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

Kirkus Reviews: Best Children’s Books of 2014

best_of_2014-CHILDRENS-BADGEKirkus Reviews compiles a great list of the best children’s and teen books annually. Congratulations to all of the amazing authors and illustrators for their achievement and for being included in the categories as well! We’re happy to share that two of our titles made the list this year!

Congratulations to Cybèle Young, Nancy Knows was selected as one of the Best Picture Books of 2014 to Start a Conversation:

Kirkus_Nancy Nancy KnowsNancy Knows
Written by Cybèle Young
Hardcover | 40 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-482-4
“…the vehicle for a truly beautiful and unique visual tour de force. Young creates delicately worked, detailed illustrations of the things Nancy does remember and sorts them into a wide variety of categories shown within graphite-pencil outlines of Nancy’s elephantine body in front, back, overhead and sideways perspectives. She appears standing or rearing, sleeping or sitting. Things are remembered neatly or jumbled up; sights, sounds and smells are recalled, as well as places and objects, all in interesting juxtapositions. Each item is a tiny, intricate sculpture made with Japanese papers. Colorful shapes in abstract design and amazingly detailed, seemingly three-dimensional objects demand intense, close examination, and fingers will tingle with the wish to lift them off the page. It’s a work to be shared in wonderment and delight. Pure fascination.” – Starred Review, Kirkus

Congratulations to Dan Bar-el and Tatjana Mai-Wyss, Audrey (cow) was selected as one of the Best Middle-Grade Science Fiction, Fantasy & Adventure of 2014 AND Best Middle-Grade Books of 2014 for Readers Who Like Quirky:

Kirkus_Audrey2audreyAudrey (cow)
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Hardcover | 240 Pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-1-77049-602-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-604-0
“Move aside Wilbur and Babe. There’s a new farmyard hero in town, and she has no desire to end up hamburger. Audrey isn’t like the other cows … the feisty Charolais concocts an elaborate escape for herself using the expertise and help of her barnyard friends…. In a multiple-perspective, documentary-like format, each animal tells its part of the story with terrific humor and personality … the many voices make the book an ideal read-aloud for a classroom and ideal fodder for readers’ theater…. Part Great Escape, part Hatchet, part Charlotte’s Web, all wonderful.” – Starred Review, Kirkus

Kirkus_Audrey

Tundra Book Group