Author Archive

The 2016 Olympics are on in Rio and the media will be trumpeting the success stories of many an athlete, but Chechen-born Canadian boxer Arthur Biyarslanov has a story like no other.  And it’s a story that John Spray, benefactor of the TD Children’s John Spray Mystery Award, tells with inspiration and appreciation in Next […]

The crash landing of his father’s private jet in the Canadian wilderness leaves rich white kid Jared stunned and the pilot badly injured, but it soon becomes clear that those are the very least of the 15-year-old’s problems. Kyle, a Cree boy of the same age, comes to Jared’s aid but isn’t able to stop […]

“Pigs and flying are the stuff of idiomatic legend, but a porker named Ollie is determined to make it happen in this offbeat story from Coates (Rocket Man) and Del Rizzo (Gerbil, Uncurled). With help from a young human friend, Jack, Ollie tries several methods of getting airborne, such as strapping branches to his body […]

“Arthur looked around the small, two-bedroom apartment in Baku, Azerbaijan, in disbelief. This can’t be our new home, he thought, a lump in his throat. There was no yard to play in. There were no fruit trees to climb. He suddenly missed his home in Chechnya very badly. He closed his eyes and saw his […]

Eleven-year-old Bailey keeps her eyes open for miracles. She and her younger brother, Kevin, are spending the summer with their grandmother while their parents are in a marriage counseling program. Bailey’s fear that her parents may separate along with concern about her new friend, Daniel, who has cystic fibrosis, leads her to look for magic […]

Captain Barnacle Garrick and his daughter Augusta, last seen in Bad Pirate, return with more adventures. Augusta wants to be a fancy pup, but she’s the daughter of a pirate captain, so she needs to be rotten, sneaky, and brainy. Despite her best efforts to be good and foul, she can’t help but groom herself, […]

Dameon Okposio of Below the Belt Magazine has posted a timely and supportive video review of Next Round: A Young Athlete’s Journey to Gold by John Spray on the DO Boxing Show. Since Arthur is currently competing for Canada in the Rio Olympics, we’re pleased to share both Dameon’s review and our transcription of it. […]

What did you like about the book? This is the story of one girl, Tuyet, and her journey from an orphanage in Saigon to Canada during the Vietnam War. Tuyet could not remember life outside the orphanage where she is kept indoors and helps take care of the younger children. At eight, she suffers from the […]

“A Québecois import offers a cautionary wintertime tale. In this pretty book, Mama Fox invites Little Fox out for a walk in the inviting snowy woods, warning him to stay close so that he won’t get lost. Little Fox, however, enchanted with his own game of making “pictures in the snow” with his paw prints, […]

Toadstool Corners is hosting the Toadstool Corners’ Great, Green Garden Tour in a week. Several of the animals in the community have signed up for it already. Rae the badger thinks that Timo’s garden should be on the tour too. Though Timo does not think his garden is “Great,” he does have a week to […]