Fall 2014 – Page 5 – Tundra Book Group

February 6, 2015May 7, 2025

Black History Month

February is Black History Month, and we encourage you to visit your local bookstore or library to learn more. In the meantime, we’ve compiled our reading recommendations for you (click on the covers for more information). You can also check out our previous list too!

My Name Is Blessing
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | 32 Pages |Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-301-8
“This expressive picture book, based on a real family, lovingly tells a hard story with a twist. It’s difficult to broach poverty, disability and custody issues in so few pages without sounding maudlin, but Walters manages by speaking simply…. With dignity and quiet acceptance, this story illustrates that blessings, like family, can take unexpected forms.” – Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews

Hope Springs
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-530-2
“Based on actual events, this story is one of strength and kindness in the face of fear. …the art is expressively large. A series of spreads gives readers a view of Boniface’s world, adding rich colors and patterns of folk art. With the addition of the author’s ‘Story Behind the Story,’ the facts of the origin of Hope Springs allow a retelling of the story through a personal narrative with the aid of photography, a map, and additional explanation.” – School Library Journal

Today Is the Day
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
Available for Pre-order: October 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77049-648-4
Based on real children in an orphanage in Kenya, this lovely story shows how something as simple as a birthday, something most of us take for granted, can mean so much in another part of the world.

All Aboard!
Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine
Written by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
32 Pages | Ages 5-8
HC ISBN: 978-0-88776-945-0
PB ISBN: 978-1-77049-514-2
“An engaging biography of the African-American inventor…. The narrative includes fictionalized dialogue and clear explanations about how the machinery works and concludes with an inspiring message …” – School Library Journal

When I Get Older
The Story behind “Wavin’ Flag”
Written by K’naan and Sol Guy
Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-302-5
“Internationally known musician K’naan, whose song ‘Wavin’ Flag’ was the official anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, recounts his struggle as a young immigrant from Somalia to fit in and how he was bullied for looking and dressing differently from his classmates.” – Publishers Weekly

Oscar Peterson
The Man and His Jazz
Written by Jack Batten
Hardcover | 192 Pages | Ages 10+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-269-1
eBook: 978-1-77049-362-9
“If you are looking for a solid biography for middle schoolers of the man who was arguably the top jazz pianist for over twenty years and among the best for the rest of his life, then look no further than this book. Though it is only briefly referenced, the author met Peterson back in 1965, and his clear respect for the man, as well as Peterson’s formidable jazz skills, shows throughout this book…. Still inexorably leading you through Peterson’s life, Batten makes the reader unfamiliar with songs run to the web to listen for the first time….” – VOYA Magazine

Legends, Icons & Rebels
Music That Changed the World
Written by Robbie Robertson, Jim Guerinot, Sebastian Robertson and Jared Levine
Hardcover with 2 CDs | 128 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-571-5
“Wow, just wow! This book is big in every way…. The book’s art is hard to resist … it’s a treat that the words grab as much as the pictures.” – Starred Review, Booklist

Five Thousand Years of Slavery
Written by Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen
Hardcover | 176 Pages | Ages 10+
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. 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

Speak a Word for Freedom
Women against Slavery
Written by Janet Willen and Marjorie Gann
Hardcover | 216 Pages | Ages 12+
Available for Pre-order: September 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77049-651-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-653-8
A fascinating non-fiction account of the lives of fourteen female abolitionists, some of whom were slaves themselves, from the early days of the antislavery movement to the present.

February 5, 2015May 7, 2025

2015 ALA Midwinter

We’re back from the Windy City! It was a whirlwind weekend as Editorial Director Tara and Publishing Coordinator Sylvia flew in to set up booth #4829. We met many librarians, all excited and passionate about the books. Then, we survived the fifth-largest blizzard to ever come down on Chicago, but luckily none of our flights were canceled! Of course, that didn’t overshadow the highlight of every Midwinter, the Youth Media Awards! Congratulations to all the deserving authors, illustrators, and publishers!

We heard many praises for our beautiful bunting hanging on the front table. Most of the flags on the bunting feature the end papers from our books!

Thanks to Samantha Devotta, we had lots of sneaky dwarfs hanging around our booth!

There’s another one, sleeping on the job! They’re from Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali and illustrated by Raphaëlle BarbanÃ¨gre.

Not letting the dwarfs run the whole show were the disgusting critters. Creeping out of our nonfiction section were spiders and head lice.

On the other end, our middle grade and young adult novels. Such stunning covers!

It felt like Sadie came and decorated this spot with paper dolls and fox masks. Which, by the way, you can learn how to make from this activity kit!

Giveaway table! ARCs for Best Friends through Eternity, Heartache and Other Natural Shocks, and Every Word. We had beautiful art cards for This Is Sadie and Adventures with Barefoot Critters, postcards for An Armadillo in Paris, bookmarks for Audrey (cow), Every Breath, and If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur. Memory card activity sheets for Nancy Knows, recipe cards for Julia, Child and a door hanger for Bob’s Hungry Ghost. Lots and lots of posters too!

We spotted Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity in our neighbor’s booth.

We also went to check out our publishing partners in the US, Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi is with Algonquin Young Readers.

Our US publishing partner for Outstanding in the Rain by Frank Viva is Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Such a great show, we can’t wait for ALA Annual in San Francisco! If you’d like a look at our 2015 books, please click here for our brochure. For MORE photos from ALA Midwinter, you can see the full album here on facebook.

February 4, 2015May 7, 2025

An Intern and a Super Conference

Hello everyone!

It’s Sam the intern and for once, I’m not trying to get you to sign up for my Reading Club (but you should probably check it out anyway!). I’m here to share my experience at the OLA Super Conference.

In my six months working in publishing, I’ve only been to one other conference; all I did was sit quietly behind a table for a few hours while people milled around, glancing at our table but rarely stopping to chat. So I didn’t know what to expect when I stepped into the Metro Toronto Convention Centre last Thursday.

It was a lot more fun than sitting behind a table, let me tell you.

For one thing, there were so many people! Librarians and library assistants and library sciences students and other people who, I guess, work at libraries in some way.

Hundreds of companies were represented in the hall, and there were tons of author signings. We had five of our own authors signing over two days but, since we shared the booth with the rest of Penguin Random House, there was always a line for someone!

We had Frank Viva (Outstanding in the Rain), Charis Cotter (The Swallow: A Ghost Story), Eric Walters (Hope Springs), Susin Nielsen (We Are All Made of Molecules), and Sylvia McNicoll (Best Friends Through Eternity).

I loved the way our booth looked, the brightly coloured picture books made it look super cheerful. And we had DWARFS and disgusting critters decorated all around.

I didn’t really get a chance to wander around the rest of the hall because I was documenting everything on our instagram, though I did pick up a poster and some cute temporary tattoos for me – ahem, I mean for my nieces.

But I got to talk to our authors, which was very exciting! Eric Walters is taller than I expected, which sounds like an odd thing to say, but he can be a little intimidating at 9 am when you haven’t had your tea yet.

I also asked Susin Nielsen to sign my copy of Word Nerd; I recently started reading her books, and I’m completely addicted to them now! If you haven’t read anything by her yet, please do yourself a favour and check her out.

Word Nerd is about a Scrabble player, so Susin used the letters in my name to come up with smaller words. It was pretty impressive how fast she did it (I know it’s a short name, but still!).

Before I knew it, it was time to pack all our books away so that they could be sent to our next destination: Reading for the Love of it, which happens February 9-10. I’ll be popping in to support our authors, Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger, Margriet Ruurs, and Rina Singh and I can’t wait to find out what goes on over there!

February 2, 2015May 7, 2025

Tundra Reading Club: February 2015

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all ready for this month’s reading club!

Just to remind you:

Each month, we’ll post a book and a sign-up form for bloggers. Then we’ll randomly choose the lucky five who will receive a copy (in some cases, an advance copy) in exchange for a review on their blog!

Of course, everyone is free to participate via tweets (@TundraBooks) or in the comment section on the monthly post.

To make it easy to work into your busy schedules, we’ve chosen picture books so it shouldn’t take you too long to read the book of the month (or like me, you might pore over it for hours and be distracted by the illustrations).

As we announced last week, our February pick is Julie Kraulis’ gorgeous An Armadillo in Paris. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, what better way to celebrate than with a stroll through Paris, the city of love?

A winsome armadillo from Brazil takes a trip to Paris in this delightful picture book from Julie Kraulis. Arlo is an armadillo who is always up for adventure. His grandfather, Augustin, loved adventure too. When Arlo was born, Augustin wrote travel journals about his favorite places for Arlo to use when he was hold enough to go exploring on his own. When Arlo reads about Paris and the one the French call La Dame de Fer, or Iron Lady, he decides it’s time to strike out on his first adventure. He travels to France and, guided by Augustin’s journal, discovers the joys of Paris: eating a flakey croissant at a café, visiting the Louvre, walking along the Seine and, of course, meeting the Iron Lady… But who is she? Each spread has a clue about her identity, and kids will see hints of her scattered throughout the book.

Visit your local library or bookstore to get reading! If you’re interested, fill in the form below and we’ll randomly select five bloggers to read and review a copy of An Armadillo in Paris and join our discussion.

SIGN-UP FORM CLOSED!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Tanya, Jo Ann, Danielle, Emilie, and Jules! We look forward to your reviews!

Check back in on Monday, February 23, 2015 for our book club’s first meeting to discuss An Armadillo in Paris!

January 27, 2015May 7, 2025

Tundra Reading Club: Spic-and-Span! Reviews

Hi everyone!

Happy Tuesday!

I’m so happy to share our five reader reviews for our January reading club pick, Monica Kulling’s Spic-and-Span! Lillian Gilbreth’s Wonder Kitchen.

Spic-and-Span!
Lillian Gilbreth’s Wonder Kitchen
Written by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by David Parkins
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 5-8
ISBN: 978-1-77049-380-3
“This engaging picture-book biography details the many accomplishments of Lillian Gilbreth … Kulling deftly describes early twentieth-century social, physical, and technical conditions that presented challenges to productivity in both public and private settings, and she explains how Gilbreth’s innovations improved conditions, creating context so that young readers can appreciate the extent of her contributions. Parkins’ rich, cartoon-like illustrations provide clear period detail, and his characters’ faces portray an extensive range of emotions, adding interest and emphasizing Gilbreth’s primary commitment to her family. Student researchers might also enjoy other titles in the Great Idea series…” – Booklist

Shilpa at SukasaReads thought the illustrations by David Parkins “do a remarkable job taking kids through that time period, yet still keeping the book relatable.”
Ann Marie at a dainty dish loved the poem at the beginning because it “sets the tone for the story and the state of mind – calm, restful and relaxed – that Lilian was hoping to help others achieve through her innovations.” She also included a modified recipe for Frank Gilbreth’s beloved apple cake! Yum!
Heather at Books and Quilts said that Monica Kulling “brought Lillian Gilbreth to life” and recommended the book “to all young women considering a career in engineering.”
Jennifer at A Penne for Your Thoughts recommended it for 6-10 year olds because she believes the Great Ideas Series “will spark interest in learning more about the remarkable people they tell the stories of.”
Annette at Teacher Librarian suggested it would be a “wonderful book to feature during Women’s History Month” (review will go live January 30th, 2015).

If you read the book as well, please let us know what you thought about it in the comments below! How many of you knew that Lillian Gilbreth was that accomplished?

I’m also very excited to announce our February reading club book: An Armadillo in Paris by Julie Kraulis. Make sure you check back here next Monday to sign up for your chance to win a review copy.

Thanks for participating and see you next week!