Best Selling Books by Lesley Choyce

The stories of Canada''s east, west, and north coastlines, from the earliest human habitation until today. The Coasts of Canada brims with heroes and villains, shipwrecks and rescues, roguery and virtue, and maps both accurate and fanciful. It''s a book full of discoveries, a record of misdeeds and misjudgments, and a plea to preserve the good things of the sea, the shore, and the coastal communities.

Sixty-nine year old recent widower, Jonas MacPherson, has his memories and his world of colourful friends and adventures.

Sixteen-year-old Nigel has written a class assignment about a world where teenagers become the leaders of society. Unexpectedly, Nigel''s story is published, and he quickly becomes a celebrity.

Whether he is yodelling into construction equipment, or driving his car over thin ice, Lesley Choyce believes that mistakes are what makes life interesting and offer us all a true learning experience. In this hilarious new work, Choyce freely shares his most entertaining misadventures along with some of his best advice on topics ranging from plumbing to bad jobs. With a lively, down-to-earth style and a wonderful talent for observation, How to Fix Your Head is sure to make the idea of self-help a lot more enjoyable.

Gary Sutherland lives for skateboarding. Gary and his friends spend most of their free time on skateboards. The greater the challenge, the more they like it. Then they discover the ultimate challenge - an abandoned pool they call the grave. But then everything falls apart. The grave is going to be destroyed and a shopping mall constructed in its place. Gary and his friend Sheila don''t think their community needs another needs another shopping mall - so they put together a plan to stop it!

When Craig''s friend Roy starts taking steroids and surpasses everybody on the football team, Craig decides to start a steroid program of his own, until he begins experiencing terrible side effects and must stop before he loses everything.

"Random" is the story of 16-year-old Joe''s digging into his past, and looking around the present, as he seeks to make sense of the world.

Cuando Zach descubre que su novia está embarazada, entra en pánico. ¿Qué van a hacer?

Thunderbowl, la banda de Jeremy, está de moda y han conseguido su primera gran oportunidad: una serie de presentaciones en un bar local. El problema es que, aunque Jeremy debería estar al día con sus trabajos escolares, pasa casi todas las noches en el escandaloso club tratando de mantener a la banda unida. Equilibrar los sueños de éxito con las realidades de la industria musical obligará a Jeremy a tomar decisiones muy difíciles. Disponible en inglés: Thunderbowl.

"Whether finding hope rescuing ophaned birds, truth in the creation of potholds, beauty in the swirling of herons over a rocky island, Lesley Choyce shares a journey that is funny, honest and deeply rooted in the soil of Nova Scotia. In Seven Raves: Two summers in a life by the sea, Choyce tells us a time when he had slipped "several rungs down the ladder" he was climbing and how he turned to his notebook and to nature to find his way back up." --Book Jacket.

Randy can surf the waves better than anyone else at Lawrencetown. When his beach is invaded by townies, he''s willing to show them how to catch waves, and he''s quickly accepted as one of the gang. With the money he''s earning at his summer job, he can even afford the latest gear - and a flashy car. Every day Cathy comes to the beach with her boyfriend Brian. She seems to like Randy, and he doesn''t mind the attention. That leads to complication ... and some wild adventures out on the waves. In the water Randy is a hero, but on dry land - it''s a whole lot trickier!

Set in Canada''s East Coast, this novel from the award-winning and prolific Lesley Choyce grapples with current environmental issues as experienced by two teenagers. "As with all his young adult books, Big Burn features a strong plot, some conflicts, and a resolution that isn''t glib. And there''s that unmistakable gusto for the great outdoors; lots of wind, sun, rocks, ocean and scenery." Halifax Chronicle Herald.

Everyone knows there are no skunks in Nova Scotia...right? Well, that''s what Pamela thinks, until she wakes up one morning to a terrible smell. Now Pamela stinks, her father stinks, her sister stinks, and her mother stinks. Soon her life stinks--her friends at school won''t come near her! And no matter how many skunks her father catches underneath the house, there always seems to be another. Join Pamela and her family as they confront the odorous onslaught--and watch Pamela slowly start to like the unexpectedly cute creatures.

After 17-year-old Brandon falls out of a tree onto his head--and survives--his doctor suggests he''s had such luck he should buy a lottery ticket. So Brandon does, and he wins three million dollars--and that''s last happy moment he has for some time.

Ben is determined to learn to surf. In the rough North Atlantic waters near his home, only the tough can make it on the water. His first attempt is a disaster. Then he meets Ray, a surfing veteran from California. Ray promises to teach him to surf and to face his inner demons. As Ben becomes more comfortable on his board he learns to face his fears and prove that he has what it takes to become a Wave Warrior.

Novelist Lesley Choyce weaves together his real-life adventures living by the sea at Lawrencetown Beach on Nova Scotia''s Eastern Shore. He writes of his love for the rugged coast and tells tales of the ordinary and the extraordinary. His story includes accounts of what it''s like surfing in the Canadian North Atlantic through all four seasons including the frigid depths of winter. Also threading its way through this narrative is the story of Minnie''s piano. There is music here in word and spirit along with the lessons learned from the old and the young. Driving Minnie''s Piano is an eloquent personal memoir about the precious and fateful moments that change our lives. It is an exploration of what makes us tick and prompts us to be both heroes and fools in the daily enterprise of living.

“Controlled, fluid, wry and passionate.” —Halifax Daily NewsA generous serving of new and selected poems. Lesley Choyce was declared “a national treasure” by the Ottawa Citizen and “Nova Scotia’s answer to the Renaissance Man” by CBC’s Peter Gzowski. Quill and Quire found Lesley Choyce’s writing “life enhancing, life celebrating.” For a taste of this lasting collection, you can watch Lesley read the title poem “I’m Alive. I Believe in Everything,” which is available on youtube.

Another chapter book for the younger set.Lavishly illustrated, a story about being and getting famous. A journey of discovery for everyone.

The Discipline of Ice is an experiment of thought and word bursting with enthusiasm, devotion and despair. Part rant, part ode, part mirage, the book covers a wide range of important subject matter, including merit badges, God, cigarettes, Tokyo, Jules Verne, Iceland, Vietnam, cranberries, Clam Bay, Doaktown, Nietzsche, Culloden, County Cork, Joshua Slocum, Euell Gibbons, chantarelles, truth, delusion, class reunions, the death of Peter Gzowski, the Yellowhead Highway, the sound of birds singing and an anthem to silence.

Down Home for Christmas offers a rich tapestry of seasonal stories from some of Pottersfield Press''s most talented and beloved authors and is sure to touch both those who love Christmas and those who enjoy the entire winter season in our rugged Down East region.

In Nova Scotia Love Stories, Lesley Choyce has assembled some of the province''s most beloved authors who explore through fact and fiction the myriad ways in which a love story exists.

Jeremy, a teenager of First Nations descent, struggles through taunts and bullying after moving to a new school and community. Upon meeting Caitlin, he experiences a collision of the spirit world and the real world which causes him to determine what is real truth in life.

When Corey gets caught opening the boys'' washroom window to let smoke out, he''s resigned to being called a troublemaker. In his school tension is high between black and white students, and Corey''s caught in the middle. He''s blamed by the principal for stirring up trouble, and he''s not sure himdelf whether he''s really white or black.

This Teaching Guide provides age-appropriate discussion questions and lessons about literary devices, relevant vocabulary, grammar points and more.

Here is the complete history of the famous cove and the unique village that hosts thousands of visitors each year. The story begins with the formation of the rocks along these shores and the impact of the glaciers. The Mi''kmaq were the first to live here in the summers, harvesting the riches of the sea. A land grant in 1811 brought the first hardy settlers, who built homes and wharves and discovered that the sea could provide bounty but was also a source of great danger. The story includes the origin of the name, Peggy''s Cove, and details about the everyday life of nineteenth-century families living here. A history of the famous lighthouse is included and there are excerpts from many of the famous and not-so-famous visitors who have written about the Cove through two centuries. The author explores the most damaging storms and the shipwrecks, the reports of sea monsters and other strange phenomena. Fishing was always a source of income, but it changed over the years. At times the fish prices were so low it was not worth the effort and, in recent years, dramatic changes to the ocean have seen the collapse of several important species of fish. In the twentieth century, Peggy''s Cove attracted artists, writers and ultimately thousands of tourists. Sculptor William de Garthe made his home here and created his monument to the coastal fishermen out of the sheer granite outcropping in his backyard. In 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed off the shores of Peggy''s Cove and the community opened its doors to the world in an effort to provide support for the rescue workers and the families of the victims. From the earliest days to the present, the story of Peggy''s Cove has been a tale of natural wonder and human endurance.

Sarah''s family has had a streak of bad luck. Her father is a fisherman and the fish have disappeared. Her mother is worried all the time. It seems that nothing is going right for her family. Sarah''s best friend is her dog, Jeremiah, who came into her life in the night in the middle of a horrendous storm. Sarah is concerned about her unhappy mother and her father -- who doesn''t always make the right decisions. Here is a story about a young girl''s belief in herself, a family''s struggle to survive and the desire to hold onto hope even when all hope seems to be gone.

Grade level: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, e, i, s.

This Teaching Guide provides age-appropriate discussion questions and lessons about literary devices, relevant vocabulary, grammar points and more.