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Pennywell Books

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This weekend, our Book Lovers’ Holiday Gift Guide Saturday Spotlight is on Books for Young Readers! These gift ideas for young (and young at heart!) readers and many more can be found in our Book Lovers’ Holiday Gift Guide. A list of participating retailers can be found here.

 

Children’s Picture Books

A Giant Man in a Tiny Town
Tom Ryan/Christopher Hoyt
Nimbus Publishing

This is the story of the “giant” Angus MacAskill who traveled the world performing for crowds but never stopped longing to return to the place he loved the best: his Cape Breton home.

 

A Halifax Time-Travelling Tune 
Jan Coates/Marijke Simons
Nimbus Publishing

This dreamy, lyrical story follows a young child and his dog who travel back in time to 1950s Halifax with a whimsical tune. Follow the pair through Halifax landmarks, showing off all the sights and sounds of the city.

 

A Toot in the Tub
Nicolette Little/Tara Fleming
Pennywell Books

Offers a lighthearted rhymed look at “healthful release” for kids, while upholding the importance of being kind to others!

 

Be a City Nature Detective
Peggy Kochanoff
Nimbus Publishing

Why are some grey squirrels black? Does goldenrod cause hay fever? Naturalist and artist Peggy Kochanoff answers these questions and more in this illustrated guide to solving nature mysteries in the city.

 

EveryBody’s Different on EveryBody Street
Sheree Fitch/Emma FitzGerald
Nimbus Publishing

Sheree Fitch’s playful words invite you to celebrate our gifts, our weaknesses, our differences, and our sameness. Fitch’s quick, rollicking rhymes are complemented by Emma FitzGerald’s lively illustrations.

 

Follow the Goose Butt to Nova Scotia
Odette Barr/Colleen Landry/Beth Weatherbee
Chocolate River Publishing

Cameila Airhart, the loveable Canadian goose with the faulty Goose Positioning System is off on an adventure to Nova Scotia. She has promised to follow the goose butt, but will she stay focused long enough to keep her promise?

 

My First Book of Canadian Birds
Andrea Miller/Angela Doak
Nimbus Publishing

Simple, gentle text gives readers a peek into the habitats of Canadian birds and introduces child and parent to fun facts about everything from bird sounds to egg sizes!

 

Night at the Gardens
Nicole DeLorey/Janet Solet
New World Publishing

What really happens in the Public Gardens after dark? Statues “come alive” and one night Fountain Nymphs convince Juan Swans to fly to the ocean—chaos! Robbie Burns helps, but is it enough?

 

Santa Never Brings me a Banjo
David Myles/Murray Bain
Nimbus Publishing

Based on the beloved holiday song, follow the ups and downs of the holiday season with David, his furry friends, and his family, as he pines for his most-wished-for holiday gift.

 

Summer in the Land of Anne
Elizabeth Epperly/Carolyn Epperly
Acorn Press

Told through the eyes of a family travelling to PEI, this is a celebration of the books we love and all the ways they inspire us.

The Lady From Kent: A Story for Girls
and Bees Dressed Up As Fleas and Crocodiles. Also Elves.
Barbara Nichol/Bill Pechet
Pedlar Press

“Barbara Nichol is an original—brilliant and entertaining…a book to read and reread and then read again, to yourself or out loud, depending on how generous you’re feeling.”  —Eleanor Wachtel


Time for Bed
Carol McDougall/Shanda LaRamee-Jones
Nimbus Publishing

A fun and simple step-by-step bedtime story for babies and toddlers. From bathtime to storytime, this book guides families through a healthy nightly routine with simple text and joyful photos.

 

You Make Me Happy
Doretta Groenendyk
Acorn Press

Whether it be sitting by the fire, reading in the bath or travelling, this book explores the importance of finding happiness all around you.

 

Indigenous Stories

Counting in Mi’kmaw / Mawkiljemk Mi’kmawiktuk
Loretta Gould
Nimbus Publishing

Counting from one to ten in English and Mi’kmaw, young readers will be introduced to both the ancestral language of Mi’kmaki and to Mi’kmaw culture and legend, through beautifully rendered illustrations of the natural world.

 

IKWE Honouring Women: An Indigenous Colouring Book
for Adults and Children
Jackie Traverse
Roseway Publishing

IKWE is a new colouring book by Anishinaabe artist Jackie Traverse. The stunning images celebrate the spiritual and ceremonial aspects of women and their important roles as water protectors.

 

Mi’kmaw Animals / Mi’kmaw Waisisk 
Alan Syliboy
Nimbus Publishing

Colourful images depicting Canadian animals like moose, whales, and caribou, and more make this vibrant book a perfect introduction to the Mi’kmaw language.

 

The Gathering
Theresa Meuse/Arthur Stevens
Nimbus Publishing

A young Mi’kmaw girl attends her first spiritual gathering in this vibrant picture book from the team behind the bestselling The Sharing Circle.

 

Une Journée Poney ! Pemkiskahk’ciw Ahasis ! A Pony Day !
Hélène De Varennes/Opolahsomuwehs (Imelda Perley)/Paul Lang
Bouton d’or Acadie

Both bursting with laughter, a grandpa takes his granddaughter Josephine on her first pony ride. Many surprises are awaiting her!

 

Fiction for Young Readers

Dylan Maples Adventures

The Mystery of Ireland’s Eye
Shane Peacock
Nimbus Publishing

Dylan is going kayaking to the island of Ireland’s eye off the coast of Newfoundland to see the ghost town. Why does an old man on the dock of St. John’s tell him to beware?

The Secret of The Silver Mines
Shane Peacock
Nimbus Publishing

A Toronto millionaire has hired Dylan’s dad to retrieve a fortune in silver allegedly stolen from his grandfather years ago. But was the fortune really stolen? And if so, where has it been hidden?

Bone Beds of the Badlands
Shane Peacock
Nimbus Publishing

Bone Beds of the Badlands transports readers to the heart of dinosaur country in Alberta, in the most gripping and terrifying Dylan Maples Adventure yet.

 

Secrets of Sable Island
Marcia Pierce Harding
Nimbus Publishing

Shipwrecked on Sable Island, Caleb befriends the ghostly girl who rides bareback over the dunes, and realizes that he must do whatever he can to save her, and himself.

 

Headliner
Susan White
Acorn Press

This stunning new middle grade novel by Ann Connor Brimer Award-wining author Susan White deals with the aftermath of a tragic accident and its effect on the surviving family.

 

Piper
Jacqueline Halsey
Nimbus Publishing

Dougal Cameron and his family sail from Scotland aboard the Hector, on their way to Nova Scotia. When a violent storm knocks the ship off course, Dougal must fight to stay alive.

 

Rika’s Shepherd
Orysia Dawydiak
Acorn Press

This action-packed adventure by Hackmatack-nominated author Orysia Dawydiak tells the struggles of a young shepherd and will delight any young reader.

 

Fiction for Teens

The Goodbye Girls
Lisa Harrington
Nimbus Publishing

Lizzie and her friend Willa devise a genius business – personalized breakup baskets for her classmates. Then things go horribly wrong and soon family, friendship, and a budding romance are on the line.

 

Worthy of Love
Andre Fenton
Formac Publishing

Halifax slam poet Andre Fenton’s vivid and readable novel for teens.

 

 

Nonfiction

100 Things You Don’t Know About Atlantic Canada (For Kids)
Sarah Sawler
Nimbus Publishing

The author of the bestselling 100 Things You Don’t Know About Nova Scotia has collected the most interesting, most surprising, and bizarre facts that you never know about Atlantic Canada, just for kids.

 

50 Things to See with a Telescope: A young stargazer’s guide
John A. Read
Formac Publishing

A new guide for anyone who’s looking at the heavens and wonders what they’re seeing.

 

Be Prepared!
Frankie MacDonald and Sarah Sawler
Nimbus Publishing

Nova Scotia’s favourite weather reporter, Frankie MacDonald, along with author Sarah Sawler, shares stories from Frankie’s early years, along with facts about all things sunny, rainy, snowy, and stormy.

 

Black Women Who Dared
Naomi M. Moyer
Second Story Press

Inspirational stories of ten Black women and women’s collectives—anti-slavery activists, business women, health-care activists, civic organizers and educators. Remarkable women whose stories will fascinate and educate.

 

Hope Blooms 
Hope Blooms
Nimbus Publishing

The inspiring story of Dragons’ Den darlings Hope Blooms: a Halifax-based, youth-driven social enterprise focused on growing sustainable, healthy food and youth mentorship.

 

My River: Cleaning Up the LaHave River
Stella Bowles and Anne Laurel Carter
Formac Publishing

Kids who care about the environment will love Stella’s story of her science project on the dirty LaHave River that brought real change.

 

There be Pirates!
Joann Hamilton-Barry
Nimbus Publishing

Learn about what everyday life was like for some of the fiercest pirates of all time. Explore the history of piracy, from the ancient Romans and Greeks to modern-day pirates.

 

See more gift ideas in our Book Lovers’ Holiday Gift Guide! View it online here or pick it up at your local bookstore or library.

Don’t forget to check out last week’s spotlight on Art, Poetry, and Music books for the art-lovers on your list!

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Tall are the tales that fishermen tell when summer’s work is done, / Of fish they’ve caught and birds they’ve shot, and crazy risks they’ve run.

So begins and ends Ted Russell’s classic, Smokeroom on the Kyle. I have only ever experienced this poem at kitchen parties and in friends’ living rooms, performed by and for adults, so it is a treat to see it come alive through illustration.

As a traditionally recited poem, Smokeroom on the Kyle lends itself easily to adaptation as an illustrated book for children, since it is most enjoyable when read aloud. Russell’s story draws the listener in right away. We’re sitting in the smokeroom of a ship that would one day be the last of Newfoundland’s famous Alphabet Fleet to remain in the province. The men are telling tales that get taller with every turn until our attention is drawn to Grampa Walcott, quietly listening in the corner. He agrees to spin a yarn from Pigeon Inlet, and what a yarn is it! Claiming it to be true, he shares a memory from his youth about squid jigging on a grand scale.

Walcott uses words once common to the Newfoundland vernacular, like bedlamer, caplin scull and grump. The context makes the meanings of most of these words accessible, but for clarity’s sake there is a glossary at the end of the book. Grampa also works a geography lesson into his story, mentioning outport communities on the Northern Peninsula of the island and the coast of Labrador: Hartley’s Harbour, Quirpon and Forteau. Tara Fleming accompanies the narrator’s words with a map of the region.

Fleming’s artwork is vibrant and playful. Children will enjoy matching the words to the items in the pictures and will be entertained by the action and gaiety that she captures.

This book is aimed at children but is a welcome addition to any adult’s collection for its historical and cultural significance and its rich watercolour illustrations capturing traditional Newfoundland outport life. It is the perfect gift for homesick expats, especially those with young children. Smokeroom on the Kyle now holds sacred space on my shelf, right next to a well-worn copy of Down by Jim Long’s Stage.

Smokeroom on the Kyle
Ted Russell, Illustrated by Tara Fleming
Pennywell Books

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On a cool, damp late summer night, two young friends are nearly bursting with excitement as they prepare to embark on a very special quest, one that will hopefully result in the rescue of numerous baby birds that have lost their way.

Susan and Ryan have been invited to join Ryan’s older sister and other members of The Puffin Patrol as they comb the shores of Newfoundland’s Witless Bay in search of pufflings, baby puffins that have gotten confused by the lights and landed on shore instead of in the ocean. Each year, dedicated volunteers carefully search backyards, gardens and roadsides for any waylaid pufflings. The tiny creatures are then released back to the ocean.

After a night of searching for pufflings, Susan and Ryan go on a tour boat and help with the release of all the rescued birds. Many months later, when the two friends return to Witless Bay, they vividly recall how good it felt to be a part of such an important rescue mission. The wonder of it all still brings smiles to their faces.

Baker’s latest children’s book will surely tug at the heartstrings of young readers and their parents. It provides a wonderful introduction to the work of The Puffin Patrol, and contains fascinating and helpful information on puffins and some of the perils they face. The “Did You Know?” and “How Can You Help?” sections at the back of the book will give readers the opportunity to think about ways in which we can all do our part to help other creatures. Hopefully the joy and satisfaction that Susan and Ryan experience will serve as an inspiration to this book’s audience.

While the illlustrations do not fully capture the energy or excitement of the search for the pufflings itself, the delightful renditions of the puffins and pufflings are striking. This book is most successful as a source of information and may have worked better as a non-fiction book. But children who find it will nonetheless be intrigued by the true story of the work that this organization does.

The Puffin Patrol
Written and illustrated by Dawn Baker
Pennywell Books

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Gary Cranford - Flanker Press

How a self-published author became one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most active book publishers

Garry Cranford faced a difficult predicament. In one hand he held a stack of rejection letters from publishers who passed on his manuscript, and in the other a buy-out package from the government job he’d worked for 24 years. Not content to wallow, he took a leap of faith and started a publishing company that would grow to become one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most active.

Flanker Press draws its name from the old English word for spark, and 20 years after its founding is indeed a bright light in the local publishing scene. The company averages 20 titles annually, with an emphasis on regional non-fiction and historical fiction. To mark its 10th anniversary in 2004, the Pennywell Books imprint was added to publish literary fiction, short stories, youth and children’s books.

Ten titles have been on the Globe and Mail bestseller list including Bill Rowe’s Danny Williams: the War with Ottawa and Judy Ricketts’ The Badger Riot. Others, including Tom Dawe’s The Moocher in the Lun, have received Newfoundland Heritage and History Awards, George House Recipes won the Spanish Gourmand Award and Scott Keating’s illustrations for What Colour is the Ocean garnered the Lillian Shepherd Award. “But what gives me the greatest satisfaction is when we do up the tax receipts for authors at the end of the year and I realize how much revenue we’re putting into their pockets,” says Cranford.

Norma & Gladys Flanker PressSo how did two negative events have such positive results? It began while Cranford was working for the provincial government. In his spare time, he wrote a manuscript about the schooner Norma & Gladys, but couldn’t find a publisher after pitching it for eight months. Frustrated, he self-published the book in 1994, learning about the process along the way, including the challenges of marketing and distribution without the support of a publisher. Even so, Norma & Gladys went into a second printing. Cranford continued writing and building his business part-time, while dreaming of doing it full-time in his retirement.

But his employer had other ideas, and offered buy-out packages to reduce staff. Cranford accepted a two-year salary bridge and jumped into publishing full-time, setting up the business in the living room of his St. John’s home while the dining room doubled as a warehouse.

“A big part of our success is my wife Margo, a founding member of Flanker Press, who’s really good at sales. She’s been a director from day one, but she also had a government job, which she eventually left to work here,” says Cranford. His son, Jerry, became the company’s first full-time employee after graduating from the printing program at the College of the North Atlantic.

Randy Drover (Sales Representative), Laura Cameron (Marketing & Publicity Coordinator), Bob Woodworth (Manager), Jerry Cranford (Production Manager), and Peter Hanes (Digital Coordinator)
A Flanker morning meeting. Left to right: Randy Drover, sales representative; Laura Cameron, marketing and publicity coordinator; Bob Woodworth, manager; Jerry Cranford, production manager; and Peter Hanes, digital coordinator.

After that, it seemed the right person always came along at the right time. Cranford hired manager Bob Woodworth when he needed an accountant to computerize his handwritten invoice slips. He’s now general manager, and as Cranford tells it, “a lynchpin in the success of Flanker.” Marketing coordinator Laura Cameron returned home after earning her degree at Centennial College in Ontario and joined the team soon after. When it came time for Flanker to join the digital revolution, Cranford embraced ebooks and hired digital publishing coordinator, Peter Hanes. “We’ve published over 100 ebooks and I think we’re leading the province in availability of ebooks,” he says.

When the business outgrew Cranford’s living room, he rented an office, and later purchased a condo business unit in the St. John’s community of Paradise. He jokes, “We’re the first publisher in Canada to enter Paradise.”

Reflecting on Flanker’s 20th anniversary he says, “It’s satisfying to have come into this business and accomplished it, but I certainly could not have done it without the good crew I have all around me and the rich historical and cultural climate our writers draw on.”

He also admits to long hours, “Because when you’re in publishing you’re working seven days a week.” In fact he worked for eight years without a break until his wife convinced him they needed to get away for a holiday, which they now do annually.

Looking ahead to the next 20 years, he says he “doesn’t anticipate a lot of growth, but if we remain where we are and stick to our mandate we’ll have work for as long as we want.” And as the first 20 have proven, a tiny spark, carefully tended, will result in a flame that continues to glow.

Top image: Garry Cranford, Flanker Press’s President, started the company out of his home 20 years ago

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Atlantic Canada has an abundance of Christmas traditions to share and stories to tell

The holidays are the perfect time to treat yourself to a new book from Atlantic Canada, whether it’s a tale for children, a collection of recipes, a short story anthology or a historical account of a fascinating holiday tradition.

Christmas traditions

Any Mummers ‘Lowed In? by Dale Jarvis (Flanker Press) is about mummering, a time-tested Newfoundland and Labrador tradition. Mummers dressed in disguise make surprise visits during the holidays spreading cheer and mischief while trying to keep their identities secret. The author uses archival records, personal accounts and historical photographs to tell the story of the fascinating practice.

The Man with the White BeardThe Man With The White Beard (Creative Book Publishing) is the follow-up to Bruce Templeton’s 2012 bestseller, The Man In The Red Suit. The author shares more heartwarming and at times heartbreaking tales of spreading cheer as Santa Claus in St. John’s, NL. Templeton emphasizes the importance of spending time with loved ones during the holidays, and shares the message that it’s your “presence” and not “presents” that counts at Christmastime.

Festive Flavours by Lars Willum (Boularderie Island Press) is a collection of more than 50 delicious holiday recipes gathered from around the world.

Christmas tales

In Nimbus Publishing’s new Christmas anthology, The Finest Tree And Other Christmas Stories From Atlantic Canada, Dan Soucoup collects more than 20 holiday tales from the region’s past and present. Included are short stories from some of Atlantic Canada’s finest authors, such as LM Montgomery, Kevin Major and Ernest Buckler.

Blank white book w/pathIn Sleigh Tracks In The Snow (Pottersfield Press), Wayne Curtis recounts the traditions that made Christmas special for his family and community. This story collection will remind readers of a more innocent time from the 1950s through the early 20th century in rural New Brunswick.

In Bette MacDonald’s new book, Mary Morrison’s Cape Breton Christmas (Nimbus Publishing), the author shares holiday tips and recipes from her beloved Cape Breton character.

Cape Breton’s Christmas: A Treasury of Stories & Memories (Breton Books) is a collection of stories and memories compiled by Ronald Caplan by well-known Cape Bretoners such as Beatrice MacNeil, Hugh MacLennan and Rita Joe.

Christmas stories for young readers

The True Meaning of Crumbfest by David Weale (Acorn Press, 1999) has been reprinted just in time for Christmas. It tells the tale of Ekhart the mouse and his quest to learn more about Crumbfest, the winter day when crumbs are plentiful in the PEI farmhouse he calls home.

The Littlest Christmas KettleIn The Littlest Christmas Kettle (Pennywell Books), Deborah Cranford tells the story of Sallie, a Salvation Army kettle, and her quest to bring joy to the less fortunate at Christmas.

Lisa Dalrymple’s new book for children, A Moose Goes A-Mummering (Tuckamore Books) tells the story of Chris the moose. He grows frustrated when everyone he knows still recognizes him, despite his increasingly adorable efforts to disguise himself while mummering and spreading cheer during the 12 days of Christmas in Newfoundland and Labrador.