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Welcome to the Magic Suitcase website

Book of the Month:

Treesong written and illustrated by H. E. Stewart

We are called back to a time when all of nature was in balance and harmony, when the First Nations could hear the singing of the trees. We listen to the song of the Sitka spruce, a giant among trees growing in a giant rainforest in the Pacific Northwest. With the arrival of the Europeans, the fable begins to darken. Marching to the beat of progress, deaf to the Earth's rhythms, the newcomers clear the old forest and settle big cities. In time, industrialization generates serious problems for all the world. The ancient Sitka spruce shatters in the ensuing global storm. Hope dawns when an instrument maker creates a cello from the tree's wreckage and so revives the song of the forest.

"Each of us, acting alone or in concert, can learn to find ways of helping to restore the balance and beauty of our natural world."

Our online bookstore offers:

• Quality curriculum-related picture books and resources  
• Professional evaluation of featured titles, including teaching ideas and recommendations  
• Database searchable by curriculum area, subject, theme, character traits, IB learner profile traits and writing traits. 
• A collection that will travel to your school library in Southern Ontario

Picture books can provide excellent examples of the six traits of good writing. It is now possible to search for such books, by writing trait, by choosing the trait that you want to focus on. Although each picture storybook would contain elements of these writing traits, we’ve chosen the trait most clearly depicted in the text as examples. This is a new initiative for us so please feel free to add and/or suggest any other picture books that are exemplary of these traits. The six traits, now searchable using the keyword function at left, are: Idea Development, Organization, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice and Conventions.

Judy Halpern, (MEd) proprietor of The Magic Suitcase, offers professional workshops on story-based learning in the content areas of the curriculum, specifically science and math. Consider one of the following workshops for your next conference or professional development event. Contact us for details or special requests.

Read our latest newsletter for ideas on seasonal activities to get children hooked on books. Read reviews from our "Books That Make it Work!" section. Share your ideas that springboard from a favourite story. Find out about conferences and events where The Magic Suitcase books will be on display.