The summer of 1812 saw the beginning of one of the most brutal wars to take place on Canadian soil. With more than 1,600 people killed and a battlefront that extended from Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia to the Columbia River in what is now British Columbia, the war featured many brave men and women who fended off much larger American forces. Canada on Fire is an exciting account of the War of 1812 as told through the stories of the heroes who helped to defend Canada, people such as Mohawk chief John Norton, who led a small army into battle against the wishes of his tribe, and Red George Macdonnell, who spent the war defending the St. Lawrence River. With descriptions of the battle at Lundy's Lane, the adventures of the Sea Wolves, and the antics of James Fitzgibbon and his Bloody Boys, Canada on Fire reveals the War of 1812 as it has seldom been seen.

The War of 1812 comes to life through the eyes of a young Canadian boy. It's 1812. War has begun, and thirteen-year-old Alexander (Sandy) MacKay is jealous when his older brother Angus goes off with their father to fight the Americans attacking the Niagara region. Too young to know the darker side of battle, he resents being left to shoulder the work on his family's farm. Itching to get in on the action, he sneaks away from home and heads to Lundy's Lane to join up with the local militia. But battle is imminent, and now there's not much his father can do except try to shield him from the worst of the fighting. Sandy's idealized notions of what battle will be like are shattered when the man standing before him is killed by a musket ball and Sandy's own brother is severely wounded. At the battle of Lundy's Lane, the united Canadian/British forces turn the tide against the American troops, but Sandy comes to know how chilling war can be. Just in time for the bicentennial of the War of 1812, A Call to Battle is a sobering look at the realities of war. Author Gillian Chan skillfully depicts the transformation of an impetuous young boy, full of boyish enthusiasm, into a more realistic young man who emerges on the other side of war.

Ming-Li looked up and tried to imagine the sky silent, empty of birds. It was a terrible thought. Her country's leader had called sparrows the enemy of the farmers--they were eating too much grain, he said. He announced a great "Sparrow War" to banish them from China, but Ming-Li did not want to chase the birds away. As the people of her village gathered with firecrackers and gongs to scatter the sparrows, Ming-Li held her ears and watched in dismay. The birds were falling from the trees, frightened to death! Ming-Li knew she had to do something--even if she couldn't stop the noise. Quietly, she vowed to save as many sparrows as she could, one by one...

A wealthy man in a Japanese village, who everyone calls Ojiisan, which means grandfather, sets fire to his rice fields to warn the innocent people of an approaching tsunami.