John Wilson
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"…a highly readable and interesting book…Through personal stories and anecdotes, all giving vivid pictures of social history, the writer guides us through historical events that changed the world. Some of it is sad, but much of it is amusing, all full of colour…I would highly recommend it." Anna Grayson
Once upon a time, a shy kid from Skye almost drowned in nostalgia as he sat in the corner of a high-ceilinged room listening to fabulous tales...
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"This riveting look at the Civil War's horrifying Andersonville prison through the eyes of an 18-year-old inmate has the power to shock and to compel…a tension-filled story packed with appalling events that really happened...This engrossing novel leaves an enduring impression." (Kirkus Reviews)
After the older brother he worshipped is killed in battle, Jake Clay joins the Union Army in the spring of 1864, determined to do his bit and honor his...
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An old man sits by the dying embers of a fire in London of 1669. The ghosts of the past surround him and a decades old guilt weighs him down. As a young man, Robert Bylot did it all: journeyed to the magical Spice Islands on a quest for the alchemist John Dee, communicated with angels through Crystallomancy, and searched for the fabled Northwest Passage with Henry Hudson. He has survived plague, mutiny and fire, and found happiness with an extraordinary...
4) Wings of War
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"…fast-paced and gripping" CCBC Magazine
It is 1913 and Edward Simpson is enthralled by his German uncle, Horst, who designs and builds simple-and extremely dangerous-planes in his barn. Fascinated by flight and dreaming of a life in the air, Edward helps his uncle whenever he can. In return, Horst teaches his nephew the rudiments of flight and, one magical day, lets him take his latest barn-built creation up for a spin. Edward is hooked, he will...
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"…a strong, engaging read." CM Magazine
"A Dangerous Game is a pleasure to read. It's a fast-paced, exciting story with lots of accurate historical information…a great read [and] a refreshing change from zombies, nasty girls and dystopian survivor novels…it showcases ordinary people at their best, bravely working together in terrible times." Historical Novel Society
An enthralling story of a young woman risking her life to free her country....
6) Dark Terror
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"Dark Terror is part adventure and part history, with just a touch of romance. It's a fast-moving, gripping take on a little-explored side of the [First World] war effort." CBR
In June 1915, young Alex Shorecross is trapped by a cave-in at a copper mine in Newfoundland. Facing possible death for a mere 13 cents an hour, Alec swears that if he survives he will find a different direction in his life. Unfortunately, options are limited and he is swept...
7) Ecocide
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How
'Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll'
in ancient Athens entered
Christianity.
How Plato's mental bias wrecks
our ecology and our mental health.
In this remarkable and well researched book, Dr John Wilson, a down-to-earth psychiatrist, breaks new ground. He shows how classical Greek civilization, still the foundation of Western culture, splits our minds from our bodies. Splitting us also from physical health, from mental health, and from our natural...
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"Wilson offers a unique perspective on this fascinating era…even minor characters are brought to life." Library JournalTed Ryan and his parents have a chance to escape the drudgery of the Depression in Canada for a holiday in Europe. Unfortunately, it is the summer of 1936 and Spain, where Ted longs to see a bullfight, is exploding in civil war. Swept up in the chaos, Ted finds himself alone and searching for his missing father. The only person...
9) Velociraptor
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A perfect, illustrated, easy-to-read novel for eager young dinosaur fanatics.
"As a great adventure story and scientific tour of the Cretaceous world, Weet keeps the reader enthralled to the end." The Log.
Somewhere in the badlands of southern Alberta lies the gateway to an alien world of adventure. Welcome to Weet's world-a world of 66 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled. A world that Eric has only dreamed of. A world into which the twelve-year-old...
10) Written in Blood
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"…a fast-paced western adventure that ropes in subjects of prejudice, race, and death…a captivating and engrossing read." (Quill and Quire)
Set in the harsh desert world of the Arizona Territory and northern Mexico during the 1870s, Written in Blood, the first installment of the Desert Legends Trilogy, follows young Jim Doolen as he attempts to find some trace of the father who abandoned his family ten years earlier. As he travels through a scorched...
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Honour Book, 1998 Sheila A. Egoff Award for Children's Literature and Finalist for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People.
First published in 1997, this edition is updated with new information on the Franklin Expedition to provide a timely, exciting introduction to the tragedy for a new generation of readers.
"High adventure, terrifying danger, close friendship, family troubles faced and resolved, and a dash of the mystical...
12) Love Poison
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As the world turns and we search for tomorrow, the edge of night shall appear.
Giving us one life to live--bold and beautiful--and we will hear the cries of the younger, the old, and the restless.
There will be many in general hospitals, then the mighty clouds of joy shall appear, and all my children shall see the guiding light, and we shall enjoy the days of our lives.
A novel you should read only when you want your fantasy to come...
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"...a richly re-imagined fable which goes far beyond anything the historical record alone might suggest." Russell A. Potter, Arctic Book Review
Perhaps, on a barren Arctic shore in the summer of 1849, knowing he was dying, a British Naval officer wrapped his journal in sailcloth and buried it beneath a lonely pile of frost-shattered stones. He was the last of the 129 doomed men of Sir John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition. His name was James Fitzjames...
14) Tyrannosaurus
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"…the story is…exciting, and the relationships between the humanoid dinosaurs and the young humans are believable and noteworthy. Eric struggles with his dilemma of whether or not to tell Weet that his species is ultimately doomed…What is particularly refreshing …is that there are no easy answers in in the story. Recommended." Canadian Book Review Annual.
In the final book of The Dinosaur Chronicles trilogy, the mysterious meteor showers...
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butterfly on a leaf
sips dew above
my father's grave
Over three decades as an author, John Wilson has often come up with ideas, thoughts and ephemera that either wouldn't fit into a novel or demanded to be expressed as a poem. Some saw the light of day in small literary magazines, some won awards and some simply waited patiently in a drawer. A few even thought that they would like to be accompanied by a sketch. They deal with history, both personal...
16) Hadrosaur
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"This is a fun book and dinosaur-mad youngsters will have fun reading it and imagining themselves in the shoes of Eric and Rose. Recommended." (CM Magazine )
This compelling sequel continues the time-travel adventures of Eric, Rose and Sally in the world of dinosaurs sixty-six-million-years ago. Weet, enlightened by what his time-travelling friends have taught him, feels a longing to discover what mysteries about his people lie beyond the terrifying...
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"...action-filled, tightly written prose. Realistic battle scenes illustrate the senselessness of war...the story offers a fresh take on the conflict - the idea of Canada as refuge for fugitive slaves and the irony of how it was nearly drawn into the war on the side of the South."- Albany Public Library, NY
Nate MacGregor knows he must fight for his Southern homeland in the coming Civil War, but for his cousin Walt in Canada West it's not so simple....
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"…the best life of Franklin yet produced." Arctic Book Review
Sir John Franklin was many things in his life: an officer in the great naval battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar; governor of Van Diemen's land; an explorer from Australia to the Arctic, but it is for his mysterious death and the deaths of his 128 crew that he is remembered today. The mystery of the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition to the Northwest Passage has captivated thousands...
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"…impressive…fast-paced…The high calibre of writing, together with the thoroughly researched historical detail, make The Alchemist's Dream a compelling read." Quill & Quire
In the fall of 1669, the Nonsuch returns to London with a load of furs from Hudson Bay. It brings something else, too-the lost journal from Henry Hudson's tragic search for a passage to Cathay in 1611. In the hands of a greedy sailor, the journal is merely an object to sell....