Colossal Canada

This second entertaining collection offers more evidence that Canada could adopt as its national slogan ?If we don't laugh, we'll cry.”

100 things to make us stand up and belt out "O Canada!" From Chris Hadfield to the maple leaf peacekeeping to poutine, and mukluks, tuques, grizzlies, and chinooks, this fast-moving and eye-opening book will give young Canadians plenty to cheer about. Colossal Canada is a wide-ranging round-up of the people, places, animals and events that make us uniquely Canadian. It includes chapters on unforgettable moments in our history, exceptional inventions, monsters and myths, and all of our biggest, best, highest, and most extreme accomplishments. Kids and adults alike will love learning all about their home and native land -- and sharing these fascinating facts with family and friends!

This Colossal Project presents an absorbing epic on the building of the fourth Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and allows ships to bypass Niagara Falls. An immense undertaking, the canal is a vital part of North America’s infrastructure and still functions as an essential part of the St Lawrence Seaway. Emphasizing the role that vivid personalities – including engineers John Laing Weller and Alex Grant as well as contractors and labourers – played in the construction of the canal, Roberta Styran and Robert Taylor use archival sources, government documents, newspapers, maps, and original plans to describe a saga of technological, financial, geographical, and social obstacles met and overcome in an accomplishment akin to the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A story of Canadian skill, courage, vision, and hardship, This Colossal Project details the twenty-year excavation of the giant channel and the creation of huge concrete locks amidst war, the Great Depression, political change, and labour unrest. Building on the work presented in Styran and Taylor’s This Great National Object, which told the story of the first three Welland canals built in the nineteenth century, This Colossal Project chronicles an impressive milestone in the history of Canadian technological achievement and nation building.

The renowned provocateur of popular math presents a collection of his widely recognized short puzzles--along with a few new ones--that explore chess, physics, probability, and topology, among other topics.

Sure, Canada was built on dreams and hard work, but it was also built on failure - mix-ups, mistakes, screw-ups, and boondoggles. Failing at things, and laughing about them, has long been a characteristic of our citizens. Where else but in Canada would governments send farmers to land that couldn't be farmed? Where else would an argument over the metric system almost result in the death of hundreds? Who else but Canadians would march against non-existent enemies? Where else would lumberjacks be used to defend the borders? Are there politicians better than ours at spending millions, against all odds and good advice, on things that just won't work? Is there any nation better at re-electing those politicians no matter what they do? What other country should adopt as its national slogan "If we don't laugh, we'll cry"? Here are more of the things that seemed like a good idea at the time.

A stunning full-color bind-up of content from the amazing Phoenix comic. From humor to adventure to non-fiction to puzzles to the just plain awesome, this bind-up is a smorgasbord for everyone. Laughs, advenutres, thrills!Slug private detectives!Terrifying kittens!Intergalactic foes and evil penguins! The Phoenix Colossal Comics Collection: Volume One is arriving on our shores from a top secret location. A collection of different comics content taken from the issues of The Phoenix, this bind-up pulls together different humorous, informative, action-packed, and brain-teasing stories into one mega-comic bind-up! From humor to adventure to non-fiction to puzzles to the just plain awesome, this bind-up is a smorgasbord for everyone.

Grade level: 3, 4, 5, 6, p, e, i.