Fitting in at a new school is hard enough, but when you’re an awkward, big-nosed, nerdy Pakistani girl with a funny last name, it can seem impossible.

Eleven-year-old Alina Butt has changed schools four times already since her family moved to England from Pakistan. Even after all that practice, she doesn’t seem to be getting any better at being the new kid. Mocked for her last name and her "weird" lunches, Alina has had enough! Taking a leap of faith to try and stand out for the "right" reasons, Alina auditions for the school play. Her hopes of landing the lead role in Cinderella are dashed when her new friend gets the part of Cinderella instead...and her bully is cast as Prince Charming!

Alina must rely on her stubborn will and wacky sense of humor to survive the endlessly embarrassing and ridiculous situations she finds herself in and discover her own unique way to shine!

Ambreen Butt-Hussain was born in Pakistan but lived in England and Scotland before finally settling in Canada. She has a bachelor of science from the University of Toronto and a master of education from Queen’s University. She currently teaches elementary school and lives in Milton, Ontario.

Marketing and Promotional Plans

• Print and online advertising campaigns
• Promotion at national and regional school, library and trade conferences
• Extensive ARC distribution, including NetGalley
• Blog and social media promotion
• Outreach in Orca newsletters

This is the true story of the journey of the Midnight Sun Mosque.

In 2010 a Winnipeg-based charity raised funds to build and ship a mosque to Inuvik, one of the most northern towns in Canada’s Arctic. A small but growing Muslim community there had been using a cramped trailer for their services, but there just wasn't enough space. The mosque travelled over 4,000 kilometers on a journey fraught with poor weather, incomplete bridges, narrow roads, low traffic wires and a deadline to get on the last barge heading up the Mackenzie River before the first winter freeze. But it made it just in time and is now one of the most northern mosques in the world.

This beautiful picture book reminds us that the collective dream of fostering a multicultural and tolerant Canada exists and that people of all backgrounds will come together to build bridges and overcome obstacles for the greater good of their neighbors.

Shazia Afzal has been a teacher and storyteller for over twenty years. Having immigrated to Canada in 2002, Shazia sought to live near her community mosque with every move. Because of her firsthand understanding of the challenges Muslim families face in new communities, the incredible story behind the construction and transportation of the Midnight Sun Mosque resonated with Shazia. She felt compelled to share the story with children who may not have heard of its epic adventure and to remind young readers that it is a blessing to live in a country where people are free to practice their faith. Shazia lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

Aliya Ghare graduated from OCAD University, where she majored in illustration and minored in English, with the hope of combining the two disciplines to write and illustrate children’s picture books and graphic novels. She enjoys creating visually rich and poetic imagery, and exploring social and political issues, as well as human interest subjects, in her work. In addition to illustrating picture books, her illustrative works range from editorial to advertising, surface design and more. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration and Adobe, and has been awarded by and published in the Applied Arts and 3x3 magazines. Aliya lives in Toronto.

Marketing and Promotional Plans

• Print and online advertising campaigns
• Promotion at national and regional school, library and trade conferences
• Extensive ARC distribution, including NetGalley
• Blog and social media promotion
• Outreach in Orca newsletters

Avec 45 ans d’expérience et de succès, Québec Amérique est l’une des plus grandes maisons d’édition indépendantes du Québec. Respectée par ses pairs et par les médias, la maison a su développer au fil des ans un solide réseau qui assure à ses titres une belle visibilité tous azimuts. Éditeur généraliste, la maison propose une vaste gamme de produits, avec un catalogue comptant plus de 900 titres actifs auquel s’ajoutent plusieurs applications et logiciels.

It's Ramadan, a time to focus on good deeds and to fast, and Badir and his brother, Anis, are out for a walk one evening while they wait for their iftar meal.

In the park Badir sees a rat. A very, very large rat. He soon learns it’s actually a beaver, an animal that doesn't live in Tunisia, the country Badir and his family have emigrated from. It turns out that some of the neighbors who enjoy the park think this beaver is a bit of a pest, but Badir thinks it's wonderful and learns everything he can about the iconic Canadian animal. When a petition is started to remove the beaver, Badir, who knows firsthand how difficult it is to leave your home behind, rallies his classmates to save it. And with a little help from new friends, the kids learn that collaboration and faith can change the way we think about the world.

Shannon Stewart teaches in a francophone school in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she has had the opportunity to meet and learn from students all over the world. She is the author of Sea Crow (Orca, 2004), Alphabad: An Alphabet Book for Wicked Children! (Key Porter Books, 2005) and Captain Jake (Orca, 2008). She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia.

Sabrina Gendron has a degree in visual arts from Cégep de Ste-Foy, as well as 2D/3D animation from Collège Bart. She loves to work on animation and visual arts projects and has illustrated a number of French-language books. Her art is colorful and lively and will make you want to dive into the worlds she has created. Sabrina lives in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec.

Through the teachings of their sensei, Riley and his classmates come to understand that aikido is not about winning or losing or about being perfect.

In the dojo, Riley meets boys who are much rougher than he is and a girl who is tougher than all the rest of them put together. For Wafaa, aikido is not her first choice. She was disqualified from competing in judo for wearing a hijab.From the first time she steps on the mat, it's clear she is far more skilled than anyone expected.

Sensei shows them all how to tap into their inner strength and find their place in the universe.

John Corr has a third-degree black belt in Yoshinkan Aikido as well as a PhD in English from McMaster University. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with his wife and three sons.

Ausma Zehanat Khan is the author of the Khattak/Getty mystery series, which has been optioned for television. A British-born Canadian, she is a former adjunct law professor and the former editor-in-chief of Muslim Girl magazine. She lives in Colorado with her husband.

El-Farouk Khaki (he/him) is a refugee lawyer, founder of Salaam: Queer Muslim Community (1991), and co-founder & imam of el-Tawhid Juma Circle: The Unity Mosque (2009). He is a co-owner of the Glad Day Bookshop, the world’s oldest LGBTIQ bookshop. Recipient of many awards and recognitions of his legal and spiritual activism, he is an activist, public speaker, writer, author & media commentator on: Islam, spiritual/religious trauma, LGBTIQ/human rights, refugees, politics, racism, HIV, & queer parenting.

Troy Jackson is a Black Nova Scotian, father, husband, Muslim, writer, performer and clothing designer based in Toronto. Troy’s work has shown at TIFF/Toronto International Film Festival, Inside Out Film Festival and at the Art Gallery of Ontario respectively. Jackson is also co-founder of the El-Tawhid Juma Circle Unity Mosque, a gender-equal, and LGBTQ2IS affirming Islamic Mosque founded in 2009.

A little-known fact about Katie Commodore is that she was born in Delaware, but didn’t live there long. Her amazing, indulgent, interracial parents instilled in her a love of travel and art and the knowledge that change is good. She currently lives in a Victorian mansion in Providence, Rhode Island, something she actually foretold in an autobiography she wrote in the 3rd grade. Katie is an exhibiting artist and is on the faculty at Rhode Island School of Design.

Ella’s grade-eleven year was a disaster (Audacious), but as summer approaches, things are looking up.

She’s back together with her brooding boyfriend, Samir, although they both want to keep that a secret. She’s also best buddies with David and still not entirely sure about making him boyfriend number two. Though part of her wants to conform to high school norms, the temptation to be radical is just too great. Managing two secret boyfriends proves harder than Ella expected, especially when Samir and David face separate family crises, and Ella finds herself at the center of an emotional maelstrom. Someone will get hurt. Someone risks losing true love. Someone might finally learn that self-serving actions can have public consequences. And that someone is Ella.

Gabrielle Prendergast is an award-winning writer, teacher and designer. She has written many books for young people including the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize winner, Zero Repeat Forever and the Westchester Award winner, Audacious. She lives in Vancouver with her family.

Rama and her family, are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the ravages of the civil war raging ever closer to their home

With only what they can carry on their backs, Rama and her mother, father, grandfather and brother, Sami, set out to walk to freedom in Europe. This unique picture book was inspired by the stone artwork of Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr, discovered by chance by Canadian children’s writer Margriet Ruurs. The author was immediately impressed by the strong narrative quality of Mr. Badr’s work, and, using many of Mr. Badr’s already-created pieces, she set out to create a story about the Syrian refugee crisis.

Orca Book Publishers is pleased to offer this book as a dual-language (English and Arabic) edition.

Margriet Ruurs is the author of many award-winning books for children. She enjoys speaking about reading and writing to students at schools around the world. Her adventures have taken her to such countries as Myanmar, Pakistan, Laos, Tanzania and many others. Margriet was born in the Netherlands but has been a Canadian for most of her life. She lives with her family on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.

Nizar Ali Badr has always been inspired to paint, sculpt and draw. In his walks along the seashore near the ancient port city of Ugarit, Syria, he always admired the stones on the beach and in the clear blue water. Now he gathers these stones and brings them home to his rooftop studio, where they become the medium for his art. Nizar has never left his hometown of Latakia, though in his heart he accompanies the many Syrians who have been forced to flee their homeland because of ongoing violence.

Falah Raheem is a Canadian/Iraqi translator and writer. He has published the translation of about twenty books from English to Arabic. His first novel The Parable of the Hedgehogs was published in Arabic in 2012. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.