Meet skeleton spirits in Alaska — the Dancing Ahkiyyini — and gliding ghosts overseas, like Japan’s Legless Yurei. Witness groups of ghosts at Mexico’s Day of the Dead and the solitary Ibambo on their own in Africa. Of course, each ghost has its own personality. Some like to stay up all night partying. Others, it is said, emerge from the spilled blood of murdered souls. Others still may tidy up your house at night — but only if they like you. Where can such spooks be found? A World Full of Ghosts takes you around the world to find out. Each fun and frightening profile captures the enduring allure of the supernatural in cultures far and near. Interspersed throughout are first-person accounts of spectral sightings. Meanwhile, a scariness scale rates each tale for younger readers. Featuring 25 phantoms, a not-too-scary storytelling style and suitably luminous — and spooky — artwork.  A World Full of Ghosts is a glimpse into a world of imagination.

“Eww! What is that? Such horrible stew!Orange-colored roots that were sticky with goo. . . .”Bradley McGogg makes his home in the bog where there are plenty of yummy bugs for a frog to feed on. Upon finding his pantry bare one day, Bradley decides to meet his neighbors, in the hopes that they will share some of their favorite meals with him. But this “bog frog” soon finds that not all animals eat alike . . . .

Tim Beiser is the proud dad of twins Rowan and Daniel, and he and his family split their time between Toronto, Canada and Grignan, France. Bradley McGogg, the Very Fine Frog is his first book for children.

Rachel Berman is a self-educated painter who has lived and worked in Canada, the United States, and Ireland. Born in New Orleans, Rachel has worked as a professional artist for over thirty years. Her paintings have been likened to the poems of Leonard Cohen. The mysterious figures and hidden stories glimpsed in her paintings are a reflection of the mysteries Berman has unraveled in her own life. Once known as Susan King, she discovered her original birth name, birth date, and the names of her biological parents only ten years ago. This experience led her to reclaim her long-lost name. Rachel Berman lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

(ages 3 – 5)  Come along on a visit to the farm, where a girl plays in wide open spaces, meets different animals, and discovers the endless wonders of nature. Whimsical illustrations come alive with color and texture to compliment the gentle, rhythmic text. From the lamb’s nuzzle to the cow’s morning greeting, from the horse’s velvety nose to the ducklings’ playful quacks, the barnyard is brimming with possibilities to explore. Children will delight in the warm, friendly farm scenes, and can be encouraged to name the animals depicted throughout.

Scaredy never sleeps — sleep might mean bad dreams about dragons, ghosts, vampire bats and polka-dot monsters. Our wide-eyed hero has a plan: stay awake all night, every night. Between counting stars, playing cymbals and making scrapbooks, he does a good job of avoiding dreamland. With exhaustion taking its toll, Scaredy comes face-to-face with an alarming horoscope prediction: All his dreams are about to come true! He must prepare for the worst and his Bad Dream Action Plan includes a fire extinguisher to snuff out dragons and a fan to blast away ghosts. But when disaster strikes, will Scaredy survive this ordeal? Will he thank his lucky stars? Will he find sweet dreams? Scaredy Squirrel at Night tackles a fear everyone – and especially the young – can relate to. It’s a bedtime story to make light of kids’ fear of the dark and a fable for our sleep-deprived society.

 In summer 1944, Rezso Kasztner met with Adolf Eichmann, architect of the Holocaust, in Budapest. With the Final Solution at its terrible apex and tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews being sent to Auschwitz every month, the two men agreed to allow 1,684 Jews to leave for Switzerland by train. In other manoeuvrings Kasztner may have saved another 40,000 Jews already in the camps. Kasztner was later judged for having “sold his soul to the devil.” Prior to being exonerated, he was murdered in Israel in 1957. Part political thriller, part love story and part legal drama, Porter’s account explores the nature of Kasztner–the hero, the cool politician, the proud Zionist, the romantic lover, the man who believed that promises, even to diehard Nazis, had to be kept. The deals he made raise questions about moral choices that continue to haunt the world today.

Theodora loved her grandfather\’s old garden. His new apartment\’s balcony is too windy and small for a garden. But what appears to be a drawback soon leads to a shared burst of creativity as Theo and her Poppa decide to paint a new garden. As they work side by side — sowing seeds with brushes and paint — a masterpiece begins to take shape that transforms the balcony into an abundant garden. When Poppa goes away on holiday, Theo helps nurture the garden and it begins to take on a life of its own. This garden grows not from soil but from love, imagination and creativity. Readers will marvel at each stage of this fertile garden as it grows from seed to full flower, revealing the power of art to enrich our lives.

Poor pig number one may never get to sleep! In this swine-stuffed count-along bedtime book, one ham-bunctious pig after another comes crowding into her bedroom — each with its own special way to keep the poor little pig awake. Pig number two turns on the light. Pig number three likes to watch TV all night. Four\’s a juggling boar — and there are still six more! With new hogs arriving by the minute, pig number one\’s bedroom is wall-to-wall pig-demonium. Will this weary little pig ever hear the Bard\’s immortal words: \”Goodnight, sweet pig\”? Here is a counting book that uses irresistible rhymes to send children off to sleep, night after night.

Thousands of boys dream of become firefighters. Some get the chance, and for some of those, the dream becomes a nightmare. “Burning Down the House” is the story of Wangersky’’s eight-year career as a volunteer firefighter, an experience that wound up reaching into every facet of his life and changed the way he saw the world forever. Written in vibrant, luminous prose, the book traces his years from rookie to veteran firefighter and the toll it took on his personal life. Offering a rare glimpse into physical dangers and psychological costs of trying to save strangers” lives, Wangersky paints a harrowing and sometimes heartbreakingly vivid portrait of the fires, medical calls, and automobile accidents that are the standard fare of the profession. Visceral and affecting, “Burning Down the House” is an insightful insider’’s account of the perilous world of firefighting and an unforgettable memoir of how, in finding his passion, Wangersky lost himself.

Some stories are just better when told. A pause, a breath, a smile you can feel, can add to the experience of a best seller or a timeless classic. Check out some of our recent titles here. Discover the fresh dimension to a tale when read by popular actors or by the author.

On this cross-Canada odyssey, Margaret Webb introduces readers to great farmers in every province or, as she calls them, chefs of the soil and the sea, tractor-seat philosophers, or poet biologists. Her stories of the challenges they face growing good food are inspiring, touching, gritty. They will make you hungry. They will make you laugh. These fascinating stories about the passionate, driven people who farm and produce food in our country make for a powerful manifesto for eating Canadian.

A magazine journalist and screenwriter, Margaret Webb teaches at Ryerson University. She lives in Toronto.