King Leary Crowned in Canada Reads - Congrats Paul!

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www.bookshorts.com/blog -- Congratulations to our friend and colleague Paul Quarrington, and kudos to champion Dave Bidini, in today's KING LEARY'S win on CANADA READS!  There is so much great coverage of all the books (isn't soooo Canadian to obe soooo even handed in awards stuf - LOL!!) that we just want to add our little piece, directly from the boys themselves.

Come out to hear Paul's solo music performance at Hugh's Room on Tuesday night (Mar 4) and be sure to pick up the new Porkbellys Futures CD fronted by PQ with his long-time musical collaborator Martin Worthy and fab musicians Chas Elliott, Stuart Laughton, and Rebecca Campbell. www.porkbellys.com . PQ's next novel, The Ravine, hits the stores March 11.

(c) BookShorts Literacy Program; shot on location at Toronto Public Library, Pape Danforth Branch during FREEDOM TO READ WEEK.

FRANNIE IN PIECES by Delia Ephron saving the blues for last

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www.movingstories.tv -- Saving the blues for last is a wonderful subtitle for this teen novel, on a number of levels. The 15-year old protagonist, Frannie, loses her father to a sudden heart attack. Amongst his belongings, she finds a 1000-piece, handmade puzzle he has left behind, presumably for her. Drawn into its mesmerizing assembly, she literally saves the hardest part - the blue pieces of the sky and water - for last, and in the process, discovers her divorced parents love affair, works through her grief, her blues, and comes through complete. The novel makes you cry and laugh at the same time, just as Delia Ephron's famous books and films for adults have done (Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Hanging Up, and more).

(c) BookShorts.com with thanks to Book Expo America shot on location in New York; a Harper Teen publication.