Caroline Adderson

In this witty and colourfully peopled novel, Caroline Adderson effortlessly plunges the reader into a nineteenth-century Russian tragicomedy. Aspiring painter Masha C. is blindly devoted to Antosha, her famous writer-brother. Through the years Antosha takes up with numerous women from Masha's circle of friends, yet none of these relationships threaten the siblings' close ties until the winter he falls into a depression. Then Masha invites into their Moscow home a young woman who teaches with her--the beautiful, vivacious and deeply vulnerable Lika Mizanova--with the express hope she might help Antosha recover. The appearance of Lika sets off a convolution of unrequited love, jealousy and scandal that lasts for seven years. If the famously unattainable writer has lost his heart to Lika as everyone claims, why does he undertake a life-threatening voyage to Sakhalin Island? And what will happen to Masha if she is demoted from "woman of the house" to "spinster sister"? While Antosha and Lika push and pull, Masha falls in love herself--with a man and with a mongoose--only to have her dreams crushed twice. From her own heartbreak Masha comes to recognize the harm that she has done to her friends by encouraging their involvement with Antosha, but it is too late for Lika, who will both sacrifice herself for love and be immortalized as the model for Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull. A Russian Sister offers a clever commentary on the role of women as prey for male needs and inspiration, a role they continue to play today. At the same time the novel is a plea for sisterhood, both familial and friendly. Chekhov's The Seagull changed the theatre. A Russian Sister gives the reader a glimpse behind the curtain to the fascinating real-life people who inspired it and the tragedy that followed its premiere.

A Novel

A Russian Sister

The Mostly True Story of Pudding Tat, Adventuring Cat

The Sky Is Falling

Kelly Collier

Izzy in the Doghouse

Stéphane Jorisch

Cakes, cookies or pie? A rivalry among local bakers is the basis for this deliciously sweet, off-the-wall picture book. Monsieur Oliphant's cake shop, the only bakery game in town, has long had customers lining up outside its door for Oliphant's delicious jelly rolls and marvelous wedding cakes . . . until the day cookie concocter Mademoiselle Fée takes over the old shoemaker's shop. And it isn't long before the divine piemaker Madame Clotilde soon moves into the old bric-a-brac shop. Three different bakers all trying to outclass one another means their little cul-de-sac is packed with customers every day and night, so, one morning, when everyone is bumpling and jostling each other with their cakes, cookies and pies, a food disaster -- a massacre of cream, a devastation of crumbs -- is inevitable! Only one little girl has the drive (or appetite?) to find a solution, but can it last? This madcap tale of frenzied cooks and zany eats (and one very lucky town) will delight readers with a sweet tooth of any age!

It Happened on Sweet Street

When a series of unlikely accidents destroys his library book, Jasper John Dooley knows he's going to have to pay for the ruined book or they'll never let him back in the library again. Desperate to get back there and have a much-coveted turn reading to Molly the dog, he devises a clever way to earn money to pay for the book. In this engaging and entertaining story about a boy with a unique way of dealing with lifeÕs challenges, Jasper John DooleyÕs creative problem solving soon has the whole neighborhood reading É and eating toast! A great starting point for discussions about responsibility, owning up to mistakes and the importance of community.

Jasper John Dooley: Public Library Enemy #1

A fateful accident transforms life forever for newlywed couple Ross and Iliana as Iliana is left paralyzed, Ross guilt-ridden and grief-stricken, and both dealing with a married life that is nothing like that for which they had planned or expected. 20,000 first printing.

Sitting Practice

In this witty, compelling and genre-bending novel, a single mother navigates the loves, lusts and losses of middle age to arrive at a final, bittersweet contentment. Ellen McGinty: sexy, impulsive, loud-mouthed, chock full of regrets. In middle age she sells the house she raised her daughters in, slips off the shell of her old life, and steps out for a first, tentative foray into real contentment--directly into the path of a man twenty years her junior. Her story explodes into multiple points of view. Through the eyes of her lover, Matt, her ex-husband, Larry, her two daughters (one a former addict), her grandson, and a friend who both supports and betrays her, we watch Ellen negotiate the middle years of her tumultuous life as the pieces of who she is finally come together. In its entirety, Ellen in Pieces explores love in its varied forms, the nature of regret (and the possibility of recovery from it), and that greatest human test, mortality. Exquisitely written, absorbing and intelligent, this new novel by Caroline Adderson shows her at the top of her form. Ellen in Pieces is a deeply affecting story, an emotional mirror for all our lives.

Ellen in Pieces

Isabel loves Jasper, and it’s making life complicated. He just wants to play knights and dragons with Ori and Leon, but Isabel makes him play babies and tries to set up their wedding. The only good thing about Isabel is the trampoline at her house. But will the highs of their trampoline playdates be enough to cure Jasper’s girl-itis? Jasper John Dooley: NOT in Love is the third in a series of chapter books featuring a charismatic and funny central character. An only child with active, loving parents (and a most impressive lint collection), Jasper John Dooley is a true original.

Jasper John Dooley: NOT in Love

Norman, Speak! tells the comical yet thought-provoking story of a boy and his family who adopt a dog that just can’t seem to learn the things other dogs do. Overwhelmed by dogs in need at their local animal shelter, a young boy chooses Norman, the stray that’s been there the longest. But, upon bringing him home, the family quickly learns that Norman won’t respond to commands. He doesn’t even know his own name. During a chance encounter with another dog owner in the park, the family is very surprised to learn the reason for Norman’s confusion; he “speaks” Chinese instead of English! And so the family enrolls in a language class, determined to understand their uniquely loveable pet. The humorous text, from award-winning author Caroline Adderson, and Qin Leng’s delightful illustrations combine to create a picture book that will be enjoyed by readers (and dogs) no matter what language they speak.

Norman, Speak!

Jasper John Dooley, who only wants to play knights and dragons with Ori and Leon, is disgusted to find that Isabel has a crush on him, but he continues to see her so he can play with the trampoline at her house.

An adventurous seven-year-old named Bruno goes on summer vacation, learns how to swim, and has a very special birthday with his parents.

Bruno for Real

`Caroline Adderson's imaginings are about as far from bad as imaginings can get. The stories in her debut collection are powerfully conceived, subtly constructed, and amazingly diverse in tone. Adopting the perspectives of a wildly eclectic group of characters, her prose is always fresh: Adderson is as comfortable in the boots of a 19th-century gold miner as she is in the crocheted slippers of a sad and embittered grandmother. And despite some very poignant moments, she is never sentimental. ... A finalist for the Governor General's Award, Bad Imaginings is the work of a young writer with confidence and style.'

Bad Imaginings

Jasper is thrilled when he finds his dad�s favorite childhood toy, Marcel Mouse, at his grandmother�s place. He�s so afraid to lose the family treasure that he keeps Marcel on a string around his neck. But sometimes Jasper has to take off the little plastic mouse, and that leads to all sorts of trouble. First, Marcel goes missing from under Jasper�s pillow, then he gets sent to the principal�s office and disappears again! Then one day, something TERRIBLE happens, and it seems Marcel might be lost forever ó Will Jasper ever see Marcel Mouse again?

Jasper John Dooley: Lost and Found

Every Sunday, Leo and his family gather at Nonna’s house for lunch. Everyone is hungry for Nonna’s delicious homemade pasta ...except Leo, who’d rather play. But when Nonna passes around the bowls of soup with stellini - small, star-shaped noodles - she also serves the start of a story. Leo eats his lunch as he listens to the tale, which cleverly features that week’s noodle shape, and over the next few weeks Leo and the whole family grow hungrier for more pasta ...and more of the story! A scrumptious book about food, family and the art of storytelling.

Eat, Leo, Eat!

At last, it's Jasper John Dooley's turn to be Star of the Week at school. Unfortunately, nothing turns out as planned. His Show and Tell falls flat. A new baby at his friend Ori's house steals his spotlight. And worst of all, the new baby has only-child Jasper wondering if his own family is too small. When Jasper decides to build himself a brother (named Earl) out of wood, Earl's schoolyard shenanigans send Jasper to the principal's office! But with a little help from family and friends, things turn around for Jasper. And by the time Friday arrives, he is once again sure that he has what it takes to be a star. Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week is the first in a series of chapter books featuring a charismatic and funny central character. An only child with active, loving parents (and a most impressive lint collection), Jasper John Dooley is a true original.

Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week

Nicola’s adorable little dog, June Bug, keeps getting into trouble. She steals the neighbor’s turkey, yanks down the Christmas tree and destroys Mum’s almost-finished giant crossword. Everyone is mad, and it looks as though June Bug’s days are numbered. Will doing a good deed make up for June Bug’s bad behavior? Nicola certainly hopes so. And when she and June Bug come across a new nursing home in the neighborhood, it feels like a Sign. They volunteer to become regular visitors at Shady Oaks, certain that June Bug’s cute tricks will cheer up the elderly residents. In fact, they could all use some cheering up. It’s the holiday, and yet everyone seems to be cranky and off balance. Nobody has put up any lights, Nicola’s grade five teacher is inexplicably crabby, and Nicola’s big brother Jared stays holed up in front of the computer playing Inferno 2, eagerly sending winged creatures into a fiery abyss. Even Nicola is not herself, and when a new girl, Lindsay, tries to be her friend, Nicola finds herself being uncharacteristically mean, because Lindsay seems to be one of those hair-and-jewelry girls who wants her own subscription to Bride magazine for Christmas. But Nicola’s mother won’t let her visit Shady Oaks by herself, so when Lindsay offers to go with her, Nicola agrees. And the girls discover that something unusual is going on at the home, where it seems that a few of the more remarkable patients are being kept against their will. Freeing them will bring out the very best in Nicola, and especially in June Bug.

A Simple Case of Angels

In these ten short stories, Caroline Adderson adopts a brilliant array of perspectives ranging from that of a nineteenth-century prospector, to a chambermaid in WWI Victoria, to two long-time friends trying to sort out the eighties. The intensity of these deeply imagined stories is stunning.

When his mother doesn't come home from her work shift, Curtis does what he can to take care of himself and his five-year-old brother while trying to hide her absence from his teachers so that they don't have to go back to a foster home.

Middle of Nowhere

From the winner of the 2006 Marian Engel Award comes a funny, absorbing and timely novel about fear in our time. On a spring day in 2004, Jane Z. a physician’s wife and mother of a teenage son, opens her morning newspaper and is shocked to see a familiar face on the front page. Sonia, a lost friend accused of terrorism, has just been released after twenty years in prison. It all comes flooding back to Jane, how twenty years before her life took a very different course. At nineteen, Jane rents a room in a shared student house with a mismatched trio of idealists: Sonia, who yearns to save the world’s children from nuclear war; the Marxist-leaning Dieter; and the anarcho-feminist-pacifist Pete. A bookish misfit, her radical housemates quickly draw Jane into NAG!, a non-violent, anti-nuclear direct action group. To Jane, who is studying Russian and Russian literature, her compatriots, with their utopian dreams and youthful pathos, soon seem Chekhovian to her. Meanwhile, NAG! plans its most ambitious action, crossing the border into the United States to chain themselves to the Boeing factory fence. Tension increases as the group mounts each successive protest, until a bomb explodes and changes everything. The Sky Is Falling deftly intertwines themes of first love, sexual confusion, and the dread of nuclear disaster with the comical infighting of a cast of well-meaning political activists, and the timelessness of the great Russian classics. A story for our own age of paranoia and terror, Caroline Adderson’s witty, accomplished novel returns the reader to another fearful era, when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear annihilation and the end of world seemed inevitable.

Caroline Adderson

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