The view 16-year-old Thomas Osborne first had of Muskoka was at night, trudging alone with his even younger brother along unmarked primitive roads to find their luckless father who, in 1875, had decided to make a new start for his beleaguered family on some "free land" in the bush east of the pioneer village of Huntsville, Ontario. The miracle is that Thomas lived to tell the tale.For the next five years Thomas endured starvation, falling through the ice and freezing, accidents wit...

One of Canada's greatest journalists shares a half century of the stories behind the stories.From his vantage point harnessed to a tree overlooking the town of Huntsville (he tended to wander), a very young Roy MacGregor got in the habit of watching people—what they did, who they talked to, where they went. He has been getting to know his fellow Canadians and telling us all about them ever since.From his early days in the pages of Maclean's, to stin...

Felix Batterinski grew up tough in Northern Ontario where hockey was the only way out of a life of grinding poverty. He got out and enjoyed fame as a hockey "enforcer" for the Philadelphia Flyers. But fame is fleeting.Now in his thirties and at the end of his playing career, Felix tries to make a go of it as a player-coach for a Finnish club. As the lone Canadian on the team, he is an outsider with a reputation that takes on a life of its own. When a controversial play brings his c...

Celebrating ten years and more than one million books in print!New four-in-one edition!The first four Screech Owls mysteries are now collected in one volume:#1 — Mystery at Lake Placid#2 — The Night They Stole the Stanley Cup#3 — The Screech Owls' Northern Adventure#4 — Murder at Hockey CampScreech Owls books have won the Our Choice Award and the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award. They have been ...

Winner ofThe CAA–Birks Family Foundation Award for BiographyThe 2000 Ottawa-Carlton Book AwardThe (U.S.) Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness BookIn 1929, at the age of twenty-two, Duncan MacGregor, the son of a lumberman, great-grandson of a voyageur, and an avid reader and baseball fan, headed off into the largest tract of preserved bush in the world: Ontario’s Algonquin Park. When he got ther...

If you could travel through time, who would you want to meet?Lucas Finnigan eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. With his friends Edge, Swift and Crunch, Lucas plays on his hometown’s rink, dreaming of the day when he knows he’ll make the NHL. But lately money has been tight at home, and, after a major growth spurt, Lucas is forced to wear hand-me-down gear that doesn’t quite fit right. Now he’s not sure he’ll ever make it to the Hall of Fame like his hockey ...

Whether wearing his Edmonton oil-drop, the black and silver colours of L.A., or the famous Rangers sweater from New York, all hockey fans agree that Wayne Gretzky was the best hockey player of all time. His point totals, his puck control, and the manner in which he conducted himself both on and off the ice reflected the very best of the game.You can't talk about Gretzky without talking about his records and achievements: 50 goals in just 39 games, 9 Hart Trophies, 10 Art Ross Trophi...

Who are we? In Canadians, one of Canada’s most intelligent and beloved writers maps our national psyche in a wonderful and ambitious work. Canadians is an entertaining portrait of this country and its people, through its history, popular culture, literature, sport, landscape, and weather. In his pursuit of the Canadian national identity, MacGregor has travelled far and wide, taking our pulse, telling our stories. A sparkling blend of historical, anecdotal, and reflective ...

Shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award“A truly magnificent book.” —Calgary HeraldIt’s the great Canadian icon: a frozen creek, a backyard rink, a father passing something precious on to his child—the love of a game. There is nothing quite so Canadian as hockey, and nothing quite so evocative in hockey as the relationships between Canadian hockey players and their fathers.Here are the personal tales of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul...

9-year-old Gabe (Gabriella) Murray lives and breathes hockey. She's the youngest player on her new team, she has a nifty move that her teammates call "the Gabe," and she shares a lucky number with her hero, Hayley Wickenheiser: number 22. But when her coach hands out the team jerseys, Gabe is stuck with number 9. Crushed, Gabe wants to give up hockey altogether. How can she play without her lucky number? Gabe's grandmother soon sets her straight, though--from her own connection to the numb...

The Ice Chips have time travel down to a science . . . almost. After Ekamjeet “Edge” Singh misses out on their most recent adventure, he convinces his teammates to take another leap through time. But when their magic goes haywire, a hero from the past finds her way onto the Chips’ hometown rink—and leaves behind a very important trophy!It’s up to the Ice Chips to return the famous award to its rightful home, before all of hockey history changes forever. It won’t be easy, but if the...

In the tradition of A Season on the Brink and Peter Gzowksi's The Game of Our Lives, Shawna Richer has had the exclusive assignment of chronicling Sidney Crosby's incredible rookie season. Beginning with the NHL entry draft that almost never was, Richer follows Crosby to Pittsburgh, where he is greeted as the team's savior and moves in with living legend Mario Lemieux. From there it's onto the ice, where the team's youngest player proves to be its best player day in and d...