2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Thinkers

Listed by age range:

Nancy KnowsNancy Knows
Written by Cybèle 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 Trip to the TopGoing 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-SpanSpic-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 MaxNine 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 DesertWho 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 PrairieWho 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 ReefWho 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 BreathEvery 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?

Nancy Dreams

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Dreamers

Listed by age range:

If You Happen to Have a DinosaurIf 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 StoneElla May and the Wishing Stone
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Geneviève Côté
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.

audreyAudrey (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.

MillhouseMillhouse
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_paperbackThe 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!

DinosaursReading

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Explorers

Listed by age range:

An Armadillo in ParisAn 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 Crowes Comic BookViminy Crowe’s Comic Book
Written by Marthe Jocelyn and Richard Scrimger
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
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 OutsideThe 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_paperbackFirst 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_PaperbackShadows
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.

HazeHaze
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.

ArloPacking

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Trendsetters

Listed by age range:

Adventures with Barefoot Critters 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 EnsemblesEdie’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 ChildJulia, 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.

EdieCloset

Indigo’s Best Books of 2014 for Kids & Teens

Indigo Best of 2014

For Ages 3-5 | Laugh Out Loud
If You Happen to Have a DinosaurIf You Happen to Have a Dinosaur
Written by Linda Bailey
Illustrated by Colin Jack
Hardcover | 40 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-568-5
“There aren’t many books that have the courage to be this silly…. Simply wonderful.” – The Globe and Mail

For Ages 3-5 | Cuddle Up & Read
The Hockey Sweater_30th AnniversaryThe Hockey Sweater, 30th Anniversary Edition
Written by Roch Carrier
Illustrated by Sheldon Cohen
Translated by Sheila Fischman
Hardcover | 48 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-762-7
“It’s a classic… you can’t really be a Canadian and not read it. It’s become part of our cultural lexicon.” – Canadian Children’s Book News

The Highest Number in the WorldThe Highest Number in the World
Written by Roy MacGregor
Illustrated by Geneviève Després
Hardcover | 32 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-575-3
“MacGregor’s writing packs an emotional punch without relying on sentimentality (“Gabe’s heart felt as if a skate had just run across it”). Expressive pencil drawings, brightened with color washes, perfectly capture the characters’ feelings. From the moment Grandma begins to share her past and her passion hockey, the story’s context becomes broader, more complex, and more meaningful. A memorable, intergenerational picture book perfect for sharing.” – Starred Review, Booklist

For Ages 9-12 | Contemporary Adventures
Viminy Crowes Comic BookViminy Crowe’s Comic Book
Written by Marthe Jocelyn and Richard Scrimger
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Hardcover | 336 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-479-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-480-0
“A harmonious blend of narrative and intertwined graphic sequences finds two preteens at a comics convention closer to the action than they ever imagined…. The book’s creators clearly had a grand time, filling it with fantastic steampunk creations…. This wholly imagined fantasy is well-fleshed out and keeps the pages flying with its extremely clever story within a story. As it embraces so many different genres and formats-comics, steampunk, adventure-expect this to resonate with a wide readership. A thrilling and imaginative reminder that adventure and magic can be found anywhere, especially where one least expects it….” – Starred Review, Kirkus

Tundra Book Group