A newly updated, expanded edition of the spectacular bestselling field guide to the plants and animals of the North America's Northwest Coast.

With its temperate climate and rich biodiversity, the coastal Pacific Northwest is an ideal environment for nature lovers of all sorts. Stretching from Juneau, Alaska, south to coastal British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and all the way down to California's San Francisco Bay, this vast region is home to an incredibly rich variety of flora and fauna.

Packed with over 1,500 photographs and essential information about more than 900 commonly found plant and animal species across the region, this second edition of The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest is a colourful, concise, easy-to-follow resource guide. Accessible for anyone with an interest in nature—from amateur arborists to avid gardeners, from weekend hikers to experienced beachcombers—this book provides an essential overview of the region's trees, shrubs, bushes, flowering plants, berries, ferns, fungi, marine plants, marine and land mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.

With expanded flora and fauna sections; revised species organization; and new information about at-risk species, toxicity, edibility, and traditional uses, this book is an essential guide to the abundance of nature in this beautiful part of the world.

Collin Varner is a horticulturalist/arboriculturalist. He began his career at the University of British Columbia's Botanical Garden, and over the next forty years assumed responsibility for conserving 25,000 trees across the Point Grey campus and taught courses in native plant studies. Now retired, Varner is an avid photographer, world traveller, and the bestselling author of The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest and Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast.

Targeted print and online media pitches (interviews, features, reviews):

• Vancouver Sun, Trek magazine (UBC), Discovery, British Columbia magazine, Common Ground, BC BookWorld, Nature Vancouver, 49th Shelf, ReadLocal BC

Author events:

• Virtual book launch with Friends of the UBC Botanical Gardens 

Outreach to natural history, botanical, and ecological organizations:

• Native Plant Society of BC, Federation of BC Naturalists, Vancouver Botanical Gardens Association, Nature Vancouver, Vancouver Natural History Society, UBC Botanical Garden, UBC Farm, Stanley Park Ecology Society, Canadian Botanical Association, West Coast N.E.S.T.

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• Facebook Ads

Marketing & promo deliverables:

• Electronic blads/ARCs
• Online banner
• Press Release

Finalist, 2021 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing

A fascinating account of the century-long effort to define, access, preserve, develop, and exploit the uniquely beautiful area of rugged wilderness now known as Strathcona Provincial Park on Central Vancouver Island.

Strathcona Provincial Park is situated in the middle of Vancouver Island, bordering Clayoquot Sound on the west, Port Alberni on the south, and a large property once known as the Esquimalt and Nanaimo (E&N) land grant on the east. Measuring 250,000 hectares, this breathtaking park, with its gorgeous mountains, lakes, and waterfalls, is a nature lover's paradise. Yet behind this picture of serenity lies a volatile history.

A Journey Back to Nature: A History of Strathcona Provincial Park takes a comprehensive look at this rich, beautiful stretch of wilderness and the competing interests that struggled to protect it, define it, and/or control it—from Indigenous Peoples, who have lived on the land for millennia, to European explorers and industrialists, who could not see beyond the wealth of its natural resources, to early conservationists and enterprising settlers, who wished to preserve the area as a wilderness playground for BC's booming population and nascent tourist industry. Over the course of a century, Strathcona Provincial Park was frequently at the centre of some of the most heated public debates in BC history, between economic and environmental interests. This detailed account—lavishly illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs and maps—uncovers the intriguing history, complex legacy, and majestic natural beauty of BC's first provincial park.

Catherine Marie Gilbert is an author, historian, and lecturer, whose interest in BC coastal life, past and present, is evident in her work. In 2018, she completed her master's thesis on the environmental history of Strathcona Provincial Park and obtained her masters degree in Public History from the University of Victoria. She is the author of Yorke Island and the Uncertain War: Defending Canada's Western Coast, and her articles have appeared in Western Mariner, BC Historical Federation Journal, BC Studies, and Escape.

Targeted print, online, and broadcast media (interviews, features, reviews):

• Times Colonist, Comox Valley Record, Alberni Valley News, Vancouver Sun, BC History, BC Studies, Ormsby Review, The Torch (UVic), Canada’s History, Nanaimo News Bulletin, Campbell River Mirror, BC BookWorld, 49th Shelf, Read Local BC, CBC Victoria, CTV Victoria, CHEK TV

Author events:

• Virtual launch at Campbell River Museum
• Author talk to the Campbell River Writers Group
• North Island Writers Conference (Courtenay)

Outreach to history, natural history, tourism, and literary organizations:

• Strathcona Wilderness Institute, Victoria Natural History Society; Vancouver Island Historical Societies, Friends of the BC Archives, Sierra Club, Tourism Vancouver Island, University of Victoria Dept. of History, North Island College, Strathcona Lodge alumni (employees), BC Historical Federation, Federation of BC Writers, Words on the Water Writers’ Festival (Campbell River)

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• BC Studies
• Facebook Ads
• Social media campaign via the author’s website, blog, FB page, LinkedIn, and YouTube channel

Marketing and promo deliverables:

• Electronic ARC / blad
• Online banner
• Press release

A newly revised and updated edition of the classic pictorial account of the Cariboo Gold Rush trail.

First published in 1960, Wagon Road North is the quintessential popular history book chronicling gold-rush-era BC. Focusing on the Cariboo Wagon Road—the crucial transportation route stretching from Fort Yale to Barkerville that made it possible for tens of thousands of prospectors to make their way to the Cariboo goldfields in the 1860s—this newly updated, expanded, and re-designed edition brings to life the adventures, hardships, and blind ambitions of the men and women who risked everything in the quest for gold. Packed with more than one hundred archival photos, many of them rarely seen, as well as maps and contemporary images of historical sites, this fascinating book is a visual celebration of a pivotal chapter in early BC history.

Targeted print, online, and broadcast media (interviews, features, reviews):

• Canada’s History, BC History, BC Studies, Ormsby Review, Vernon Morning Star, Vancouver Sun, BC BookWorld, The Orca.ca, 49th Shelf, Read Local BC, CBC Daybreak South, CBC Daybreak North, CBC Kamloops

Author events:

• Author readings at the Vernon, Clinton, and 100 Mile House public libraries
• Author signing at Chapters Kamloops
• Reading and book signing at O’Keefe Historic Ranch

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• Facebook Ads

Marketing & promo deliverables:

• Electronic blads/ARCs
• Online banner
• Press Release

Finalist, 2021 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing

An intriguing look at the accomplishments and contradictions of Joseph William McKay, best known as the founder of Nanaimo, BC, and one of the most successful Métis men to rise through the ranks of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the late nineteenth century.

When examining the history of British Columbia, one would be hard-pressed to find an Indigenous person who so successfully navigated the echelons of colonial power as did Joseph William McKay (1829–1900). McKay was Métis, born in Quebec, and began his career in Oregon during the dispute over the international boundary in 1845–46. After moving north, he met his mentor James Douglas and, at age twenty-three, was given the job of building the city of Nanaimo from the ground up and establishing its coal mines.

McKay made several exploratory trips with Douglas during the Gold Rush, and he surveyed the route for the Overland Telegraph, which ran throughout BC. He rose through the ranks of the Hudson’s Bay Company, eventually earning the appointment of Chief Factor, the company’s highest rank. This was at a time when few Indigenous employees of HBC were permitted to rise beyond the rank of postmaster.

After leaving the company in 1878, McKay began a second career in the Department of Indian Affairs. He was a federal Indian Agent and later the Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs for British Columbia. A product of his time who had found personal success working within the colonial system, McKay is a complicated figure when viewed through a twenty-first-century lens. He advocated on behalf of Indigenous Peoples when he tried to prevent the trespass of CPR crews and European settlers on their ancestral land. Between 1886 and 1888, he personally inoculated more than a thousand Indigenous people with the smallpox vaccine. Yet, he also participated in a system that did untold harm to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people. This fascinating new biography sheds light on an accomplished and complex man.

Targeted print, online, and broadcast media outreach:

• Times Colonist, Nanaimo News Bulletin, Vancouver Sun, Alberni Valley News, Canada's History, BC History, BC Studies, Ormsby Review, BC BookWorld, British Columbia magazine, The Torch (UVic), 49th Shelf, Read Local BC, 49th Shelf, The Orca.ca, CBC Victoria, CHLY Radio (VIU), CBC Kamloops, CBC North by Northwest 

Events:

• Book signing at the Nanaimo Museum
• Author talks to the Mid-Island Metis Association, VIU Elder College, Port Alberni Words on Fire, Federation of BC Writers

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• BC Books for BC Schools
• BC Studies
• Canada's History
• Facebook Ads

Outreach to historical, educational, and Indigenous organizations:

• Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation
• Canadian Metis associations
• Vancouver Island historical societies
• Friends of the BC Archives
• Elder Colleges

Marketing + promo deliverables:

• Electronic ARCs/ blads
• Online banner
• Press release

Winner, BC Historical Federation's Community History Book Award 2021

The true story of an adventurous young nurse who provided much-needed health care to the rural communities of the Cariboo-Chilcotin in the 1960s.

In 1963, newly minted public health nurse Marion McKinnon arrived in the small community of Williams Lake in BC's Cariboo region. Armed with more confidence than experience, she got into her government-issued Chevy—packed with immunization supplies, baby scales, and emergency drugs—and headed out into her 9,300-square-kilometre territory, inhabited by ranchers; mill workers; and many vulnerable men, women, and children who were at risk of falling through the cracks of Canada's social welfare system.

At twenty-two, a naïve yet enthusiastic Marion relied entirely on her academic knowledge and her common sense. She doled out birth control and parenting advice to women who had far more life experience than she. She routinely dealt with condescending doctors and dismissive or openly belligerent patients. She immunized school children en masse and made home visits to impoverished communities. She drove out into the vast countryside in freezing temperatures, with only a candle, antifreeze, chains, and chocolate bars as emergency equipment.

In one year, Marion received a rigorous education in the field. She helped countless people, made many mistakes, learned to recognize systemic injustice, and even managed to get into a couple of romantic entanglements. Always Pack a Candle is an unforgettable and eye-opening memoir of one frontline worker's courage, humility, and compassion.

Marion McKinnon Crook is a nurse, an educator, and the author of more than fifteen books. She began writing short stories in the 1960s while working as a public health nurse in the Cariboo. In addition to her nursing degree, McKinnon Crook holds a master's in liberal studies, and a PhD in education. Now a full-time writer, she lives on BC's Sunshine Coast with her dog and cat, who hate each other. For more information, visit marioncrookauthor.com.

Targeted print, online, and broadcast media outreach:

• Coast Reporter (Sunshine Coast), The Torch, Vancouver Sun, BC BookWorld, 49th Shelf, Read Local BC, CBC North by Northwest, CBC Daybreak North (Prince George), CBC Victoria (Sunshine Coast), News 1130 Book Shelf

Events:

• Author reading at Gibson's Library
• Book signings at Sechelt Library, Vancouver Public Library

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• BC Studies
• Canada's History
• Facebook Ads
• Social media campaign via author's website and Facebook page

Promotion to the BC History of Nursing Society, nursing associations, BC historical societies, Sunshine Coast Festival

Marketing + promo deliverables:

• Electronic ARCs/ blads
• Online banner
• Press release

A funny, heart-warming ode to motherhood written by an award-winning journalist and humour columnist.

For Susan Lundy, motherhood began when she moved into her boyfriend's Salt Spring Island home at the age of twenty-one. Her new living arrangement came with furniture, a pair of kids, and a biting gerbil named Quasimodo. Susan was a career-oriented budding journalist, eager to write her way to fame and fortune. Becoming a mom was not part of her plan—at least not yet. But after surveying her new domicile with quiet horror at first, she grew into her new role, discarding many of the lessons her mother had given her about keeping house and inventing her own rules as she went along.

By the time her two daughters were born, Susan had already fallen deeply in love with motherhood. Moreover, she chronicled her family's topsy-turvy Gulf Island life in a collection of popular newspaper and magazine columns. Home on the Strange follows Susan's journey from pregnancy to parenthood, career milestones to birds-and-bees talks, separation to new love at mid-life, and cross-country road trips to empty nesting during a global pandemic. Charming, poignant, and frequently hilarious, this is the perfect book for mothers or moms-to-be at any stage of their journey.

Targeted print and online media (interviews, features, reviews):

• Times Colonist, Vancouver Sun, Island Parent, Black Press, Boulevard Magazine, The Torch, Gulf Islands Driftwood, Ormsby Review, Calgary Herald, Kelowna News, 49th Shelf, BC BookWorld, Read Local BC

Targeted broadcast media:

• CBC Victoria, CBC Vancouver, CHEK TV, CTV Morning Vancouver, CKNW, CBC Kelowna, CBC North by Northwest, CBC The Next Chapter, CBC Calgary “The Eye Opener”, CTV Calgary

Events:

• Signing events in collaboration with Boulevard Magazine in Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, and Nanaimo
• Author reading at Salt Spring Library
• Signing event in Calgary
• Events and promotions to coincide with Mothers Day 2021

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• Facebook Ads
• Social media campaign via author website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram

Marketing + promo deliverables:

• Electronic ARCs / blads
• Online banner
• Press release

 

An inspiring and eye-opening collection of true stories about sixteen women who blazed their own trails in life and contributed in a fundamental way to the history of Vancouver Island and the surrounding islands.

In this fascinating follow-up to On Their Own Terms, author Haley Healey chronicles the lives of a whole new crop of resilient, hard-working, rule-breaking, diverse women who lived on and around Vancouver Island. Flourishing and Free introduces readers to Sylvia Stark, who was born into slavery in Missouri and went on to become a homesteader on Salt Spring Island; Mary Ann Croft, the first female lighthouse keeper in all of Canada; Victoria Chung, the first Asian-Canadian person to earn a medical degree, who provided urgent care during the Second World War; Barbara Touchie (Sicquu?u?), who dedicated forty years of her life to revitalizing and sharing the Nuu-chah-nulth language; Minnie Paterson, who completed an epic night hike through a west coast storm to rescue sailors shipwrecked on a tempestuous shoreline known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific"; and many more. Uplifting, empowering, and entertaining, this concise collection of stories will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about the unsung heroines of the West Coast.

Print, online, and broadcast media outreach (interviews, features, reviews):

• Times Colonist, Nanaimo News Bulletin, Harbour Living, Alberni Valley News, Campbell River Mirror, Westerly News, Ormsby Review, BC History, BC Bookworld, CBC Victoria, CHLY Radio (VIU), News 1130 Book Shelf

Events:

• Virtual book launch, Facebook Live
• Author talks at Parksville Museum, Salt Spring Island Museum & Archives, Campbell River Museum, Port Alberni Museum, Ladysmith, Museum

Advance promotion timed with International Women’s Day 2021

Advertising:

• BC BookWorld
• BC Books for BC Schools
• Facebook Ads
• Social media campaign via author’s website and Facebook page

Marketing and promo deliverables:

• Electronic ARC/ BLADS
• Online banner
• Press release

Set between Kansas and Saskatchewan in 1907, this middle-grade novel follows a young boy who gets separated from his family en route to Canada and must find his way alone across the immense prairie landscape.

Following the sudden death of his eldest brother, twelve-year-old Peter is chosen by his father to travel by train from Kansas to Saskatchewan to help set up the new family homestead. But when Peter's boxcar becomes uncoupled from the rest of the train somewhere in South Dakota, he finds himself lost and alone on the vast prairie.

For a sheltered boy who has only read about adventures in books, Peter is both thrilled and terrified by the journey ahead. Along the way, he faces real dangers, from poisonous snakes to barn fires; meets people from all walks of life, including famous author Mark Twain; and grows more resourceful, courageous, and self-reliant as he makes his way across the Midwest to the Canadian border, eventually reaching his new home in Drake, Saskatchewan. The journey expands Peter's view of the world and shows him that the bonds of family and community, regardless of background, are universal and filled with love. Packed with excitement and adventure, this coming-of-age novel features a strong and likeable young protagonist and paints a realistic portrait of prairie life in the early twentieth century.

Targeted print, online, and broadcast media outreach (interviews, features, reviews):

• Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, Quill & Quire, Prairie Books Now, 49th Shelf Kids, Island Parent, Winnipeg Free Press, The Carillon, Canadian Mennonite, Globe and Mail, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book News, CM magazine, CBC Winnipeg, Golden West Radio (Prairies)

Events:

• Book launch at McNally Robinson Winnipeg
• Author readings at Winnipeg schools, Winnipeg Public Library, Mennonite Heritage Village (Steinbach) 

Online promotion:

• Social media campaign via author’s daily blog “What Next?,” and on her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and E-newsletter feeds, updated daily. 

Potential blurbers:

• Dora Dueck, Harriet Zaidman, Colleen Nelson, Beryl Young, Joan Thomas, Anita Daher (president of the Canadian Writers Union)

Promotion to school, library, historical, and literary organizations:

• Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg, Manitoba Museum, Winnipeg Railway Museum, Western Development Museum (Saskatoon), Manitoba Writers Guild, Canadian Mennonite University, Telling Tales Festival, CANSCAIP Saskatchewan writing conference, Thin Air Festival (Winnipeg), Canadian Writers Union, When Words Collide (Calgary), BCLA Summer Reading Club 

Marketing and promo deliverables:

• Electronic ARC 
• Bookmark
• Press release
• Online banner

A young Indigenous girl moves to the big city and learns to find connections to her culture and the land wherever she goes, despite encountering bullies and feelings of isolation along the way.

When Little Wolf moves to the big city with her mom and sister, she has difficulty adjusting to their new life. She misses living close to nature and seeing animals wherever she goes, and she misses fishing with her grandfather and seeing dolphins leaping beside their boat. Most of all, she misses feeling connected to her culture.

At school, Little Wolf has trouble fitting in. Although her class has kids from many different cultures, no one is Heiltsuk, like her. The other kids call her names and make her feel unwelcome. Her only defence is to howl like a wolf so they run away. But this only isolates her further.

Gradually, Little Wolf starts to see the beauty in her new surroundings. She discovers that there is wildlife everywhere, even in the big city. An otter swims beside her as she walks on the seawall. A chickadee chirps in a tree in the big park near her house. And her mother helps her stay connected to their culture by signing them up for beading and dance classes. Despite the difficult start, Little Wolf grows up proud of her background and ready to face the future. This inspiring tale, the first in a trilogy, combines traditional and contemporary Indigenous themes and artwork.

MARKETING & PROMO:

• National, regional, and subject-specific print features, excerpts, review coverage, broadcast and television interviews
• Outreach to subject-specific organizations, markets and festivals
• Regional author tour
• Electronic ARCs

TARGETED MEDIA: 

• Quill & Quire, CM Magazine, Indigenous Books for Canadian Schools, Best Books For Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book News, Salish Sea Sentinel, Windspeaker, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, APTN, CBC Radio (North by Northwest, On the Island, All Points West, The Next Chapter, Unreserved), CBC TV Vancouver, Global BC News

 Outreach to BC First Nations Education Steering Committee, Authentic First Peoples Resources for Use in K-9 Classrooms

POTENTIAL BLURBERS:

• Richard Van Camp, Julie Flett, Monique Gray Smith, David A. Robertson, Sara Florence Davidson, Carey Newman, Paul Windsor, Shawn Hunt, Shelagh Rogers, Mark Forsythe, Wade Compton, Sherly McKay  

EVENTS:

• Author readings at schools and libraries (BC and Ontario)
• Pitches to Fold Kids Book Fest, Telling Stories Festival, Victoria Festival of Authors

ADVERTISING:

• BC BookWorld
• BC Books for BC Schools
• Facebook Ads
• Social media campaign via author's Facebook and Instagram feeds

MARKETING AND PROMO DELIVERABLES:

• Electronic ARC / blad
• Bookmark
• Press release

With beautiful, scientifically accurate illustrations, this fascinating story teaches children about the many fish, crustaceans, marine mammals, and micro-organisms that live in and feed off the eelgrass meadows of the north Pacific coastal region.

“Recommended for school and public libraries regardless of their proximity to the west coast. Although works of fiction, the books contain a wealth of accessible facts.”—Resource Links

“A major theme that emerges is the need to respect and care for the ocean environment and to understand the harmony among its inhabitants. These appealing, fact-rich books go a long way to enhancing that understanding for young readers. Highly recommended.”—CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Sam and Crystal’s coastal adventure continues as brother and sister dive deeper—literally—into the marine habitats of Eagle Cove, home of Aunt Kate and Uncle Charlie. In their third adventure, the kids learn about one of the most ecologically important ecosystems on the west coast: the eelgrass meadow. This rich habitat provides food and shelter to countless marine critters—from tiny micro-organisms to juvenile fish, and is the basis of a gigantic food web that supports herring, salmon, black bears, humpback whales and many other species. Ada, an Indigenous woman from nearby Salmon Bay Village, tells the children about her people’s knowledge of land and sea, complementing Aunt Kate’s Western scientific teachings and reinforcing the importance of respecting nature. Combining an entertaining story with gorgeous imagery and the author’s scientific background and extensive work with Indigenous Elders and educators, Explore the Eelgrass Meadow with Sam and Crystal brings the coastline to life for children ages eight and up.

Gloria Snively is a professor emeritus of science, environmental, and marine education in the Faculty of Education, University of Victoria; a former classroom teacher of primary and junior secondary grades; and a founding member of the Northwest Association of Marine Educators. In addition to the Sam and Crystal series, she is the author of the classic bestselling field guide Exploring the Seashore in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon and (with Wanosta'a7 Lorna Williams) Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science.

Media and Publicity:  

• Print, online, and broadcast media outreach (interviews, features, reviews): Times Colonist, Goldstream Gazette, Peninsula News, BC Books for BC Schools, Quill & Quire, CM Magazine, Best Books For Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book News, 49thShelfKids, Green Teacher Magazine, National Geographic Kids, WILD Magazine; CBC Radio: All Points West, North by Northwest      
• Direct marketing outreach to marine education and conservation organizations including: Northwest Association of Marine Educators (NAME) BookFest (Nanaimo), Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication (EECOM), Canadian Wildlife Federation    
• Festival submissions: TD Canadian Children’s Book Week,Victoria Festival of Authors, Galiano Island Literary Festival, Sunshine Coast Literary Festival  

Marketing + Promo Deliverables:

• Electronic blad / sampler     
• Electronic ARC     
• Online banner       
• Press release