How to use this Page

It’s the sniffling and sneezing season. Read more after the jump. A Sick Day for Amos McGee, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead, is a feel-good book, particularly if you’re feeling under the weather. Amos McGee works at the zoo, and everyday he spends time with his friends, who come in [...]

Like a moth to flame, one cover drew me to it when I spotted it on the shelf on my last trip to the library. It was a burst of yellow sunshine among dozens of books – literally, the book jacket was painted in vibrant yellow, my favorite colour. Read more after the jump. I am [...]

“Brown paper packages tied up with strings / These are a few of my favorite things” I have been receiving a steady stream of book deliveries over the last couple of weeks, can’t wait to share them! Read more after the jump. Based on a Ukrainian story, The Mitten was written and illustrated by Jan Brett. Nicki [...]

Scary stuff and not appropriate for sensitive readers. Read more after the jump. There once was a white rabbit who went to the library and signed out a book on wolves. Like Alice in Through the Looking-Glass, the rabbit unknowingly becomes part of the book he is reading. Oblivious to the looming danger of a wolf, [...]

First day of school was always nerve-wracking. I would worry. A lot. I would spend sleepless nights coming up with different scenarios of how things could go wrong and not making friends was at the top of my list. What if I had nobody to eat lunch with? What if I was the odd one [...]

This week’s book traveled a long way. It was shipped to me by my friend Jessie, whose parents just happen to live near the only French book store in Taiwan that carried a copy of this book. It was that or travel to France, cheaper but not by much. Read more after the jump. Mures mures, [...]

“A wonderful student but…” is a phrase that would commonly show up on my report cards and I swear my dad’s eye would twitch each time he stumbled across one of those “buts”. The only complaint I ever got all through school was my lack of concentration. English class was spent deep sea diving, looking [...]

I try not to take this personally, but every time I come home my cat Binky bolts out the door. No enthusiastic greetings or purring declarations of how much I was missed, all I see is his hairy hiney disappearing around the corner. Read more after the jump. Fabian the cat, one of the heroes of [...]

This week we continue our themes of overwhelming cuteness and wombats. Read more after the jump. Following the success of Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball, illustrator Charles Fuge launched Little Wombat into a collection of board books becoming both the author and the illustrator. Following the same successful format as his first [...]

Church

I don’t remember how old I was when I cooked my first meal. I was definitely shorter than the kitchen counter, but trustworthy enough to handle a butter knife. I started off with the classic peanut butter and jam (heavy on the peanut butter) and when I finally was tall enough to reach the stove, [...]

Shhhhhhhhhhh… Read more after the jump. From morning to night, we are constantly hustling and bustling, our senses bombarded by noise and images. Every minute filled and counted for, down to the tenth of the second. It is amazing that we can still find pockets of quiet in an over-stimulated world. The Quiet Book, written by [...]

The moral of the story: modesty and perseverance will always be rewarded. Read more after the jump. Author and illustrator Brian Wildsmith gives us his personal take on an old classic, The Hare and the Tortoise. Inspired by the La Fontaine version, Wildsmith simply retells the fable about a race between a boastful hare who thinks [...]

With the recession hitting hard, I am finding myself housebound this summer. With no big plans to take off to places unknown, I am exploring my own backyard instead. One great thing about living in Toronto is the mix of cultures and ethnicities and you don’t have to go far to experience different parts of [...]

It’s berry season! The stalls at the farmer’s market are filled with the sweet goodness of Ontario strawberries. The smell and taste of strawberries bring back fond memories of family outings. One of my favorite photos is of my sister and me in our summer dresses showing off our knobby knees and strawberry-stained hands. We [...]

I am finding it hard to keep motivated these days, to keep plugging away at my goals when it feels like I am hitting a brick wall at every turn. When things get tough, it can easily send your mind into a tailspin, so much so that you forget what your goals even are. It’s [...]

This week, we continue to think outside the box. Read more after the jump. Antoinette Portis’s sequel to Not a Box is just as imaginative and engaging. Not a Stick introduces readers to a little pig and his stick. Insisting it is not just a stick, the little pig demonstrates its many uses: a [...]

Last week, our super duper cat-scratching post was delivered, with the manufacturer’s guarantee that this will become our cat’s new best friend and will make him the envy of all cats. Well, Binky wasn’t impressed. However, he was wild about the box it was delivered in; he spent hours playing with the packaging. I remember [...]

Last summer while my mother was away on vacation, my dad went out and got a dog. In case you were wondering, nope – there was no prior family meeting or discussion (a.k.a. asking my mom for permission). You should have seen the look on my mother’s face when we picked her up from the [...]