Second Story Press

10/11/2025

This year’s theme for International Day of the Girl Child is “The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis” 🌟

Across the world, there are girls leading the charge and fighting for change in their countries and communities. Their voices are representative of a new generation and show the power girls can have from a young age!

On this day, we’re highlighting Kate Graham’s RUN THE WORLD LIKE A GIRL: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN LEADERS, a middle grade nonfiction book that contains profiles of twelve influential women in politics. It explores their origin stories—what inspired them to become world leaders? Who were they as girls? RUN THE WORLD LIKE A GIRL will inspire young girls and show that no matter your age, background, or gender, girls have the ability to run the world! 🌏

Available October 14, 2025. For ages 9-12.

10/09/2025

Eve Zaremba, pioneering feminist, activist, and author, has died peacefully with the assistance of MAID, at home on October 8, 2025, with the love and support of Ottie Lockey, her wife of forty-seven years.

Born in Kalisz, Poland, in 1930, Eve fled to the UK after the outbreak of World War II, then later emigrated to Canada. Active in the Women’s Liberation Movement in the seventies and eighties, Eve was a founding member of Broadside: A Feminist Review published in Toronto from 1978 to 1988. Beloved for her enduring legacy to Canada’s feminist literary scene, Eve created the first le***an detective in North American fiction, the fiercely intelligent and blunt Helen Keremos, spanning six books. We at Second Story are honoured to have published four titles in this groundbreaking series: Beyond Hope, Uneasy Lies, The Butterfly Effect, and White Noise.

While Eve will always be known for smashing glass ceilings, she will also be remembered for being a voracious lover of life. Fellow Canadian feminist, author, and activist, Susan Cole, honoured Eve in her obituary, writing, “We will always remember her courage, determination, curiosity, and humour.… In the early 1970s, when there were very few le***ans willing to be visible, Eve was out and proud, driving around in her cherished muscle car—she became a collector of hubcaps—and demonstrating to younger women how to live an authentic life.… Fearless. Loyal. Wise. Funny. There won’t be another one like her.”

We wholeheartedly agree.

~~

Image of Eve Zaremba at the 2019 launch for INSIDE BROADSIDE: A DECADE OF FEMINIST JOURNALISM edited by Philinda Masters with the Broadside Collective. Photo credit: Shan Qiao.

10/08/2025

It’s Banned Books Week! 🚫📚

This week is dedicated to fighting book bans, during a time when censorship is more relevant than ever. Book bans disproportionately target underrepresented voices and themes about race, gender identity, and sexual identity and orientation.

As school libraries and bookshelves face the threat of censorship, celebrate the diversity of these three banned books!

📕PHOENIX GETS GREATER by Marty Wilson-Trudeau with Phoenix Wilson, illustrated by Megan-Kyak Monteith
📕CIEL by Sophie Labelle
📕PRIDE AND PERSISTENCE by Mary Fairhurst Breen

10/07/2025

THE LIGHT KEEPER is the recipient of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award in the Children & Youth category!
“Told from a child’s perspective, their themes—overcoming fears, family responsibility, and the importance of community—are universal… The atmospheric illustrations rendered in sepia and earth tones by Toronto artist Alice Priestley enrich a tale that touches the heart as it illuminates a chapter of our collective past.” —Canadian Jewish Literary Awards
THE LIGHT KEEPER is a gentle tale of bravery, empowerment and community, and the thrill of transformation. Shmuel is eager to help support his poor family, but no one in his shtetl is interested in hiring a ten-year-old boy. One day, the village installs new electric lamps, bringing light to their square and dazzling away the dark. Until a lamp breaks during a storm—and Shmuel is the only one who can fix it. Will Shmuel be able to conquer his fear of heights and bring light back to his town?
Congratulations to authors Sheila Baslaw and Karen Levine, and illustrator Alice Priestley!

10/06/2025

Happy to LE POUVOIR D'UNE PERLE by Kelsey Borgford, illustrated by Tessa Pizzale, and translated by Isabelle Montagnier.
LE POUVOIR D'UNE PERLE has been translated to French from Kelsey Borgford and Tessa Pizzale's original English language picture book WHAT'S IN A BEAD?

Tessa adore l’odeur d’histoires de feu de camp de sa grand-mère. Sa maman lui explique que Kohkom passe ses journées à coudre de magnifiques perles sur des peaux fumées. Tessa décide de demander à Kohkom de lui apprendre à perler, mais elle doit d’abord écouter et apprendre la multitude d’histoires que contient chaque perle.
La célébration de l’artisanat, du langage, et de l’apprentissage dans la tradition cri. L’échange tendre de connaissances entre Tessa et son kohkom sera reconnu par de nombreux enfants. Les lecteurs apprendront qu’il y a de différentes techniques de perlage selon la communauté autochtone et que cette forme d’art traditionnel est toujours vivante et florissante. Également disponible sous le titre What’s in a Bead? en anglais.
6 à 9 ans
Available now 📚

10/05/2025

To every teacher and educator around the world: thank you for all of your hard work 🍎We are grateful to the classrooms that have given Second Story Press books a new home!

Educators play a vital role in students’ lives by fostering valuable learning opportunities and safe spaces. The effort that goes into making classrooms a place for students to grow is essential to students’ learning, which is why it is important to also support teachers and their rights as workers.

10/04/2025

October is Global Diversity Awareness Month 🌎

This month is all about celebrating diversity and all of the cultures, backgrounds, and ethnicities that enrich our communities. It’s a time to celebrate your own heritage, while also learning about the cultures of those around you!

Swipe for books that feature diverse voices, characters, and perspectives ➡️

10/02/2025

This Sunday, October 5, 2025, join Tamara Levine, Author at The Spaniel's Tale Bookstore for a reading of her book, THE WARMEST BLANKET IN THE WORLD!

📍The Spaniel's Tale Bookstore, 1131 Wellington St. W, Ottawa, ON
⏰ Sunday, October 5, 2025 — 10:00 - 11:00 AM

About the book: Frida loves spending time with her great-grandmother, Ama, and listening to her inspiring stories of activism. Ama believes in helping people, especially children and families. But Ama has one big problem. She is always cold. Her fingers feel like ice cubes, and sometimes, she feels like she lives inside a refrigerator. Frida has to do something to help, just like Ama taught her. With the help of a kind person named Tanis, and a special kind of wool called qiviut, Frida finds the perfect way to keep Ama warm!

10/01/2025

I AM NOT A NUMBER by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gillian Newland, was featured in an article in the Hamilton Spectator about truth and reconciliation

"As we acknowledge the National Day of Truth Reconciliation this week, we should be reminded that we share a collective responsibility to learn and unlearn about our past and present, and hope this will lead to a better future"

Read the full article here: https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/what-our-children-can-teach-us-about-truth-and-reconciliation/article_cecff43c-6bd2-5eb3-b4d5-9a48b2f290c8.html

About the book: When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from, despite the efforts of the nuns who are in charge at the school and who tell her that she is not to use her own name but instead use the number they have assigned to her. When she goes home for summer holidays, Irene's parents decide never to send her and her brothers away again. But where will they hide? And what will happen when her parents disobey the law? Based on the life of co-author Jenny Kay Dupuis’ grandmother, I Am Not a Number is a hugely necessary book that brings a terrible part of Canada’s history to light in a way that children can learn from and relate to.

Our children are growing up in a very different world than we did.

10/01/2025

RUN THE WORLD LIKE A GIRL: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN LEADERS by Kate Graham has a starred review in School Library Journal! ⭐️

"For collections in need of more diversity in their political leader sections, this book will make a great addition."

RUN THE WORLD LIKE A GIRL tells the inspirational stories of twelve girls from across the globe who became leaders of their countries. Who were they as young people? What motivated them? Although they came from different backgrounds and different paths, they shared the same desire for positive change—and the belief that they could be the ones to bring it.

Publishing October 14, 2025. For ages 9-12.

Read the full starred review here:

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09/30/2025

CAN POSTERS KILL?: ANTISEMITIC PROPAGANDA AND WORLD WAR II is Booklist’s Review of the Day!

Written by Jerry Faivish with Kathryn Cole, CAN POSTERS KILL? analyzes historical posters from WWII to show how powerful propaganda can be when used as a tool for spreading hate, and gives readers the necessary skills to critically interpret visual language and identify and resist messages of hate. For ages 13+

Read the full ⭐starred review here: https://www.booklistonline.com/products/9813275