Books

Take a ride down Lilypod Lane with Weasel and Pam Pam as they try to solve a mystery in their neighborhood in this hilariously fetching picture book: could their peculiar neighbor actually be a dog in disguise?

On Lilypod Lane, everyone knows everything about everybody . . . or so they believe! When curious paperboy Weasel encounters his mysterious neighbor Roy on his route, he becomes convinced that Roy is actually a dog! But when his friend Pam Pam disagrees, Weasel must put on his detective cap and do his best sleuthing to reveal Roy's extraordinary secret, and prove that not everything is as it seems, once and for all!

An endearingly offbeat picture book that celebrates neighbors and neighborhoods, Roy Is Not a Dog delivers laughs and lessons about accepting others for who they are as well as the risks and rewards of showing your true self.

Age Range: 3-7 years

ESMÉ SHAPIRO grew up in Laurel Canyon, California and Ontario, Canada, and is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her previous picture books include Ooko, which was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award in 2016, Alma and the Beast, Carol and the Pickle-Toad and, most recently, My Self, Your Self, which has received two starred reviews. Esmé also illustrated Yak and Dove by Kyo Maclear, Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Margaret McNamara and A Garden of Creatures by Sheila Heti. She has exhibited at the Society of Illustrators, and her work has been featured in Taproot and Plansponsor magazines. Esmé lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, Daniel, and their two dogs.

A Pocket Guide to Pronouns is here to answer questions about pronouns, pronoun etiquette, and steps toward allyship and inclusiveness! With activities, short stories, and exercises to practice throughout, this pocket guide includes the following: - Different pronouns used within the rainbow community - Pronoun etiquette, misgendering, and corrections - Exercises for allyship and inclusive language - Resources for further learning For anyone at any stage of 2SLGBTQIA+ education — ally, member, and everything in between — this guide offers a starting point for those who want to create safer spaces for trans folks.

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Sydney Brouillard-Coyle (Ney/Nem/Nir) is a nonbinary, transgender, queer, asexual person with a deep passion for social justice. As of May 2023, ney hold a Bachelor of Music (Honours) as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Women & Gender Studies (Honours) from the University of Windsor. Ney currently reside in southwestern Ontario with nir cat, Natasha (She/Her). Sydney lives by the motto “be the change you wish to see.” A long-time activist and former candidate for Windsor’s City Council, ney are particularly passionate about issues relating to equity, trans and queer rights, mental health, food and housing insecurity, the environment, and youth voices. As an educator, ney provide inclusivity training and keynotes through the company ney founded, Rainbow Allyship. To stay up-to-date on Sydney's activism, advocacy, and future works, check out nir social media: @sydneybcoyle

Writing is, and always will be, an act defined by failure. The best plan is to just get used to it. 

Failure is a topic discussed in every creative writing department in the world, but this is the book every beginning writer should have on their shelf to prepare them. Less a guide to writing and more a guide to what you need to continue existing as a writer, On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer describes the defining role played by rejection in literary endeavors and contemplates failure as the essence of the writer’s life. Along with his own history of rejection, Marche offers stories from the history of writerly failure, from Ovid’s exile and Dostoevsky’s mock execution to James Baldwin’s advice just to endure, where living with the struggle and the pointlessness of writing is the point.

Praise for On Writing and Failure

“The Canadian novelist and essayist describes the defining role rejection has played in his career and reflects on its importance in the lives of notable writers, from Ovid to Dostoyevsky and Baldwin.”
—New York Times

“I want to buy up a big lot of Marche’s contribution and hand them out to anyone struggling to write”
—Vanity Fair

“[Marche’s] writing style is buoyant and funny. […] When the stars are aligned, someone writes a work as provocative, informed and droll as On Writing and Failure.”
—Maureen Corrigan, NPR

“While writing starts with one person, an empty page and an urge to say something, it ends with another person reading your words, digesting them and making a judgment. In the process the reader owns your words and makes something of them […] That’s why I’m keeping On Writing and Failure on my desk—for encouragement—which I am guessing is Marche’s true purpose in writing the book.”
—Globe and Mail

“On Writing and Failure romps through a series of anecdotes about the thwarted aspirations of authors so as to instruct a ‘kid writer’ not to hope for anything.”
—Literary Review of Canada

“In On Writing and Failure, Marche attempts to reset the way we talk about such struggles. He stomps Freytag’s Pyramid flat. […] Marche’s book isn’t a pep talk, but it’s not intended to cut you off at the knees. His sole prescription is stubbornness. ‘You have to write.'”
—Washington Post

“Marche reaches something deeper when he reminds us that many of these famous literary figures couldn’t make a living wage with their writing […] The book is endlessly quotable, and at times very funny.”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“Marche’s purpose is not to discourage young tyros from taking up the pen but to inform them—via repeated commands of ‘no whining’—that writing is not the path to success, riches or even, often, respect; writers write in spite of failure.”
—The New Statesman

“Marche is reluctant to give generalized advice, but what he does offer cuts right through the bullshit.”
—Broken Pencil

“On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer must be considered essential reading for anyone seeking to write for a living, be it as a novelist, essayist, poet, columnist, or any other writing genre. Itself exceptionally well written.”
—Midwest Book Review

“On Writing and Failure is a slim little truth bomb I wish had been written when I first harboured notions of writing to be published.”
—Policy Magazine

“Marche’s advice to writers, then, is to ‘keep throwing yourself at the door.’ Keep racking up rejections, keep amassing failures. Endure long enough, and eventually there will be a breakthrough, however arbitrary, however fleeting. On Writing and Failure is thus both a dark glimpse into the trials of creativity—and a comfort, a consolation.”
—Lean Out with Tara Henley

“Not only could I brave it; I managed to relish it.”
—Miramichi Reader

“On Writing and Failure is less about writing and more about perseverance. Reading it reminded me of all the things I thought impossible before I tried them and now find impossible to live without. Writing is one of those things.”
—Compulsive Reader

“A sparkling cocktail of bittersweet jokes and fizzing truth bombs.”
—Jonathan Coe, author of Bournville

“Number 6 in the Biblioasis Field Notes Series. A tiny book that holds enough to be a repeated reference. Any writer will benefit from having this honest exposure to the importance of failing. It is a harsh, and still kind, reminder that the effort is more important than the result—because without the effort there isn’t a chance of anything at all.”
—Carrie Koepke (Skylark Books), The Columbia Daily Tribune

“A paean to persistence, a celebration of art for its own sake, and my favorite entry yet in the excellent Field Notes series from Biblioasis.”
—James Crossley, Madison Books

“A central (perhaps the central) paradox of the writing life is this: in order to churn out the freest, most generous, truest work possible, the writer must embrace the utter and complete futility of the task of writing. As a writer at the beginning of a new project, I couldn’t ask for a better companion to carry me through the coming, inevitable, necessary days of failure, joy, and frustration. Marche’s essay is such a heartening guide through the writer’s life (of failure). As a reader, Marche’s perspective on the lives, hopes, frustrations, and failures of some all-time greats is nothing short of a marvel. It’s like being able to see into the upside-down of centuries of literature. Any person interested in language, books, stories, and meaning-making will find themselves richer for reading this exceptional little book.”
—Chris Lee, Boswell Book Company

Praise for Stephen Marche

“How Shakespeare Changed Everything is fun and informative, with more than its share of ‘Aha!’ moments packed between its diminutive covers. Mr. Marche’s thesis is compelling and probably more true than we ever imagined.”
—New York Journal of Books

“So dazzling, so unsentimental … A work that is both beautiful and confusing. In other words, an honest love story.”
—New York Times

“Stephen Marche is capable of writing … any darn thing he wants.”
—Globe and Mail

“Brilliant … Marche has created a stunning, evocative, and impressionistic account of the ascent of wealth in the twentieth century. . . . The Hunger of the Wolf could be Marche’s breakthrough novel.”
—Booklist, starred review

“A dazzling virtuoso piece. Marche turns the making of a family’s fortune into a fascinating, bloody fairy tale.”
—Emma Donoghue, author of Room and Frog Music

“Untrammelled, unfettered, unprecedented, unselfconscious and friggin’ unbelievable, this book busts the novel open, makes literature an open question, and maps out brave new worlds for the reader to spelunk. With Raymond and Hannah I knew this guy was up to something brilliant. Shining at the Bottom of the Sea tells me I hadn’t the faintest idea.”
—Daniel Handler, author of Adverbs

From the award-winning author of On the Trapline comes a cinematic fantasy-adventure story inspired by Indigenous legends.

One summer day, Lauren and her little brother, James, go on a trip to the land with their Moshom (grandfather). After they've arrived, the children decide to fish for dinner while Moshom naps. They are in their canoe in the middle of the lake when the water around them begins to swirl and crash. They are thrown overboard and when Lauren surfaces she sees her brother being pulled away by the Memekwesewak — creatures who live in and around water and like to interfere with humans. Lauren must follow the Memekwesewak through a portal and along a watery path to find and bring back James. But when she finally comes upon her brother, she too feels the lure of the Memekwesewak’s song. Something even stronger must pull them back home. 

When grandma moves in, a precocious child shares her tips for making her feel at home in this funny picture book, for fans of How to Babysit a Grandma.

It can be discombobulating for all involved when a grandma moves in permanently. Fortunately, our narrator has gone through it and has LOTS of tips on how to make your grandma feel at home.

In a story filled with humour, confusion and moments of sweetness, Jennifer Mook-Sang introduces us to a delightful family dynamic and a grandma who doesn’t really need the help settling in but appreciates it anyway. As Grandma goes about her days, her well-meaning granddaughter sees her caring for her plants, and makes sure that Grandma is getting the proper care too.

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JENNIFER MOOK-SANG was born in Guyana, South America, and moved to Canada at the age of fourteen, where she eventually got two degrees in psychology. Reading picture books to her two sons, Matt and Ben, inspired her to become a writer. When she isn't writing, Jennifer likes to read recipe books and cook things like biryani, cassava pone and guacamole. She can also twist a mean balloon animal. Jennifer lives in Burlington, Ontario.

YONG LING KANG is a freelance illustrator raised in Singapore and currently living in Toronto. She has worked in animation studios and a publishing company and has illustrated picture books including Rodney Was a Tortoise, Tanna's Owl and This House Is Home.

“Equal parts soaring fantasy, heart-pounding action, and bloody social commentary, Blood Scion is a triumph of a book.” —Roseanne A. Brown, New York Times bestselling author of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

 This is what they deserve.

They wanted me to be a monster.

I will be the worst monster they ever created.

Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.

Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.

Following one girl’s journey of magic, injustice, power, and revenge, Deborah Falaye’s debut novel, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, is a magnetic combination of Children of Blood and Bone and An Ember in the Ashes.

Critical Praise

"A compelling story of magic, survival and revenge, with a complex heroine at its center worth rooting for. An explosive, powerful debut.” — Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times & international bestselling author of the Caraval series and Once Upon A Broken Heart 

“Falaye expertly walks the line between showing the ultra-violent reality child soldiers face while giving room for their humanity and innocence to shine. Equal parts soaring fantasy, heart-pounding action, and bloody social commentary, Blood Scion is a triumph of a book.” — Roseanne A. Brown, New York Times bestselling author of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

“A thrilling debut fantasy! Falaye creates an intricately woven world that draws beautifully on Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, with a fast-paced, heart thumping plot that will have you rooting for Sloane and her friends to not only survive but get the justice they deserve! This story is full of heart, resilience, and magic that will pull you in from the very first page and have you thirsting for more by the end." — Kat Cho, international bestselling author of Wicked Fox and Vicious Spirits. 

“Blood Scion is a dark, masterful indictment of the casualties of self in the brutal fight for the right to exist. This unflinching masterpiece is twisty, raw, and impossible to put down. Fans of An Ember In The Ashes and The Hunger Games have found their next obsession.” — J.Elle, New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony.

“Brilliant and brutal, Blood Scion kept me up all night with its page turning action, complex characters, and shocking twists. Falaye is fearless, her prose addictive, and I’m dying for the sequel!” — Kristen Ciccarelli, internationally bestselling author of The Last Namsara

“This epic fantasy debut, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, reminds readers that sometimes monsters are not born, they are made… fast-paced and engaging.” — Booklist

"An epic tale of ancient magic based in Nigerian mythology... Falaye’s harrowing duology opener of survival, sacrifice, and vengeance illustrates the effects of trauma and the strength of love in driving acts potentially heinous and heroic."  — Publishers Weekly

“An exciting fantasy infused with the magic of the Orisha pantheon… From its gritty social commentary on colonization and imperialism to its depiction of an unforgiving heroine, Blood Scion demands critical engagement from its readers.”  — Quill & Quire

“Undoubtedly a 10/10. You’ll want to have this on your shelf.” — The Nerd Daily

Deborah Falaye

Biography

Deborah Falaye is a Nigerian Canadian young adult author. She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where she spent her time devouring African Literature, pestering her grandma for folktales, and tricking her grandfather into watching Passions every night. When she’s not writing about fierce Black girls with bad-ass magic, she can be found obsessing over all things reality TV. Deborah currently lives in Toronto with her husband and their partner-in-crime yorkie, Major. Blood Scion is her first novel.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.

It's spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Surete du Quebec investigators' lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they've arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir's memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother's murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there's more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache's home.

On his fifteenth birthday, in the summer of 1880, future science-fiction writer M.P. Shiel sailed with his father and the local bishop from their home in the Caribbean out to the nearby island of Redonda—where, with pomp and circumstance, he was declared the island’s king. A few years later, when Shiel set sail for a new life in London, his father gave him some advice: Try not to be strange. It was almost as if the elder Shiel knew what was coming.

Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda tells, for the first time, the complete history of Redonda’s transformation from an uninhabited, guano-encrusted island into a fantastical and international kingdom of writers. With a cast of characters including forgotten sci-fi novelists, alcoholic poets, vegetarian publishers, Nobel Prize frontrunners, and the bartenders who kept them all lubricated while angling for the throne themselves, Michael Hingston details the friendships, feuds, and fantasies that fueled the creation of one of the oddest and most enduring micronations ever dreamt into being. Part literary history, part travelogue, part quest narrative, this cautionary tale about what happens when bibliomania escapes the shelves and stacks is as charming as it is peculiar—and blurs the line between reality and fantasy so thoroughly that it may never be entirely restored.

Praise for Try Not to Be Strange

“This combination literary history, travelogue and cautionary tale tells the history of the formerly uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda and its development into a ‘micronation’ ruled by writers, beginning with the science fiction author M.P. Shiel in 1880.”
—New York Times

“That spirit, the tongue-in-cheek mock seriousness of the whole endeavour, and the playfulness of its participants, is a keen factor in Try Not to Be Strange. The book is a delightful reading experience, utterly unexpected and unlike anything you are likely to read this year.”
—Toronto Star

“A wonderfully entertaining book, an account of how its Canadian author grew fascinated with a literary jape, a kind of role-playing game or shared-world fantasy involving some of the most eccentric and some of the most famous writers of modern times.”
—Washington Post

“Highly recommend … The fact that it involved M.P. Shiel is just the beginning of the strangeness. Great read!”
—Patton Oswalt

“Hingston traces the story of one of the strangest kingdoms in the world … a fascinating account.”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“Try Not to be Strange is an enjoyable account of a bizarre not-quite-real place, with a rich cast of characters—not least Hingston himself, who amusingly tracks his own obsessiveness.”
—Complete Review

“Combining travelogue, memoir, and literary history, Hingston has crafted a fascinating tale full of eccentric characters. Editions of all sizes play a role in the drama, and bibliophiles will also relish the author’s auction experience.”
—Fine Books and Collections Magazine

“Try Not to Be Strange is a passionate and skillfully written exploration of an extraordinary world and those who search for such places to get to the heart of what stories really mean. Hingston’s thirst for deeper knowledge is palpable, and it illuminates what the kingdom might really stand for.”
—Quill & Quire

“Full of colorful personalities, exotic locales, and unexpected twists, this is a jaunty historical footnote.”
—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Michael Hingston

“[Hingston] does it all with a delicious sense of humour.”
—Quill & Quire (starred review)

“Wise and love-driven … full of observations, analysis, and well-researched history.”
—Edmonton Journal

“A fresh take on the campus novel, Michael Hingston’s debut is a droll, incisive dissection of the terrible, terribly exciting years known as post-adolescence.”
—Patrick deWitt, author of The Sisters Brothers

“This book captures the joy and excitement at first discovering Calvin and Hobbes, and the wistful sadness that it is no more.”
—Patton Oswalt

“The Dilettantes is a whip-smart and very funny literary portrait of the post-ironic generation. Don’t miss this.”
—Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People

“His insights are rich and concise, but he never commandeers the work, as is the habit with writing about pop culture. As a critic, Hingston uses light touches of salt to bring out the flavours already in the work … A fine companion to a comic about a kid without much interest in companionship.”
—Bookshelf News

From practical to playful, inspired recipes that reveal the hidden potential of plants

At the award-winning restaurant, The Acorn, plants are celebrated: explored, enhanced, coaxed with creativity, and dressed for a night of being the center of attention and the phenomenal focus of every plate. In their first cookbook, Shira Blustein and Brian Luptak—The Acorn’s owner and chef—share their truly unique recipes, highlighting the endless possibilities that come when cooking with the seasonal and wild-crafted ingredients gifted to us by nature. Defying categorization, with dishes that are anything but predictable, this cookbook will leave even the staunchest of meat eaters satisfied.
 
The recipe chapters are structured by season, with an Essentials chapter at the start of the book—full of pickles, vinegars, oils, and plant-based alternatives—and a Cocktails chapter at the back. All the recipes are broken into components, and range from the simple but sublime Spring Radishes with Ashed Spring Onion Almond Sauce, Fried Garlic Scapes or Stinging Nettle Soup, to the intriguing Fried Zucchini Blossoms with Fermented Zucchini Purée and Apricot Chili Sauce, Smoked Caramelized Parsnip and Potato Pâté, or Squash and Chanterelle Gnocchi. And the recipes focus on minimizing waste and maximizing the potential of each plant—as the stems of one recipe become the pickled star of another.
 
Encouraging us all to be adventurous with our vegetables, Acorn offers a year’s worth of seasonal recipes, infused with brilliant creativity. Visually compelling, and masterfully thought through, Acorn takes vegetarian cooking to the next level, and is a cookbook to read, admire, and inspire.

From the bestselling author of Rumi and the Red Handbag comes a new collection of essays about the intersection of poetry, painting, photography and beauty. Inspired by the words of Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein and the art of Irving Penn and Georgia O'Keeffe, Lemay welcomes you into her home, her art and her life as a poet and photographer of the every day. Lemay shares visits to the museum with her daughter, the beauty in an average workday at the library, and encourages the budding writer. Take a long walk through the fragrance, the colours, the beauty and the simplicity Lemay brings to this pocket-sized collection of essays punctuated by moments of flowering. Make an appointment with flowers, and an appointment with life.

A delightfully modern look at what happens for a young woman when tradition, dating, and independence collide, from acclaimed author Sonya Lalli.

Adulting shouldn't be this hard. Especially in your thirties. Having been pressured by her tight-knit community to get married at a young age to her first serious boyfriend, Anu Desai is now on her own again and feels like she is starting from the beginning. 

But Anu doesn't have time to start over. Telling her parents that she was separating from her husband was the hardest thing she's ever done—and she's still dealing with the fallout. She has her young daughter to support and when she invests all of her savings into running her own yoga studio, the feelings of irresponsibility send Anu reeling. She'll be forced to look inside herself to learn what she truly wants.

__________

Sonya Lalli is a romance and women’s fiction author of Punjabi and Bengali heritage. Her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Washington Post, Glamour and more. She lives in Vancouver with her husband.…

A warm story of the bond between young and old that evokes the wild, windswept banks of Newfoundland—and the joys of a traditional way of life.

In a picture book as cozy as wool socks and as sweeping as a lighthouse beam, a little girl takes a ferry to an island to spend time with her Poppy. After fresh-baked bread for breakfast, the two tidy up, garden, and set out to explore together. They pass docks and green hills specked with puffins, counting their favorite things along the way: masts, animal tracks, silvery waves. At the end of each day, they snuggle on Poppy’s worn velvet armchair to read by lantern light. When it’s time to travel home, the little girl begins counting the days until she and Poppy will be together again. A patchwork of exquisitely patterned and textured art evokes a traditional quilt in this ode to coastal Canada and to the days spent with an attentive, caring older person.