Happy Canada Day 2017!

Today, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday.

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) recently published a list of the top 150 bestselling Canadian books of the last decade. Many children’s and teens books made the list and I thought I would share them with you.

The #1 & #3 books were by Robert Munsch. Love You Forever was #1 and my favorite Munsch book, The Paperbag Princess,  was #3.

 

Munsch books appear 27 more times on the list – and most of them are illustrated by the same person, Michael Martchenko!

The first non-Munsch book to appear is A Porcupine in a Pine Tree: A Canadian 12 Days of Christmas written by Helaine Becker and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. It came in at #33.

 

Number 37 was Sing A Song of Mother Goose  by Barbara Reid.

Number 45 was ABC of Canada  by Kim Bellefontaine, illustrated by Per-Henrik Gürth.

One of my favorites came in at number 56: Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt.

You might not know what a zamboni is, but Canadian kids do. It is no surprise that written by Matt Napier and illustrated by Melanie Rose.

The most classic story is Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater,  illustrated by Sheldon Cohen. It was # 84.

A new one to me was #85,  Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard.

Anne of Green Gables  made the list at #89, the only one of L. M. Montgomery’s many books to make the list.

The team of Kim Bellefontaine and Per-Henrik Gürth make a second appearance at #101 for Canada 123.

Did you know Gordon Korman was Canadian? He made the list at #110 for One False Note,  part of the 39 Clues series.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield made the list 3 times. His picture book, The Darkest Dark  is lucky #113.

Number 121 is Eric Walters’  action-packed novel The Rule of Three.

Phoebe Gilman’s Something From Nothing makes the list at # 124.

The classic Red is Best  by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Robin Baird Lewis is # 144 and the final children’s book on the list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop and enjoy the day, the moment, the minute

Everybody is tired at work. We have new report cards, new math targets, a new evaluation system that has us writing smart goals, and we are providing ESL services in a new way. Everyone’s plate is very full.  It makes me want to shout some Wordsworth from the rooftops.

The World is Too Much With Us

by William Wordsworth

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

If Wordsworth isn’t your style, I suggest reading The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Dušan Petričić.

This book is based on the true story of Joshua Bell, the American violinist,  who played  anonymously in the Washington D.C. subway on January 12, 2007. More than a thousand commuters rushed by him, but only seven stopped to listen for more than a minute.  Every time a child passed, he or she tried to stop, but the adult they were with pulled them along. In The Man with the Violin, bestselling author Kathy Stinson has woven a heart-warming story that reminds us all to stop and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.

Dylan is someone who notices things. His mom is someone who doesn’t. So try as he might, Dylan can’t get his mom to listen to the man playing the violin in the subway station. But Dylan is swept away by the soaring and swooping notes that fill the air as crowds of oblivious people rush by. With the beautiful music in his head all day long, Dylan can’t forget the violinist, and finally succeeds in making his mother stop and listen, too.

So take a little time today to be still today and enjoy something beautiful, just for beauty’s sake.