You’re Invited to the Launch of Best Friends through Eternity

best friends through eternity

Please join author Sylvia McNicoll for the launch of her new novel, Best Friends through Eternity.

Date: Sunday, February 15, 2015
Time: 2:00pm-4:oopm
Place: A Different Drummer Books
Address: 513 Locust Street, Burlington, ON
Telephone: 905-639-0925

You can also call or email (diffdrum@mac.com) to reserve your autographed copy!

Praise for Best Friends through Eternity:
“Sylvia McNicoll takes a typical drama centred around the old standby theme of the kid who doesn’t fit in and turns it into something more interesting…. McNicoll’s story addresses a slew of important issues – including racism, self-perception, intergenerational culture clashes, bullying, and selflessness – via an engaging, multilayered plot that will give readers much to ponder. It is also refreshing to see characters from diverse cultures presented realistically, something that is still sorely lacking from most children’s fiction.” Quill & Quire

2015 ALA Midwinter

MW15_WereExhibitingWe’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!

01ALAMW15We 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!

02ALAMW15Thanks to Samantha Devotta, we had lots of sneaky dwarfs hanging around our booth!

03ALAMW15There’s another one, sleeping on the job! They’re from Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali and illustrated by Raphaëlle Barbanègre.

04ALAMW15Not letting the dwarfs run the whole show were the disgusting critters. Creeping out of our nonfiction section were spiders and head lice.

05ALAMW15On the other end, our middle grade and young adult novels. Such stunning covers!

06ALAMW15It 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!

07ALAMW15Giveaway 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 Critterspostcards 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!

08ALAMW15We spotted Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity in our neighbor’s booth.

09ALAMW15We also went to check out our publishing partners in the US, Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi is with Algonquin Young Readers.

10ALAMW15Our 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.

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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

2015 OLA Super Conference

It’s that time of year again! The OLA Super Conference takes place at the end of this week!

TundraOLASC

From Thursday to Friday, you can find us at booth #716-724, talking about our new and upcoming books. We’ll also have a few author signings over the two days! With each author signing, we’ll hand out complimentary copies of the title on a first come, first serve basis. Make sure you get there early – there will only be a limited number of signed books to give away!

Frank Viva signing on Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.

9781101917688-450Outstanding in the Rain
Written by Frank Viva
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN 9781101917688
eBook 9781101917701
An outstanding story of word and picture play from an award-winning author/illustrator, that will amaze and delight kids, English language enthusiasts and anyone who appreciates great design and arty children’s books.

Charis Cotter signing on Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 4:00 p.m.

9781770495913-450The Swallow: A Ghost Story
Written by Charis Cotter
Hardcover | 320 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN 9781770495913
eBook 9781770495937
“Spooky tension, friendship and compassion permeate this exquisitely plotted middle-grade ghost story … readers will seesaw between chills and snorts of laughter. When Cotter delivers the final twist, it is a denouement that becomes a springboard for greater revelations that lead to even greater reader satisfaction. Middle-grade storytelling at its very best-extraordinary.” – Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews
“Cotter builds suspense without artificially withholding information from the reader. And for bibliophiles, the author’s subtle hat tips to favourite books are a joy. Like all the best ghost stories, The Swallow tells us more about the living than the dead. It is a fantastic addition to Toronto literature, with all the makings of a classic.” – Starred Review, Quill & Quire

Eric Walters signing on Friday, January 30, 2015 at 9:30 a.m.

9781770495302-450Hope Springs
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN 9781770495302
eBook 9781770495319
“Based on actual events, this story is one of strength and kindness in the face of fear…. 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

Sylvia McNicoll signing on Friday, January 30, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.

9781770497108-450Best Friends through Eternity
Written by Sylvia McNicoll
Hardcover | 192 Pages | Ages 12 and up
ISBN 9781770497108
eBook 9781770497122
A fast-paced novel about a Chinese teen who “dies” in a tragic accident and is reunited with her former best friend. Will she have to stay away for the rest of her days, or is there a way back?

Follow @TundraBooks@VIVAandCO, @CharisCotter@EricRWalters and @SylviaMcNicoll on Twitter! You can also follow #OLASC15 for the latest news and updates!

2014 ALA Annual Conference

ALA 2014Tundra Books will be exhibiting at ALA Annual Conference this year! Please visit Tara and Sylvia at booth #245 to learn about our new and upcoming books – and to pick up bookmarks, teacher guides, posters, recipe cards, art cards, postcards, buttons, ARCs, and more!

We will have author and illustrator signings at our booth! With each author signing, we will be handing out complimentary copies of the title at a first come, first serve basis. So don’t forget! There’s a limited number of signed books to give away!

Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 10 AM – Eric Walters will be signing copies of My Name Is Blessing
My Name Is BlessingMy Name Is Blessing
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | Ages 6-9 | 32 Pages
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

Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 2 PM – Dan Bar-el will be signing copies of Nine Words Max and chap books of Audrey (cow)
Nine Words MaxNine Words Max
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by David Huyck
Hardcover | Ages 5-9 | 32 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-562-3
“Vancouver author Dan Bar-el and Idaho illustrator David Huyck bring young readers aged five to nine a fun, but cautionary tale about today’s obsession with media, fascination with speaking in 140 characters or less and the importance of conversation.” – The Cambridge Times

audreyAudrey (cow)
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Hardcover | Ages 7-10 | 256 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-602-6
Audrey is a cow with poetry in her blood, who yearns for the greener pastures beyond Bittersweet Farms. But when Roy the horse tells this bovine dreamer that she is headed for Abbot’s War, the slaughter house, Audrey knows that she must leave her home and friends sooner than she ever imagined. With the help of a whole crew of animals and humans alike, Audrey attempts to escape the farm she lives on – and certain death. Cleverly written as an oral account, this unique illustrated tale of an animal on the run, told “to camera”, uses over thirty narrative voices, including six humans, four cows, three sheep, two sheep dogs, one pig and a very silly rooster. 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.

Sunday, June 29, 2014 at 10 AM – Linda Bailey and Colin Jack will be signing copies of If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur
If You Happen to Have a DinosaurIf You Happen to Have a Dinosaur
Written by Linda Bailey
Illustrated by Colin Jack
Hardcover | Ages 3-7 | 40 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-568-5
“. . . a tongue-in-cheek user’s guide to prehistoric pets. . . . Colin Jack’s quirky illustrations have a retro-inspired design and are as cheery and bright as a Saturday morning cartoon. . . . The pages are packed with funny details that adults will enjoy as well. . . . Readers are not to despair if they don’t have a dinosaur of their own lying around. The open ending invites lots of animated and imaginative discussions about what to do with other odd and unusual pets like a dodo, a porcupine, or a sasquatch. This wacky, zany tale is a storytime crowd pleaser.” – Children’s Book Review

TundraALA2014We can’t wait to see you at the Grand Opening Reception on the exhibit floor! Viva Las Vegas!

Follow @TundraBooks@EricRWalters, @huyckd, and @colinjack8 on twitter. If visuals are more your thing, follow @TundraBooks, @tatjanamaiwyss, and @colinjack8 on instagram! You can also follow #alaac14 for the latest news and updates!

Tundra Book Group