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Bob Henderson's Trails and Tales 4-Book Bundle: Every Trail Has a Story / More Trails More Tales / Nature First / Pike's Portage
by Bob HendersonHit the trails with naturalist and raconteur Bob Henderson in this four-book bundle! From folklore to heritage, with a hefty dose of the Scandinavian outdoor-living ethos of friluftsliv, Henderson fires the imagination, urging Ontarians to reignite their relationship with nature. Includes: Every Trail Has a Story More Trails More Tales Nature FirstPike’s Portage
The Bone Cage
by Angie AbdouDigger, an 85-kilo wrestler, and Sadie, a 26-year-old speed swimmer, stand on the verge of realizing every athlete’s dream – winning a gold medal at the Olympics. Both athletes are nearing the end of their careers, and are forced to confront the question: what happens to athletes when their bodies are too worn to compete? The blossoming relationship between Digger and Sadie is tested in the intense months leading up to the Olympics, which, as both of them are painfully aware, will be the realization or the end of a life’s dream.
The Boy from Left Field
by Tom HenighanWhen Hawk’s baseball coach tells him how Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run nearby, the question arises: what happened to the baseball? Bullies, baseball, and kids who defy the odds. Hawk, a poor, half-Native boy who lives on the street, is eager to go back to school, to play baseball, and to please both his divorced parents. When Mr. Rizzuto, his baseball coach, tells him how the great Babe Ruth, playing on nearby Toronto Island in 1914, hit his first professional home run, the question arises: what happened to the baseball? Did it land in the waters of Lake Ontario and disintegrate over time? Or did someone fish it out?This is the story of a quest for a lost baseball treasure, and of a boy finding his own family roots and a place in the big city. A lively tale, it shows how kids who seem powerless can work together to take on some of life’s daunting challenges as they deal with schoolroom bullies and street gangs.
A Brief Time in Heaven: Wilderness Adventures in Canoe Country
by Darryl BlazinoWhat starts as a simple fishing trip becomes a cathartic experience in the untamed wilderness of Ontario’s northwestern canoe country. A nine-day fishing trip turns into a profound life-altering event and marks the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the untamed wilderness of Canoe Country in northwestern Ontario. Author Darryl Blazino describes how he became entranced by the beauty and wonder of a land that beckoned him back again and again.This collection of personal stories captures a range of experiences and emotions highlighting the very best and very worst of times gleaned from more than 12 years’ worth of adventures in the great outdoors. Incredible close-up, intimate encounters with wildlife, harrowing brushes with danger, the challenges of wilderness camping with small children, and moments of intense splendour and serenity are told in descriptive detail and illustrated with breathtaking photography.
The Cabin: A Search for Personal Sanctuary
by Hap WilsonOne hundred years ago, a young doctor from Cleveland by the name of Robert Newcomb, travelled north to a place called Temagami. It was as far north as one could travel by any modern means. Beautiful beyond any simple expletive, the Temagami wilderness was a land rich in timber, clear-water lakes, fast flowing rivers, mystery and adventure. Newcomb befriended the local Aboriginals — the Deep Water People — and quickly discovered the best way to explore was by canoe. Bewitched by the spirit of an interior river named after the elusive brook trout, Majamagosibi, Newcomb had a remote cabin built overlooking one of her precipitous cataracts. The cabin remained unused for decades, save for a few passing canoeists; it changed ownership twice and slowly began to show its age. The author discovered the cabin while on a canoe trip in 1970. Like Newcomb, Hap Wilson was lured to Temagami in pursuit of adventure and personal sanctuary. That search for sanctuary took the author incredible distances by canoe and snowshoe, through near death experiences and Herculean challenges. Secretly building cabins, homesteading and working as a park ranger, Wilson finally became owner of The Cabin in 2000. Artist, author and adventurer, Hap Wilson is perhaps best known for his ecotourism/travel guidebooks. He has led over 300 wilderness expeditions in Canada, and served as actor Pierce Brosnan’s personal outdoor trainer for the feature film Grey Owl. "This is a complex and fascinating story, beautifully told. At first, it draws us in because the author appears to be living the life we all dream of-a simpler life, close to nature, free from the stress and strain of our consumer culture. But the reality, with its myriad challenges, is what holds our attention and gives the book its substance." — Judith Ruan, Muskoka Magazine
Canada's Game: Hockey and Identity
by Andrew C. HolmanContributors include Julian Ammirante (Laurentian University at Georgian), Jason Blake (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Robert Dennis (Queen's University), Jamie Dopp (University of Victoria), Russell Field (University of Manitoba), Greg Gillespie (Brock University), Richard Harrison (Mount Royal College), Craig Hyatt (Brock University), Brian Kennedy (Pasadena City College), Karen E.H. Skinazi (University of Alberta), and Julie Stevens (Brock University).
Canada's Other Game: Basketball from Naismith to Nash
by Brian I. DalyThe story of Canada’s other game from its invention by a Canadian to its current struggle for popularity. Basketball, the only major world sport undeniably invented by a Canadian, has ironically failed to win Canadians’ hearts more than a century after its creation. James Naismith’s brainchild is a popular recreational pastime in his homeland, but players with bigger dreams had better take their talents south of the border. Canadian hoops has languished in the seemingly eternal shadow of hockey, with its cannibalization of air time, advertising dollars, and corporate capital.Faced with limited opportunities at home, as many as 50 teenagers flock to U.S. prep schools and colleges every year to chase their dreams of college stardom and, much less likely, a shot at glory in the NBA. Against all odds, a skinny kid from Victoria named Steve Nash managed to reach the pinnacle of the sport, with a whirling-dervish style that earned him two MVP awards in the world’s greatest league.Today, a new generation of Canadians stand poised to follow in Nash’s path. But will their success spark a renaissance back home? This book chronicles basketball’s struggle to overcome its history as a poor cousin in a hockey-mad nation.
Canadian Sports Sites for Kids: Places Named for Speedsters, Scorers, and Other Sportsworld Citizens
by Christopher MackinnonEverything you need to know about Canadian places named after our sports stars. In Canada, sports aren’t just entertainment; they’re literally part of the landscape. We’ve named everything from parks and streets to schools and stadiums after some of our favourite pro athletes and sports figures past and present. Wayne Gretzky Drive, Mike Weir Park, Roberto Luongo Arena, the Cindy Klassen Centre, Justin Morneau Field — Canadian Sports Sites for Kids is your entertaining, map-filled guidebook to hundreds of these special locations. The fast-paced stories, maps, and lists highlight everything you need to know about Canada’s sports geography.Plus, explore other little-known sites of interest, such as: • The Canadian city that named a park after an arm-wrestling promoter • The Ontario town that honoured a hockey fan with a place name • The Prince Edward Island village where the biggest street is named for the writer of "The Hockey Song" • The whereabouts of Canada’s only street named for a boxing champ
The Canoe in Canadian Cultures
by Bruce W. Hodgins John Jennings Doreen SmallThe canoe is a symbol unique to Canada. One of the greatest gifts of First Peoples to all those who came after, the canoe is Canada’s most powerful icon. Within this Canexus II publication are a collection of essays by paddling enthusiasts and experts. Contributing authors include: Eugene Arima, Shanna Balazs, David Finch, Ralph Frese, Toni Harting, Bob Henderson, Bruce W. Hodgins, Bert Horwood, Gwyneth Hoyle, John Jennings, Timothy Kent, Peter Labor, Adrian Lee, Kenneth R. Lister, Becky Mason, James Raffan, Alister Thomas and Kirk Wipper.
Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie
by Max FinkelsteinA highly personal account of the travels of Max Finkelstein as he retraces, some two hundred years later, the route of Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to cross North America (1793). Mackenzie’s water trail is now commemorated as the Alexander Mackenzie Voyageur Route. More than just a travelogue of a canoe trip across Canada, this is an account that crosses more than two centuries. It is an exploration into the heart and mind of Alexander Mackenzie, the explorer, and Max Finkelstein, the "Voyageur-in-Training." Using Mackenzie’s journals and his own journal writings, the author creates a view of the land from two vantage points. The author retraced the route of Alexander Mackenzie across North America from Ottawa through to Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, and paddled the Blackwater, Fraser and Peace Rivers, completing the trip in 1999. This route is the most significant water trail in North America, and perhaps the world. "A ’must-read’ for everyone who loves wild places and the magic of canoes." - Cliff Jacobson, Outdoor Writer & Consultant "Past and present collide in this journey of discovery across the map of Canada. Max craves the extremes. He relishes in coping with what nature throws at him, punishing himself to find his physical limits and experiencing firsthand the inherent dangers in such a voyage. With Alexander Mackenzie as his guide and inspiration, Max finds the strength to carry on against all odds to forge poignant historical and personal links in this incredible cross-Canada paddling odyssey." - Becky Mason, Artist and Paddler, Chelsea, Quebec
Capturing the French River: Images Along One of Canada's Most Famous Waterways, 1910-1927
by Wayne KellyCapturing the French River introduces a rare collection of exceptional photographs taken along the river between 1910 and 1927 by Doctors J. Ernest Rushbrook and Frank Sherman, whose lifelong friendship was based in part around their mutual love of photography, of nature, of the Canadian wilderness and of the canoe. The collection was a serendipitous discovery by author Wayne Kelly, who immediately recognized the uniqueness of these incredible images. The two Rushbrook sisters, Ida and Bertha, also photographers, play a significant role in this book on the amazing, historically significant French River and the once-thriving original village of French River, which ceased to exist circa 1924. The sisters are remembered as well for their fearless running of whitewater rapids and remote camping adventures, often including Bertha’s son, Max, who was still a babe in arms.The author’s historical research on this area and the era has led to an informative text that will delight history buffs and also serve as the ideal companion for those interested canoeists and travellers venturing into French River country. Present-day photographers will also be intrigued by the many images selected from a collection of 634 photographs. Capturing the French River is destined to become a Canadian treasure in print.
Chance's Way: The Alberta Adventures (The Alberta Adventures #3)
by Nancy M. BellChance Cullen has screwed up royally, and he knows it. He’s alienated his mother and sister, and the girl he’s been in love with his whole life, Laurel Rowan. The lure of alcohol calls him, and in the past, he’s found solace there…for a time. But life keeps blowing up in his face. Chance desperately wants to be a top bull rider, but he needs a sponsor, and he needs to come to terms with taking responsibility and turning his life around. His abusive dad is in prison for a number of offences, including masterminding a dog fighting ring. Chance’s narrow escape from both the law and the unsavoury characters he got involved with through his father, have left him shaken. In his mind, his greatest crime was putting Laurel Rowan in danger. He knows she doesn’t feel the same way about him as he does about her, but maybe, just maybe, he can win back her friendship. It won’t be an easy road, but Chance is determined to fight his demons. A cowboy needs to know when to cowboy up and Chance figures this is his time.
Come on You Reds: The Story of Toronto FC
by Joshua Kloke Michael BradleyHow Toronto FC rescued itself from misery, carved out a niche, and became a true alternative franchise in North America’s most crowded sports market. From Toronto FC’s inception, the club and their fans did things their own way. When Danny Dichio scored the first goal in franchise history, fans at BMO Field threw their seat cushions onto the field in ecstasy. It looked as though TFC had a bright future ahead of it, but what followed instead was eight seasons of poor results, mismanagement, and misery. Still, TFC fans never wavered, building the most unique atmosphere in Toronto sports. When it seemed TFC weas destined to become an afterthought in a city crowded with teams, the club carved out a niche by creating a winning culture unlike anything Toronto had ever seen, bringing a championship to the city in 2017. Come on You Reds takes fans behind the scenes, from the inception of TFC, through the team’s lowest years, and finally, to the story of how management arguably built the best team in Major League Soccer history.
Crescent Star
by Nicholas MaesShort-listed for the 2012 Coast Reads Avi Greenbaum is Jewish and lives in West Jerusalem. Moussa Shakir is Palestinian and lives in East Jerusalem. Both are 15 years old, live without their fathers, adore their older brothers, and belong to the same soccer club. Avi commemorates the Holocaust and celebrates Israeli independence, while Moussa mourns on Nakba Day, marking the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948. Their lives are parallel lines: they have everything in common and nothing at all. Each is oblivious to the others existence. As Avi and Moussa go about their daily routines in the spring of 2006, they face reminders of the conflict that has dogged the region for the past three generations the security wall, suicide bombings, police operations, and the looming shadow of war. While navigating this legacy of suspicion and violence, they must decide what their own roles in the stalemate will be.
Curling Capital
by Morris Mott John AllardyceThe major themes in this volume are the rise of Winnipeg to world curling prominence in the nineteenth century and the persistence of that prominence in the twentieth.
Dazed but Not Confused: Tales of a Wilderness Wanderer
by Kevin Callan James RaffanA collection of adventures (and misadventures) spent travelling in the wilderness. Kevin Callan presents his best adventures – and misadventures – in the wilderness. Entertaining, yet enlightening, the stories are full of enthusiasm and are designed to get people to explore the wilderness on their own, and it’s hoped, be inspired to protect what’s still left. These captured moments of a life spent traveling in secluded areas and promoting their importance to all of us aren’t just for outdoorsy types. The stories relate to a much broader audience: readers who have pondered sleeping under the stars or paddling a canoe across a calm lake or down wild rapids, or even venturing into the winter woods. After reading this book, they’ll want to pack up and go the very next day.
Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey
by Morey Holzman Joseph NieforthHockey lovers will be fascinated by the truth about how the National Hockey League was founded and how, through less than savory means, it captured permanent possession of the Stanley Cup. Deceptions and Doublecross begins with the 1917 conspiracy among a Montreal contingent of the National Hockey Association to oust Toronto owner Edward James Livingstone from the league. The result was the transformation of the NHA into the NHL, with Frank Calder as president, leaving Livingstone out in the cold. Under Calder’s iron-fisted direction, the NHL became the only major hockey league in North America, and gained exclusive claim to the Stanley Cup.
Discover & Explore Toronto's Waterfront: A Walker's Jogger's Cyclist's Boater's Guide to Toronto's Lakeside Sites and History
by Mike FileyOut of print for many years, this much sought-after guide is being brought back just in time for the megacity’s first summer. Mike Filey has expanded his original book to include areas that are now the waterfront of the new City of Toronto, stretching from the west end of Etobicoke to the Rouge River in the east. This valuable guide is an essential tool for anyone with an interest in Toronto: tourists, locals, and even out-of-towners who want to learn more about the lakeside sites of North America’s fifth-largest city. The book is divided into three Walks. New and archival photographs and illustrations capture the beauty and charm of the city, while the text provides the history of each site, complete with intriguing and often amusing anecdotes. For residents and tourists, Toronto continues to be a great city to explore. With Discover & Explore Toronto’s Waterfront, exploration is made even more exciting.
Drone Chase
by Pam WithersRay will need every ounce of his drone skills and outdoor smarts to recover his missing bear cub before poachers get to it first.When his orphan bear cub goes missing, sixteen-year-old drone enthusiast Ray McLellan decides to use his airborne spying skills to find it. Little does he know that an evil bear-poaching gang operating in the surrounding forest has drones, too — and a cold welcome for those who would attempt to take them down.As a New York City kid recently forced to move to the Great Bear Rainforest by his parents, Ray doesn’t have a lifetime of outdoor instincts or familiarity with the valley and its wildlife. That makes him very different from his grumpy grandfather, who — like his new school friends — berates his city-kid uselessness at every opportunity. Can Ray use his drones and smarts to prove himself, find his cub, and expose what’s going on in the woods?
Every Trail Has a Story: Heritage Travel in Canada
by Bob Henderson James RaffanLIMITED TIME OFFER Canada is packed with intriguing places for travel where heritage and landscape interact to create stories that fire our imagination. Scattered across the land are incredible tales of human life over the centuries. From the Majorville rock formation (dated as being older than Stonehenge), through the systems of walking trails developed by pre-contact Native Peoples, and the fur trade routes, to the more recent grand stories of the Chilkoot Gold Rush of 1897, Bob Henderson, the traveller, captures our living history in its relationship to the land – best expressed through the Norwegian quote "nature is the true home of culture." The diversity of fascinating content includes the ancient James Bay landmark (the "Wonderful" Stone); the mountain treks of naturalist Mary Schaffer Warren; the west coast observations of George Vancouver; practices such as dog sledding, warm winter camping and canoeing that allow for heritage insights; the trails of Dundas, Ontario; the exploits of missionary Gabriel Sagard; the recluse Louis Gamache of Anticosti Island; the abandoned gravesites along the coast of Newfoundland – to name but a few. As historian Michael Bliss once said, "We have to find a way to make history smell again." Author Bob Henderson brings the "fragrance of the past" into the present and invites us to imagine and participate. "Like an enthused hummingbird too eager to land, Bob Henderson leads a wide-ranging tour of the vast garden of Canadian history and landscape. Once entrusted with the scent of intrigue we are invited to follow these stories and trails deeper, make them speak and inform our own travels and impressions. Here are stepping stones and touchstones, paths toward richer engagements via a storied and fabulous past."— Alexandra & Garrett Conover, co-authors of The Snow Walker’s Companion "I pulled off the river; a log cabin set back in the woods had caught my eye. Though very old it was in good shape — there was no lock on the door. A framed note beside it read, ’Leave as you found it.’ The interior was neat and tidy, a complete set of blackened pots hung on the walls, a small stack of kindling by the open door of a Findlay stove. ’A perfect place,’ I thought to myself. As I turned to take in the rest of the cabin I saw before me Canada/Yukon rivers, Labrador fiords, Prairie medicine wheels, Superior’s north shore, portage and trail - it was all there before me, across space and time. As I stood there ghosts emerged from the walls, trappers, cowboys, ill-fated explorers, lucky canoeists — all in the same room, all eager to tell their stories. Such is the nature of Bob Henderson’s wonderful book."- Ian Tamblyn, songwriter Watch for More Trails, More Tales coming November 2014.
Exploring Toronto: A Guide to 28 Unique Public Spaces
by Ken Greenberg Eti GreenbergA full-colour guide to dozens of unique outdoor spaces that highlight Toronto as a sustainable, liveable city.Toronto is rich in public spaces — deeply incised ravines, lively neighbourhoods, lush gardens and parks, iconic bridges, even repurposed industrial silos and undercrofts of elevated highways. Urban designer Ken Greenberg and Toronto aficionado Eti Greenberg have combed the city on foot and by tandem bike, discovering some of Toronto’s best outdoor public spaces.In Exploring Toronto, they have gathered twenty-eight of their favourite spots, each offering something unique — a flash of ingenious design, a surprise vantage point, or simply relief from the hum of traffic. Ken and Eti bring their distinctive perspective, informed by years of work in urban design, to each of their choices, providing readers (and explorers) with the full story of the history, design, and appeal of each one-of-a-kind place.
False Summit: Gender in Mountaineering Nonfiction
by Julie RakThe race to climb Everest catapulted mountain climbing, with its accompanying images of conquest and sport, into the public sphere on a global scale. But as a metaphor for the pinnacle of human achievement, mountaineering remains the preserve of traditional white male heroism.False Summit unpacks gender politics in the expedition narratives and memoirs of mountaineers in the Himalayas and the Karakoram. Why are women still a minority in the world's highest places? Julie Rak proposes that the genre has itself reached a "false summit" – a peak that proves not to be the pinnacle – and that mountaineering is not ready to welcome other ways of climbing or other kinds of climbers. For more than two centuries mountaineering, as an activity and as an ideal, has helped shape how the self is understood within the context of conquest, adventure, and proximity to risk. As climbing shows signs of becoming more diverse, Rak asks why change is so hard to achieve and why gender bias and other inequities exist in climbing at all.Exploring classic and lesser-known expedition accounts from Everest, K2, and Annapurna, False Summit helps us understand why mountaineering remains one of the most important ways to articulate gender identities and politics.
Famous for a Time: Forgotten Giants of Canadian Sport
by Jason Wilson Richard M. ReidCelebrating Canadian athletes and sporting history.The cultural impact of sport on a nation is not slight. Famous for a Time explores a number of important, if not well remembered, Canadian athletes and the sports they played to help explain the nation’s complicated history, sporting and otherwise. It is an exploration that reveals the socio-cultural trends that have shaped Canada since Confederation.Through the prism of some exceptional athletes, the prevailing attitudes of many Canadians about class, race, masculinity, femininity, and national identity are laid bare. Here, from the sidelines, we learn how these attitudes have changed — or not, as the case may be — over time.From team sports such as lacrosse, baseball, and cricket to Canada’s cycling craze, track and field, and boxing, each chapter offers insight into an important aspect of the nation’s narrative. The winners and losers of Canada’s games simply mirror the larger questions that have faced Canadian society across three centuries.
Fever Season
by Eric ZweigEric Zweig is a managing editor with Dan Diamond & Associates, consulting publishers to the National Hockey League. He has written about sports and sports history for many major publications, including the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail His non-fiction sports books for young people include Star Power: The Legend and Lore of Cyclone Taylor and Crazy Canucks. He lives in Owen Sound, Ontario.
Fifty Percent of Mountaineering is Uphill: The Life of Canadian Mountain Rescue Pioneer Willi Pfisterer
by Susanna PfistererShortlisted for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award!Fifty Percent of Mountaineering Is Uphill is the enthralling true story of Jasper’s Willi Pfisterer, a legend in the field of mountaineering and safety in the Rocky Mountains. For more than thirty years, Willi was an integral part of Jasper’s alpine landscape, guiding climbers up to the highest peaks, and rescuing them from perilous situations.Originally from Austria, this mountain man came to Canada in the 1950s to assail the Rockies, and stayed to become an integral part of mountain safety in Western Canada and the Yukon. His daughter, Susanna Pfisterer, has shaped his stories and lectures as an engaging and educational adventure story that features over 100 archival photographs, including avalanches in the National Parks, highlights from climbing 1,600 peaks and participating in over 700 rescues, and guiding adventures with prime ministers. Accompanied by the humorous wisdom of the “Sidehillgouger,” readers will traverse an historical and spectacular terrain.