I am NEVER going to be able to tie my shoelaces. It's IMPOSSIBLE! Caterpillar really wants to learn to tie his shoelaces so he can be a tap dancing star! Luckily, his bunny friend gives him all the steps to learn how to do it. You can learn too!

Mike McCardell’s instinct for finding the perfect story at just the right time has led him to a lifetime of great scoops and gripping tales as an author and Vancouver news icon. Years of chasing and reporting human-interest stories have honed his ability to see the deeper meaning behind the everyday, and to capture the universal and familiar in even the strangest and most outlandish events. With this open-hearted approach, McCardell has become a master of weaving stories that are uplifting, compassionate and full of his signature brand of humour. It is no wonder then that so many of the stories from his bestselling books have become old favourites, to be reread and enjoyed over and over again. In Shoelaces are Hard, McCardell delivers brand-new stories in his classic format, to join other much-loved titles like Unlikely Love Stories, The Blue Flames That Keep Us Warm and Everything Works on the shelf. With a fresh batch of quirky and inspiring tales, Shoelaces are Hard is sure to quickly become a new favourite.

A young girl gets help from her big brother while learning to tie her shoelaces.

It's 1987. Billy Marvin, the tallest boy in ninth grade, has just witnessed history. Wheel of Fortune presenter Vanna White is on the cover of Playboy. Billy and his friends, Alf and Clark, know that if they can get hold of the magazine, their world will change. For ever. But as Billy says, 'No shopkeeper in America was going to sell Playboy to a fourteen-year-old boy.' As they set out on their mission to find the most wanted images in America, they're blissfully unaware of the dangers, dramas and garbage dumpsters that lie ahead. And of how a girl called Mary might just change one of their lives. For ever.

Can an imaginary friend become real? A spell-binding and exciting new novel from Leonie Agnew, author of the award-winning Conrad Cooper's Last Stand. Benjamin figures Vincent Gum can do anything. Which I can. I'm not possible. Yet here I am. Ben literally pushed me out of his head and into the world. Vincent Gum finds six-year-old Benjamin moments after an explosion and leads him through wrecked city streets to the children's shelter. Vincent isn't interested in hanging around to babysit, but by the time they arrive he knows that Ben, with his crazy ideas and weird imaginary games, won't survive ten minutes there without someone to look out for him. For one thing, something sinister lurks in the dormitory cupboard, waiting to get out. Vincent's tough and smart. He can walk through walls and make a dead tree flower. But to the rest of the world he's invisible - non-existent. That's because, in his moment of need, Ben invented him. As Ben is befriended by a gang of streetwise orphans, Vincent begins to worry. What will happen to him if Ben decides he no longer needs an imaginary friend? Will he cease to exist? And without Vincent, what will happen to a boy with an imagination so powerful he can bring his worst nightmare to life? I don't have much time. I need to convince everyone I'm real. And I need to do everything soon, before I disappear forever.