Maple Leaves

Lori Nichols’ enchanting debut features an irresistible, free-spirited, nature-loving little girl who greets the changing seasons and a new sibling with arms wide open. When Maple is tiny, her parents plant a maple tree in her honor. She and her tree grow up together, and even though a tree doesn’t always make an ideal playmate, it doesn’t mind when Maple is in the mood to be loud—which is often. Then Maple becomes a big sister, and finds that babies have their loud days, too. Fortunately, Maple and her beloved tree know just what the baby needs.

In an ancient time when Winter reigned and ice and darkness covered the land, a young boy’s heroic and unselfish act helps his people find the shelter of southern trees. But Winter isn’t finished yet and shakes the leaves from the trees. To show his gratitude to the trees, the boy uses all his strength and perseverance to help bring back the leaves. This wonderful tale gives hope that, even though Winter can never be vanquished, there is promise of the coming Spring.

As modern versions of the settler nation took root in twentieth-century Canada, beauty emerged as a business. Queen of the Maple Leaf deftly uncovers the codes of femininity, class, sexuality, and race that beauty pageants exemplified, whether they took place on local or national stages. A union-organized pageant such as Queen of the Dressmakers, for example, might uplift working-class women, but immigrant women need not apply. Patrizia Gentile demonstrates how beauty contests connected female bodies to white, wholesome, respectable, middle-class femininity, locating their longevity squarely within their capacity to reassert the white heteropatriarchy at the heart of settler societies.

Although it has been overshadowed by other events of the Second World War, Canada’s role in the Italian Campaign, from 1943 to 1945, was significant. Canadian forces played a major role in this campaign, whose goal was to open a second front in order to ease the pressure on Russian forces in the east. Canada fought under British command alongside British and American units, but our soldiers saw some of the fiercest fighting and achieved glory many times, including at the Battle of Ortona, one of Canada’s greatest military accomplishments. The pictorial history examines the Italian Campaign from the view of the soldiers serving there. Regiments represented in interviews in this book include the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, the Perth Regiment, the Governor-General’s Horse Guards, the Ontario Regiment, the 48th Highlanders, the Calgary Regiment, the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and the Royal Canadian Navy.

A pictorial tribute to 3 iconic symbols of Canada: the Mountie, maple leaf and beaver includes images as diverse as ancient artifacts, vintage toys and kitsch, and a comprehensive history of the symbols and their use in identifying Canada.

This history recounts the remarkable story of the St. John Ambulance, its contribution to our country, and those who made it possible.

Lois Ehlert uses watercolor collage and pieces of actual seeds, fabric, wire, and roots in this innovative and rich introduction to the life of a tree. A special glossary explains how roots absorb nutrients, what photosynthesis is, how sap circulates, and other facts about trees. "Children will beg to share this book over and over."--American Bookseller

"Beautifully illustrated and dramatically told, this is the story of Canada's most recognized visual emblem, its proudest national icon, and its most successful brand logo: the red maple leaf flag. Our flag is seen by millions of Canadians every day and by millions more people around the world. Its elegantly simple design is instantly identifiable, whether worn as a shoulder patch on the uniform of a Canadian peacekeeper or held high by the athlete chosen to lead Canada's team into the Olympic stadium. At home, we encounter the maple leaf symbol wherever we look: along the Trans-Canada Highway, at the entrance to national parks, flying over more than 20,000 federal government offices, in the skies on Air Canada planes. From bacon and beer to berets and badges, the stylized red maple leaf has become our nation's most successful brand and visual emblem. "I Stand for Canada chronicles the evolution of the maple leaf as Canada's pre-eminent symbol, from its first appearance in French colonial times to its ubiquitous 21st-century presence, central to the corporate identity programs of countless companies and organizations. The distinctive shape of the native sugar maple leaf was familiar to every settler of New France and then of British North America; it was the first emblem of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, founded in 1834, and in 1860 it was incorporated into the badge of the Royal Canadian Regiment. By Confederation, it was a widely accepted motif for the new nation; that year Alexander Muir composed "The Maple Leaf Forever," which served as its informal anthem. The majority of badges worn by soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I incorporated the mapleleaf into their design, and the Canadians who fought in Europe under a British flag returned home with a newly minted sense of national identity, made material by the maple leaf emblems they'd worn into battle. Parliament's first two attempts to establish a distinct Canadian flag, in 1925 and 1946, ended in stalemate, and it was not until 1964, when the nation was almost a century old, that Prime Minister Lester Pearson dared to inaugurate the political debate that would decide the issue. The entire country got into the fight, and the flag threatened to divide the country instead of bringing it together. In desperation, Pearson agreed to turn the decision over to an all-party committee, which considered several thousand possible designs, including offerings from the Group of Seven's A.J. Casson and A.Y. Jackson. After the longest debate in Canadian parliamentary history, the House of Commons voted to adopt the flag committee's surprisingly successful compromise. On February 15, 1965, Canada's official flag was raised for the first time on Parliament Hill. In the 37 years since, the maple leaf flag has become our symbol of national pride, the unique and perfect Canadian logo - and Canadians, for all their supposed reticence, have become a nation of exuberant flag-wavers. "I Stand for Canada is the first comprehensive work on the origins, evolution, political history, and cultural significance of Canada's flag, one that combines rare archival illustrations and stunning contemporary images with a richly detailed and engaging narrative.