The Canadian Literature Collection highlights the diversity and talent of Canadian authors. Representing the broad range of genres and traditions reflected in Candian Literature, this Collection includes fiction by Margaret Atwood, John Irving, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and other Canadian writers who have shaped the nation's literary canon.
Publication year 1996
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Environment, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Natural World: Food
Tags Action / Adventure, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature
Set in Canada, American author Will Hobbs’s young-adult novel Far North (1996) follows Gabe Rogers, who lives with his grandparents in Austin, Texas. When Gabe tells his father that he wants to live with him in Canada, his father tells him he may on two conditions. First, Gabe must travel up north to experience the severe cold of the Northwest Territories for one year. Second, he must attend boarding school. While flying through Canada with... Read Far North Summary
Publication year 2010
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Society: Education, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride
Tags Education, Children's Literature, History: World, Biography
Fatty Legs: A True Story is the 2010 autobiographical account of author Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton’s childhood experience in one of Canada’s residential schools for Indigenous children in the 19th and 20th centuries. This study guide is based on the 10th anniversary edition, in which several supplemental chapters written by Pokiak-Fenton’s daughter-in-law explain the larger context of colonialism that created the residential school system. These residential schools represented an attempt to strip Indigenous students of their cultural... Read Fatty Legs Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Friendship, Society: Immigration
Tags Realistic Fiction, Humor, Romance, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Gender, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Society: Class, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, LGBTQ, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Magical Realism, Asian Literature, Gender / Feminism, Fantasy
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Magical Realism, Realistic Fiction, Animals, Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Philosophy, Philosophy
Fifteen Dogs (2015) is an allegorical novel by André Alexis. The book is an apologue with a fable-like narrative focused on animals and morality, and it also contains elements of magical realism. It is the second of five planned novels exploring love, faith, place, power, and hatred. Fifteen Dogs was the 2017 Canada Reads selection.Plot SummaryIn a Toronto pub, Greek gods Apollo and Hermes debate the merits of humans and their capacity for symbolic language... Read Fifteen Dogs Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Identity: Language
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Gender / Feminism, Humor, Canadian Literature
Publication year 2021
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Flora/plants, Identity: Gender, Society: Community
Tags Science / Nature, Biography
Publication year 2023
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Climate, Natural World: Flora/plants, Society: Economics, Society: Globalization, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Science / Nature, Climate Change, Natural Disaster, Politics / Government, History: World
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Race
Tags Historical Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, History: World
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Fame
Tags Romance, Sports
Publication year 1990
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature, Education, Education, History: World, Historical Fiction, Chinese Literature, Action / Adventure
William Bell’s 1990 young adult fiction novel, Forbidden City: A Novel of Modern China, dramatizes the story of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The coming-of-age story is told in diary form, narrated from the point of view of a 17-year-old Canadian high school student, Alex Jackson. During the massacre, Alex comes very close to losing everything he holds dear, as he becomes separated from his reporter father, Ted Jackson, and has to trust to the... Read Forbidden City Summary
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Relationships: Friendship, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Action / Adventure, Humor, Children's Literature, Realistic Fiction, Animals
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Class
Tags Humor, Absurdism, Modern Classic Fiction, French Literature
Publication year 1990
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Family
Tags Allegory / Fable / Parable, Grief / Death, Gender / Feminism, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Modern Classic Fiction, Canadian Literature, Classic Fiction
“Friend of My Youth” is the title short story from the collection of the same name by Alice Munro, published in 1990. The collection won the 1990 Trillium Book Award, which recognizes writers from Ontario, Canada.Narrated in the first person, the story is told from the perspective of an unnamed female writer in mourning for her mother, who died some years earlier of Parkinson’s disease. The narrator describes a recurrent dream that she used to... Read Friend of My Youth Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Life/Time: Midlife
Tags Arts / Culture, Humor, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Biography, Mental Illness
Publication year 2019
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Identity: Indigenous, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Society: Community, Relationships: Family
Tags Inspirational, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Race / Racism, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Mental Illness, Biography
Publication year 1994
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Historical Fiction, History: World, LGBTQ
First published in 1994, Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai won critical acclaim for its portrayal of a young man’s coming of age as a gay Sri Lankan during the civil war crisis. It won a Lambda Literary Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award and tackles navigating sexuality, class partisanship, and emigration.Plot SummaryFunny Boy narrates the tale of young Arjie (Arjun) Chelvaratnam, a “funny” boy growing up in an upper-middle-class Sri Lankan home... Read Funny Boy Summary
Publication year 1999
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Fantasy, Action / Adventure, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Narrative / Epic Poem
Steven Erikson’s Garden of the Moon is an epic fantasy novel and the first installment in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Published in 1999, the novel follows a large cast of characters as they contend with the threat of an ever-expanding empire and grapple with ancient magical forces. Erikson, an anthropologist and archeologist by training, sets the novel in a fictional world peopled by human and non-human races, magic users, and a pantheon... Read Gardens of the Moon Summary
Publication year 1930
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Society: Class, Society: Nation, Society: War
Tags Education, Education, Military / War, History: World, Historical Fiction, WWI / World War I, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Love
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Romance, Relationships, Gender / Feminism