National Network for Equitable Library Service

Canada's beloved comic genius tells his own story for the first time.

What is Rick Mercer going to do now? That was the question on everyone's lips when the beloved comedian retired his hugely successful TV show after 15 seasons—and at the peak of its popularity. The answer came not long after, when he roared back in a new role as stand-up-comedian, playing to sold-out houses wherever he appeared.

Get out! Run! We must leave this place! They are going to destroy this whole place! Go, children, run first! Go now! These were the final shouts nine year-old Kim Phuc heard before her world dissolved into flames-before napalm bombs fell from the sky, burning away her clothing and searing deep into her skin. It's a moment forever captured, an iconic image that has come to define the horror and violence of the Vietnam War. Kim was left for dead in a morgue; no one expected her to survive the attack. Napalm meant fire, and fire meant death.

"I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea." - Yeonmi Park "One of the most harrowing stories I have ever heard - and one of the most inspiring." - The Bookseller "Park's remarkable and inspiring story shines a light on a country whose inhabitants live in misery beyond comprehension. Park's important memoir showcases the strength of the human spirit and one young woman's incredible determination to never be hungry again." —Publishers Weekly.

Beloved storyteller Ivan Coyote returns with their most intimate and moving book yet. Writer and performer Ivan Coyote has spent decades on the road, telling stories around the world. For years, Ivan has kept a file of the most special communications received from readers and audience members—letters, Facebook messages, emails, soggy handwritten notes tucked under the windshield wiper of their truck after a gig. Then came Spring, 2020, and, like artists everywhere, Coyote was grounded by the pandemic, all their planned events cancelled.

I hope you're okay in there, lovelies. I hope you're warm. After five years of working with bees on her farm in northern Alberta, Jenna Butler shares with the reader the rich experience of keeping hives. Starting with a rare bright day in late November as the bees are settling in for winter she takes us through a year in beekeeping on her small piece of the boreal forest. Weaving together her personal story with the practical aspects of running a farm, she takes us into the worlds of honeybees and wild bees.

Almost unbelievable. You'll swear it's fiction. "You haven't read a story like this one, even if your father was the kind of magnificent scoundrel you only find in Russian novels. Béchard is the rare writer who knows the secret to telling the true story." - Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings. Growing up in rural British Columbia, Deni Béchard worships his father, believing that he can do no wrong. Although his charismatic father is prone to racing trains and brawling, Deni has no idea how unusual his family is.

Stompin' Tom Connors is a legend. There are very few Canadians who don?t know the foot-stompin' patriot in the cowboy hat who sang almost exclusively of the country he loved and called home. But there is much more to Tom Connors than 'Bud the Spud' and 'The Hockey Song.' Tom's childhood was traumatic and he never fully recovered from being separated from his mother at a young age. As he made multiple trips across Canada, the country became his home and its people his family.

I take Liberties-poetic-and take license to relate her story in her voice, to tell history. Who she was-as I hear her say or sing. [...] But still you will come face-to-face with a "Portia," whose life outshines all brilliance this black ink divines.... In his unique brand of spoken word, Africadian poetry, the incomparable George Elliott Clarke explores a personal subject: his great-aunt Portia White.

When Mayann Francis was named Nova Scotia's first Black lieutenant-governor, she wondered if the community would accept her. Francis was born just three months after businesswoman Viola Desmond was arrested for sitting in a whites-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow. Had enough changed? In this candid memoir, Francis describes her journey from humble beginnings in Whitney Pier, the daughter of immigrants, to the vice-regal office.

Celebrate the amazing accomplishments of kids from across the East Coast in this book, the first in a new illustrated series about Amazing Atlantic Canadians. Learn about incredible young people excelling as athletes and inventors, overcoming adversity and even saving lives. Includes over 50 amazing, diverse youth from history to present day and shows young readers that greatness has no age limit.