National Network for Equitable Library Service

In the early years after Confederation in Canada, the rising nation needed workers that could take advantage of the abundant resources. Until the time of the Depression, 100,000 impoverished children from the British Isles were sent overseas by well-meaning philanthropists to solve the colony’s farm-labour shortage. They were known as the "home children," and they were lonely and frightened youngsters to whom a new life in Canada meant only hardship and abuse.

This special bundle contains seven books that detail Canada’s long and storied history in the performing arts. We learn about Canada’s early Hollywood celebrity movie stars; Canadians’ vast contributions to successful international stage musicals; the story of The Grand, a famous theatre in London, Ontario; reminiscences from the early days of radio; the history of the renowned Stratford Festival; and a lavish history of the famous National Ballet of Canada. Canada’s performing artists blossomed in the twentieth century, and you can learn all about it here.

Brown celebrates the survival of our railway heritage in stations that have been saved or remain in use. Despite the "green" benefits of rail travel, Canada has lost much of its railway heritage. Across the country stations have been bulldozed and rails ripped up. Once the heart of communities large and small, stations and tracks have left little more than a gaping hole in Canada’s landscapes. This book revisits the times when railways were the country’s economic lifelines, and the station the social centre.

A look at how a major confrontation between Canada and the First Nations could erupt, and how it might be prevented. There are few greater tragedies than a war waged by a society against itself. As Time Bomb shows, a catastrophic confrontation between Canada’s so-called “settler” and First Nations communities is not only feasible, it is, in theory, inevitable. Grievances, prejudice, and other factors all combine to make the likelihood of a First Nations uprising very real.

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction — Shortlisted On April 5, 1999, Serbian police found a truck half-submerged in the Danube River. When they looked inside, they found it filled with human bodies. Following orders, they hid the truck and its contents. Two weeks later, on the other side of Serbia, the same thing happened. The full picture would only emerge years later, when the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia investigated and prosecuted the chief architects of the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo.

An easy and readable guide to the latest scientific information on how and why to sleep better and improve your wellbeing. Why do we need to sleep? For those of who pass nights staring at the ceiling, the question is beside the point. In fact, we are all sleeping less, and worse, than ever. Despite this, we know that losing sleep or sleeping fitfully has consequences for our health and well being. What can we do when sleep just won’t come? In nine fascinating chapters, Dr. Diane B. Boivin lays out exactly why sleeping well is essential to good health.

This special bundle contains the first thirty-five books in the Quest Biography series, which profiles the lives of Canadians who have had a profound effect on their country and the world. Some of these figures are truly famous, while others were quietly influential.

2016 Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award — Shortlisted 2015 Speaker's Book Award — Shortlisted Explore the history of tourism in the Nipissing Passageway, from Mattawa to Georgian Bay, beginning with Champlain’s voyage in 1615. In the nineteenth century, while the hope of building a Georgian Bay Ship Canal remained elusive, promotional efforts were made by the railways to market the area as a “sportsman’s paradise.” In the early twentieth century, Ontario began to build roads to lure American motorists to the area.

A provocative account of the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders and its crucial place in history. The remarkable story of the men of the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders moves from the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland, through the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution, to the War of 1812. Simon Fraser, chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat, raised the 78th Highlanders, a regiment that played a major role in defeating the French on the Plains of Abraham.

This special twelve-book bundle is a classical and choral music lover’s delight! Canada’s rich history and culture in the classical music arts is celebrated here, both in the form of in-depth biographies and autobiographies (Lois Marshall, Lotfi Mansouri, Elmer Iseler, Emma Albani and more), but also in honour of musical places (There’s Music in These Walls, a history of the Royal Conservatory of Music; In Their Own Words, a celebration of Canada’s choirs; and Opera Viva, a history of the Canadian Opera Company).