Staff Reviews

Staff Reviews

Kids / YA Review July 2026

Finding My Spark by Isabelle Jameson

Alex, the protagonist of this picture book, knows he is a boy. He can’t bring himself to say – out loud – the words in his head. His feelings begin his story – worried, afraid, unhappy. The illustrations convey these very well.

Eventually, Alex writes a letter to his mom. She helps him to draw a picture to show his family, and then he tells his class. He wants people to use he/him pronouns. He wants to be called Alex.

His feelings change - relieved, brave, happy. He had the feelings before he had the words. A picture helps him tell his truth.

I remember an altercation with another child – Marty - when I was small. Grown-up interventions ensued. “What happened” was explained by others. I thought, “That’s not right.” It was so obvious in my head - but I didn’t have the words to clarify the facts or my feelings – also I was crying. Feeling powerless to communicate a correction, is what I remember most. (If I met Marty today, I’d explain the whole thing!)

All kids have felt worried or afraid or unhappy. All kids would rather feel relieved or brave or happy. I think this picture book will support many kids to feel these emotions themselves and/or have empathy for others. It might even help them to find words about a specific truth in their own lives. We hope there is room for this Canadian book in your library.

Picture Book pr8383099

 

 

Adult Review July 2026

The Plunge: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water by Chris Ballard

A look at cold water swimming, from solo and community quick dippers to events organized by the nascent International Ice Swimming Association, held around the world.

As with “Born to Run,” this is very much a character study of fascinating outliers and eccentrics, along with those dealing with trauma, from the famous (Lynne Cox, Wim Hoff), prize winning (a US Olympic swim team member) and everyday (a CDN getting over the loss of his wife). It also, much like James Nestor’s “Breath” is filled with very readable popular science in greater depth with historical and current research. I haven’t had a book more fun to read than this, year to date.

Adult Non-Fiction pr8342608

  

Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon

A satirical noir in the form of a 1930s private eye thriller that looks at the emerging threats of fascism and new technologies, this is the Great American cheese novel you didn’t know you needed.

Adult Fiction pr8096175

  

 

 

 

Details
Category: Collection Development

LBI's Bound To Be Hits lists (available for Music CDs and Vinyl) are released monthly. New releases are presented by genre and audience age level. The lists are available on our website in either a full content browsing format or a quick order list format. The lists are available electronically to our customers and a hard copy format is available upon request. In addition to UPC barcodes, both lists includes icons which indicate Canadian content and parental advisory.

 BTBH 2020 BTBH 2020

The Bound To Be Hits selection lists are produced by Tracy Reid, Manager, Music and Video Games. Tracy has 20+ years of experience in her role at Library Bound. Her efforts in growing the music supply business have resulted in direct purchasing arrangements with all the major studios.

Details
Category: Collection Development

Telling Tales is a Canadian, not-for-profit organization committed to inspiring a love of reading and raising awareness of the importance of literacy in our communities. They do this by bringing Canadian authors, illustrators, musicians and storytellers together with their audiences: our children.

Telling Tales is building a community of readers, writers and story-tellers with Canada’s diverse communities including English, French and Aboriginal authors, artists, musicians and poets to engage even the most reluctant reader.

Library Bound is proud to be the Official Library Wholesaler for Telling Tales.

To access the Telling Tales Reading List, click the following link

Details
Category: Collection Development

Library Bound provides publisher catalogues from our website. Catalogues are presented with options to view the adult or children’s selections within seasons (Spring, Fall or Winter). Each catalogue cover is displayed along with the corresponding number of titles. LBI posts on-line 1,000+ publisher catalogues annually. 

 

Details
Category: Collection Development

Library Bound offers a comprehensive Standing Orders program for both Adult and Children’s titles. Any title that releases annually or semi-annually can be placed on a Standing Order program with LBI. Through our program we are able to negotiate the best possible discounts through consolidated bulk purchasing and we then pass these savings on to the Library. LBI sends master publications lists for Reference titles and Children’s Reference titles and requests that the Library identifies the annual reference titles they are interested in, as well as the quantity of copies, order code and cataloguing and processing requirements (i.e. REF or CIRC). Additional title requests from the library can be added to the profile. LBI also manages subscription services and loose-leaf through publishers such as Carswell, CCH and other vendors.

Library Bound can organize the transfer of any existing standing order titles from other vendors, and/or wholesalers. Online management features for Standing Orders include the option for the Library to assign a specific order code to track and view Standing Orders spending. If the Library has multiple order codes for standing orders, a specific username will be created so that all funds may be tracked.

Subcategories

Bestsellers

Current seasons BS Lists

Kids

Kids Colldev

Staff Favourites

Ron

List of Ron's favourites

Helen

Helen's fav

Dan

Dan's fav

Connect With Us Today

Library Bound (LBI) is Canada's premier material supplier to public libraries.  Connect with us to see how we can help through reliable efficiencies and assisted delivery.

 
Joomla3 Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux