New Releases by Lesley Choyce

For Sylvie, Ragged Island - and the whales who swam around it - is the only world she has ever known. It is the place where she was born and raised, where she lived with her four late husbands, and where she plans to live out her remaining years. It is also the home to a community whose love for the island is immense. But when the Nova Scotia government decides to shut down the ferry service that is the lifeblood of Ragged Island, the residents see their world beginning to disappear. Sea of Tranquility is the lyrical and moving story of an island struggling to survive. Lesley Choyce’s seventh novel, it contains the elements for which the author is known: engaging characters, page-turning storyline, and uproarious humour. Choyce is in top form.

When Taylor returns to his Nova Scotia village to live with his boat-builder father, he grapples with family dysfunction and faces a past he can’t seem to escape.

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.

Carrie forgot to pack the food for their camping trip, so Mom leaves the kids to figure out how to pitch a tent, make a fire and entertain themselves. Includes grey scale illustrations and author and illustrator profiles.

In Caution to the Wind the poet explores the nature of memory, places encountered while travelling and life at home. These engaging poems offer portraits of a soul contemplating the tenuous bonds of fear and hope that are shared between us and tie us to the world.

Anything might happen in this state of benign anarchy off the coast of Nova Scotia.

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.

Carrie wants to be part of the cool crowd. Becoming friends with them means getting a new image for herself but it also means ignoring her old friends. That''s when Carrie starts to see that there are friends, and then there are good freinds.

In Beautiful Sadness laughter often simmers under a rueful - or strangely joyful - melancholy tone. These poems are the songs you might sing on street corners if, reaching beyond the troubles of daily life, you discover the resiliency of the spirit.

When their farm gets expropriated to make way for the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant, Alexander McNab and his family move to Saint John. Without the magic of the Bay of Fundy, without the bright companionship of his little sister, Alex grows up a lonely, insecure failure. At 30, he''s had enough; to make a clean break, he moves to Halifax. There, he is hired as a counsellor at New Dawn, a rehabilitation workshop, even though he has no professional qualifications. Alex soon becomes part of the New Dawn family, and the distinction between the helper and the helped blurs. The key may be that Alex takes for granted the wholeness in each of these damaged adults. Blind Jeff, 17, knows everything about cars, so Alex takes him out to the parking lot and teaches him to drive. In turn, Alex is adopted by Cornwallis Itwaru, a descendent of Jamaican Maroons plagued by encroaching Alzheimer''s, who firmly adjusts Alex''s fuzzy thinking. Alex sees right away that Gloria Vincent, who suffers from schizophrenia, has adopted a sloppy dress and ugly glasses as camouflage for her intelligence and beauty, and his discovery does not wholly displease her. Unfortunately, New Dawn goes broke, but by the time the landlord padlocks the doors, Alex has learned that living life fully doesn''t depend on external circumstances.

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

Carrie wants to rollerblade, to zoom down the sidewalk at a hundred kilometres an hour. Her big brother Ernie says it isn''t going to happen, that she''s too young to do it. But her friend Gregory, a new kid in school with Down''s syndrome, inspires her to hold on to her dream. She has no money, no gear, no experience, and no encouragement. But at every turn Gregory''s words ring in her ears--"Go for it, Carrie!"--driving her to do more than she, or anyone else, ever thought she could. Go For It, Carrie is an inspiring story of one girl''s quest to overcome difficulties and realize her dreams--with a little help from her friend.

Lesley Choyce writes rings around most Canadian authors. This collection of short stories, Dance the Rocks Ashore, is certainly choice Choyce. Dance the Rocks Ashore contains substantial new stories including "Dance the Rocks Ashore," a bittersweet account of an elderly couple''s decline; the hilarious and bizarre "My Father Was a Book Reviewer" "The Third or Fourth Happiest Man in Nova Scotia," with a peculiar hero reminiscent of Noah; and "The Wreck of the Sister Theresa," in which spring fever hits like "a handshake in hell." Favourite stories from previous books include "Losing Ground," the pivotal chapter in Choyce''s acclaimed 1989 novel The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson, as well as "The Cure," "Dancing the Night Away," and the complex and disturbing "Conventional Emotions."

Grade level: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, i, s, t.

Falling Through The Cracks is the lates of Lesley Choyce''s young adult novels presenting realistic characters confronting difficult contemporary decisions. It''s a no-holds-barred story about two kids forced to make the best of a bad situation. The odds are stacked against Melanie and Trent, who are trying to stay in high school while holding down part-time jobs to survive. Falling through the cracks of the social support system, they must learn to rely on each other if they''re going to make it.

Combining the age-old science-fiction gambit of time travel and a new-age belief in reincarnation, this novel follows the adventures of a soul through various incarnations spanning 25 centuries. Drawing inspiration from myth and religion -- Celtic, ancient Hawaiian, Hebrew, Egyptian, Micmac -- as well as scientific concepts of geological evolution, psychic telepathy, drug therapy, astronomy, and computer interactivity, Choyce transports his protagonist to nineteenth-century Maui, Europe during the Children''s Crusades, ancient Mesopotamia, and future eras in search of spiritual fulfillment. The quest for spiritual fulfillment is the distinguishing motif of Choyce''s work, most notably in his essay collection Transcendental Anarchy: Meditations of a Metaphysical Traveler and in his photonovel Magnificent Obsessions. At the renowned Toronto Harbourfront International Authors Festival in 1996 Lesley Choyce was featured along with Timothy Findley, Margaret Atwood, George Bowering, Tobias Wolff, Andre Brink, Nancy Huston, and Maeve Binchy. Like many of these authors, Choyce is prolific and versatile, publishing over forty books in his forty-five years, ranging from lyrical poetry and personal essays through young adult adventure novels to realistic novels and now new-age science fiction.

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.