Below are some of our most recently released books.
During the longest winter she’s ever known, a lonely Willow begins to weep. Her heart is filled with frost, and she can’t remember what it feels like to be loved. She cries out to the Wise Wind, who comforts her, reminding her: You are never alone. Soon, the Willow hears the call of a very special bird on the breeze. Perhaps, with the help of the Wise Wind and the magical Song of the Whip-poor-will, the Willow's heart will heal and she will never be lonely again. Written with striking lyrical beauty and featuring stunning original illustrations, Heart of the Willow is a modern folktale sure to delight adults and children alike with its timeless message of love and hope.
In Perpetual Motion, Dana slows down long enough to detail his dash through a fast-paced life. This is the inspirational and moving saga of how—historical, cultural, and environmental events influenced a fertile mind, driving him forward on a quest for personal growth and self-expression, in the face of adversity. With remarkable candour and sparkling humour, he relays his coming of age in small-town Southwestern Ontario in the ’60s and ’70s; through his family hardships; struggles with anxiety, depression, and PTSD; and the surprising journey to the creative arts, that resurrected the indelible spirit in him today. Perpetual Motion is infused with love, empathy, and wisdom; culminating in twenty-three life lessons, including “Embrace the Music,” “Take Time to Grieve,” and “Learn How to Make Soup.” Stories told of grief and tragedy but promising a lighted path forward, this memoir will comfort, delight, and inspire readers of all stripes to consider their own life journeys.
Readers today are watching the voices of those who endured the First and Second World Wars diminish or disappear, unheard, altogether. To preserve, illuminate, and share her great-grandfather’s memories for future generations, Emma Dirk has translated his over 100-year-old journal and compiled those entries reflecting what he had experienced during and directly after the First World War into this book. In the late months of 1916, when he was only 23 years old, Dumitru Balaci was captured on Romania’s battlefield and, alongside tens of thousands of others, endured a gruelling journey aboard cattle trains to a concentration camp in Germany. Forced to live in horrible conditions and with little to no food, for months, he was shuffled among multiple labour camps in Germany and Austria, sometimes unaware of where he was. Despite this, his faith, spirit, and perseverance pushed him to not only survive but escape and find freedom in France, and, eventually, find his way home, back to his family in Romania around 1920-1921. A compelling story of survival, resilience, and the extraordinary force of the human spirit during challenging times, The Life of a Romanian WWI Prisoner of War provides an intimate, poignant glimpse into the life of a Romanian prisoner of war and soldier.
In the tumultuous world of high school, Emma grapples with a devastating breakup, a damning social media scandal that threatens her reputation, and an overwhelming sense of isolation. Her parents are distant, she has no true friends, and her despair deepens with each passing day. One fateful night during a sudden snowstorm, Emma forges a connection with Sarah, a girl who navigates the treacherous high school terrain of 2001. In this improbable friendship, they bond through the digital ether, supporting each other's struggles at the same school, in the same town, while separated by two decades. The friendship becomes a lifeline for both girls. Their lives bear striking similarities, yet the differences are equally profound. While Sarah is spared from the perils of social media, she gains self-assurance and begins to discover herself. In contrast, Emma’s struggles intensify as she faces dire consequences for her actions online and misguided romantic entanglements. Sarah watches helplessly as Emma's life unravels, yearning to help but bound by the constraints of time. Emma’s perilous descent accelerates, and the danger of not receiving the help she desperately needs looms large. Sarah, trapped twenty years in the past, must find a way to intervene before it’s too late. This gripping tale of bridging the gap between eras explores the enduring power of human connection, the complexities of teenage life, and the lengths to which a stranger will go to save a life.
Learn to have greater Courage, Confidence, and Consideration in the many important conversations at work and in your personal life. In The Effective Communicator, a formative work on developing oral communication skills, Stephen Franklin outlines the skills and traits required to get the most out of the many important conversations we have in all areas of life. By developing these communication strategies and by overcoming the barriers that can cause effective conversations to go off the rails, readers can achieve more positive outcomes and results from pivotal conversations. Drawing on his many years of professional training experience, the author provides definitions and thorough explanations for the concepts of oral communication, based on his Four Critical Characteristics of Effective Communication (clear, concise, considerate, and confident). Readers will discover how to conduct, manage, and navigate important conversations for greater levels of success, becoming a better communicator both at work and in their personal lives. Along the way, the author supplies pertinent questions to encourage readers to think about the content, provides strategies for how best to absorb his tips and techniques, and ultimately, encourages readers to develop the skills that will lead to consistently successful and meaningful conversations. This informative manuscript includes strategies for all types of communicators. Readers who lack confidence will learn how to be more confident and assertive. Readers who lack tact and sensitivity will learn how to be more considerate. And all readers will learn how to develop strategic assertiveness traits to use during important conversations to get what they need and to resolve issues without damaging relationships.
Order, elegance, beauty. Each of these tenets is represented by a fictional character—Martians referred to as “the three graces”—in this dystopian novella. In the Garden of Good and Evil brings together six scientists struggling to unearth the roots of Mars’ downfall from the utopian planet it once was. Led by Professor Lotus Latus, the trio of best friends and young scientists, Jin-Jin, Be-Kas, and Fos-D embark on a critical journey to understand the true and correct meanings of good and evil. They first ponder the basic evolutionary brain chemistry observing a deer in a garden of dahlias and other plants, observing how it instinctively knows what to eat or avoid. But one tree may be key to all understanding. Their interstellar exploration finds Jin-Jin returning to planet Earth on a reconnaissance mission to bring intelligence back to the team. They offer and analyze theories and one case study, in particular: why a strange tree called Uvariopsis dicaprio (actually named for actor Leonardo DiCaprio) with flowers growing from its trunk has become a symbol of authentic good on Earth—worthy of extreme measures to save it—while the annihilation of all living organisms including humankind is not only possible but clearly probable. Although In the Garden of Good and Evil is a work of fiction, author Donald Lang, PhD, plumbs the depths of science to underpin the imminent realities facing our world, particularly with regard to the disintegration of human rights (explored in his recently published treatise, Never Again: Why Human Rights Charters Fail to Fulfill Their Mandates) while climate change remains a threat, destroying the world as we know it. As humans, our failure to understand the real meaning of good and evil for the betterment of everyone, and how it relates to human rights, can be found within our brain chemistry that enables us to discern and embrace order, elegance, and beauty.