The Junta of Happenstance
Regular price $19.95Winner 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize
Winner 2021 Governor General Literary Award for Poetry
Longlisted 2022 Gerald Lampert Award
Longlisted 2022 Raymond Souster Award
Personal, primordial, and pulsing with syncopated language, Tolu Oloruntoba’s poetic debut, The Junta of Happenstance, is a compendium of dis-ease. This includes disease in the traditional sense, as informed by the poet’s time as a physician, and dis-ease as a primer for family dysfunction, the (im)migrant experience, and urban / corporate anxiety. In the face of struggles against social injustice, Oloruntoba navigates the contemporary moment with empathy and intelligence, finding beauty in chaos, and strength in suffering. The Junta of Happenstance is an important and assured debut.
Praise for The Junta of Happenstance
Tolu Oloruntoba uses a “safecracker ear” (“Child at Sleep”) to perceive both the subtle and overt mechanics of human interactions and to explore the interlocking parts of past and present, individual and community, and the here and there.—Samantha Jones, ARC Poetry magazine
The Junta of Happenstance, Tolu Oloruntoba’s dazzling debut collection, collides the language of revolution with the landscapes of the body. These poems go beyond the desire to ward off death. They emerge out of a life intimate with death’s randomness. Like the vicissitudes of war, Oloruntoba’s poems make peace with accident and fate. They bring breath to survival. ‘If the timeline ahead is/ infinitely longer than the/ knives behind, perhaps/ as we set to mending/ we can heal more/ than we ever undid./ But we, too,/ would like a piece of the plunder.’ These exquisite poems leave an imprint both violent and terrifyingly beautiful.—Judges’ Citation, 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize
Tolu Oloruntoba’s voice in The Junta of Happenstance is at once thoughtful and authoritative, metaphorically rich and lyrically surprising. Oloruntoba’s language travels through history and myth to speak to today and engage with a future transformed by new understanding. The combination of craft and spirit cuts a fine place for this debut work, expanding our literary view.—2021 Governor General Literary Award Peer assessment committee: Kaie Kellough, George Murray and Anna Marie Sewell
Super Detectives (Simon and Chester Book #1)
Regular price $13.99At the End, Beginnings
Regular price $18.95In this first book by Christopher Lawrence Menard, the poet paints a picture of what it means to be a son, a brother, a husband and a father, even as his own father begins to succumb to the diseases he has battled for years. John B. Lee, the renowned Canadian poet, describes Menard’s tribute to family life as “a love story,” and says. “the love of life is life itself.” In this collection of poems, Menard reflects both on the man who shaped him and the man he became, as well as the boy he is helping to guide.
Arlo & Pips - King Of The Birds (Hardcover)
Regular price $15.99New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids
Junior Library Guild Selection
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
Perfect for fans of Narwhal and Jelly, Arlo & Pips: King of the Birds is the first in a new early graphic chapter book series about the friendship between Arlo, an arrogant crow, and a sarcastic little bird named Pips.
Like most crows, Arlo has a big brain. But Arlo has something else: a little pal who’s not afraid to tell him when he’s being insufferable!
In the first of three episodes, a battle of the brains and bird-to-bird banter soon turns into an unexpected friendship. Arlo and Pips' adventures include a visit the big city and the beach on their hunt for shiny things and French fries. Cool crow facts are included throughout the book.
Everyone's crowing about Arlo & Pips, with Kirkus praising it as "a perfect match for newly independent readers"!
More praise for Arlo & Pips #1: King of the Crows: A New York Public Library Best Book * A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best * A Junior Library Guild Selection * "An unexpected friendship story! In three short graphic chapters marked by [Gravel’s] signature sly humor, facts about crows are sprinkled throughout, making the reader believe that maybe crows are truly as amazing as Arlo says.” —The Horn Book (starred review)
“Fun and informative! This book will FLY off the shelves!” - Ben Clanton, bestselling author of the Narwhal and Jelly series
"Straightforward sentences, limited color scheme, and thick black outlines make this a perfect match for newly independent readers. Through Pips’ inquisitiveness and Arlo’s desire to prove himself, readers also learn much about the intelligence, diet, and behavior of crows. A charming treasure." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“It's an unexpected friendship story! In three short graphic chapters marked by [Gravel's] signature sly humor, facts about crows are sprinkled throughout...making the reader believe that maybe crows are truly as amazing as Arlo says.” - Horn Book (starred review)
"Gravel brings the smart attitude of her Disgusting Critters series to a more fictional narrative here, and it’s just as informative and accessible in its provision of kid-pleasing facts...Aspiring birders with a flair for the dramatic may be particularly drawn to Arlo’s braggadocio." - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"This simple story of would-be friendship [has] Gravel's distinctive panels and snappy dialogue...crow facts appear throughout like cereal-box prizes" - Publishers Weekly
Ice Chips & The Grizzly Escape
Regular price $9.99The fifth title in the beloved and bestselling Ice Chips series by acclaimed authors Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor and illustrator Kim Smith, featuring a vibrant and diverse cast of characters and inspiring hockey greats
In their latest adventure, the Chips travel to British Columbia, meet an inspiring young hockey hero and escape up Anahim Peak, thanks to their new friend’s calm head—and a very special puck!
