Oct 2011, Dundurn Press Available for pre-order |
Mary Pickford: Canada’s Silent Siren, America’s Sweetheart
Mary Pickford’s ambition, passion, innate talent, and savvy business acumen sent her career into the stratosphere and set the blueprint for the modern movie star. Pickford was raised in a house on University Avenue in Toronto and began her acting career on the stage. However, her determination led her to the new world of motion pictures, where she not only revolutionized acting method but negotiated her own terms for the highest salary for any actress and complete creative control over her films. Pickford co-founded United Artists in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, which turned the existing studio system on its head. The actress’s subsequent marriage to Fairbanks incited a fan frenzy comparable to today’s obsession with couples like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Although Pickford’s star faded with the advent of talking pictures, she was the catalyst for the culture of Hollywood celebrity that enthralls us today. A Quest Biography Book |
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2010, Dundurn Press Available on amazon.ca |
Growing Up Ivy
This coming-of-age story is set in Toronto and rural Ontario during the Great Depression. Life is an every day struggle for twelve-year-old Ivy Chalmers and her mother, Frannie. They often resort to games of “let’s pretend” to get them through. In 1931, Frannie, intent on making a name for herself on the New York City stage, sends Ivy to Larkin, Ontario to stay with her paternal grandmother, someone the girl has never met.
When Ivy’s father, Alva, arrives unexpectedly, he turns out not to be the Prince Charming she imagined, but an illiterate peddler. Rescuing Ivy from her uncompromising grandmother, Alva takes her with him for the summer, wandering the countryside by horse-drawn caravan, selling shoes. Back at her grandmother’s, at summer’s end, Ivy meets teenager Charlie Bayliss, orphaned as an infant and raised by his aunt on a farm outside Larkin. Ivy has a flair for writing and boundless imagination; Charlie loves baseball and loathes farming. Unknown to both of them, though, is a secret connection they share. When the final pieces of the puzzle of their lives fall into place, nothing will ever be the same. “Ivy is a convincing character, strong though damaged, and depicted without sentimentality. The Depression-era setting is similarly convincing, crisp in its particulars.” – Quill & Quire “Peggy Dymond Leavey has mastered the art of “showing” rather than “telling”. In the early part of Growing Up Ivy, actions speak louder than words, giving readers a subtle yet clear picture of Ivy Chalmers’s life with her mother, Frannie, in Depression-era Toronto.” 4 out of 4 stars – “Highly Recommended” – CM Magazine ISBN 978-1-55488-723-1 |
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2008, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca |
A further adventure with the kids from Treasure at Turtle Lake. After a rocky start to the summer in Turtle Narrows, things are beginning to turn around for 13 year old Joel Osler. He has a dog of his own now, a black Labrador retriever named Molly, and the family has just moved into the old Clifton House. Dropping into his dad’s electronics shop one day, Joel overhears a stranger demanding money. Suddenly, it looks as if Dad’s financial troubles could mean losing the house and moving back to the tiny flat over the shop. If that happens, Joel won’t be able to keep his dog. With a For Sale sign already on the Clifton House, Joel is desperate for a solution. On a fishing expedition into Algonquin Park, Joel and his friends, Paige and Matt, make a grisly discovery. When Joel’s dad becomes a suspect, Joel must take immediate action to prove his innocence. “Trouble at Turtle Narrows is a fine novel for preteens, sure to entertain and encourage literacy.” – Midwest Book Review ISBN 978-1-894917-71-1 |
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2007, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca
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Rather than face the consequences of his attempted shoplifting, twelve-year old Joel leaves his mother’s home in Toronto to live with his dad in Turtle Narrows, where he hopes to make a fresh start. On his trip north, he meets a mysterious man who shows him a map. Could this map point the way to hidden treasure? Joel finds an unlikely ally in fiercely independent Paige, a new Grade Seven classmate. When Joel shows Paige the drawings he remembers from the map, the two team up to match wits against the man, hoping to discover the meaning of the three clues before he does. “… Treasure at Turtle Lake is a fast-paced and an attention-grabbing read. This would be an excellent book for a reluctant reader. As the book is divided into bite-size chapters, the reader can decide to take it slowly or to keep reading ‘just one more chapter.’” – Lori Giles-Smith, Assistant Librarian at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg ISBN 978-1-894917-49-0 |
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2005, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca
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Having just moved to Toronto from the west coast, 13-year-old Norah Bingham and her mother, Ginny, plan to spend Christmas in the country, with an elderly relative, Caroline Stoppard, Norah’s great-aunt. When Ginny gets called away on business, Norah has to go on her own to stay with Miss Stoppard, someone she has never even met. From the start, the woman makes it plain that she does not welcome Norah’s company, nor that of Andrew and Becca, Norah’s cousins, who arrive two days later. The isolated Stoppard mansion is as dismal as the Ontario winter. But the cousins discover there are puzzles to solve. Great-aunt Caroline has many secrets. Among them is the identity of the boy Norah sees in the backyard. Who is he? And why is he watching the house? The Path Through the Trees was nominated for the 2007 Silver Birch Award, as well as the 2007 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award ISBN 1894917219 |
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2003, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca |
Twelve-year-old Martin Jessup, teller of tall tales and other untruths, cannot understand his sister’s objections to the family’s move from Winnipeg to small-town Ontario. With Dad in the military, moving is a fact of life. Settling into his new home, Martin is intrigued by a deserted house across the street and by an unfriendly neighbour, who seems to be waiting for something to happen. Martin and new friends Granger and Holly form a club that meets in the deep end of an empty swimming pool. The friends tell Martin that the deserted house is all that remains of the Govier estate and about an unsolved mystery--the disappearance years ago of Victor Govier. One night, Martin sees a light in the deserted house. When the Deep End Gang goes to investigate, the kids discover an unlocked door leading into the cellar. ISBN 092914189X |
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2001, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca |
It’s an exciting time for seventeen-year-old Libby Eaton. She has returned to the small town, where her mother had died a year earlier, to try to live alone in the old family home. Libby finds life on her own is full of challenges, but there is a bright spot in the summer--the possibility of romance with Michael. Set in the 1950s when the term SEXUAL HARASSMENT was yet to be coined, one of the major themes in the book tells how Libby takes a brave stand against the unwanted attentions of her boss at the five-and-ten. Finding My Own Way was an “Our Choice” selection by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. ISBN 0929141830 |
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1999, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca
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When thirteen-year-old Jane Covington arrives at the family cottage on Sky Lake, she is happy to be back with her grandmother in the golden sunshine. But Jane soon happens upon a mysterious, seventy-year-old cry for help in the form of a letter. Aided by her fried Corrie and local boy Jess, Jane sets out to solve the mystery of a deadly fire and the long-ago disappearance of a young wife and mother. Sky Lake Summer was an “Our Choice” selection by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, as well as being nominated for a Silver Birch Award in 2000. Other nominations include a Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and a Tiny TORGI Audio Award in 2000. ISBN 0929141644 |
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1994, Napoleon Publishing Available on chapters.indigo.ca. |
Who are the strangers Wren sees in the Mirror? And why are they appearing to her? Twelve-year old Wren Ferris thinks the mirror she found in the abandoned movie studio will make a good souvenir. Intrigued by the thought of the movie stars who might have gazed into that very mirror, she hangs it on her bedroom wall. Even after she sees the reflection of a strange man standing behind her. A man who isn’t really there …. A Circle in Time was an “Our Choice” selection by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. ISBN 0929141555 |
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1994, Napoleon Publishing Available on amazon.ca
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To Mark, the sign in the window had looked like the answer to a 13 year-old’s prayers. In the end, it only made things worse. Moving to the East End to live with his grandfather had been bad enough. It had meant leaving his old friends and a perfectly good after-school job. But now, because of his illness, Grandpa Luigi was acting weirder every day. And the neighbourhood bully was threatening bodily injury if Mark set foot on his street. Recommended reading by the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Help Wanted: Wednesdays Only was an “Our Choice” selection by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. ISBN 0929141237 English ISBN 274272303X French (available through Amazon.ca) Available in French as Un Petit Boulot du
Mercredi (ISBN
978-2-7427-2303-4) from Actes
Sud and from amazon.ca |
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1989, Mika Publishing |
The Movie Years - Trenton, Ontario 1917-1934 Where in Canada’s history of filmmaking does the Trenton story fit? The very first films made in Canada were produced at the turn of the 20th century and were designed to attract British immigration to Canada. In 1913 Canada’s first known feature film, “Evangeline,” was produced in Nova Scotia by the Canadian Bioscope Company of Halifax. That same year the British-American Film Company of Montreal produced “The Battle of Long Sault.” About the time of the First World War Canada’s film making industry began to take off. Canadian newsreels were shown publicly, the production of feature films flourished and the Ontario government established its motion picture bureau. It was in 1917 that a movie studio was opened at Trenton. Its significance lies in the fact that it was the only Canadian studio to continue in active service for more that just a year or two. ISBN 092134130X - OUT OF PRINT - limited quantities available from the author. Please contact Peggy by email. |
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