This is the story of a seafaring little girl named Molly, who is sailing in her little sailboat to her grandma’s place. During the voyage, she encounters a pirate ship called the “Horrible Haddock”, helmed by mean Captain Firebeard and his “Fearsome Crew”, a motley collection of scalawags such as Cutlass Tom, Billy the Bald and Willy Wooden Hand.
They bring her aboard the “Horrible Haddock”, and when Molly threatens Captain Firebeard that she will tell her mom about their little bit of high seas hijinx (it’s supposed to scare them), the Fearsome Crew just laugh it off and put Molly to work, and ends up doing everything from peeling potatoes, to cleaning the cutlasses, to patching the sails, to scrubbing the deck. While this is happening, mean ol’ Captain Firebeard and the Fearsome Crew party hearty every night. As the crew sleep off their revelry below deck, Molly takes every empty rum bottle, puts in help messages and cast them off to sea, hoping someone will read her distress call. Will the rum-laced call for help summon Molly’s famous maritime mom? Will she arrive in time to rescue Molly? Will this be enough to shiver Captain Firebeard’s timbers?
Written by popular German-born children’s book author Cornelia Funke (author of such bestsellers as Dragon Rider and Inkwell) this picture book gives a worthy lesson to cutthroats wreaking havoc on the high seas: think twice before you decide to kidnap any seagoing lass named Molly … you’re only asking for trouble!
Aesop’s Fables have entertained children for thousands of years with its well crafted stories with a moral purpose to them. Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison, along with author Slade Morrison and illustrator Pascal Lemaitre have reinterpreted three of those fables for today’s young readers and have come up with a winner in Who’s Got Game?
The modernized fables that are featured in the book are: The Ant and the Grasshopper, in which Foxy G the grasshopper prefers to compose rap music tunes with its wings, while Kid A the ant would rather clean his house and stock up on supplies for the winter; the Lion and the Mouse, in which the loud, bombastic, self-centered king of the jungle rules his kingdom by fear and intimidation, until a thorn gets caught in its rear paw and no animal will remove it, until a brave mouse does so, but not before he strikes a deal with the lion; and Poppy and the Snake, in which Poppy, a man from the Louisiana Bayou, rescues a snake from beneath the wheels of his truck, on the condition that it doesn’t bite him.
The book is a wonderful modern interpretation (done in a graphic novel style) of these three Aesop’s Fables and teaches kids that victims might not lose, that the timid can get the chance to be strong, and that powerful can lose their grip. Combine it with "remastering" by Nobel laureate Morrison and company, and it’s a great way for younger generations to appreciate these legendary ancient morality tales.
This book continues the saga of the Bones, Smiley Bone and his cousin, Fone Bone, two ghost-like characters with rather large, bulbous noses. This time, they trek across the mountains to return their rat creature friend (named "Bartleby" by the enterprising Smiley) to its rightful home. During their treacherous journey, they encounter several obstacles, namely being followed by a group of friendly, non-threatening forest animals and pursued by a two large, menacing rat creatures who want to snatch away Bartleby. But nothing prepares them for Rocque Ja (or "Rock Jaw", as the Bones call him, much to his frustration), an overpowering mountain lion who claims the title of "Master of the Eastern Border". And on top of that, Smiley and Fone and caught in the middle of a power struggle between Rock Jaw and the rat creatures over who will control the Eastern Border.
This is the fifth volume of a nine-part book series of the adventures of the Bones, which started out as an underground comic book in 1991 and has gained cult status with graphic novel fans around the world. The fifth instalment mixes the elements of the popular Bob Hope-Bing Crosby "Road" pictures of the 1940s, with a timely moral lesson about factions in conflict, especially how people are forced to choose sides. Jeff Smith’s illustrations are sharp, colourful and have that made-for-the big-screen look and are a good blend of the comical and dramatic. Reading through this book (and the four previous volumes), you will see why the Bone series has sold over one million copies in 15 languages, and was named by Time magazine as one of the top 10 graphic novels of all time.
One of Montreal’s greatest exports to the world of show business over a century ago was Louis Cyr, a former Montreal policeman who dazzled audiences across North America and Europe with his remarkable feats of strength (including lifting a 450-pound boulder with the greatest of ease). And now, a new generation of young readers will get a new appreciation of this incredible showman with Nicolas Debon’s book The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr.
The story takes place somewhere in Quebec around 1900. After completing his annual physical, the doctor tells Louis that if he doesn’t take care of his health, he won’t live to see the new year. When he tells his daughter Emiliana that his declining health is forcing him to consider retiring, Cyr then begins to reflect on his illustrious career as a strongman. Inspired by his grandfather - who told him that "a man without strength is nothing" - Cyr’s career got an "uplifting" start at a county fair in a small Massachusetts town, where he won a weightlifting contest by lifting a heavy draft horse that nobody else could. This became a launching point for a career where Cyr became a real life Samson, where he could perform impossible feats of strength such as resisting the pull of four horses that weighed 1200 pounds each … and then offering the public a large sum of money if they could perform that same feat. After a string of triumphant world tours - and the creation of his own successful travelling circus - Louis Cyr was dubbed by the press as "The Strongest Man in the World".
The book, four years in the making, is an interesting look (in a comic book style) of Canada’s legendary strongman, and is a moving portrait of a man whose physical strength brought him worldwide fame … and then failed him at the prime of his life, and shows that Louis Cyr was indeed the strongest man in the world, both physically and in spirit.
