Roy MacGregor

Expanding on his landmark Globe and Mail series in which he documented his travels down 16 of Canada's great rivers, Roy MacGregor tells the story of our country through the stories of its original highways, and how they sustain our spirit, identity and economy--past, present and future. No country is more blessed with fresh water than Canada. From the mouth of the Fraser River in BC, to the Bow in Alberta, the Red in Manitoba, the Gatineau, the Saint John and the most historic of all Canada's rivers, the St. Lawrence, our beloved chronicler of Canadian life, Roy MacGregor, has paddled, sailed and traversed their lengths, learned their stories and secrets, and the tales of centuries lived on their rapids and riverbanks. He raises lost tales, like that of the Great Tax Revolt of the Gatineau River, and reconsiders histories like that of the Irish would-be settlers who died on Grosse Ile and the incredible resilience of settlers in the Red River Valley. Along the Grand, the Ottawa and others, he meets the successful conservationists behind the resuscitation of polluted wetlands, including even Toronto's Don, the most abused river in Canada (where he witnesses families of mink, returned to play on its banks). Long before our national railroad was built, our rivers held Canada together; in these sixteen portraits, filled with yesterday's adventures and tomorrow's promise, MacGregor weaves together a story of Canada and its ongoing relationship with its most precious resource.

Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada

Original Highways

Kerry MacGregor

If you could travel through time, who would you want to meet? Lucas Finnigan eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. With his friends Edge, Swift and Crunch, Lucas plays on his hometown’s rink, dreaming of the day when he knows he’ll make the NHL. But lately money has been tight at home, and, after a major growth spurt, Lucas is forced to wear hand-me-down gear that doesn’t quite fit right. Now he’s not sure he’ll ever make it to the Hall of Fame like his hockey heroes. And that’s not the only problem. With the community arena’s chiller on the fritz, and replacement parts too tough to come by, it looks like Lucas and his friends may be doomed to a season on a plastic rink—or worse, no hockey at all! But with a magical discovery, and some help from one of hockey's greatest players (who was a kid once, too!), their final skate might turn into their first great adventure . . .

Ice Chips Series

The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink

A Novel

Shorelines

NATIONAL BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE OTTAWA BOOK AWARD FOR NON-FICTION Roy MacGregor's lifelong fascination with Tom Thomson first led him to write Canoe Lake, a novel inspired by a distant relative's affair with one of Canada's greatest painters. Now, MacGregor breaks new ground, re-examining the mysteries of Thomson's life, loves and violent death in the definitive non-fiction account. Why does a man who died almost a century ago and painted relatively little still have such a grip on our imagination? The eccentric spinster Winnie Trainor was a fixture of Roy MacGregor's childhood in Huntsville, Ontario. She was considered too odd to be a truly romantic figure in the eyes of the town, but the locals knew that Canada's most famous painter had once been in love with her, and that she had never gotten over his untimely death. She kept some paintings he gave her in a six-quart basket she'd leave with the neighbours on her rare trips out of town, and in the summers she'd make the trip from her family cottage, where Thomson used to stay, on foot to the graveyard up the hill, where fans of the artist occasionally left bouquets. There she would clear away the flowers. After all, as far as anyone knew, he wasn't there: she had arranged at his family's request for him to be exhumed and moved to a cemetery near Owen Sound. As Roy MacGregor's richly detailed Northern Light reveals, not much is as it seems when it comes to Tom Thomson, the most iconic of Canadian painters. Philandering deadbeat or visionary artist and gentleman, victim of accidental drowning or deliberate murder, the man's myth has grown to obscure the real view—and the answers to the mysteries are finally revealed in these pages.

The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him

Northern Light

"The eccentric spinster Winnie Trainor was a fixture of Roy MacGregor's childhood in Huntsville, Ontario. She was considered too odd to be a truly romantic figure in the eyes of the town, but the locals knew that Canada's most famous painter had once been in love with her, and that she had never gotten over his untimely death. She kept some paintings he gave her in a six-quart basket she'd leave with the neighbours on her rare trips out of town, and in the summers she'd make the trip from her family cottage, where Thomson used to stay, on foot to the graveyard up the hill, where fans of the artist occasionally left bouquets. There she would clear away the flowers. After all, as far as anyone knew, he wasn't there: she had arranged at his family's request for him to be exhumed and moved to a cemetery near Owen Sound.

The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman who Loved Him

A troubled American woman travels to a small Ontario town, determined to find the mother she has never known. As she searches through dusty records and stirs up old memories among those around her, three young people emerge from the mists of the past…a beautiful woman named Jenny, a shy local boy named Russell, and a dark-eyed painter named Tom, who changes the course of Jenny and Russell’s lives. Historical reality and conjecture are skilfully interwoven with intrigue and suspense as these three move unwittingly toward tragedy.

Canoe Lake

9-year-old Gabe (Gabriella) Murray lives and breathes hockey. She's the youngest player on her new team, she has a nifty move that her teammates call "the Gabe," and she shares a lucky number with her hero, Hayley Wickenheiser: number 22. But when her coach hands out the team jerseys, Gabe is stuck with number 9. Crushed, Gabe wants to give up hockey altogether. How can she play without her lucky number? Gabe's grandmother soon sets her straight, though--from her own connection to the number 9 in her hockey-playing days to all the greats she cheered for who wore it, she soon convinces Gabe that this new number might not be so bad after all. A lovely intergenerational tale and a history of the storied number 9 in hockey, The Highest Number in the World is a must-have for any hockey fan.

The Highest Number in the World

Ken Dryden

In October 1983 Ken Dryden gave us what was called the best non-fiction book ever written about hockey: The Game. In that same month Roy MacGregor published what was hailed as the best novel ever written about hockey: The Last Season. These two writers teamed up to write another extraordinary book. Inspired by Ken Dryden’s major CBC-TV series on hockey, Home Game delves into hockey in all its incarnations, from life in a small hockey community and the dreams of amateurs determined to reach the NHL to the reminiscences of players involved in the 1972 Canada-Soviet series. By exploring hockey’s significance to our nation, Dryden and MacGregor help to define what it means to be Canadian. On publication, Home Game shot to the top of the bestseller lists, establishing itself as a must-read for every hockey fan. The lavish book, with nearly 100 full-colour photographs, continues to win over Canadians.

Hockey and Life in Canada

Home Game

The classic of hockey writing takes us all the way from street hockey to the show-down between Canada and the Soviets.

The Ice Chips have time travel down to a science . . . almost. After Ekamjeet “Edge” Singh misses out on their most recent adventure, he convinces his teammates to take another leap through time. But when their magic goes haywire, a hero from the past finds her way onto the Chips’ hometown rink—and leaves behind a very important trophy! It’s up to the Ice Chips to return the famous award to its rightful home, before all of hockey history changes forever. It won’t be easy, but if they can get the cup back where it belongs, they might just have the chance to win it for themselves. The fourth title in the beloved and bestselling Ice Chips series, by acclaimed authors Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor and illustrator Kim Smith, features a vibrant and diverse cast of characters and inspiring hockey greats.

Ice Chips Series Book 4

The Ice Chips and the Stolen Cup

The Screech Owls find themselves in a difficult situation when they are abducted with their new friend Slava Shadrin, a star hockey player who is wanted by the Russian mob

Kidnapped in Sweden

The Night They Stole the Stanley Cup (Screech Owls, Book 2)

When the Screech Owls take a spring break in Florida, they wind up uncovering a plot to terrorize all of America

Terror in Florida

When the Screech Owls visit Nunavut for the Sunlight Festival tournament, they become involved in an investigation when a polar bear cub is found dead.

Trouble at the Top of the World

The Owls are all grown up, and now they’re returning home to play an exhibition game in the town’s new arena. But deep trouble has also come to Tamarack. The Screech Owls are all grown up. Ten years have passed, and Travis, Sarah, Nish, and their friends have gone theirseparate ways, most of them scattered far and wide from their old home town. Travis is a teacher. Sarah is captain of the women’s Olympic hockey team. Data runs a computer business with Fahd. Wilson is a police officer. And Nish? Nish is in Las Vegas, a valued member of the aerial stunt team The Flying Elvises. When the people of Tamarack decide to name their new sports complex The Sarah Cuthbertson Arena, it is the perfect time for all the old friends to reunite and play an opening night exhibition game. But as the Screech Owls start to return, trouble also comes to Tamarack. The unspoiled town faces disaster in the form of a new gambling casino, and it seems that the powerful developers will stop at nothing to get their way. Not even murder.

The Screech Owls' Reunion

The Screech Owls are excited to be playing hockey in Japan, but the collapse of the mayor at the opening banquet, a freak avalanche, and a mysterious, lurking stranger makes them wonder when it will all end.

Nightmare in Nagano

Celebrating ten years and more than one million books in print! The third four-in-one edition to celebrate ten years of an award-winning, bestselling series. #9: Nightmare in Nagano The Screech Owls can't believe their good luck! They are flying thousands of miles to Nagano, Japan, the host city for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games - and they'll be playing in Big Hat, the Olympic arena. The attractions of Japan are quickly forgotten, however, when the mayor of Nagano is murdered at the tournament's opening-night banquet. Who would want such a nice man dead? And what has it got to do with the Screech Owls? . . . And what is the source of Nish's new superhuman powers? #10: Danger in Dinosaur Valley Summer has come early to the town of Drumheller, Alberta. Drumheller is the "Dinosaur Capital of Canada," home of the fierce Albertosaurus - cousin to Tyrannosaurus rex - whose ancient bones were discovered here more than one hundred years ago. One day when Nish returns from mountain biking, he claims he almost became breakfast for a living, breathing Albertosaurus! Of course his friends don't believe him, but when Travis, Sarah, and their teammates go for their own ride in the hills, they come back with a monstrous story that makes international headlines. #11: The Ghost of the Stanley Cup The Screech Owls have come to Ottawa to play in the Little Stanley Cup peewee tournament. Mr. Dillinger is also taking them to visit some of the region's famous ghosts: the ghost of a dead prime minister; the ghost of a man hanged for murder; the ghost of the famous painter Tom Thomson. At first the Owls thought this was Mr. Dillinger's best idea ever, until Travis and his friends begin to suspect that one of these ghosts could be for real. #12: The West Coast Murders The Screech Owls' journey to Vancouver had begun as an innocent hockey road trip. They had come to play in the new "Three-on-three" shinny tournament. But when the team headed out to sea to watch the first whales of the season return to the West Coast, the dream trip turned into a horrifying adventure. Two bodies - one a dolphin, one a man - bobbing in the tide. And when Nish stared down at the floating, twisting body of the man and announced "We know him!" the Screech Owls also knew they were in the middle of a baffling mystery. Screech Owls books have won the Our Choice Award and the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award. They have been endorsed by the Canadian Toy Testing Council and shortlisted for the Silver Birch Award, the Red Cedar Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Ottawa-Carleton Award, and the Palmarès de Communication-Jeunesse.

The Complete Screech Owls, Volume 3

The Screech Owls are flying around the world to Sydney, Australia, site of the 2000 Olympics, for an exhibition tournament to promote ice hockey in the sports-mad land down under. The trip, however, involves much more than hockey. The teams coming to Sydney will take part in “The Peewee Olympics” – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the youngsters to compete in real Olympic sports facilities. What will it be for Nish? The pole vault? Synchronized swimming? Beach volleyball? The team is also invited to tour Sydney’s magnificent zoo and the world-renowned Sydney Aquarium, where Sarah’s interest in bizarre marine biology leads to a field trip in search of an endangered sea horse. A field trip that brings the Screech Owls face-to-face with Death Down Under. Check out the Screech Owls' website at www.screechowls.com.

Death Down Under

Travis Lindsay, his best friend, Nish, and all their pals on the Screech Owls hockey team, are on their way to New York for an international peewee tournament. Excitement builds in the team van on the way to Lake Placid. First there are entertaining antics of their trainer, Mr. Dillinger--then there's the prospect of playing on an Olympic rink, in a huge arena, knowing there will be scouts in the stands.

Mystery at Lake Placid

Winner of The CAA–Birks Family Foundation Award for Biography The 2000 Ottawa-Carlton Book Award The (U.S.) Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness Book “A portrait of a true original.”—The Hamilton Spectator In 1929, at the age of twenty-two, Duncan MacGregor, the son of a lumberman, great-grandson of a voyageur, and an avid reader and baseball fan, headed off into the largest tract of preserved bush in the world: Ontario’s Algonquin Park. When he got there, he was home for the rest of his life. From the true nature of fishing to the harsh realities of raising a family in the woods, from the role of fear in the bush to the small nuances of family relationships, A Life in the Bush is painted on a canvas both vast and richly detailed. A story that captures the tough physical demands, the rich life of the senses, and the unselfconscious freedom that comes from living apart from town and city. In this beautifully crafted memoir of his father, Roy MacGregor paints an intimate portrait of an unusual man and spins a spellbinding tale of a boy’s complex relationship with his father. He also evokes, perhaps for the first time in Canadian literature, the bush the way bush people see it, an insider's view of life in the totemic Canadian wilderness.

Roy MacGregor

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