Elephant Keeper, The

Child Soldier

Michel Chikwanine, Jessica Dee Humphreys, Claudia Dávila

Michel is like many other five-year-olds: he has a loving family and spends his days going to school and playing soccer. But in 1993, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Michel and his family live, is a country in tumult. One afternoon Michel and his friends are kidnapped by rebel militants and forced to become child soldiers. Child Soldier is the sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring true story of the triumph of the human spirit.

Stepping Stones / حَصى الطُرُقات

Margriet Ruurs, Nizar Ali Badr, Falah Raheem

In this dual-language picture book (English and Arabic), a young girl and her family are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the civil war and make their way toward safety in Europe.

Red Bicycle, The

Jude Isabella, Simone Shin

Leo rides his beloved red bicycle to school, soccer practice and everywhere in between. He is devastated when he outgrows Big Red. But when Leo learns of a bicycle donation program, he perks up --- someone who really needs his bike can give it a new life. Little does he know that Big Red will change other people's lives, too. Follow the bike as it travels to West Africa, where it helps people in Burkina Faso bring goods to the market, and serves as a makeshift ambulance, proving that an ordinary bicycle can be truly extraordinary.

Canada Wild

Maria Birmingham, Alex MacAskill

A full-colour illustrated guide to Canada's endemic species for young readers, from the award-winning author of Snooze-O-Rama: The Strange Ways that Animals Sleep.

Canada is home to over 308 endemic species of plants and animals — meaning they're found nowhere else on Earth. In Canada Wild, award-winning author Maria Birmingham introduces young readers to twelve uniquely Canadian animals — many of which are threatened or endangered. Like the Sable Island sweat bee, which lives on a single sandbar three hundred kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia; the Kermode bear, the rare white black bear also known as the "Spirit Bear", which calls the coastal rainforests of northwestern BC home; and the Peary caribou, which can be found clomping through the Arctic tundra of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Profiles of each animal showcase their habitat, diet, and status, while sidebars highlight fascinating facts about each animal, and a How's It Doing section explains where it falls on the endangerment spectrum. Informative backmatter gives young readers practical advice on conservation and combating climate change, while colour illustrations throughout — including a map of Canada, showing the animals' habitats — offer whimsical yet scientifically accurate depictions.

From the coasts to the prairies to the mountains to the tundra, and every nook and cranny in between, Canada Wild is the perfect read for budding naturalists.

Up to Low

Brian Doyle

Young Tommy and Baby Bridget, the girl with the trillium-shaped eyes, discover that living, healing and dying are not always what they seem.