A Pacific Alphabet
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Dianna Bonder
Whitecap Books, ISBN 1-55285-264-4

A zany, playful alphabet book celebrating the coast of the Pacific Ocean. From the top of Alaska to the tip of Mexico, the Pacific Coast of North America comes to life in this vividly illustrated alphabet book. From albatrosses and orcas to Zodiac boats, children can identify objects that start with each letter and read along with the lilting text. In addition, each illustration has the featured letter hidden within the colorful artwork, creating a challenge for older readers, too. Featuring forests full of fairies, singing seashells, and persnickety pirates, this is an alphabet adventure for the young and young at heart.

A Pacific Alphabet was #1 for 8 weeks straight on the BC picture books bestsellers list, and on the Canadian national picture books bestsellers list.

Awards
Shortlisting, Chocolate Lily Award
Shortlisting, Oregon’s Patricia Gallagher Award
White Ravens Selection, International Board of Books for Young People
Selected by B.C. Ministry of Education for Achieve BC and presented to all students starting Kindergarten

Reviews
Rhymes are playfully appealing and colorful folk-art illustrations are packed with additional items starting with the same letter. Clever detail oriented readers will enjoy the challenge of identifying additional items.
– Quill and Quire Review

Related links
Activity sheet

Teaching Guide, created by Jan Keese: Pacific Alphabet Guide305

Available through all bookstores or email info@margrietruurs.com

Amazing Animals
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by W. Allan Hancock
Tundra Books, 2011, Harcdcover, 32 pages
ISBN: 978-0-88776-973-3 (0-88776-973-X)
CDN Price: $19.99 / US Price: $17.95

Did you know that the oldest insect lived more than 350 million years ago? That’s more than 100 million years before the dinosaurs! Did you know that a slug has three noses, an octopus has three hearts, and that an earthworm has no eyes, no nose, no ears, and no lungs, but it has five hearts?

By compiling facts that astound her and whet her own curiosity, Margriet Ruurs encourages young readers to observe the natural world around them and to share her sense of wonder and respect for it.

With stunning art and bright, brief text, Amazing Animals is a perfect introduction to a host of creatures – many of them endangered. Margriet Ruurs’ books, including A Mountain Alphabet, When We Go Camping, and In My Backyard are always irresistible invitations to marvel at the animals with which we share the world.

Available through all bookstores or email info@margrietruurs.com

Teaching Guide: Amazing Animals Guide301

The Elephant Keeper: Caring for Orphaned Elephants in Zambia
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Pedro Covo
Kids Can Press, Series: CitizenKid
978-1-77138-561-9 | Oct 3, 2017
List Price: USD $18.99, CAD $19.99
4-color 8 x 10 48 pages
Grades: 3 To 7 / Ages: 8 to 12

When teenaged Aaron discovers a baby elephant nearly drowning in the swimming pool at the guest lodge where he works, he acts quickly and manages to save the animal just in time. The rescued baby is brought to an elephant orphanage for care, and given the name Zambezi. Though Aaron has been raised to think of elephants as dangerous to humans and their crops, on a visit to the orphanage, he learns that illegal poaching of these animals is threatening them with extinction, and the orphanage is trying to prevent that from happening. And when Aaron is offered a job at the orphanage, his life is suddenly transformed, as he discovers a bond of friendship with Zambezi and his lifelong vocation as an elephant keeper.

Inspired by the real-life Aaron and Zambezi at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery in Zambia, author Margriet Ruurs has created a moving story that powerfully demonstrates the plight of endangered animals everywhere.

Pedro Covo’s stunning illustrations add a level of depth and haunting beauty to the story and the animals. Three nonfiction spreads interspersed throughout the story explore facts about elephants, ivory poaching and elephant orphanages. The back of the book contains ways children can help endangered wildlife. Useful tools include a table of contents and a glossary. This beautifully illustrated nonfiction book spans the curriculum, from life sciences to global awareness to environmental stewardship. It also offers a unique perspective for character education lessons on empathy, caring and responsibility on a larger scale.

Reviews
A moving and unforgettable true story …
— Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review, August 2017

Ruurs’ narrative builds a strong emotional connection between readers and the subject—this is a tale designed to pull at the heartstrings of readers.
— School Library Journal, September 2017

“… heartfelt, sensitive, and inspiring.”
— Booklist, October 2017

“Ruurs’ book gives compelling insight into the efforts to preserve a unique and appealing species and of the attempts to mitigate the threats from increasing human encounters.”
— CM Magazine, November 2017

* ILA 2018 Teacher’s Choices Reading List

Awards  

• 2019 Diamond Willow Awards, Saskatchewan Children’s Choice, Finalist
• 2019 – Silver Birch Express Award, Ontario Library Association, Nominated
• 2018 – Best Children’s Books of the Year, Bank Street College, Winner
• 2018 – Teachers’ Choices List, International Literacy Association, Winner
• 2018 – Best Books for Kids & Teens, Starred Selection, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
• 2018 – Skipping Stones Honor List, Skipping Stones Magazine, Winner
• 2018 – Chocolate Lily Award, Short-listed
• 2017 – Eureka! Gold Award, California Reading Association, Winner
• 2017 – OLA Best Bets, Ontario Library Association, Winner

ADOPT an elephant at Lilayi Elephant Orphanage in Zambia

Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Barbara Spurll
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1996
ISBN 0-7737-2972-0

The hilarious tale of a very confused chicken. Barbara Spurll’s comical images of Emma and her barnyard companions are a delight for all ages.

Awards
Storytellers World Honor Title

Reviews
This is a natural readaloud from the storyteller’s poetic first line through the zippy dialogue.
– Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books, Champaign, Illinois

Quill & Quire:https://quillandquire.com/review/emma-s-eggs/

This book should appeal to a wide audience. The story is well written, the illustrations add immeasurably to the humour in this book.
– Quill & Quire

Downloads
Emma’s Eggs, colouring sheet
Emma’s Eggs Teachers Guide (2.3MB PDF)

Emma’s Eggs, Lesson Ideas

Emma and the Coyote
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Barbara Spurll
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, ISBN 0-7737-3140-7

Emma returns in this hilarious tale. She struts boldly where no chicken should go! Most chickens have enough sense to run when a coyote comes near. Not Emma. She thinks she can outfox a hungry canine despite the warnings of the farmer and his family. One day the suspense reaches a peak when the hungry coyote comes a little too close. Will Emma’s “uncanny good luck” hold out even if her common sense doesn’t?

Margriet Ruurs has once again created a hen-house farce that will draw chuckles from fans of this plucky chicken. Barbara Spurll’s trademark animal caricatures will delight as they bring this barnyard comedy to life.

Awards
Shortlisting, Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Shining Willow Awards
Silver-medal winner of the 2000 Mr. Christie Book Award
Finalist, Tiny Torgi Literary Awards
Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice selection
Grand Prize, Ex aequo, 2000 Luxcanada for Illustration

Reviews
A delightful, noodlehead pattern story…. Barbara Spurll’s Emma is a creature of wide-eyed amazement, furious energy and steely resolve. The farm world comes close up with her use of perspective.
– Paula Hart, Vancouver Sun

Emma is a hen with personality, persistence and pluck. The story of her ingenious ways of foiling the coyote is engaging, funny and had preschoolers clamouring to “read it again”!
– Resource Links

Available through all bookstores.

Teacher created Lesson Plan: https://www.margrietruurs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emma-Coyote-Lesson-Plan.pdf

Emma at the Fair
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Barbara Spurll
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, date___
ISBN 1550051261

Emma the plucky chicken is back in this fourth title in the Emma series. This time, the farmer’s children take her to the annual Fall Fair in hopes that she will win a ribbon. Emma has no idea how to go about winning a ribbon but she tries her very best and has lots of adventures at the Fair. Barbara Spurll illustrated all four of these award-winning books.

Reviews

Emma and the Coyote

Downloads
Emma at the Fair coloring page (535Kb ZIP)

Teacher created Lesson Ideas: https://www.margrietruurs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emma-at-Fair-Lesson-Idea282.pdf

Available through all bookstores or email info@margrietruurs.com

Emma’s Cold Day
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Barbara Spurll
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, ISBN: 0-7737-33140

Emma, the plucky but foolish cluck, is back and about to demonstrate one more time that being a chicken is not all it’s cracked up to be. In her latest escapade, Emma is one game hen with a big problem. It’s the middle of winter and the
chicken coop is freezing. Determined to find out how the other farm animals weather the weather, Emma sets off on a snowy trek that almost ends in flaky, feathery disaster. Along the way she provides plenty of laughs and, once more, unwittingly saves the day.

Awards
Shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Shining Willow Awards
Silver-medal winner of the 2001 Mr. Christie Book Award
Shortlisting, 2002 Blue Spruce Award
Shortlisting, Chocolate Lily Award
Our Choice selection, CCBC

Emma’s Cold Day Lesson Ideas: https://www.margrietruurs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emma-Cold-Day-LessonPlan284.pdf

In My Back Yard
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Paper sculptures by Ron Broda
Published by Tundra Books, 2007
ISBN 978-88776-775-3

Awards
2008 Silver Medal winner of the Moonbeam Awards – Environmental Issues
Shortlisted for the 2008 Blue Spruce Award, Ontario’s Children’s Choice
Nominated for the 2007-2008 Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon Award for Illustration
Finalist Oregon Book Awards

Reviews
A single lyrical sentence describes the action, while clues in the illustration lead readers to surmise the season… Made entirely of sculpted paper and watercolors, Broda’s awe-inspiring scenes have a depth and realism that draw readers in. And as if that weren’t enough, readers get the extra treat of hidden details – he conceals a ladybug on each spread and a clue as to what animal will be featured on the next page. A necessary library purchase, this is also sure to find a home on budding artists’ and young naturalists’ bookshelves.
– Starred Review -Kirkus Reviews

Available through all bookstores or email info@margrietruurs.com

Logan’s Lake
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Illustrated by Robin LeDrew
Hodgepog Books, ISBN ISBN 0-9686899-8-1, 60 pages $5.95 Gr 2-5

An early-readers novel about environmental awareness. Logan tries to save the secluded lake he lives on from development as a tourist resort.

Email info@margrietruurs.com

Me and Martha Black
Written by Margriet Ruurs
Cover art by Ted Harrison
Penumbra Press, ISBN 1894131878 | Softcover | $ 14.95
Novel for ages 10 and up

Melanie White likes history but she certainly doesn’t believe in ghosts. However, when a voice from the past begins to haunt her, she soon discovers wisdom in her words. With the plucky ghost of Martha Black as her guide, Melanie wanders through the history books like she never has before. From the Great Fire of Chicago, to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, Martha Black recounts her life story vividly-sometimes a little too vividly.

Along the way, Melanie hears the stories of a whole cast of Gold Rush characters: Klondike Kate, Soapy Smith, Robert Service, Sam McGee, and, of course, Martha Black, First Lady of the Yukon. In the glow of the midnight sun, these two Yukon women encounter adventure, mystery, as well as secrets from the past.

Downloads
Me & Martha Black Teacher’s Guide (575Kb PDF)

Teaching Guide by Jan Keese: MarthaBlackGuide300

Order from any bookstore or sales@penumbrapress.ca