Foreword by Michael IgnatieffPreface by Rudyard Griffiths, The Dominion InstituteWithout departure, there is no arrival -- this is the experience of some of Canada's best-known émigré authors and public figures, shared in Passages: Welcome Home to Canada.In first-hand accounts, these celebrated writers explore the excitement and anguish of uprooting to a new country. Childhood memories, familiar streets, the aromas of local cooking, long-cherished plans -- to leave all this behind can only be traumatic. And yet, to find a haven from oppression and danger, a place to carve out a new identity and put down new roots -- this is a thrill only an emigrant can know. In Passages we see this terrible pain and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for growth in delicate balance.Alberto Manguel discovers the quiet pleasure of citizenship after years of cosmopolitan wandering. Ken Wiwa looks for a fresh start, far from the shadow of his martyred father in Africa. Nino Ricci, having grown up in an old-world Italian community transplanted to rural Ontario, describes his passage into the larger world, where other families don’t bake their own bread or slaughter their own pigs. Shyam Selvadurai tells of his flight from the intolerance of his native Sri Lanka, where, as a Tamil and a homosexual, he found himself unwelcome. Moses Znaimer describes his parents’ hair-raising escape first from Hitler and then Stalin, a series of adventures through Eastern Europe and Central Asia and finally across the Atlantic.Introduced by Michael Ignatieff, Passages explores what it means to be a foreigner, what it means to be a writer and what it means to be a Canadian -- and what it means to be all three at once.Contributors: Michelle Berry • Ying Chen • Brian D. Johnson • Dany Laferriere • Alberto Manguel • Anna Porter • Nino Ricci • Shyam Selvadurai • M. G. Vassanji • Ken Wiwa • Moses ZnaimerFrom the Hardcover edition. Views: 21
What "Wiz" Zumalt could do with computers was magic on Earth. Then, one day the
master computer hacker is called to a different world to help fight an evil
known as the "Black League". Suddenly, the "Wiz" finds himself in a place
governed by magic — and in league with a red-headed witch who despises him. Views: 21
Night 1: 12 billion taken. Day 1: Confusion. Night 2: 13 billion taken. Day 2: Panic. Night 3: 13 billion taken. Day 3: The fight for survival begins. In 2048, the human population borders 39 billion after the termination of the birth control industry, and the realities of overcrowding have sunken into the minds of the world, until billions mysteriously go missing. Views: 21
Monarch butterflies abound in Canada. We marvel at their beauty and the magic of their metamorphosis. Familiar as they are to us, these tiny creatures nevertheless harbour many secrets. Perhaps the deepest mystery is the monarchs' annual migration. Each autumn, they travel unimaginably long distances, something no other butterflies do. How do they know when to migrate? How, unguided by memory, do they navigate to their destination in the heart of the threatened Mexican jungle?Sue Halpern recounts the mesmerizing story of these mysteries, and the race to solve them. She describes the discoveries of Canadian biologist Fred Urquhart and his wife, who first encouraged amateur lepidopterists to tag butterflies. We follow her to Mexico, where she searches for butterflies. She introduces us to Don Davis, an enthusiast who has tagged an estimated 20,000 monarchs since 1985. And though terrified of flying, she takes us on a flight with University of Toronto biologist David Gibo,... Views: 21
An international bestseller and remarkable true story. When Hana's suitcase arrives from Germany at the small Holocaust education centre in Japan, all the children who visit want to know about Hana. When Fumiko Ishioka, the centre's curator, decides to find the answers, she embarks on a journey of discovery across Europe and North America, and seventy years of history.'Really, it's a very ordinary looking suitcase. You could fit quite a lot in it. Books, games, treasures, toys. But nothing is inside it now. Across the front, there is a girl's name, Hana Brady. A date of birth: May 16 1931. And Waisenkind. That's the German word for orphan.'Where did Hana Brady come from? Where was she going? What did she pack? What Fumiko finds in Hana's suitcase is a true story of terrible sadness and great joy.'Such a simple little book and yet so powerful.' Sunshine Coast Sunday.'an extraordinarily powerful book' Dianne Dempsey, The AgeFrom School Library JournalGrade 4-7-Based on a Canadian Broadcasting radio documentary produced by Levine, this book tells the story of Hana Brady, a girl killed at Auschwitz, and how her suitcase came to be a part of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center. A CD recording of the radio program is available and adds to the impact and power of the book. The story ends on a positive note by ultimately uniting Japanese schoolchildren fascinated by Hana's story with her brother George Brady, the only member of their immediate family to survive the war. The book alternates between past and present, one chapter telling the story of Hana's childhood in the Czechoslovakian resort town of Nove Mesto, and the next relating the experiences of Fumiko Ishioka, a teacher dedicated to educating the children of Japan about the horrors of the Holocaust. Black-and-white photographs of Hana and her family and Ms. Ishioka and her students accompany each chapter. As Hana's narrative draws her to Auschwitz and to the end of her life, Fumiko's story brings her closer to the solution of a puzzle that began with only a suitcase and a name. The narrative moves quickly, though the writing is often oversimplified. One can assume that direct quotes come from the memories of Hana's brother, George Brady, and Fumiko Ishioka, since they were the original narrators of the radio program, but there are no notes to that effect. Unfortunately, the stilted writing and lack of source notes mar an otherwise gripping story of a family's love and a teacher's dedication. An additional purchase for Holocaust collections.Martha Link, Louisville Free Public Library, KYCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistGr. 5-8. Not another heartbreaker about a child in the Holocaust. Yes, but this one has a new contemporary connection. Alternating chapters tell not only of the Jewish Hana Brady's deportation with her older brother, George, from their happy home in Czechoslovakia, first to Terezin, and then to Auschwitz (where Hana died); but also of Fumiko Ishioka, now a director of a newly established Holocaust education center in Tokyo, who acquires Hana's suitcase, pursues Hana's story, and brings it to today's Japanese children. The account, based on a radio documentary Levine did in Canada (a CD of the broadcast is included), is part history, part suspenseful mystery, and always anguished family drama, with an incredible climactic revelation. The facts are inescapable, illustrated with glowing family photos, Nazi official documents that show Hana's fate, and pictures she drew in the secret art classes in Terezin. The one false note is Levine's showing everything before the Nazis as totally idyllic, and all the victims (even in the camps) as always wise and loving. Recommend this with Linda Sue Park's When My Name Was Keoko (2002), about a Korean child under Japanese occupation during World War II. Winner of the 2002 Sydney Taylor Award for Older Readers. Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 21
In 1774 American independence was hardly inevitable—indeed, most Americans found it neither desirable nor likely. When delegates from the thirteen colonies gathered in September 1774, they were, in the words of John Adams, “a gathering of strangers.” With their differing interests and cultural perspectives, perhaps the only thing that bound them together was their common identity as subjects of the British Crown. But as they confronted the array of political, diplomatic, and military challenges facing them during the twenty-two months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, they gradually shed both their provincial and their British identities and became leaders of an American cause. With narrative verve and deep historical understanding, Richard R. Beeman tells the remarkable story of how the delegates to the Continental Congress, through courage and compromise, came to dedicate their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the forging of... Views: 21
A Brazilian bestseller, this sophisticated story of murder, sex, and corruption introduces a riveting new crime series.In a parking garage in the center of Rio de Janeiro, corporate executive Ricardo Carvalho is found dead in his car, a bullet in his head. It appears that he has been robbed and murdered. But the clues are few. The gun and his briefcase are nowhere to be found — just the kind of case that is always assigned to Inspector Espinosa. Not your typical detective, the world-weary Espinosa has the mind of a philosopher, the heart of a romantic, and enough experience to realize that things are rarely as they first seem. As Espinosa attempts to unravel the mystery of what really happened to Carvalho and his secretary, Rose, who disappeared shortly afterward, he discovers that the businessman had recently taken out a million-dollar life insurance policy. And there's another complication: Espinosa's attraction to Carvalho's beautiful widow,... Views: 21
FORBIDDEN LOVER? Charlotte "Charlie" Larkin believed she'd been cursed when it came to matters of the heart, especially since every man she'd ever been involved with had met with an untimely end. To add insult to injury, to-die-for true-crime writer Gus Riley had come to the remote Montana town to research her for his next book! Following an attempt on Charlie's life, Gus insisted the two join forces to pursue the investigation. Charlie was unwittingly drawn to her sexy protector, but she knew she should keep her distance. Except when Gus insisted they pretend to be involved to draw out the killer, her defenses crumbled at his all-too-real advances. And being in close proximity to Gus made Charlie forget that the arrangement was supposed to be temporary -- which was dangerous while the real killer lurked. Views: 21
LAST IN THE SERIESWes Hart - ex-soldier, ex-Texas Ranger, ex-rider with Billy the Kid. He's tough, ruthless and slick with a .45. He's for hire now and he isn't cheap.Surprising the kind of money that can get left in a small farmer's will. Old Jedediah Batt left a thousand bucks in gold to his brother Aram, who's an old-time trapper up in the northern hills. Hart is hired to find him and tell him the news. But money can cause family upsets like crazy sons who get drunk and trigger happy just thinking about it. That might be enough for The Regulator to handle, if two hoodlums from California with a grudge apiece weren't riding hard in his direction... Views: 21
France, 1918.Sophia, the rebellious daughter of a distinguished German general, is on her way to the town of Douai to elope with the man of her dreams -- a young army officer -- against her parents' wishes. On her way, she witnesses a dramatic battle in the skies that leaves an English pilot without a plane and under the misapprehension that Sophia is on his side. She has no choice but to agree to assist him in his attempt to avoid capture, and he joins her in the family car she has stolen, trailed by both the German Army and a staff officer under strict instructions from Sophia's father to bring her home.With their pursuers hot on their heels, how will Sophia explain her behaviour, protecting a man she is supposed to hate? And after sharing so many adventures, will she be able to turn the flying officer in when the time comes? Views: 20
