Trees are so much a part of our daily lives, whether we take them for granted or find ourselves fighting for their survival: so it is perhaps unsurprising that there are many stories from all over the world that feature trees, woods or forests as a central theme or ‘character’… … Continue reading ...
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By: Michelle,
on 5/30/2012
Big congratulations to the Orca authors and illustrators who have been nominated for the 2012/2013 Chocolate Lily Picture Book Award! Every year, children in grades K to 8 from across British Columbia are invited to read books from the nominated list of BC picture books and novels, and vote for their favorite.
Andrea Spalding and Pascal Milelli were nominated for Seal Song.
Finn loves to swim with the seals in a secret cove. He arrives at the cove one day and rescues a young seal tangled in netting. Finn wishes the seal could live on land. That night the seals sing. “No good comes from seal songs,” says Finn’s father. When Sheila, a mysterious girl no one has ever seen before, appears on the cannery docks, the fisher folk are uneasy. They believe the newcomer is a magical selkie, a shape changer.
Joan Betty Stuchner and Joe Weissmann were nominated for Can Hens Give Milk.
Tova lives with her family on a small farm in the famous town of Chelm, a mythical village populated, according to Jewish folklore, by fools. Tova’s farm has hens and even a rooster, but no cow. Her mother, Rivka, wishes they could afford to buy a cow, so they could have fresh milk and butter every day. One night Tova’s father has a dream about how to get milk without actually owning a cow. He asks Tova to help him find a way to get milk from their hens, and the results are hilarious. Finally, to the family’s joy and the hens’ relief, the problem is solved by none other than the wise Rabbi of Chelm himself, and a little extra help from Tova.
Congrats again to our fantastic authors and illustrators. Click on the book covers to learn more about these titles. To see a full list of nominated books and past winners, visit www.ChocolateLilyAwards.com
What am I reading now? Seal Song by Andrea Spalding & Pascal Milelli
Back to school. Three words that every child dreads to hear. However, that’s exactly what children and teens across Canada did last week. They headed back with sharpened pencils, pristine erasers and colourful pens. But not every child around the world is so fortunate.
Owlkids, home of Chirp, chickaDEE and OWL, plans to change that. They have partnered with UNICEF Canada to purchase 630 school-in-a-box kits for children in need. The campaign called Changing Lives Through Education aims to “bring a sense of normalcy back to a child’s life” during a crisis.
Each school-in-a-box “enables a teacher and 80 children to get back to class — with a blackboard, teaching posters, exercise books and more.” To date, Owlkids and UNICEF Canada have raised $750.00. With no fixed minimum, patrons are free to donate as much as they can afford.
The time has come to make a difference. So, dear readers, step right up.
By: Julia,
on 10/31/2008
Don Trembath, Jacqueline Pearce, Robin Stevenson, Andrea Spalding and Rachel Dunstan Muller
Last week a handful of Orca authors participated in Book Splash 2008. The event was organized by the Orca Coast Literature Festival Society (OCLFS), a registered non-profit organization whose primary goals are to provide literary events for members of the community and to increase awareness of the literary talent we have in Canada. OCLFS invited the authors to go to schools to talk about how to write. “The whole point is to get kids excited about reading,” said Hayes, one of the members of the OCLFS. “Our thought is if they meet an author, it just makes it more real.”
The authors involved were Rachel Dunstan Muller, Jacqueline Pearce, Andrea Spalding, Robin Stevenson and Don Trembath.
For more detailed information about the event and the authors read the article at the Cowichan News Leader and Pictorial.
By: Rebecca,
on 11/26/2007
This morning we presented a post from R. Barker Bausell, author of Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine , in which he argues that the placebo effect has as much healing power as alternative medicine. Below, in an excerpt from Bausell’s book, we learn about the history of the use of placebos in scientific research.
…The placebo effect itself escaped serious scientific scrutiny until 1955, having largely been considered prior to that time to be more a part of medical lore (or physician mystique) than a documented clinical entity. (more…)
By: Stephanie,
on 11/26/2007
The debate regarding the healing potential of alternative and complementary medicine can be a heated one. In his book, Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine Barker Bausell, professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, dissects alternative medicine practices, and finds that much of their healing powers lie in the placebo effect. In the post below, he takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the battle between alternative medicine and the placebo effect.
One of the many daunting tasks I faced in writing Snake Oil Science: the Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine was to compare the biological plausibility of the theories supporting the analgesic effects of alternative medical therapies with that of their chief rival, the placebo effect. (more…)
