Top Grade: K-8 selections, Fall 2014

Music is for Everyone is sure to get you excited about making music! Singer-songwriter Jill Barber takes her young readers through many different kinds of music—hip hop, jazz, classical, folk—and instruments in an energetic, rhyming tour. Sydney Smith’s gleeful illustrations capture all the joy that comes from making music—in all its forms!

Where does the story start? Marie-Louise Gay explains the creative process with typical fun and whimsy.

Many children want to know where stories come from and how a book is made. Marie-Louise Gay’s new picture book provides them with some delightfully inspiring answers in a fictional encounter between an author and some very curious children, who collaborate on writing and illustrating a story.

Marie-Louise has scribbled, sketched, scrawled, doodled, penciled, collaged and painted the words and …

Young woodpecker Pierce has decided he is old enough to venture out and hunt for insects on his own. He will prove to his mother that he is old enough to stretch his wings and be independent and responsible! When he ventures to the forest in search of juicy insects he finds that it isn't going to be as easy as he thought. All of the trees he finds seem perfect —but they already have other animals making their homes there. And Raccoon and Owl and Skunk don't want Pierce hammering holes in their …

Morgan is left out of the loop when everyone begins bringing their Robogamer Z7s to school, linking up online with one another and playing at recess and lunch. Even Aldeen, the Godzilla of Grade Three, has one. But when the other kids start to suspect that Aldeen is faking her gaming, Morgan has to decide whether or not to stand up to the bullies who are teasing her.

With a situation young readers will recognize and enjoy, and a character they can easily identify with, this is a book that will ap …

After Morgan’s backyard is flooded by the nearby river, her dog, Shire, finds a baby beaver that has been washed out of its den. Realizing that its parents aren’t coming back, Morgan must quickly learn to care for the beaver, which she names Sammy. Morgan’s parents warn her that he can’t stay with them forever. Will Morgan be able to find a safe home for Sammy?

The true story of how a boy's passion for learning saved him from a life in England's coal mines and led him to a career as an internationally acclaimed artist and illustrator, famed for his images of Canada's north. Includes full-colour reproductions of Ted Harrison's art and a preface by the artist himself.

Ted Harrison’s (1926–2015) brightly coloured and wildly imaginative paintings set in the Yukon have become synonymous with the North. His instantly-recognizable images of the land of the …

Magic can be found in the darkest of places... It is the time of the Second World War, and Werner is a boy alone in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Separated from his family, he doesn’t have a friend in the world. He shares his bunk with a quiet man named Herr Levin, who seems too gentle for this terrible place. One night Werner is woken by the sound of prison guards yelling. But it’s not Werner they want, it’s Herr Levin. “Do your magic!” they order him. Magic? In Auschwitz? Werner …

This popular one-stop reference to the national flag of Canada has been updated and revised. Ann-Maureen Owens and Jane Yealland start with basic background on all the different flags that have flown over Canadian land, and why they flew there. They then turn to the fascinating play-by-play of how today's beloved maple leaf flag design came to be --- including how some government leaders took a personal interest in the design, as well as how ordinary Canadians were given the opportunity to weigh …