Big Bloke Small Boat

A circuit of the North Atlantic alone in his 24ft sailing boat may have seemed to William Garnier an exciting and natural extension of his sailing ambitions. Almost universally to everyone else it was madness. Relying heavily on the wisdom and kindness of an eclectic yachting community, as well as his own resourcefulness and self belief, 'Big Bloke, Small Boat: voyage of a madman?' honestly records the highs and lows of a bold journey through inexperience and learning in an unfamiliar offshore world. Sun-kissed and carrying a mixed bag of emotions bulging with tales of whales, gales, dolphins, rum and starlit nights, William returned to Cornwall in 2007 after a year long adventure. Who was to call him mad? About the author: William Garnier lives a largely normal life mostly in Cornwall with his partner and a long dog. He doesn't do much sailing now but is learning to surf.

Once described as 'Barry Crump meets Fred Dagg', 'Big Al' Lester is the modern-day master of the hunting genre. 'I'm often asked what inspired me to take up writing yarns about the mishaps and mayhem that I have endured while venturing into the New Zealand bush.' 'In truth, I am an average to poor hunter who has had more hunting cock-ups than the rest of the country combined. For every deer I've successfully shot, dozens have escaped only to hide in the bush peering back at me, clearly laughing at my stupidity. I have always managed to see the funny side of the situation and had a good old laugh at myself. I began to wonder if my stuff-ups, with a bit of humour and mayhem thrown in, might just make for good reading – the oddball, unusual, humorous, weird and fun side of hunting – and gave it a go. I must have got something right.'—'Big Al' Lester It's a Bit Rugged, Mate compiles the biggest and best yarns from Big Al's first three books – plenty of fun for those with a good keen sense of humour and a love for New Zealand's wild outdoors. Also available as an eBook

This all-new angler's guide describes 105 of the authors' favorite fishing sites with precise directions, species found, and specific angling tips. From casting trout flies in the mountain streams of Maryland to bait-fishing for black drum in the Chesapeake, this book reveals a lifetime of fishing opportunities—sites both tried-and-true and up-and-coming. Its detailed directions, black and white photographs, and accurate maps will appeal to locals as well as the millions of annual visitors to these Mid-Atlantic states.

An illustrated children's story about two tugboats, Tuggler and Snuggler. A tale about teamwork, the fallacy of appearances, the different types of strength, and the value of even the smallest amongst us. In this yarn, the small boats, in their pursuit of adventure, discover the true meaning of what it means to be "big."

“The collection consistently does what the oeuvre does best: communicate intense emotion with force, give life to characters that struggle with their circumstances, illuminate the universal through the specific and the particular, and turn the commonplace into art.” Globe and Mail “[The anthology] amuses, astonishes, and enlightens; it is a delicious cacophony of voices and engaging stories . . .”Books in Canada The Journey Prize Stories is Canada’s most celebrated annual fiction anthology, presenting the best stories published each year by some of our most exciting up-and-coming writers. Among the stories this year: Desperate to reinvent himself, a disgraced diplomat on what will be the last assignment of his career goes in search of a woman from his past in Eastern Croatia. As a teacher begins to unravel in the aftermath of a school shooting, a series of surprising encounters with her former students reveals their differing degrees of resiliency. Bench presses and Wonder Woman comics create an unexpected intimacy between a teenager and her Ukrainian-language tutor, a former female champion weightlifter. After his junkie uncle moves into the basement to hide out from his dealer and get clean, a lonely boy’s longing for a male role model threatens to lead him astray. When a famous author finds himself embroiled in a sex scandal while on his book tour, he discovers the only person he has left to turn to is his handler, a woman with secrets of her own. Cultural tradition gives way to modern-day Japanese efficiency when a long-married couple attend a meeting of Concerned Parents of Unmarried Offspring, a speed dating event for parents in search of spouses for their adult children. The stories included in the anthology are contenders for the $10,000 Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. The winner will be announced in fall 2010.

What happens when an anxious little boy envisions an adventure on the open water and is surrounded by everyone he loves? That’s exactly what you will find out in Eddie and the Big Blue Boat. This book takes you through what may seem like a small traditional family picnic day. However, through the grand imagination of a child’s vivid, active, and growing mind, it’s no ordinary day at all. The possibilities are endless for little Eddie as he continues to recreate the

Tommy McGee at War is set in the Port of Fremantle during WWII and shows how teenagers and adults interact during such times of stress. The characters in the story are Tommy McGee and his gang, the Holy Smokes, who are in constant war with the opposition gang, the Stinking Head Shea Gang, led by Stinking Head Shea himself. There is also Sergeant Major John Daly, who is known to Tommy as Uncle Jack and is the founder and leader of Z Force, which is based on the mysterious and forbidding Garden Island. Finally, there is Poacher Kenworthy, who, with his reputation of being a very bad man, strikes terror in the hearts of the boys. There are also general characters filling in the story to help create the atmosphere of wartime. The story starts out by establishing the area of operations, how the Holy Smokes got their name, and the details about their meeting place, the Place, which is a large flat rock on the edge of the Swan River and is overlooked by the lookout tree, which is strategically placed on the corner of Poacher Kenworthy's five-acre orchard; this enables the boys to keep tabs on the Stinking Heads and also on any ripening fruits in the orchard. There are skirmishes as the defences of the Place are tested and how, after retaliating by the Stinking Heads, a girl named Ingrid is inducted into the Holy Smokes. It is during one of their meetings at the Place that they discover that Poacher has found a way into the heavily defended Port of Fremantle. Uncle Jack, with Z Force, is having troubles when his navigator goes ack-willy (an army term for AWL) and puts in jeopardy an operation in Java to attack the Japanese-held Port of Padang. The navigator is caught by the civilian police and put into Fremantle Gaol. This sets in motion a series of events which leads to the discovery of a tunnel built by the original convicts, which leads directly to Fremantle Gaol, and with the help of the Holy Smokes, the navigator is retrieved. During this operation, they are seen, and because of a lack of communications, a battle between the home guard and the civil defence unit takes place almost on top of where they are all hiding. It would appear that it would be almost impossible to get the navigator back to Garden Island using existing transport. They decided to take him out through Fremantle Harbour, and much to the boys' horror, Poacher is co-opted to lead. The rescue is successful after a great deal of effort but with the loss of Tommy's dinghy, which was blown to bits by the defence guns. Some time later, Uncle Jack gathers all the Holy Smokes together and gives a very detailed description of the successful attack on Padang Harbour and how they had escaped back to Australia, hotly pursued by the Japanese all the way down the coast of Sumatra, through the Sunda Strait, and back to Broome, which had just been bombed by the Japanese. Finally, Tommy is presented with a dinghy which had been captured from a Japanese destroyer.

The ocean is a big place for a little boat, full of dangers like terrible storms and giant sea monsters. But the little boat's big adventure is made easier when he finds his friends. Suggested level: junior.