Chilling tales get kids warmed up to reading

Haunted Canada 7:

Chilling True Tales

Joel A. Sutherland

Illustrated by Norman Lanting Scholastic Canada

February is I Love to Read Month, and Feb. 17 is the second annual I Read Canadian Day. It was launched in 2020 by the Canadian Children's Book Centre and several partners to urge young readers to spend 15 minutes with a Canadian book.

That won't be a challenge for kids who check out books by Joel A. Sutherland. Often hailed as Canada's R.L. Stine, Sutherland has written several spooky tales for ages 8 and up, including the Haunted series of novels set in locales across Canada (Field of Screams, Night of the Living Dolls, The House Next Door). He's the author of seven of the 10 books in the Haunted Canada series, including a new revised edition of No. 7.

Stand Like a Cedar

Nicola I. Campbell

Illustrated by Carrielynn Victor HighWater Press

Named for her home region, the Nicola Valley in B.C.'s southern interior, Nicola I. Campbell's new picture book Stand Like a Cedar will be released on Feb. 23. Aimed at readers ages 6-9, it explores nature, Indigenous culture and languages, as kids learn about birds, fish, mammals and plant life.

Kill the Mall Pasha Malla Knopf Canada

Horror, humour and surreal hairpieces come into play when this bizarre novel's narrator is invited to take up a weeks-long residency position at a suburban mall, where he's expected to live in a store and divide his time between “engaging the public” and carrying out undefined work. It isn't long before his notion of the mall as a consumer paradise is challenged, thanks to a mystery involving the creatures who inhabit the mall at night.

A Stranger in Town

Kelley Armstrong

St. Martin's Publishing Group

In the sixth novel in the Rockton series, the misfit inhabitants of the secret Yukon hideaway are on edge when an injured hiker lands in their midst. Detective Casey Butler and her boyfriend, the local sheriff, are on the case, trying to find out who attacked the woman — and why they're seeing fewer locals around town.

Pain Killer: A Memoir of Big League Addiction

Brantt Myhres

Viking Canada

Former NHLer Brantt Myhres recounts his rise, downfall and recovery — working his way up from the minor leagues to a big-money career in the NHL, blowing it all on booze and drugs, and finally getting clean in rehab. His memoir lands on bookstore shelves Feb. 16.