Posted in Ages 10-14, Ages 14 and above, Award Winners, Better than TV, Canadian Superstars, Good Canadian Stuff, Great Books for Boys, Juvenile Fiction, Unique Books, YA fiction on May 13th, 2011
The day before last I finally completed the 2011 Census and I think it was the short form for all of those who remember the hoopla of the long versus short form. Anyway it’s really easy and you can do it online. Right after I was asked to participate in another voluntary household survey and [...]
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Posted in Ages 10-14, Ages 14 and above, Better than TV, Blog Tours, Canadian History, Contests, Good Canadian Stuff, Great Books for Girls, Historical Fiction, Just Out, Juvenile Fiction, Launches and Events, Unique Books, YA fiction on Apr 25th, 2011
As a parent I often have this insatiable urge to shield my daughter from the unpleasant things in life. Whether in song verse (you’d be amazed at how negative, macabre and downright scary some popular children’s songs are if you really listened to them. I mean “down will come baby cradle and all” isn’t the [...]
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Johanna Skibsrud is the winner of the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her book The Sentimentalists. This prize is the only Canadian literary event broadcast on national television and honours the best in Canadian literature. The 30-year-old Nova Scotian’s book is based on the story of her father, Olav, who was a Vietnam War veteran. [...]
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Sometimes the concepts of freedom and sacrifice are hard for me to grasp. Being one of the fortunate few to grow up in a place where I (largely) can say, do, think, dress, behave, walk, talk and believe what I want I suppose I could never understand the idea of being censored or moreover being [...]
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Although I would describe myself as a more anxious person, I’ve never become so much of a reality wuss as I am now as a mother. I rarely watch the news and avoid most headlines that have anything to do with children. I hate to think of myself as an ostrich, with my head buried [...]
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Okay, in the interest of full disclosure I haven’t actually read the book I chose to review today. I was hoping to squeeze it in today despite having to drive into work early (to leave early), attending an appointment, running errands and taking care of the Mouse. I actually have the book, The Secret Fiend [...]
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I think I must’ve been lucky growing up, I didn’t really suffer at the hands of the schoolyard bully. Perhaps the karmic gods gave me a break because I had more than my fair share of tormenting at home through the various plots devised by my older sister or maybe I just wasn’t different enough [...]
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I’ve always been fascinated by those who build models. Any type of model elicits the same type of curiosity; it is not what they create but why they do it. As a painter, I understand the need to make tangible things from the ideas floating around in one’s head. The creation process is all about [...]
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Posted in Ages 4 to 8, Ages 6 to 9, Ages 9 to 12, Award Winners, Canadian Superstars, Capers & other fun stuff, Good Canadian Stuff, Juvenile Fiction, Ontario Authors/Illustrators, Picture books, Straight out of the headlines on Oct 3rd, 2010
Lately on Twitter there has been much talk about banned books. Anyone interested in anything bookish and is even occasionally online has probably heard of “Banned Books Week” and the poster child for this year’s cause, YA writer Laurie Hales Anderson. Her book Speak, which is a story about a young girl being date raped [...]
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Today our little family went out and about. First we met some friends and had a delicious lunch. Emmerson was by far the messiest and most restless little ones eating evidence that we don’t get out to restaurants to eat as much our friends do. My husband and I like cooking and often are too [...]
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