Books published by publisher Simply Read Books

A mysterious shadow walks the corridors. It goes from room to room, and sometimes leaves with someone in its arms, taking them to the land of dreams. Until one day a patient at the hospital―a young child―speaks to the shadow, offering it a drink of water. The child is fearful at first, but as he gets to know the shadow through their conversations, he realizes that she has feelings of her own. So begins a great friendship between an unlikely pair: a young child, and Death. Combining the poetic delicacy of author Gilles Tibo and the light touch of illustrator Janice Nadeau, My Best Friend tells a deeply moving, hopeful tale with moments that will bring a smile to readers' faces, and a story that will lodge in the depths of the heart and remain there for life.

All the birds tease old Crow for his scraggly feathers and harsh call, especially proud Cardinal. But when Cardinal gets into trouble, there is only one creature smart enough to get him out. Will Crow choose to help the boastful bird? This thoughtful picture book, inspired by Aesop's fables, reminds us all that 'pride and foolishness often go hand in hand.'

The fourth book in bestselling author Lee Edward Födi’s Kendra Kandlestar series of magical chapter books! According to Een legend, a Kazah stone grants a wizard the power to catch an echo of the past—and a glimpse of the future. But when Kendra Kandlestar is given her own cracked and broken Kazah stone, she soon discovers that it’s capable of so much more. Now, with her faithful companion Honest Oki by her side, Kendra is sent on an unimaginable journey across the cosmos, finding herself amidst worlds that are strange and bewildering—and at the same time all too familiar. Trapped in this adventure, Kendra finds herself faced with choices that just may unravel the mysterious history of the Eens—and destroy their future. What will Kendra choose?

Thumbelina is as pretty and delicate as the flower she was born in, and no bigger than her mother’s thumb. She grows older, but no taller in their happy home until she awakens one morning to a terrible surpise: an ugly mother toad has kidnapped her and wants Thumbelina to marry her even more awful toad son. So begins Hans Christian Andersen’s classic story of hardship, adventure, and friendship in a wild and wonderous world filled with helpful fish, braggy June bugs, and a mysterious mole. Thumbelina may be small, but her life is full of big adventures in this beautiful picture book illustrated with the modern paintings of Kelly Vivanco.

Astral projection, gremlin-attacks, and teleportation are just a few of the reasons for academic absence creatively illustrated in this book. Eerie Dearies is an unusual book that offers a carefully crafted & alphabetized selection of twenty-six beautifully illustrated excuses for being awol from school. Faded and well-used book covers serve as compelling backgrounds to each of these delicately rendered acrylic paintings, creating an atmosphere akin to an old and dusty collection of darkly humorous myths. This bizarre and astonishing ABC book contains 26 illustrations of absent school girls by Vancouver artist Rebecca Chaperon. Chaperon’s fine art paintings capture the misadventures of various heroines from literary works while portraying the tale of a female protagonist within a slightly surreal landscape. Her images entertain the mind with possible narratives, while haunting us with underlying emotions. In Eerie Dearie ephemeral landscapes are populated with intriguing figures, at once pale and wan and amusingly dramatic. The perfect peculiar ABC!