Twelve original holiday stories from the top children's writers in the country! What an incredible gift book for Dear Canada fans! The twelve stories in this treasury are set around Christmas time and feature the young girls from a dozen previous Dear Canada books. Readers will be thrilled to reconnect with their favourites and get a glimpse of each character's life a year or so after the events in the actual diary are over. Anyone new to the Dear Canada series will be introduced to characters so compelling, they'll want to read more.

Charlotte struggles to find her twin brother after the rest of her family is killed in the tragic Halifax explosion. No Safe Harbour is set in the months before and after the December 6, 1917 Halifax explosion, which was the largest man-made blast in history until the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The explosion levelled most of the city and sent shards of glass and burning debris flying for miles. It left thousands dead, blinded or homeless. Suddenly orphaned, Charlotte turns to her diary to help her cope with the events that killed her entire family — leaving her older brother, still fighting in the trenches of WWI, as her only surviving relative. This is an affecting story of loss and recovery, powerfully told by award-winning author Julie Lawson.

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Sometimes starting over is the best way to move forward, even at Christmastime. When the North West Resistance broke out, Josephine's family sided with Louis Riel. But the Métis forces that fought at Batoche faced yet more challenges after the battle itself. The Bouviers and others who decided to stay have been struggling to survive, and still they do not hold title to their land. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Josephine, whom they first met in the popular Dear Canada book Blood Upon Our Land. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

With over 400,000 books already in print, the Dear Canada series has fast become the book series for children. Each fictional diary invites readers into the world of a girl living through a particular period in Canada's past. Gillian Chan's latest addition illustrates the effect the Chinese Head Tax has on one young girl and her family. Mei-ling and her father are struggling to pay the head tax that will allow her mother and brother, who are still living in China, to come to Canada. They must have that money before the impending Exclusion Act bars any more Chinese from immigrating. What will happen if they can't come up with enough in time to reunite their family?

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Experience the wonder of Christmas wishes. Julia May and her family thought they had at last found freedom when they made the final stage of their dangerous trek north to Canada, but even here old prejudices die hard, and the family has had to search for a community that will truly welcome them. As another Christmas in their chosen land approaches, they still have no word of Julia May's brother Thomas, who returned to the United States to fight for the North in the Civil War. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Julia May, whom they first met in the popular Dear Canada book A Desperate Road to Freedom. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! See how love brings this family even closer together at Christmastime. Eliza's brothers both enlisted to fight in World War I. On the Home Front there were coal shortages, rationing, heart-stopping news of soldiers missing or dead. While praying for her brothers' safe return, and longing for her very own friend, Eliza's greatest comfort was the warmth of her exuberant and loving family. But Christmas Day 1919 brings a new challenge. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Sarah Ellis, Karleen Bradford, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Eliza, whom they first met in the award-winning Dear Canada book Brothers Far from Home. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Join the lively Christmas pageant and you'll be in for a big surprise. The homesteading life that Ivy and her family were promised when they emigrated from England to the Canadian West turns out to be a pipe dream. Some settlers gave up and headed back home to England; others stayed on, trying to scrape out a living. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Season for Miracles, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Jean Little, Kit Pearson, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Ivy, whom they first met in the award-winning Dear Canada book A Prairie as Wide as the Sea. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Experience the true spirit of giving. Sally's streetwise cousin Benny has complicated her life before, nudging her out of the comfort of her close-knit Jewish neighbourhood. And he's about to complicate things again when he takes her younger sisters to the Santa Claus Parade and Hindl starts yearning for a Shirley Temple doll. How will a poor family, living through the Depression and struggling to make ends meet, ever afford that? This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Sally, whom they first met in the popular Dear Canada book Not a Nickel to Spare. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! A Christmas wedding is just the thing to bring everyone together. Flora longed for a family of her own after living in an orphanage for almost ten years. She found one with her aunt and uncle, though she spent long hours at the woollen mill, where the work was sometimes dangerous. When that danger strikes close to home, it is time for yet one more move, and trying to get along with new relatives. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Jean Little, Karleen Bradford, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Flora, whom they first met in the award-winning Dear Canada book Days of Toil and Tears. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!

A holiday treat for fans of the Dear Canada series, and all lovers of historical fiction! Share in the excitement leading up to Christmas morning. During the euphoria towards the end of World War I, a different enemy stalked the land, killing by the hundreds and thousands. First Fee's twin Fanny, then her older sister Jemma, caught the dreaded Spanish Flu. Fee's family struggled to pick up the pieces, to put the War behind them, to face an even deadlier enemy. But finally, there is bright spot on the Macgregor family's horizon. This short story was originally published in Dear Canada: A Christmas to Remember, a collection featuring many of Canada's top writers for children, including Sarah Ellis, Maxine Trottier, Carol Matas, and more. New readers will adore this stand-alone holiday tale, while fans of the series will recognize the voice of Fee, whom they first met in the award-winning Dear Canada book If I Die Before I Wake. Collect all 12 Dear Canada Christmas stories this season and enjoy a very happy holiday!