Research Guides: Intermediate Senior English: Welcome

IS Liaison Librarian

Mary Claire Vandenburg

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Contact:

I am working remotely while the library is closed.

Please reach me at mcv@queensu.ca for help with your questions.

Subjects:Education

Forest of Reading 2021 Nominees

Available at the Education Library

Bloom by Kenneth Oppel

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8579.P63 B56 2020

Broken strings - Walters, Eric; Kacer, Kathy,

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8595.A688 B76 2019

Dragon Assassin by Arthur Slade

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8587.L338 D73 2020

If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, art by Nshannacappo

Young Adult Books YOUTH PN6733.J66 I35 2019

The Other Side by Heather Camlot

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8605.A535 O84 2020

The Rise and Fall of Derek Cowell

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8587.H372 R57 2020

Safe Harbour by Christina Kilbourne

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8571.I42 S24 2019

Sara and the Search for Normal by Wesley King

Online

Print: Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8621.I56 S27 2020

A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth

Young Adult Books TEACH PS8645.E956 T74 2019

Yara's Spring by Jamal Saeed & Sharon E. McKay

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8637.A34 Y37 2020

2021 White Pine Award finalists

White Pine Award (9-12)

Break in case of emergency, by Brian Francis

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8611.R35 B74 2019

Charming as a verb by Philippe, Ben

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8631.H564 C43 2020

Fan the fame, by Priemaza, Anna

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8632.R546 F36 2019

Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8635.E4355 F79 2019

He Must Like You by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8647.O93 H42 2020

Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8603.H373 H86 2020

Laura Dean keeps breaking up with me , byTamaki, Mariko

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8589.A6 L38 2019

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Young Adult Books YOUTH PS3614.A978 L55 2019

The Starlight Claim by Tim Wynne-Jones

Print: Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8595.Y72 S73 2019

You Don't Have to Die in the End by Anita Daher

Online

Print: Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8557.A35 Y69 2020

eBook packages at Queen's Library

ACLS Humanities E-Book – Full-text collection of over 5,400 books of high quality in the humanities and related social sciences.
ProQuest Ebook Central – Ebooks from a variety of disciplines published by University Presses.
EBSCOhost eBook Collection – ebook titles from academic publishers and university presses from around the world.
Oxford Scholarship Online – ebook titles published by Oxford University Press in 20 subject areas, covering the humanities, social sciences, sciences, medicine, and law.
Scholars Portal Books – publishers including Springer, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Elsevier, Canadian publishers, government and non-governmental organizations.

Options when looking for e-book and e-audiobook content

In addition to our academic eBook providers you may be interested in making the most of your local public library for eBook fiction and movie content available from home. In Kingston see Kingston Frontenac Public Library for OverDrive (eBooks & Audiobooks), Digital Magazines, and Hoopla (Movies, TV, Music & Audiobooks). Please note, expect cloudLibrary to replace these services at KFPL as of May 27, 2020.

Novelist, a database also available online at your public library, provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations, and much more for over 200,000 fiction and readable non-fiction titles. The database also includes other content of interest to readers, such as Author Read-alikes, Book Discussion Guides, BookTalks, book lists on high-interest topics, Award Lists, and Feature Articles.

For school media specialists and teachers there are Standards-Based Thematic Units and Picture Book Extenders, as well as specific teaching guides for using fiction in the classroom.

Classroom Videos

Facing History and Ourselves
"Get a glimpse inside real classrooms in our classroom videos to see our teaching strategies in action, learn from our on-demand webinars, and engage with our self-paced workshops to further your professional learning. " website

Evaluating and Selecting YA Literature

Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children’s Literature
A quick checklist from the National Museum of the American Indian (USA) to help you evaluated the suitability of texts for the classroom.

Spotlight item

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
Call Number: Young Adult Books youth PS3613.A385 V479 2018
Publication Date: 2018
Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She's tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments--even the physical violence--she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she's built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James. He's the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her--they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds--and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she's not sure she'll ever be able to let it down.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Call Number: PS8607.I53 M37 2017 juv
ISBN: 9781770864863
Publication Date: 2017
In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America's Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the "recruiters" who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing "factories."
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Call Number: PZ7.1.T448On 2019
ISBN: 9780062498564
Publication Date: 2019-02-05
This is the highly anticipated second novel by Angie Thomas, the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning The Hate U Give. Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But it's hard to get your come up when you're labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral...for all the wrong reasons.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Call Number: PS3620.H6243 H38 2017 juv
ISBN: 9780062498533
Publication Date: 2017
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the suburban prep school she attends. The balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood friend Khalil at the hands of a white police officer. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
The handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood ; art & adaptation, Renée Nault
Call Number: PN6733.N38 H36 2019
ISBN: 9780771006845
Publication Date: 2019
"Provocative, startling, prophetic, and more relevant than ever, The Handmaid's Tale has become a global phenomenon. Now, in this stunning graphic novel edition of Margaret Atwood's modern classic, the terrifying reality of Gilead is brought to vivid life like never before. 'Everything Handmaids wear is red: the colour of blood, which defines us.' Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. She serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if they are fertile.
Basodee: An Anthology Dedicated to Black Youth by Fiona Raye Clarke
Call Number: online
ISBN: 9781771239202
Publication Date: 2012
An anthology of youth-centred and youth-created poems, essays, and stories exploring what it means to be young, Black, and Canadian. Ages 14 & up.
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
Call Number: PS8639.A32 S65 2018
ISBN: 9780670070091
Publication Date: 2018-09-25
A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy and love. She knows boredom and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday and the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol and violence. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this. Veering between the grittiest features of a small arctic town, the electrifying proximity of the animal world and the ravishing world of myth, Tanya Tagaq explores a world where the distinctions between good and evil, animal and human, real and imagined lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains.
#Notyourprincess by Lisa Charleyboy (Editor); Mary Beth Leatherdale (Editor)
Call Number: E98.W8 N68 2017
ISBN: 9781554519583
Publication Date: 2017-09-12
Native Women demand to be heard in this stunning anthology. Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book. In the same style as the best-selling Dreaming in Indian, #Not Your Princess presents an eclectic collection of poems, essays, interviews, and art that combine to express the experience of being a Native woman. Stories of abuse, humiliation, and stereotyping are countered by the voices of passionate women making themselves heard and demanding change. Sometimes angry, often reflective, but always strong, the women in this book will give teen readers insight into the lives of women who, for so long, have been virtually invisible.
Calvin by Martine Leavitt.
Call Number: PS8573.E128 C34 2016 juv
ISBN: 9781554987207
Publication Date: 2016
Seventeen-year-old Calvin, who was born on the day that the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published, is stricken by a schizophrenic episode and begins having conversations with the tiger, Hobbes. Struggling to regain control of his mind and destiny, Calvin becomes convinced that he'll get better if the strip's creator, Bill Watterson, will draw just one more comic.
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
Call Number: Children's & Young Adult Books YOUTH PS8619 A242 A94 2018
ISBN: 9781443455848
Publication Date: 2018-06-12
Pride and Prejudice with a modern twist. AYESHA SHAMSI has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn't want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices and dresses like he belongs in the seventh century. When a surprise engagement between Khalid and Hafsa is announced, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and his family; and the truth she realizes about herself. But Khalid is also wrestling with what he believes and what he wants. And he just can't get this beautiful, outspoken woman out of his mind.
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Call Number: on order
ISBN: 9781101939505
Publication Date: 2017-10-17
Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend--but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out. Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up-- sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack. -Publishers Weekly
7 Generations by David A. Robertson; Scott B. Henderson (Illustrator)
Call Number: PS8585.O233 P53 2012
ISBN: 9781553793557
Publication Date: 2012-09-26
Edwin is facing an uncertain future. Only by learning about his family's past - as warriors, survivors of a smallpox epidemic, casualties of a residential school - will he be able to face the present and embrace the future. 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga follows one Indigenous family over three centuries and seven generations. This epic, four-part story is told in graphic-novel format with illustrations in vivid colour. Originally published as a four-part graphic novel series; Stone, Scars, Ends/Begins, and The Pact.
Pemmican Wars by Katherena Vermette; Scott B. Henderson (Illustrator); Donovan Yaciuk (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN6733.V47 G57 2018 v.001
ISBN: 9781553796787
Publication Date: 2017-11-17
Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother. Then an ordinary day in Mr. Bee's history class turns extraordinary, and Echo's life will never be the same. During Mr. Bee's lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place--a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie--and back again to the present. In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars. Pemmican Wars is the first graphic novel in a new series, A Girl Called Echo, by Governor General Award-winning writer, and author of Highwater Press' The Seven Teaching Stories, Katherena Vermette.
We All Fall Down by Eric Walters
Call Number: PS8595.A688 W4 2006 juv
ISBN: 9780385661928
Publication Date: 2006
Today is September 10, 2001, and Will, as part of a school assignment, will be going to his dad's workplace tomorrow, but Will would rather sleep in and do nothing with his friends. His father doesn’t even have a cool job like his best friend James’s father who is a fireman. Will’s dad works for a trading company on the eighty-fifth floor in the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
ISBN: 9780061120084
Publication Date: 2006-05-23
It must be September: Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South--and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred. Voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century and a teacher favorite, this gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father--a crusading local lawyer--risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
The fashion committee : a novel of art, crime, and applied design by Susan Juby.
Call Number: PS8569.U38 F37 2017 juv
ISBN: 9780670067602
Publication Date: 2017
Charlie Dean and John Thomas-Smith are really different, but they share one thing in common: both are gunning for a scholarship to the private art high school that could make all their dreams come true. And whoever wins the fashion competition will win the scholarship.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Call Number: PS3558 .I549 O8 1967t juv
ISBN: 0670532576
Publication Date: 1967
"Remember to Stay gold, Ponyboy...Stay gold..." When it was first published in 1967, The Outsiders was a unique American coming of age story portraying innocent Ponyboy Curtis and his struggle to find a place for himself in an unkind world. Fifty years later, can it speak to teenagers as powerfully as ever despite the very different language used by the characters themselves?
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston
Call Number: PS8619.O4565 E85 2016 juv
ISBN: 9781101994580
Publication Date: 2016
Veronica Mars meets William Shakespeare in E.K. Johnston's latest brave and unforgettable heroine. Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn't mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don't cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team--the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team's summer training camp is Hermione's last and marks the beginning of the end of...she's not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black. In every class, there's a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They're never supposed to be the same person. White Pine award nominee 2017.
The Break by Katherena Vermette
ISBN: 9781487001117
Publication Date: 2018-03-06
Multiple Award Winner and Queen's Reads title, The Break, is the story of when Stella, a young Metis mother, who looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break -- a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house -- she calls the police to alert them to a crime. In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim -- police, family, and friends -- tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night.
Shooter by Caroline Pignat
ISBN: 9780143187578
Publication Date: 2016-05-03
The Breakfast Club meets We Need to Talk About Kevin A lockdown catches five grade 12 students by surprise and throws them together in the only unlocked room on the empty third floor. There's Alice: an introverted writer, trapped in the role of big sister to her older autistic brother, Noah. Isabelle: the popular, high-achieving, student council president, whose greatest performance is her everyday life. Hogan: an ex-football player with a troubled past and a hopeless future. Xander: that socially awkward guy hiding behind the camera, whose candid pictures of school life, especially those of Isabelle, have brought him more trouble than answers. Told in five unique voices through prose, poetry, text messages, journals, and homework assignments, each student reveals pieces of their true story as they wait for the drill to end. But, Isabelle gets a text: NOT A DRILL!! Shooter in the school!
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
Call Number: PS3569.C51548 O73 2015 juv
ISBN: 9780544462229
Publication Date: 2015-10-06
The two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he's placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets twelve-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost. In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Call Number: PS3608.U5825 F57 2015 juv
ISBN: 9780399162596
Publication Date: 2015
"The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who's ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn't fit in. Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid. Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there's a lot more to her: and to everyone: than a label, and that great minds don't always think alike."
We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen
Call Number: 9781770497795
ISBN: 9781770497795
Publication Date: 2015
Thirteen-year-old brilliant but socially-challenged Stewart and mean-girl Ashley must find common ground when, two years after Stewart's mother died, his father moves in with his new girlfriend--Ashley's mother, whose gay ex-husband lives in their guest house.