Fall 2014 – Page 9 – Tundra Book Group

December 5, 2014May 7, 2025

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Sports Fan

Listed by age range:

Baseball Animals
Written by Christopher Jordan
Hardcover | 24 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-474-9
In Baseball Animals, children will learn about the various animals specific to professional baseball and discover why each team selected the particular animal when naming their club.

Baseball Opposites
Written by Christopher Jordan
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-518-0
In Baseball Opposites, children will be introduced to an array of familiar opposites clearly defined through bright and colorful photographs from the world of Major League Baseball.

M Is for Maple Leafs
An Official Toronto Maple Leafs Alphabet Book
Written by Michael Ulmer
Illustrated by Melanie Rose
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-798-6
For nearly a century, the Toronto Maple Leafs have stood as one of the most popular hockey franchises in the NHL. With M Is for Maple Leafs, children across North America will discover the alphabet while being introduced to interesting Leaf history. From people (such as Mats Sundin and Johnny Bower) to hockey terminology (line change and face-off) and places and things (dressing room, Air Canada Centre, puck), the world of hockey is depicted in this fun and lively picture book. Featuring rhyming text from author Mike Ulmer and striking illustrations from Melanie Rose, this book captures the spirit of “Canada’s game.”

Puckster Plays the Hockey Mascots
Written by Lorna Schultz Nicholson
Illustrated by Kelly Findley
Trade Paperback | 24 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-760-3
In Puckster Plays the Hockey Mascots, Puckster and his pals realize the dream of being on the ice with their hockey heroes – the Toronto Maple Leafs mascot Carlton the bear and the Montreal Canadiens mascot Youppi. These legendary NHL mascots inspired Puckster to play hockey and cheer for Hockey Canada and now here he was playing in a real game with these hockey greats. But when his drive to win and desire to impress others gets in the way, Puckster realizes that he has let his team down and forgotten the true spirit of teamwork.

Puckster’s Christmas Hockey Tournament
Written by Lorna Schultz Nicholson
Illustrated by Kelly Findley
Trade Paperback | 24 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-758-0
In Puckster’s Christmas Hockey Tournament, it is Christmas Eve and Puckster is nervously watching the heavy snowfall gather on the ground and in the trees. It is his first Christmas away from home and though he is excited to be with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Tournament, he is afraid that the winter storm will prevent his family and friends from travelling to the remote arena and arrive in time for Christmas morning.

The Bambino and Me
Written by Zachary Hyman
Read by Jason Alexander
Illustrated by Zachary Pullen
Hardcover | 48 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-627-9
It’s 1927, and ten-year-old George Henry Alexander is full of the joys of summer: long days, warm nights and baseball, especially the greatest player in the game: Babe Ruth – the Bambino. When George’s parents surprise him with tickets to a game between his beloved Yankees and their rivals, the Boston Red Sox, he couldn’t be more excited. But when the big day arrives, things don’t quite go according to plan …

The Highest Number in the World
Written by Roy MacGregor
Illustrated by GeneviÃ¨ve Després
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-575-3
Nine-year-old Gabe (Gabriella) Murray lives and breathes hockey. She’s the youngest player on her new team, she has a nifty move that her teammates call “the Gabe,” and she shares a lucky number with her hero, Hayley Wickenheiser: number 22. But when her coach hands out the team jerseys, Gabe is stuck with number 9. Crushed, Gabe wants to give up hockey altogether. How can she play without her lucky number?

Peter Puck and the Runaway Zamboni Machine
Written by Brian Mcfarlane
Illustrated by Geri Storey
Hardcover | 34 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-583-8
In Peter Puck and the Runaway Zamboni Machine, Peter’s good friend, Tony the Zamboni, longs for adventure. When Tony disappears, Peter and referee George Phair head out to find him. Tony loves being out in the big wide world, especially when he enters a race at the speedway. Peter arrives just in time to hop on and drive, but a run-in with two nasty drivers threatens to put them on the sidelines. Can Peter and Tony stay in the race? And will the runaway Zamboni return to the arena and prepare the ice for the big game?

The Mystery of the Russian Ransom
Written by Roy MacGregor
Trade Paperback | 176 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-420-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-425-1
The Screech Owls have never had such a wonderful surprise. A famous Russian billionaire has offered to pay and fly the whole team to his country. He wants the Owls to visit his homeland so the Russians can learn from the Screech Owls’ style of play. The team will play in a tournament while they are there, but even before their first practice on Russian ice, Sarah is taken off the snowy streets. Her kidnappers want ten million rubles in exchange for her safe release! The billionaire wants to pay for Sarah’s safe return, but Travis and his teammates decide to take matters into their own hands.

The Boston Breakout
Written by Roy MacGregor
Trade Paperback | 176 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-421-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-426-8
The Screech Owls are in Boston for the Paul Revere Peewee Invitational. Nish decides to drop out of school. If it worked for Ben Franklin, it will work for him. Sarah becomes increasingly concerned about Samantha’s attraction to a group of protesters demanding that the New England Aquarium “Free the Penguins.” When the girls learn that the protesters have far more in mind than speeches and waving placards, the Owls have to act fast to save the lives of thousands of sea creatures.

The Hockey Sweater, 30th Anniversary Edition
Written by Roch Carrier
Illustrated by Sheldon Cohen
Translated by Sheila Fischman
Hardcover | 48 Pages | All Ages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-762-7
The Hockey Sweater is a Canadian children’s classic, and we are very excited to be doing an anniversary edition. It will include lots of extras, including original material from the author and illustrator, stills from the animated film, letters and quotes from celebrities and more.

December 4, 2014May 7, 2025

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Thinkers

Listed by age range:

Nancy Knows
Written by CybÃ¨le Young
Hardcover | 40 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-482-4
Nancy knows she’s forgotten something. Something important. When she tries to remember, she thinks of all kinds of other things instead. She remembers things she knows and things she doesn’t quite know. She remembers things one way, then another. Sometimes she remembers with her ears or her stomach or even her heart. But Nancy knows she’s still forgetting something. It’s only when Nancy stops thinking altogether that she finally remembers the very important thing she’s forgotten. Nancy Knows is the charming story of an elephant who remember lots of things, except the very thing she is trying to remember.

Going Up!
Elisha Otis’s Trip to the Top
Written by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by David Parkins
Trade Paperback | 32 Pages | Ages 5-8
ISBN: 978-1-77049-516-6
In 1818, seven-year-old Elisha was fascinated by farm machinery. As a young man, he tried a variety of ways to make a living, but nothing fired his imagination more than the job he found in a bed-frame factory. Soon he invented a machine that made frames four times faster than ever before. In 1852, while overseeing the construction of a new factory, he had to find a way to move heavy machinery to the second floor. He didn’t trust the hoisting platform, so he invented a safety brake. It was so successful that rather than lift machine parts, Elisha decided to build “people-hoisting machines.” In 1857, Elisha Otis installed his first successful passenger elevator in a five-storey department store in New York City. Before Elisha’s invention, buildings were never higher than six stories. At last it was possible to build skyscrapers!

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
Born into a life of privilege in 1878, Lillian Moller Gilbreth put her pampered life aside for one of adventure and challenge. She and her husband, Frank, became efficiency experts by studying the actions of factory workers. They ran their home efficiently, too. When Frank suddenly died, Lillian was left to her own devices to raise their eleven children. Eventually, she was hired by the Brooklyn Borough Gas Company to improve kitchen design, which was only the beginning. Lillian Gilbreth was the subject of two movies (Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes), the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and the first female psychologist to have a U.S. postage stamp issued in her honor. A leading efficiency expert, she was also an industrial engineer, a psycologist, an author, a professor, and an inventor.

Nine Words Max
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by David Huyck
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 5-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-562-3
Maximilian is a prince who loves to talk: No topic is too small, no story too boring. Max’s brothers are the opposite–the less said the better. When the king and queen go on a trip and leave the brothers alone, the three princes put a spell on Max that limits him to speaking only nine words at a time. The brothers are delighted: peace and quiet at last! But when a fearsome dignitary arrives, they realize the true value of their brother’s insatiable need for information.

Who Needs a Desert?
A Desert Ecosystem
Written by Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-1-77049-386-5
Although deserts are harsh, dry places, they teem with fascinating plants and wildlife. Author and illustrator Karen Patkau takes us on a magical journey through one of the earth’s most important ecosystems. In Who Needs a Desert? A Desert Ecosystem, we discover, in breathtaking art and lyrical text, the plants and animals that have adapted to its severe conditions – from grasses, cacti, shrubs, and trees to Gila monsters, roadrunners, scorpions, and kangaroo rats.

Who Needs a Prairie?
A Grassland Ecosystem
Written by Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-1-77049-388-9
Prairies are wild and rugged grasslands, whose inhabitants depend on each other and their surroundings. Author and illustrator Karen Patkau takes us on a magical journey through one of the earth’s most important ecosystems. In Who Needs a Prairie? A Grassland Ecosystem, we discover, in breathtaking art and lyrical text, the plants and animals that thrive in its unique conditions – from buttercups, pincushion cacti, prairie crocuses, and sagebrush to burrowing owls, dung beetles, yellow-bellied racers, and voles.

Who Needs a Reef?
A Coral Ecosystem
Written by Karen Patkau
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-1-77049-390-2
Colorful coral reefs, astonishing in their beauty, bustle and teem with life. Author and illustrator Karen Patkau takes us on a magical journey through one of the earth’s most important ecosystems. In Who Needs a Reef ? A Coral Reef Ecosystem, we discover, in breathtaking art and lyrical text, the plants and animals that flourish in its tropical conditions – from coralline algae, phytoplankton, and sea grasses to hermit crabs, moon jellies, whale sharks, and porcupinefish.

Every Breath
Written by Ellie Marney
Hardcover | 352 Pages | Ages 14 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-772-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-774-0
Rachel Watts has just moved to Melbourne from the country, but the city is the last place she wants to be. James Mycroft is her neighbor, an intriguing and troubled seventeen-year-old genius with a passion for forensics. When Mycroft asks Watts to help investigate a murder, she knows it’s probably a very bad idea. But Mycroft’s hard to resist when he’s up close and personal-and before she knows it, Watts has joined him on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer. But what happens when this brilliant bad boy becomes murder suspect number one?

December 3, 2014May 7, 2025

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Dreamers

Listed by age range:

If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur
Written by Linda Bailey
Illustrated by Colin Jack
Hardcover | 40 Pages
For Ages: 3-7 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-568-5
If you happen to have a dinosaur, lying around your living room, and you don’t know what to do with it … why don’t you use it as a can opener? It will make a terrific nutcracker too! There are oodles of uses for a dinosaur — from a fine umbrella to an excellent kite and a dandy pillow, not to mention a reliable burglar alarm and the perfect excuse to forget your homework. This delightfully absurd exploration of the domestic uses of dinosaurs — and the things dinos just aren’t good for at all — is guaranteed to tickle funny bones and spark imaginations.

Ella May and the Wishing Stone
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by GeneviÃ¨ve CÃ´té
Trade Paperback | 32 Pages
For Ages: 4-6
ISBN: 978-1-77049-410-7
When Ella May finds a smooth stone with a line going all-all-all the way around it, she is convinced it has magical powers. Surely such a stone will grant wishes, she thinks. But when her friends want to join in the fun, Ella May says that the stone is too special. Slowly she comes to realize that keeping the stone all to herself is a sure way to lose friends. By using her imagination, Ella May finds a way to make everyone’s wishes come true-including her own.

Audrey (cow)
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Hardcover | 240 Pages
For Ages: 7-10 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-602-6
Audrey is a cow with poetry in her blood, who yearns for the greener pastures beyond Bittersweet Farms. If you have no problem with stories about brave cows escaping their dark destiny and dodging hunters and vicious predators, then this book is for you. Over two dozen animals and humans tell the tale of Audrey’s great escape. Full of heart and humor, Audrey (cow) is ultimately a very human story about life and death, friendship, and holding on to one’s dreams – based more or less on a true story.

Millhouse
Written by Natale Ghent
Hardcover | 192 Pages
For Ages: 7-10 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-639-2
Millhouse is a faint-hearted, hairless guinea pig. A great lover of all things theatrical, most especially the work of William Shakespeare, Milly longs for the limelight and someone to love. However, after the death of his beloved owner, the great actor Sir Roderick Lord Kingswagger, Millhouse is abandoned to a neglected and dusty pet shop filled with other rodents — some rude, some odd, some cute and some downright frightening. Finding himself a reviled outcast and a target of the nasty Pepper Brown ferret, Millhouse sets about trying to find a way back to the theater and a happy home, and in doing so experiences more drama than he could ever have imagined.

The Green Man
Written by Michael Bedard
Trade Paperback | 320 Pages
For Ages: 10 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-511-1
When Ophelia’s father heads off to Italy for the summer to finish work on his book on the poet Ezra Pound, O – as she prefers to be called – is sent by train to stay with her Aunt Emily, who runs a secondhand bookshop back east called The Green Man. Part mystery, part fantasy, this compelling and beautifully written novel slips between the real world, and that of the creative imagination. Cloaked in the simple story of a young woman taking over a bookstore from her aged aunt, The Green Man is an eerie story about finding voice and courage, and about suspending disbelief!

December 2, 2014May 7, 2025

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Explorers

Listed by age range:

An Armadillo in Paris
By Julie Kraulis
Hardcover | 32 Pages
For Ages: 5-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-526-5
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?

Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book
Written by Marthe Jocelyn and Richard Scrimger
Illustrated by Claudia DÃ¡vila
Hardcover | 336 Pages
For Ages: 9-12 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-479-4
When chubby, geeky Wylder Wallace spills lunch on cool and aloof Addy Crowe at Toronto’s Comicon, she dashes to the bathroom, leaving behind the latest issue of her uncle’s steampunk comic hit: Flynn Goster in Gold Rush Train. Wylder, a fan of the Flynn comics, opens this new one eagerly, astounded to see the girl who was just yelling at him inside the comic. Fascinated, he follows Addy into the bathroom, and the adventure begins …

The World Outside
Written by Eva Wiseman
Hardcover | 240 Pages
For Ages: 12 and up
ISBN: 978-0-88776-981-8
Seventeen-year-old Chanie Altman lives the protected life of a Lubavitcher Hasidic girl in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, in 1991. Religion is the most important aspect of her life, and, like other Lubavitcher girls, she is expected to attend a seminary and to marry as soon as she graduates from high school. But Chanie has a beautiful voice and dreams of becoming an opera singer – a profession forbidden to a Hasidic girl. When she meets David, a non-Hasidic Jewish boy, he opens the portals to the world outside her fundamentalist community. The Crown Heights riots break out, and the Lubavitchers are put under siege by their African-American neighbors. A tragedy occurs. Will Chanie stay in the fundamentalist community she has always known in a life that has been prescribed for her, or will she leave it behind to follow her dreams?

First Descent
Written by Pam Withers
Trade Paperback | 272 Pages
For Ages: 12 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-412-1
Montana-born Rex dreams of following in his grandfather’s footsteps and making a first descent down one of the world’s last unconquered wild rivers. When he finally gets enough sponsors, Rex heads to South America to tackle the well-named El Furioso. And while he anticipates the river’s challenges, he finds himself in a situation where the real danger is human.

Shadows
The Rephaim, Book 1
Written by Paula Weston
Trade Paperback | 400 Pages
For Ages: 14 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-769-6
It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Take a quick tour and follow the Rephaim as they shift from Pandanus Beach to Greece and to Italy.

Haze
The Rephaim, Book 2
Written by Paula Weston
Hardcover | 448 Pages
For Ages: 14 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-550-0
Gaby Winters’ life used to be pretty normal. She lived with her best friend. She worked in a library. She was slowly getting over the death of her twin brother, Jude. And then Rafa came looking for her. Take a quick tour and follow the Rephaim as they shift from Pandanus Beach to Los Angeles to Dubai to Iowa and to Melbourne.

December 1, 2014May 7, 2025

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Trendsetters

Listed by age range:

Adventures with Barefoot Critters
By Teagan White
Hardcover | 32 Pages
For Ages: 4-8
ISBN: 978-1-77049-624-8
Join this adorable cast of animal characters (you’ll squeal at their cute outfits) as they explore the alphabet through the seasons, having fun at all stops along the way. From gathering honey in spring to building cozy campfires in fall, the friends make the most of each season, both enjoying the great outdoors and staying snug inside.

Edie’s Ensembles
By Ashley Spires
Hardcover | 32 pages
For Age: 4-8 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-490-9
Edie is known for her great outfits and stylish flair. She and her best friend Andrew spend a lot of time playing dress-up. The school hall is their runway. No outfit is too bizarre, no costume too flamboyant for Edie!

Julia, Child
Written by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Julie Morstad
Hardcover | 32 Pages
For All Ages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-449-7
Julia and Simca are two young friends who agree that you can never use too much butter – and that it is best to be a child forever. Sharing a love of cooking and having no wish to turn into big, busy people who worry too much and dawdle too little, they decide to create a feast for growing and staying young. A playful, scrumptious celebration of the joy of eating, the importance of never completely growing up and mastering the art of having a good time, Julia, Child is a fictional tale loosely inspired by the life and spirit of the very real Julia Child — a story that should be taken with a grain of salt and a generous pat of butter.