Terry’s Big Creek Clean Up

Terry’s Big Creek Clean-Up: Canadian Children’s Literature on Environmental Stewardship and Arts in Northwestern Ontario

Cover art for Terry's Big Creek Clean-Up, a Canadian children's book about a boy cleaning up a local creek and environmental responsibility.

What happens when your most cherished place, a secret haven teeming with life, suddenly becomes a dumping ground? Terry loves Whispering Willow Gully more than anything – it’s where water whispers, fish dart, and frogs sing. This vibrant creek is his quiet escape, a place of peace and wonder that he believes is the best in the whole wide world.

But one warm day, Terry’s heart sinks. His beloved gully is no longer peaceful, marred by a jarring landscape of plastic bags, bright cans, and forgotten trash. The beautiful home of the gully’s creatures is threatened, its dignity stolen. Witnessing the struggles of the frog, the bird, and the fish, Terry feels a powerful pull in his heart. Though just one boy, he knows he must act.

Armed with a simple stick and a big plan, Terry sets out to reclaim the gully’s natural beauty. This heartwarming story, a vital piece of Canadian children’s literature, explores the profound connection between a boy and nature, highlighting the vital importance of environmental stewardship and the courage it takes to protect our planet. Join Terry as he learns that even the smallest hands can inspire big change and remind us all that nature deserves our care and respect.

Available now in bookstores globally, supporting Canadian publishing initiatives.

ISBN: 9798232138165

About the Author: Jamie Bell, Winnipeg Writer and Interdisciplinary Artist

Jamie Bell is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a passionate belief in the power of shared stories. His work explores themes of community and connection through creative projects and participatory research. When he’s not behind a pen or a camera, you can find him in the garden, a space where he draws inspiration from the quiet dignity of growth, a theme central to his Manitoba children’s books.

Supporting Arts, Environmental Storytelling, and Creativity in Northwestern Ontario

This book is part of the Art Borups Corners Storytelling Club library, which proudly champions the incredible creativity and talent of the Northern Ontario and Manitoba community, including emerging voices focused on nature and conservation. This special interdisciplinary arts and capacity building program ran in the summer of 2025, supported by the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program, the central Arts Incubator Winnipeg Hub, Ottawa-based Global Dignity Canada, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Creative Entrepreneurship Program. We extend heartfelt thanks to the Local Services Board of Melgund and the many community members, artists, and creators who made this celebration of Northwestern Ontario arts and storytelling possible.

Key Subject Areas: Canadian Children’s Literature, Environmental Stewardship, Conservation, Winnipeg Author, Manitoba Arts, Northwestern Ontario Storytelling.

This publication will be available in bookstores soon.

Filed Under: fiction books, indigenous publishing, Kids Books, online storybooks, Ontario Arts Council, ontario publishing, Ontario Stories, SDG 10, SDG 2, SDG 3, SDG 4, youth fiction

Digital Salvage

The Digital Salvage Art Collective is a Winnipeg, Manitoba-based experiment in memory, machine, and the North—where AI drifts through abandoned archives and forgotten code, reassembling echoes into something new. It’s art as algorithm, history as signal, a collaboration between human instinct and artificial perception. Here, youth and artists don’t just recover the past—they rewire it, remix it, let it glitch and evolve, forging a living archive that pulses with both human and machine imagination.