NEW
All Aboard for Dreamland 

Shu-Li and Tamara 

The Heretic’s Tomb 

Honey Cake 

The Eco-Diary of
Kiran Singer 


Baad Animals 

The Emerald Curse 

Abby's Birds 

Fairy Tale Feasts

Bamboo

What Happened This Summer 

Nannycatch Chronicles 

Crocodiles Say 

If I Had a Million Onions 

Zig Zag 

The Clone Conspiracy 

A Telling Time 

For Sure For Sure 

Floyd the Flamingo 

The Sorcerer's Letterbox 

The Bone Collector's Son

Rescuing Einstein's Compass

The Island of the Minotaur

The Alchemist's Portrait

The Sea King

The Jade Necklace 

My Animal Firends

Aziz: The Storyteller

Pacific Tree Frogs 

BACKLIST TITLES

Pigmalion

Strange Beginnings

Huevos Rancheros

Lucy and the Pirates

The Girl who Lost her Smile 

Mama God, Papa God

Mr. Belinsky's Bagels

Wherever Bears Be

Where are my Onions?

The Zoo at Night

Maudie and the Children


Reviews
The Emerald Curse
by Simon Rose, illustrated by Cynthia Nugent

Adventurous author by Mikelle Sasakamoose, Kamloops This Week, May 02, 2008

Alberta author Simon Rose has delved into the world of comic books for his latest novel for young readers. Two years after the disappearance of the world's greatest comic-book artist Charles Kelly, his grandson Sam finds himself drawn into the bizarre world of the comic, thanks to a magic pen discovered in the attic studio. Aided by the daughter of the evil Baron, Sam must defeat the supervillains who have taken over the world, and find a way to get himself and his grandfather back home. As with his previous novel The Clone Conspiracy, Rose has once again succeeded in choosing a subject that will capture the interest of his young readers, and particularly boys. Filled with action and superheroes, the story moves along quickly, and while the first chapter should have more accurately been labelled as a prologue, it provides sufficient explanation to set up the rest of the book. Rose's strength is his ability to create tension within the story, and to bring his stories to a satisfying resolution with minimal harm. The good-guys always prevail, the bad guys lose, and there is no concern of extreme violence or gore in his novels. The persistent difficulty with this novel, and with his other work, is the lack of true character development, and poor dialogue. Through brief descriptions, bits and pieces are learned about the characters, but they are not flushed out enough to be memorable, or inspire any real care or concern for their outcome. The dialogue is stilted, and without realism or flow. The exchanges between the characters sound forced and unnatural, and read like a badly written movie script. Even in the fantasy world of the comic, there is no sophistication or richness of language, and it can often cause the story to feel flat and two-dimensional. If the reader is seeking a happy ending with all loose-ends tied up neatly, this book will not disappoint, but for an audience accustomed to the complexities of current fantasy series such as Harry Potter, the neat ending and convenient solutions will be disappointing. -- by Rachel Steen. Resource Links, Volume 12, Number 2, December 2006.

Calgary writer Simon Rose is back with The Emerald Curse, his strongest middle-grade novel yet. Sam's grandfather, a famous comic book creator, hasn't been seen in two years. Although everyone presumes he's died, Sam's not so sure. A mysterious pen allows Sam to transport into his grandfather's comic book where he finds out his grandfather is trapped. Fast-paced and well-plotted, elementary students are sure to love it. The book also works great for broadening vocabularies, while the illustrations add life to the story. The only thing some parents may question is the amount of violence and killing. -Kate Larking, For the Calgary Herald. Sunday, December 24, 2006


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