New Releases by Jean Little

See below for English description. Anna vit son existence dans l’ombre. Ses frères et sœurs se moquent d’elle en raison de sa maladresse constante qu’elle ne peut ni expliquer ni contrôler, et elle peine à lire malgré tous ses efforts. Un jour, son père annonce que la famille quitte l’Allemagne pour s’installer au Canada : après la disparition de quelques voisins juifs, il pressent les conséquences de l’arrivée au pouvoir des nazis. À cette annonce, le coeur d’Anna s’effondre. Comment pourra-t-elle apprendre une nouvelle langue alors qu’elle ne sait même pas lire correctement l’allemand? Mais lorsque la famille Solden arrive au Canada, Anna apprend qu’il y a une raison à sa maladresse : sa faible vue. Et soudain, merveilleusement, tout son monde commence à changer. Surtout lorsque ses nouveaux amis, dans une classe spéciale de l’école, l’aident à tenir tête à des brutes qui l’insultent. Ce véritable classique canadien de Jean Little a été publié pour la première fois en anglais en 1972. Il s’agit d’un récit inspirant sur la persévérance face à une déficience visuelle qui s’aggrave, écrit par quelqu’un qui a vécu cette expérience. A beloved Canadian favourite is available again with a fresh new cover and classic interior illustrations for its 50th anniversary. Anna lives life in the shadows. Her siblings tease her for a constant clumsiness that she cannot explain or control, and she struggles to read despite her best efforts. When Papa announces that the family is moving from Germany to Canada — after the disappearance of some Jewish neighbours, he can see what the Nazis' rise to power will bring — Anna's heart sinks. How can she learn English when she can't even read German properly? But when the Soldens arrive in Canada, Anna learns that there is a reason for her clumsiness: her failing eyesight. Suddenly, wonderfully, her whole world begins to change. Especially when her new friends in a special class at school help her stand up to some bullies who call her names. This true Canadian classic by Jean Little was first published in English in 1972 and is an inspiring tale of persevering in the face of worsening visual impairment written by someone with lived experience. Original title: From Anna

A warm story about friendship and migration from the incomparable Jean Little. Jane and Maya are very different. Maya is a quiet girl and a refugee, new to this country, while chatty and outgoing Jane has lived in the same place her whole life. The girls become instant friends. When they learn about endangered species in school, they decide to do their own small part to help by supporting migrating monarch butterflies. Together they plant a milkweed garden to feed and shelter the tiny creatures, then watch in amazement as a monarch hatches and grows before leaving on the long journey to Mexico. After all the butterflies have departed, Maya shares her own migration story -- her family's long journey to Canada. Maya wishes the monarchs safety in their new home too. In her heartwarming final story, Jean Little weaves a simple tale of childhood curiosity into larger themes of immigration, friendship and the wonder of the natural world. A true gift of a story from a Canadian treasure.

Poor Harry has a case of the hopeless hiccups!

Inspired by the real-life story of Helen Keller and the servant girl Martha Washington! How did Helen Keller manage before Annie Sullivan came to teach her language? This fictionalized story of two very different girls in the South, two decades after the Civil War, builds on the mentions of Martha Washington in Keller's autobiography and reimagines their relationship. Martha, Helen's constant companion, is the cook's daughter -- a black girl, just a few years older, and the person who best understood Helen's attempts at communication. Charged with keeping the unruly younger girl occupied and out of trouble, Martha is sometimes bullied, sometimes a co-conspirator, and often Helen's rescuer. She is with Helen as Annie teaches her words and language, even on the miraculous day when Helen understands that the water running over one hand, and the word W-A-T-E-R that is being spelled into the other, are connected -- the event that freed Helen to communicate with the wider world. When Jean Little revisited Keller's The Story of My Life, she became fascinated with the few mentions of Martha and wondered what it might have been like to be in Martha's place and to be given the difficult task of minding Helen -- a girl so different, in a position of privilege and yet dependent on her. Could the two girls forge a friendship? Jean Little's fascination with that personal dynamic has evolved into a remarkable story of two girls navigating through the world, Hand in Hand.

Featuring stories from nine outstanding Canadian authors, this anthology is the perfect Christmas gift for Dear Canada readers, both old and new! A Time for Giving includes ten tales of Christmas, following the most recent Dear Canada diarists "the Christmas after" their diary ends. Johanna Leary is reunited with her brother after they were separated at Grosse-Île; Mary Kobayashi spends a second Christmas at a Japanese internment camp; Rose Rabinowitz finds some surprising challenges in her new country, and many more! A Special Gift is a story from Ojibwe writer Ruby Slipperjack to preview her upcoming Dear Canada (coming in Fall 2016!), set the winter before the diarist is sent to Residential School. Contributors include Jean Little (Exiles from the War and All Fall Down), Barbara Haworth- Attard (To Stand on My Own), Sarah Ellis (That Fatal Night), Susan Aihoshi (Torn Apart), Norah McClintock (A Sea of Sorrows), Karleen Bradford (A Country of Our Own), Janet McNaughton (Flame and Ashes), Carol Matas (Pieces of the Past), and Ruby Slipperjack.

Celebrate the love between mother and child in this new board book edition of the sweetest story of all! One by one, baby animals are born on the farm. Frolicking barnyard babies put smiles of love on their mothers' faces, and each time a new animal is born, another mother yearns for one of her very own. When a new human mom shows off her own baby, it's the sweetest one of all . . . because it's her very own. A warm-hearted story with gently humorous rhymes, this sturdy board book is the perfect gift for a new baby's bookshelf.

A young girl survives the deadliest landslide in Canadian history — but a family secret could call into question everything she thought she knew about her life before the disaster. After her father dies, Abby and her family move west to live with relatives who run a hotel in the mining town of Frank, Alberta. Abby keeps busy helping out at the hotel, being chief caregiver to her little brother with Down Syndrome, and learning Morse Code at the telegraph office. When the devastating Frank Slide buries much of the town, Abby must do all she can to help. But a long-buried family secret emerged just before the disaster — and she must wait for the dust to settle before getting the answers she so desperately wants. Inspired by two of her own relatives, one who helped run a telegraph office in the late 1800s and another who shares Abby's story (and her family secret), Jean Little crafts a compelling story rich with emotion and historical detail.

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! See how love brings this family even closer together at Christmastime. Eliza's brothers both enlisted to fight in World War I. On the Home Front there were coal shortages, rationing, heart-stopping news of soldiers missing or dead. While praying for her brothers' safe return, and longing for her very own friend, Eliza's greatest comfort was the warmth of her exuberant and loving family. But Christmas Day 1919 brings a new challenge. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Sarah Ellis, Karleen Bradford, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Eliza, whom they first met in the award-winning Dear Canada book Brothers Far from Home. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Share in the excitement leading up to Christmas morning. During the euphoria towards the end of World War I, a different enemy stalked the land, killing by the hundreds and thousands. First Fee's twin Fanny, then her older sister Jemma, caught the dreaded Spanish Flu. Fee's family struggled to pick up the pieces, to put the War behind them, to face an even deadlier enemy. But finally, there is bright spot on the Macgregor family's horizon. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Sarah Ellis, Maxine Trottier, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Fee, whom they first met in the award-winning Dear Canada book If I Die Before I Wake. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

Il y a près de deux ans déjà que Hugo, le frère d'élisa, est parti à la guerre. Alors que la majorité de la population affiche un enthousiasme débordant face à la participation du Canada au conflit, ses parents, eux, restent de glace. Lorsque le second frère d'élisa traverse l'océan lui aussi, la jeune fille s'inquiète et prie pour que les deux soldats lui reviennent sains et saufs. Si seulement elle pouvait se confier à quelqu'un...

With more than 200,000 books in print, Dear Canda has fast become the historical fiction series for young girls. Jean Little's latest addition is the diary of a young girl observing her world change as war rages thousands of miles away.It has been two long years since Eliza's beloved older brother, Hugo, went away to war. Caught up in his enthusiasm, she couldn't understand her parent's less-than enthusiastic reaction. Now that her other brother Jack has also enlisted, she yearns for the safe return of both brothers. If only she had a friend that she could talk to about her feelings....

A wonderful seasonal anthology for Dear Canada readers, both old and new!A real treat for fans of this series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Eleven stories that each revisit a favourite character from books in the Dear Canada series are included in this special collection. These are completely original tales that stand alone as heartwarming Christmas stories, but also serve as a lovely "next chapter" to their original books.Each story is written by one of Canada's top award-winning writers for children, including Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Maxine Trottier, Carol Matas and more. This collection is a lovely companion to A Season of Miracles, and will be treasured year after year at holiday time!

Twelve original holiday stories from the top children's writers in the country!What an incredible gift book for Dear Canada fans! The twelve stories in this treasury are set around Christmas time and feature the young girls from a dozen previous Dear Canada books. Readers will be thrilled to reconnect with their favourites and get a glimpse of each character's life a year or so after the events in the actual diary are over. Anyone new to the Dear Canada series will be introduced to characters so compelling, they'll want to read more.

Make a wish and the sky's the limit in this delightful rhyming story from the incomparable Jean Little. If wishes were ice cream, our cones would be doubles.If wishes were soapsuds, we'd blow shining bubbles. In this charming new picture book, children and their wild imaginations take centre stage! In a true celebration of wishers and dreamers, Jean Little entertains readers with bouncy rhymes depicting kids' favourite wishes -- from puppies to pancakes; and sundaes to snowflakes. Governor General's award-winning Canadian illustrator Geneviève Côté infuses each page with her inventive illustrations, literally turning each spread into a carnival of fun! If wishes were stories, there would only be one -- this one!

Through the diary of 10-year-old Victoria Cope, we learn about the arrival of ragged Mary Anna, one of the thousands of impoverished British children who were sent to Canada at the beginning of the century. Mary Anna joins the Cope family as a servant and is treated well, but she has to cope with the initial apprehension of the family members and the loss of her brother, Jasper, who was placed with another family. Victoria vows to help Mary Anna find her brother, so they can be a family once again.

One by one, the baby animals are born on the farm, each making another barnyard mother yearn for a baby of her own. A warm-hearted, gently humorous story about a mother's love.

A wise, tender, and funny summer adventure story from one of Canada's most beloved writers for children. On a flight from Vancouver to Toronto, two girls meet, forming an unlikely friendship. Tall, athletic Samantha is going to spend the summer with a family friend while her father is in South America. Alexis, a shy girl who likes books, is being sent to a horse farm to learn how to ride while her mother and stepfather are travelling in Australia. As they talk, Sam and Alex realize they'd each rather be doing what the other is: Sam's elderly hostess runs a bookshop, and the family Alex is staying with is young and boisterous. By the time their flight lands in Toronto, the girls have hatched their plot. They're going to trade places for the summer. After all, the people they're going to visit have never met them, and their own parents are far away and hard to contact. But will they manage to pull it off? For how long? And with what consequences?

Pet wanted Max wants a furry pet. Emma wants a pet too, but she's allergic to animals with fur. When Emma finds the perfect animal, will Max like his sister's strange pet?

Shakespeare is a Seeing Eye puppy. But before the time comes for him to train with a blind person, he must spend six months with a girl who has never learned to love. He does all he can to teach her, but the job places him in some dangerous situations and by the end of the story he has earned the title Rescue Pup. Rescue Pup is the first of two books in a series. Book two is Forward, Shakespeare!

Nell makes two wishes on her birthday, but the next day they show little sign of coming true. Everyone in her household is busy and wants her out from underfoot and no one is willing to help her find her lost cat. In the end she finds more than a cat and she makes her own wishes come true with the help of a row of tall, bright, smiling sunflowers.

Dickon wasn't happy in his old home or his old school. He hopes that in his new neighborhood he will meet children who never knew his old, hyper self, who will like him for who he is now. And he hopes for a dog of his own. Dickon's mother calls him Birdie. She feeds him milk from a teddy bear mug. She worries if he's out of her sight for a moment and she knows how filthy and vicious dogs can be. Dickon is delighted to discover that the Humane Society is right on the other side of the fence behind the new house, but only by disobeying his mother will he ever get close to a real dog.

Emma has always wanted a little brother. Now her family is adopting Max, and Emma is sure he will be the best brother ever. But Max has his own ideas. He thinks sisters are yucky, and that Emma is the yuckiest! Is this really what having a brother is all about? In Jean Little's warmhearted, perceptive story about adoption, Emma learns that there is more to having a little brother than she had ever guessed -- and that in order to get the brother she wants, she must first learn to be the sister he needs.

With the help of her new friend who has magic boots just like her own, Emma overcomes her shyness and no longer hates reading out loud in school.

Abandoned by their mother, Willow and Twig travel across Canada to live with their grandmother.

Written with vivid recall of emotions and events, Little's autobiography beginswith her early childhood in Taiwan and concludes with the acceptance for publication of her early novel.

When the family moves from Germany to Canada in the 1930's, a nine-year-old girl discovers the reason for her awkwardness and apparent inability to do anything right.

As the world around her braces itself for World War II, a young Canadian girl with impaired vision prepares to begin public high school.