Books published by publisher Red Deer Press

Told through the eyes of 13-year-old Joan, Dark Matters introduces young readers to the fragile wonders that thrive below our increasingly threatened night-time skies. This book is packed with fascinating and unexpected facts and illustrations about how plants and animals react to light pollution, and comes up with tips and suggestions on how young people can help protect our important night-time environments. Because - dark really matters.

Jason's mom says he is a problem, and puts him in a group home. Now Jason has to live with boys and grown-ups he doesn't know. Jason thinks, Now I'm in a house that isn't my house. I watch their hands and feet. When hands and feet move fast, you're going to get hit. There's a big bubble of mad inside Jason. It makes him yell and throw things. Jason wants to be good and move home again, but the mad bubble just won't go away. Told in first person, Jason's Why relates the story of a nine-year-old boy who has been sent to a treatment centre by his mother because she can’t handle him any longer. Jason is afraid that his mother is going to leave him in the home forever. He is afraid of trusting these strange new adults in his life. And he is worried about how his sister is doing at home without him. Jason begins to realize that the people in the group home are not going to hurt him but care about his welfare, and that the principal in his new school is also a figure he can trust to care for his best interests. The kindness and care he starts to receive allows him to gain the courage to tell these new adults about his fears – despite his concern that his mother will not take him back.

Before two leggeds walked on Mother Earth there was a great cold. The animals formed a council; someone had to seek help from the Creator. Rainbow Crow, a most colorful bird, was selected because he had a beautiful voice that would surely impress the Creator. He flew into the heavens and won fire from above. But on the way back the fire began to burn his plumage black and destroy his beautiful voice. But Rainbow Crow persevered, bringing the life-saving fire safely back to his friends. This Lenape legend of courage and sacrifice is masterfully retold by award-winning author David Bouchard. The stunning art, painted on traditional drums by celebrated Canadian artist, David Jean, will inspire young and old alike. On Resource Links' Best of 2013 list 2015 Golden Oak nominee Order of Canada recipient and multi-award-winning Metis bestselling author David Bouchard teams up on this occasion with Cherokee master artist David Jean and the world renowned drummers and singers Manatial in this beautiful rendition of Rainbow Crow. Accompanied by a CD, Rainbow Crow will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.

A sensitive examination of bullying and its psychological roots... the story is fast paced and absorbing. -- Booklist How long would you stand by? What do you do when your best friend is bullied? What do you do if he is a bully? Bystanders Katie and Devan see things very differently, but one thing is clear: Grade 9 life is hard. Told through the voices of Katie and Devan, and bully's target Will's poignant poems, Egghead shows how bullying affects everyone... and that there is more than one side to every story.

"Striking illustrations... A warm reassuring story." --School Library Journal "A very satisfying symmetry between strong, vivid paintings of the Alberta landscape... and the powerful, forthright story." --Globe and Mail As Matthew and his father repair a fence on their dairy farm, Matthew encounters something stronger than his dad: a tornado sweeping a path of devastation across the prairie. The classic illustrated story about love, hope and renewal is now in paperback for the first time. Originally published in hardcover as The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona.

As Jo helps her mother and her baby brother on a cold and windy Christmas Eve, she searches for shelter -- any kind of shelter -- for the little family. Her mother is ill and the baby needs feeding. There is no other option but a barn owned by a local farmer known as a solitary grouch. Nobody cares for Franklin Murdoch, and Jo doesn't trust him to care for her family. But Murdoch turns out to be less of a threat than Jo has feared. He makes the desperate family a warm sanctuary in his home. And when the wind has died and snow falls on Christmas morning, peace has come to them all. Stephanie Simpson McLellen's spare text is complemented by the subtle but beautiful art of Brooke Kerrigan in a book that is a reminder of the essential story of Christmas. The wind elbowed Jo's mother and kicked her to the ground. "Stop it!" Jo shook her fist at the sky. Ignoring her, the wind stole her scarf and blew out the light. Her plan was to be on a bus halfway to someplace else by now, but they weren't even close to the station. She pulled her mother to her feet. With a howl, the wind forced them off the road and into the prickly fields. This starkly beautiful story highlights the heroic spirit of a young girl and the generosity of a stranger in a book that reveals what the real spirit of Christmas is all about.

A provocative follow-up to the bestselling What's for Lunch?, Eat This! zooms in on fast food marketing to children — an immense industry worth billions of dollars. Andrea Curtis shows how fast food companies push their unhealthy food and beverages by embedding their sales pitches in everything from Snapchat filters to movies, from videogames to school curriculum. An exploration of media literacy and food literacy, Eat this! looks at what exactly marketing is and touches on the latest strategies aimed at kids, including product placement, advergames, cartoon and celebrity endorsements and school fundraising. On each page spread, Andrea Curtis provides research-based insights into all aspects of the fast food industry and, perhaps most importantly, offers kids examples and ideas about how they can push back — taking charge of their own health and well-being.

VOYA's Non Fiction Honour List 2013 2013 Information Book Award Long List nominee Whether their school is under a banyan tree, in a dusty tent held up with poles or in a sturdy brick structure in the heart of a bustling city, all children need a healthy lunch to be able to learn and grow. Good food nourishes both our bodies and our brains. It's one of the basic building blocks of life. As the world has become more interconnected, what we eat has become part of a huge global system. Food is now the biggest industry on Earth. Growing it, processing it, transporting it and selling it have a major impact on people and the planet. Unpack a school lunch, and you'll discover that food is connected to issues that matter to everyone and everything such as climate change, health and inequality. In What's For Lunch Andrea Curtis reveals the variety and inequality to be found in the food consumed by young people in typical school lunches from thirteen countries around the world, including Japan, Kenya, Russia, United States and Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Afghanistan. In some countries, the meals are nutritious and well-balanced. In others they barely satisfy basic nutrition standards.

One morning, Meerin Hoy looks out her window to Carson's Field. There to her shock stand two big development signs -- spelling the end to her community's most beloved park. But nine-year-old Meerin is no ordinary girl. She is determined to act. When she confronts the mayor in person he quickly dismisses her as "just a kid." It's time for Meerin to take on the tools of a local activist and save an important community asset from the powers that be. Just a Kid is a reflection of movements that are occurring in many parts of the world today -- some of them inspired by the advocacy of Greta Thunberg, the students of Parkland in Florida, and many others. Just a Kid is a timely novel for young readers to learn about the possibilities of influencing the adult world, even when it seems no one wants to listen.

Kit Byrne's family is a strong one, but their strength and unity are being severely tested, as life becomes more and more desperate in 19th century rural Ireland. Lord Fraser is the wealthy landowner, from which the Byrne's and many other families rent their lands. When the potato blight hits, the farmers can no longer make their payments much less produce food for themselves, and the cruel system has no mercy as Lord Fraser wields an iron fist, driving families from their homes and burning their cottages. Kit's dreams are now dashed as her family experiences a series of tragedies, and as she undergoes a daunting event that tears her away from her family. With her father dead, she must fight for survival and help her ailing mother and siblings escape Ireland for good. This story is a glimpse into the tragic events of the Great Hunger, the famine that devastated Ireland, forcing thousands of impoverished families to seek better livelihoods outside of their homeland. Governor General's Literary Award winner 2009 CLA Children's Book of the Year Award shortlist, 2009 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People 2009 finalist Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards shortlist, 2010 Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009 Starred Choice Red Maple Book Award nominee 2010 Rocky Mountain Book Award Shortlist, 2011

Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award nominee, 2006 Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2007 Snow Willow Award nominee 2006 Forever - we've been doing it absolutely forever! Bump has been longing to play in the annual Christmas Classic - his family's annual hockey game - for what feels like forever. A tradition begun many years ago by Bump's Grampa and the uncles, the Christmas Classic is the family's annual hockey game played by everyone in the family. Everyone but Bump that is. Even his sister Poodle takes part. When Gramma measures him against the kitchen doorframe, Bump doesn't quite meet the height requirements. Then comes that magical year, when Grampa announces, "Tomorrow, the Christmas Classic welcomes a new player." Bump knows his time has come. Bump prays that he won't make a fool of himself, that he will play as well as he always has in his dreams. Maybe he will even be named the Most Valuable Player and have his name engraved on the Christmas Classic trophy. When the game is finally played, Grampa and Bump combine for the final goal in a moment that Bump will remember forever. But that's not the end of Bump's story. What follows elevates Bump's story to the realm of myth and legend, the cementing of a tradition that will warm the hearts of countless readers and live on forever.