Women” True Tales from Astonishing Lives
by Marthe Jocelyn
Hardcover | 208 pages
ISBN: 978-0-88776-952-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-230-1
“…a wonderful example of a book that will break down any negative stereotypes about biographies. [Jocelyn]… creates lively, sometimes humorous pieces that blend straight biographic detail and anecdotal accounts about some lesser known women writers in history…. Not only does Jocelyn share extraordinary stories about these women, but her piece also celebrates writers of all kinds, inspiring young adults, particularly girls, to value their own voices and experiences by writing through whatever means they choose….” – ForeWord Reviews

Young Adult Fiction Category:
First Descent
by Pam Withers
Hardcover | 272 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-257-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-274-5
“…From the first page, when Rex hears a crack of river ice, sees an eight-year-old in peril, and enacts a dramatic rescue in which he must out-paddle an advancing mountain of ice, Withers flings the reader from one perilous adventure to another….” – Booklist

Young Adult Nonfiction Category:
Five Thousand Years of Slavery
by Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen
Hardcover | 176 pages
ISBN: 978-0-88776-914-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-151-9
“This well-researched global survey introduces readers to slavery practices, customs, suffering, uprisings, and revolts as well as antislavery efforts from ancient Greece and Rome to today’s world…. The authors promote global awareness and issue a call to action…. Informative documentary photos and factually rich sidebars enhance the text…. This groundbreaking title brings the disturbing subject into historical and contemporary focus.” – Starred Review, School Library Journal

Juvenile Nonfiction Category:
In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up
by Monica Kulling and illustrated by David Parkins in the
Hardcover | 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-239-4
“Third in the Great Idea series, this concise introduction to trailblazing American inventor … reveals a woman committed to living life on her own terms, unafraid to fight for her successes. In clean, straightforward prose, Kulling explains how Knight’s interest in and knack for machines was present even at a young age…. Paired with Parkins’s detailed and handsome pen-and-ink illustrations, the book focuses on Knight’s invention of a paper bag-manufacturing machine and her legal fight to protect her creation after her idea was stolen.” – Publishers Weekly

Juvenile Fiction Category:
Stones for My Father
by Trilby Kent
Hardcover | 176 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-252-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-260-8
“This meticulously researched novel about a white Afrikaner girl caught up in the Boer War at the turn of the 19th century brings to light a hitherto overlooked aspect of South African history.” – School Library Journal

Young Adult Fiction Category:
The Dragon Turn: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Fifth Case
by Shane Peacock
Hardcover | 240 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-231-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-273-8
“…Shane Peacock has done his research well. His character makes a very believable younger version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Shane has also accurately portrayed London of the 1860’s. True to the style of the original master, this novel is filled with excellent deductions by the young Holmes, numerous twists and turns and an exciting climax that kept me reading at the edge of my seat.” – Jewish Book World

Winners in each category will be announced at the American Library Association annual conference and on the award website in June of 2012.

Congratulations to our authors and illustrators!

Tundra Book Group