National Network for Equitable Library Service

Robber Baron is an unauthorized biography of Conrad Black, who built the world's third-largest media empire and is now facing criminal charges in Chicago for alleged fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. Robber Baron is based on rigorous research, hard-hitting interviews, original documents, and exclusive access to Black and his close family and friends, key associates, critics, and staunch enemies.

Neil Peart is an internationally critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-nominated author, and for more than thirty years has been the legendary drummer and lyricist for Rush, the most successful band in the history of Canadian rock music. Defying categorization, his books have earned a devoted readership by combining elements of memoir, travel writing, and social commentary with a thoughtful, musical sense of self-discovery.

An inspiring book for readers of Sheryl Sandberg and Arlene Dickinson

Lisa Lisson’s life seemed perfect: she had married her high school sweetheart, applied her marketing degree to a position at FedEx Express Canada, and risen to become a vice president (and would ultimately become president) of the company. One night, after putting their four children to bed, her husband, Patrick, marvelled that their lives seemed perfectly happy.

Just a few hours later, everything changed.

This is a true story.

Marc Vachon was born in Montreal in 1963. He went from one foster home to another. He knows the injustices that the weak must suffer in any society. He knows the violence, the abuse, and the emptiness that life can offer in so-called developed countries.

He dealt with it the only way possible: through drugs and crime. He turned into “a bad egg” as he puts it.

The story of one of the most controversial films in history

How did a movie by one of the most famous filmmakers in the world end up banned, censored, and shelved? Made by “the English Federico Fellini,” Ken Russell, The Devils is so contentious that even decades after its 1971 release, Warner Brothers keeps its most incendiary scene under lock and key.

Celebrating the persistence of Turtle Power

Joe Schwarcz tells it like it is. Whether he's plumbing the mysteries of chicken soup or tracing the development of polyethylene, Schwarcz takes a little history, adds a dash of chemistry, and produces a gem of an essay every time. I wish he'd been my chemistry professor when I was in school.--Christine Gorman, senior writer.

A fascinating exploration of the world’s most unusual plants

Whether it’s an arctic heather that can create subtropical conditions within its leaves or a dwarf mistletoe that can shoot its seeds up to 50 feet away, plants demonstrate remarkable strategies in coping with and surviving their environment. They are often exposed to bitter cold, relentless winds, intense heat, drought, fire, pollution, and many other adverse growing conditions. Yet they are still able to survive and often even thrive.

The highly anticipated follow-up to the wildly popular Glimpse

Quick is George Murray’s second collection of aphorisms — a form that straddles the lines between poetry, philosophy, humour, and prose. He describes these pieces as “poetic essences” — sometimes even as “poems, without all the poetry getting in the way.” Some are deep, some clever, some funny, some all three. The best, he says, should read like common-sense statements that have never actually been expressed.

Superheroes, science, and one ordinary girl's quest for greatness Join 13-year-old Jessie as she keeps a diary of her class's yearlong research project on superheroes, which culminates in the Superhero Slam: a head-to-head debate battle! It's shy, comics-obsessed Jessie's dream come true . . . and worst nightmare. She decides to champion Batgirl, a regular person (albeit with major talent and training under her utility belt), and soon Jessie wonders what it would take to be Batgirl. Will she prove to her best friends, Cade and Audrey, that she's more than a sidekick?