National Network for Equitable Library Service

As a pioneer in Canada in the early 1800s, Catharine Parr Traill was one of the first writers to record the Ontario wilderness in literary and scientific detail, and her stories for young people became part of a new focus on young people. Her books on emigration encouraged other pioneers who struggled with life in a new country. Catharine was a natural storyteller who loved to write. As an adult in Canada, she wrote while she was hungry and fearful for her family’s safety. Her life was one of hardship and adventure, but also of great joy.

When Emily Stowe was born in Ontario in 1831, every girl’s life followed a set pattern. Regardless of her personality, intelligence, capabilities or creativity, her future was limited to housework and childcare. Emily Stowe was determined to change that pattern. Sydell Waxman, a writer, researcher and lecturer on women of the 1800s, tells of the events in the life of the young Emily Stowe which caused her to become, not only the first woman school principal and the first woman to practise medicine in Canada, but a pioneer in the fight for women’s rights.

Have you ever read a book that you couldn’t put down? Has that book taken you to other countries, to other centuries? Have you found yourself brimming with excitement, exclaiming to all who will listen, "Read this book!" This biography is the story of a child who took her love of childrens’ books and found a way to share it with the world as she grew up. Her voice would be the first to carry the message of childrens’ right to read across the world.

During the 17 years he was premier of Saskatchewan, Tommy Douglas changed the face of his province. He then served for 10 years as first leader of the federal New Democratic Party. Today he is recognized as the "father of medicare." In 2004, CBC TV viewers voted him the "Greatest Canadian."

Beautifully illustrated, this book looks at the nine women who have been Princesses of Wales. From Joan, the "Fair Maid of Kent," through the tragic Katharine of Aragon, Henry’s VIII’s first wife, and the tempestuous Caroline of Brunswick, the mistreated wife of George IV, to the present fairy-tale, headline-catching Princess, their stories are told with insight and compassion.

James FitzGibbon, Defender of Upper Canada, is the often poignant story of a poor man's rise to authority in the Upper Canada of the 1800s. Born the son of a tenant farmer in Ireland, FitzGibbon's valour as a soldier brought him to the attention of those destined for power in the Canadas.

Peter Duggan-Smith was born in 1916 to an actress mother. As she was always on the move he was brought up by two maiden aunts until he was accepted to train for a sea-going career on the cadet ship H.M.S. Conway. It was on the last of several voyages to New Zealand as a Merchant Navy apprentice that his life of adventure began — though it did not always turn out as he had planned! The one constant in Peter’s life was his love of flying; by the end of his final flight in Cambodia in 1974, he had racked up more than 17,000 flying hours–in no less than 70 types of piston-engine aircraft.

Charles de Salaberry (1778-1829) was a brilliant military figure who played a vital role in the War of 1812. A French-Canadian, he attained both rank and honour in the British army. He was a hero of Chateauguay and instrumental in the formation of the Canadian Voltigeurs and a respected advocate of French-Canadian rights. This book paints a vivid picture of a man whose pride and honour were part of an ancient family tradition, whose accomplishments were unique in the history of Lower Canada.

An amusing collection of lives and stories from the eccentric side of Canada’s history. A joyous romp through the back pages of Canadian quirkiness, Canadian Folk provides a fresh look at the saints, sinners, oddballs, and outright nutbars who have populated the Canadian landscape.They were perpetually northbound or south; they were inveterate walkers, or world class runners, millionaires in ill-advised Citroen half-tracks.

The true story of a brave woman’s nearly 40 years in a polygamous cult, her eventual escape, and her struggle to integrate into a world she barely knew. In the early 1970s an innocent teenager who had led a sheltered life was forced to leave her family and enter into a polygamous, abusive, and deviant relationship with a man called the Prophet. In 2008, nearly 40 years later, she fled his religious sect. Property is not a misnomer. It accurately depicts how the women in the sect were treated. Carol Christie reveals the degradation, abuse, and brainwashing that the Church Wives endured.