Here is the full reference card for this book...
If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.
Canerk and the Village of Bearlyther
by Nancy Cantelon
36 pages; Saddle stitched; illustrated; catalogue #04-1076; ISBN 1-4120-3249-0; US$20.00, C$22.49, EUR16.50, £11.50
Visits by a disgruntled, ambitious grizzly bear and an audacious, aggressive computer salesman shake up the secluded world of Canerk, a quirky young girl living on a remote ice floe.
Read more!
About the Book About the Author Excerpts Catalogue Information
About the Book
Off the rugged coast of the mainland of British Columbia floats an ice floe with its solitary igloo, the home of Canerk and her friend, a snow snake, called Sylvester Slither. A pack of rambunctious huskies and Blanche, a sensitive polar bear, stand guard in the yard. All around the dome lies snow. Drift after drift of snow. Craving people and colour and something different, Canerk is startled by the visits of two unlikely allies. Grizz is a bear who dreams of moving up in the world by moving into her igloo, and Niles Layton Noseworthy, an aggressive and audacious salesman, is bound and determined to win the ultimate Packaged Parallel Universe contest by selling the obstinate young misfit a computer and satellite dish. Canerk learns the value of good neighbours and that the world is a bigger and smaller place than she had ever imagined.
About the Author
Nancy Cantelon is happy to live in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, with its opportunities for painting and exploring the magnificent local landscape and for enjoying a slow-paced, high quality rural life. Her husband, Murray, is an artist in indigenous wood and marble. Their son, Michael, of Vancouver, works in web applications and multi-media.
Excerpts
Canerk had read and listened, but she had not been pleased. In fact, that would be an understatement. Her antlers had begun to wobble precariously, even though her feet, in her new bunny moccasins, had been planted far enough apart for perfect balance.
"No! I want a real human being!" Canerk had pushed her head forward for emphasis. Her voice had risen. She had started to vibrate, her hands flying up and about, making staccato gestures in the air between her face and her visitor's snout.
The applicant, sorely offended by being rebuffed in this manner, had extended his height, for the intimidation effect, and had sputtered with rage, "Who do you think you are!!?"
"End the tyranny of discrimination! Boycott Canerk!" the bold-faced type on the fresh poster at Sergeant Simpson's General Store had shouted that night. "If only these incompetents could read," Grizz had grumbled to himself, whacking a tack into the log wall with the swipe of one big mitt. He'd slowly lowered his heavy bulk and had squeezed into an over-sized seat in front of a corner table, his fur spreading out in all directions, as he'd gulped the tall glass of Salmon Berry Nectar, while feeling the sting of being ignored by the other patrons.
"Alone amongst the ignorant rabble," the bear had whined, wheezing noisily. His one chance to move up in the world had been quashed by a stick-legged interloper with branches growing out of her head. "It's a travesty!"
Canerk offered her hand, waited for the salesman's lips to move in the direction of his name and then suggested that he get right down to business. His breath strong and ripe with herring, the man moved in for the kill, hoping that the noise emanating now from her stomach, loud and insistent, would help to speed the sale. Early morning calls, when customers were ravenous and less than alert, when he was in top form and had indulged in a filling, ocean-dipping breakfast, were most productive. Her head must hurt with that dead weight on top, he thought, as his pale lips, a wavy line, tried not to form a smirk.
Packaged Parallel Universe, Ltd., Niles Layton Noseworthy intoned, with extreme and rather unctuous solicitation, was holding a sales competition, the prize being an all-expenses-paid trip to exotic, faraway Istanbul, or, in the event that he landed in second place, Yellow Knife, North West Territories. His voice was raw from the effort his journey had taken; he was forced to take another drag of air. Sensing obstinate resistance from his potential customer, Niles waited thirty seconds for the full import of his message to sink in.
He could win a splendiferous prize, if only she would cooperate!
* * * *
Niles was on his way again, his sales acumen confirmed and his good nature restored. He had struck a deal, clinched a sale and pitched a proposal that would ensure that the grizzly bear would be eternally grateful to him, if Canerk were to make the right decision. He had confidence in her basic goodness, even though she was not an easy sell. Niles just knew that he could sell anything to anyone.
That evening, Canerk was posting back and forth with her friends on PixelTalk.
"Canerk!!" Brainiyak posted. "Guess what? Guess what's fallen into my lap! Besides Persnikitty? Three tickets to a fashion show in New York! My Uncle Mort just dropped them off at our house. I can hardly wait! And Nerkie, my Mom says I can take you with me. D'you think you could make it?" Canerk's eyes just about popped right out of her head. Her hands fell onto the desk, one on either side of her keyboard. She read the posting again.
She was excited. Very excited. She had never before been invited to a fashion show. She had never flown on an airplane nor traveled to the USA. She had no idea how she was going to get there.
Catalogue Information
