Peggy Dymond Leavey

Joel, trying to avoid the consequences when he is caught shoplifting, decides to spend the summer with his Dad in the small town of Turtle Narrows, and gets drawn into a mystery involving a treasure map and a secretive tourist.

Treasure at Turtle Lake

Molly Brant, a Mohawk girl born into poverty in 1736, became the consort of Sir William Johnson, one of the wealthiest white men in 18th-century America. Suspected of being a spy for the British during the American Revolution, Molly was forced to flee with her children or face imprisonment. Because of her ability to influence the Mohawks, her assistance was needed at Fort Niagara, and she found refuge there. A respected Mohawk matron, Molly became a vital link between her people and the Canadian Indian Department. Like her brother Joseph, she worked hard to keep five of the Six Nations on the side of the British throughout the war, believing the empty promises that all would be restored to them once the conflict ended. Although she was seen as fractious and demanding at times, her remarkable stamina and courage gained the respect of the highest levels of Canadian government.

Mohawk Loyalist and Diplomat

Molly Brant

Commended for the 2011 Best Books for Kids and Teens Living in grim Depression-era Toronto with her actress mother, Frannie, Ivy Chalmers has never met her father. In 1931, Frannie sends twelve-year-old Ivy to stay with her paternal grandmother in Larkin, Ontario, while she seeks stardom in New York City. When Ivy’s father, Alva, arrives unexpectedly in Larkin, he turns out not to be the Prince Charming she imagined, but an illiterate peddler. Rescuing Ivy from her uncompromising grandmother, Alva takes her with him for the summer, wandering the countryside by horse-drawn caravan, selling shoes. Back in Larkin at summer’s end, Ivy meets teenager Charlie Bayliss, orphaned as an infant and raised by his aunt on a farm outside town. Ivy has a flair for writing and boundless imagination, while Charlie loves baseball and loathes farming. Unknown to both of them, though, is a secret connection they share. When the final pieces of the puzzle of their lives fall into place, nothing will ever be the same.

Growing Up Ivy

Mary Pickford’s ambition, passion, innate talent, and savvy business acumen sent her career into the stratosphere and set the blueprint for the modern movie star. Born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892, Pickford was raised in a house on University Avenue in Toronto and began her acting career on the stage. However, her determination led her to the new world of motion pictures, where she not only revolutionized acting method but negotiated her own terms for the highest salary for any actress and complete creative control over her films – unheard of behaviour for a woman of that period. Pickford co-founded United Artists in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, which turned the existing studio system on its head. The actress’s subsequent marriage to Fairbanks incited a fan frenzy comparable to today’s obsession with couples like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Although Pickford’s star faded with the advent of talking pictures, she was the catalyst for the culture of Hollywood celebrity that enthralls us today.

Canada’s Silent Siren, America’s Sweetheart

Mary Pickford

Rosemary Sadlier

John Wilson

Edward Butts

Tom Henighan

Nicholas Maes

Sharon Stewart

Kate Braid

Arthur Slade

Valerie Knowles

Nathan Tidridge

Judith Fitzgerald

Tom Shardlow

Heather Kirk

Deborah Cowley

Michelle Labrèche-Larouche

Kathryn Bridge

T.F. Rigelhof

Raymond Plante

Roderick Stewart

Margaret Macpherson

lian goodall

Marguerite Paulin

Francine Legaré

Gary Evans

Anne Cimon

André Vanasse

Wayne Larsen

Julie H. Ferguson

D.T. Lahey

Ray Argyle

Ged Martin

This special bundle contains the first thirty-five books in the Quest Biography series, which profiles the lives of Canadians who have had a profound effect on their country and the world. Some of these figures are truly famous, while others were quietly influential. Among the wide variety of people we meet are: prime ministers (Mackenzie King, Macdonald, Laurier, and more); artists (Emily Carr, Tom Thomson); explorers (David Thompson, Samuel de Champlain), politicians (René Lévesque, Joey Smallwood), writers (Robertson Davies, Gabrielle Roy), entertainers (Emma Albani, Mary Pickford), activists (Nellie McClung, Louis Riel, Harriet Tubman), and many, many more. Let this series be your primer on the greatest figures in Canadian history. Includes Emma Albani Emily Carr George Grant Jacques Plante John Diefenbaker John Franklin Phyllis Munday Wilfrid Laurier William Lyon Mackenzie King René Lévesque Samuel de Champlain John Grierson Lucille Teasdale Maurice Duplessis David Thompson Mazo de la Roche Susanna Moodie Gabrielle Roy Louis Riel James Wilson Morrice Vilhjalmur Stefansson Robertson Davies James Douglas William C. Van Horne George Simpson Tom Thomson Simon Girty Mary Pickford Harriet Tubman Laura Secord Joey Smallwood Prince Edward, Duke of Kent John A. Macdonald Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan, Nellie McClung, René Lévesque and many more

Quest Biography 35-Book Bundle

More than many figures in Canadian history, Laura Secord has come to represent courage and perseverance at their finest. During the War of 1812, she helped to avert disaster by warning the British of an imminent American attack, and thus played a prominent role in the survival of a nascent Canada amid U.S. expansion.

Heroine of the War of 1812

Laura Secord

2013 Speaker’s Book Award — Shortlisted Laura Secord is now famous for her singular feat of bravery during the War of 1812, but did she warn the British and help defeat the American invaders as her legend says? After dragging her injured husband off the battlefield during the War of 1812, Laura Secord (1775-1868) was forced to house American soldiers for financial support while she nursed him back to health. It was during this time that she overheard the American plan to ambush British troops at Beaver Dams. Through an outstanding act of perseverance and courage in 1813, Laura walked an astonishing 30 kilometers from her home to a British outpost to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. Despite facing rough terrain, the ever-present danger of being caught by American troops, and rather delicate encounters with Native forces, Laura reached FitzGibbon just in time for the British to prepare and execute an ambush on American military nearby, forcing the U.S. general to surrender. Laura lived a very long time, dying at the age of 93. In her lifetime the government never formally recognized her singular feat of bravery, and much controversy still envelopes her legacy.

Twelve-year-old Martin, teller of tall tales and other untruths, cannot understand his sister's objections to the family's move to small-town Ontario. With Dad in the military, moving is a fact of life. Martin is intrigued by a deserted house across the street and by an unfriendly neighbour, who seems to be waiting for something to happen.

The Deep End Gang

Peggy Dymond Leavey

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