Category: author

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A Call for Blog Tour Participants: Hey Canada!


What is a blog tour?
Similar to an author tour where the author travels from store to store across the country, a blog tour is when a series of blogs post about the book during a consecutive number of days.

What do I need to participate?
First of all, you will need a blog. Second, a love for reading children’s books! Third, a commitment to post on your scheduled blog tour date.

What is the book about?
Hey Canada!
Written by Vivien Bowers
Illustrated by Milan Pavolvic
Hardcover | 72 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-1-77049-255-4
Gran has decided that she is taking nine-year-old Alice and eight-year-old Cal on a road trip across Canada “before she’s old and creaky.” With a sparkling combination of poems, silly songs, tweets and blogs, the trio records the trip for readers everywhere to share. Starting in St. John’s Newfoundland, where they have a “find-it” list that includes a moose and an iceberg and going all the way to the Pacific Ocean, the gang in Hey Canada! offers a delightful way to learn about vast, varied, and surprising Canada.

The book combines narrative, poems, photos, comics about historical events such as the battle at Fortress Louisburg, maps (including provincial flags, birds, and flowers), in a lively, easily accessible format. Not only great fun to read, this is a valuable resource for young Canadians and for visitors across the country.

How can I help during the blog tour?
As a participating blogger, you will be given a copy of Hey Canada! to read. On your scheduled posting date, you should post your review of the Hey Canada! for tour followers to see. If you don’t want to do a review, you can also post an author interview, a home-made book trailer, share fun-facts, or something unique! Anything you like, as long as it relates back to the book. We encourage creativity here!

We will be promoting the blog tour, so your blog will see an increase in traffic. Tundra will be sharing your link on our own blog here, our facebook page, and twitter. We would greatly appreciate it if you could help spread the word too. Feel free to post your reviews on Goodreads, LibraryThing, or online retailers.

Where do I sign up?
I thought you would never ask! If you are getting this as an e-mail subscriber, please fill out the form on our blog:
The application form is closed. Thank you to all of those who applied!

We will be sending you a copy of the finished book to read as soon as possible. The blog tour will be starting on Monday, June 25, 2012 and ending on Friday, June 29, 2012. The week before Canada Day! You can also e-mail us (tundra@mcclelland.com) or leave a comment below if you have any questions about the blog tour.

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2012 Book of the Year for Children Award Shortlist

The Canadian Library Association has announced the shortlist for the 2012 Book of the Year for Children Award. This award recognizes a Canadian author of an outstanding book published in Canada in 2011, which appeals to children up to and including age 12.

This year, the committee was presented with 218 books, of which 32 were ultimately long‐listed for a thorough reading and review!

Tundra would like to congratulate the authors and illustrator for being on the 2012 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award shortlist:

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
“Capably told and uniquely illustrated, From Then to Now explains how imaginative human cultures have produced an intellectually and socially dynamic world…. Far from a history of conquerors, this exceptional history of humanity is a breath of fresh air” – School Library Journal

The Dragon Turn
The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Fifth Case
Written by Shane Peacock
Hardcover | 240 pages | Ages 10-14
ISBN: 978-1-77049-231-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-273-8
“…Shane Peacock delivers another intriguing novel exploring the boy detective…. His Sherlock is a penniless but resourceful young man living with an eccentric apothecary who encourages his curiosity and his powers of observation. In The Dragon Turn, he attempts to unravel the mystery of a magician’s illusion, which has apparently caused the death of a rival magician … the Canadian-made Sherlock has a real feeling for Victorian London.” – Winnipeg Free Press

The winners of the 2012 Book of the Year for Children Award and Honour Books will be announced prior to the Canadian Library Association National Conference. The award will be presented at the CLA National Conference and Trade Show at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Ontario on 31 May 2012.

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Kidlit Celebrates Women’s History Month


For the second year in a row, librarian/bloggers Lisa Taylor of Shelf-Employed and Margo Tanenbaum of The Fourth Musketeer are organizing Kidlit Celebrates Women’s History Month. This blog brings together children’s book authors, librarians, and book bloggers from across the “kidlitosphere” in order to highlight some of the outstanding books for young people dealing with women’s history. The site is nonprofit and contains no advertising. Each day in March features a guest post with a new essay, commentary, or review by a different author or blogger. Authors contributing this year include Monica Kulling, Donna Jo Napoli, Jeannette Winter, Marc Aronson, Andrea Pinkney, Margarita Engle, and Karen Blumenthal. Participating bloggers include Betsy Bird of Fuse #8 and Jules Danielson of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Interested readers can sign up to “follow” their blog or receive it through their e-mail – don’t miss a single post during March!

Last year, Marthe Jocelyn, the author of “Scribbling Women” participated. Click here to read her post. This year, Monica Kulling will be contributing to their blog. We can’t wait to see what she wrote!

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Notable Books for a Global Society Book Award

Tundra Books would like to congratulate the co-authors of Five Thousand Years of Slavery, Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen! Their book has been selected as one of the 25 winning titles for the 2012 Notable Books for a Global Society Book Award!

Five Thousand Years of Slavery
Written by Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen
Hardcover | 176 pages
Ages: 11+
ISBN: 978-0-88776-914-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-151-9
Praise: “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. A timeline lists pivotal moments from the rise of Sumerian cities to the 2001 Cocoa Protocol denouncing child labor on African cocoa plantations. This groundbreaking title brings the disturbing subject into historical and contemporary focus.” – Starred Review, School Library Journal

MARJORIE GANN, an educator for thirty years, has written language arts curricula, review articles on children’s literature, and sat on the jury for the Canadian Jewish Book Awards. She lives in Toronto with her husband and has two grown children.

JANET WILLEN has been a writer and editor for more than thirty years, working on publications ranging from remedial writing curricula to articles on health and safety. She holds a master’s degree in political philosophy from the New School for Social Research. Janet Willen lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband

About Notable Books for a Global Society
Annually, a committee of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association selects 25 outstanding trade books for enhancing student understanding of people and cultures throughout the world. The committee reviews books representing all genres intended for students K-12. The Mission of the Children´s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group is to promote the educational use of children’s books by focusing on recently published children’s literature, supportive professional books, issues relative to children’s literature, and current research findings.

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Tuesdays with Tundra 17

Tuesdays with Tundra is a monthly post on our new releases. The following books are available today in stores and online! Do you see the environmental theme this month? It’s all about the love for our planet this Valentine’s Day:

Creatures Great and Small
By Karen Patkau
Paperback | 32 pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-309-4
A glossary, map endpapers, and handy charts – introducing the concepts of scale and proportion by comparing measurements of animals that are “Big” and “Really Big” to “Small” and “Really Small” – make this book a must-have for parents, schools, and libraries alike.

Creatures Yesterday and Today
By Karen Patkau
Paperback | 32 pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-310-0
Captivating text in the voices of the animals themselves is complemented by the vibrant illustrations, map endpapers, glossary, geological time line, and chart of the history of life, making this fact-filled book a welcome addition to any home or school library, where a budding scientist can happily explore.

Who Needs a Jungle?
By Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-992-4
Jungles are treasures for all of us, regardless of where we live. In Who Needs a Jungle? we learn about its vital role in providing us with oxygen, food, medicinal ingredients, and raw materials we use every day.

Who Needs a Swamp?
By Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-991-7
Swamps are often seen as a dangerous and useless. They are often drained to create farmland or to reduce diseases. But such measures can be disastrous. Who Needs a Swamp? explores wetlands and their importance in the food chain and in preserving our soil and clean water.

Who Needs an Iceberg?
By Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-993-1
Who Needs an Iceberg? The Arctic ecosystem is changing rapidly. The Arctic Ice Cap is melting, the habitat for the creatures that live in the north is shrinking, and the earth is warming up. The impact is enormous for all of us.

Who Will Save My Planet?
By Cristina Urrutia
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-281-3
This unique and powerful wordless book uses striking photos to show the impact of humans on the environment. Each provocative image speaks volumes. On every spread we are shown a treasure that nature has given us beside a picture of how we’ve abused that treasure. It would take thousands of words to express the important environmental message presented by Cristina Urrutia.

Pub Date Giveaway: Tell us which new releases you would love to read in the comments below and one lucky reader will receive their requested book! You can either request for the set of two Creatures books, the set of three books in the Ecosystem Series, or Who Will Save My Planet?

One request per person and please review our rules. This giveaway ends at midnight on Thursday, February 16, 2012!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Eleanor Q! You will be getting a copy of Creatures Great and Small and Creatures Yesterday and Today.

PS: Our next Pub Date Giveaway will be on March 13, 2012.

Tundra Book Group