The Boundless by
"Will Everett has always wished for an adventure.
Little does he know his started the moment he boarded The Boundless. The longest, most glamorous locomotive in the world, it stretches more than eleven kilometres long and pulls an astonishing 987 cars: passenger cars, shooting galleries, gardens, an onboard swimming pool, cinema and much more. But its maiden voyage won't be a smooth ride for Will. After witnessing a murder during a station stop, he barely makes it back onto the train (with a running leap!), then must work his way from the caboose forward to his father in first class - with the murderer and his cronies on his tail. Luckily, a clever and nimble friend is perfecting her act in The Boundless's circus car, and there the real thrill ride begins. Sasquatches, bog-dwelling hags and illusions abound in this outsized adventure aboard the Titanic of trains!" - Author's website
The Comic Book War by
Can three comic-book superheroes, and a rock that falls from the sky, really protect Robert Tourond's brothers as they fight the enemy in Europe during World War II? It's 1943 and World War II is raging. 13-year-old Robert Tourond is safe at home in Calgary, but his three brothers are all overseas, fighting the Nazis. A dreamer, Robert closely follows the exploits of his three favourite comic book heroes - Captain Ice, Sedna of the Sea and the Maple Leaf Kid - who also battle thebad guys in the weekly comics he spends his allowance on. Robert decides that the superheroes will protect his brothers and bring them home, so when he recovers a meteorite that he saw fall in Nose Hill Park near his home, in the very same week that a meteorite features in the story lines of all three of his heroes, he has no doubt that a magical link exists between them. Robert has a nemesis of his own on the streets of Calgary - a girl they call "Crazy Charlie", though not to her face. Charlie and Robert's paths seem entwined as well - Charlie wins the prize money that Robert badly needs to keep the comics coming. When Robert gets a job delivering telegrams, Charlie's doing it too, cutting into his profits. First they discover exactly what news those telegrams they're fighting to deliver has for the recipients. Then Charlie has to deliver one to Robert's house. Can Robert and his heroes really protect all three brothers and bring them home? What will happen if reality comes crashing into his world, like a meteorite falling from space? Who will help then?
Dead Man's Switch by
Sigmund Brouwer, with nearly three million books in print, will have thrill seekers of all ages on the edge of their seats with this captivating young adult novel. When a teen boy receives a written warning from his friend to avoid his church and leave his remote island town immediately, he's terrified--his friend died weeks ago! He knows danger is up ahead when he realizes that his friend's dead man's switch computer program has been activated. Unsure who to trust, he sets out alone to unravel a dark conspiracy. Soon, the seeker soon becomes the hunted in an unknown wilderness. The only hope for escape is a trigger-happy hermit--a man with his own secrets to hide. Fiction fans who love a great mystery and the quest for justice will talk about and think about this book long after the last chapter is read.
How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes Are Untied by
From surviving middle school to feeling like a misfit, Ana Wright tackles it all in How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes are Untied. This heartwarming, coming of age story is the perfect summer reading book for middle school girls! Ana Wright's social life is officially on the endangered list: she lives in a zoo (umm, elephant droppings!?), her best friend lives on the other side of the world, and the Sneerers are making junior high miserable. All Ana wants is to fade into the background. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Creature File for Ana Wright: Species Name: Anaphyta Normalis Kingdom: The Zoo, Junior High Phylum: Girls Whose Best Friend Just Moved To New Zealand; Girls Who Are Forced To Live In A Zoo With Their Weirdo Parents And Twin Brother Weight: Classified Feeds On: Daydreams about Zackardia Perfecticus and wish cupcakes Life Span: Soon to become extinct due to social awkwardness
Outside In by
Lynn's life is full -- choir practice, school, shopping for the perfect jeans, and dealing with her free-spirited mother. Then one day her life is saved by a mysterious girl named Blossom, who introduces Lynn to her own world and family -- both more bizarre, yet somehow more sane, than Lynn's own. Blossom's family is a small band of outcasts and eccentrics who live secretly in an ingenious bunker beneath a city reservoir. The Underlanders forage and trade for the things they need ("Is it useful or lovely?"), living off the things "Citizens" throw away. Lynn is enchanted and amazed. But when she inadvertently reveals their secret, she is forced to take measure of her own motives and lifestyle, as she figures out what it really means to be a family, and a friend. Classic Sarah Ellis, this novel is smart, rich, engaging and insightful.
The Rule of Three by
"A person can last 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. A community begins to die in just seconds.
One shocking afternoon, computers around the globe shut down in a viral catastrophe. At sixteen-year-old Adam Daley's high school, the problems at first seems to be a typical electrical outage, until the students discover the cell phones are down, municipal utilities are failing, and the only vehicles that function are a few ancient computer-free cars like Adam's. Driving home Adam encounters a storm tide of anger and fear as the region becomes paralyzed. Soon - as resources dwindle, crises mount, and chaos descents - he will see his suburban neighbourhood band together for protection. And Adam will understand that having a police captain for a mother and a retired government spy living next door are not just the facts of his life but the keys to survival." - Author's website
The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden by
This morning, I woke up on the ceiling ... So begins the strange story of Gwendolyn Golden. One perfectly ordinary day for no apparent reason, she wakes up floating around her room like one of her little brother's Batman balloons. Puberty is weird enough. Everyone already thinks she's an oddball with anger issues because her father vanished in a mysterious storm one night when she was six. Then there are the mean, false rumours people are spreading about her at school. On top of all that, now she's a flying freak. How can she tell her best friend or her mother? How can she live her life? After Gwendolyn almost meets disaster flying too high and too fast one night, help arrives from the most unexpected place. And stranger still? She's not alone.
Summer Days, Starry Nights by
"It's 1962, and thirteen-year-old Reenie Starr comes alive the minute guests begin to arrive at her family's summer resort. She dreams of the day she can run Sandy Shores, and she spends her time helping out at the resort, swimming, climbing trees, and singing under the stars. One day, Reenie's mother announces that she thinks the resort could use some entertainment. She invites Gwen, her best friend's almost-grown daughter, to come and teach a dance class. Although Gwen seems sad and remote, Reenie's thrilled to have her there.
As Reenie starts to learn more about the world beyond Sandy Shores, she comes up with a plan that could really put it on the map. She also finds herself caught between the simpler world of her childhood and all of the wonderful new discoveries (boys) and heartaches (boys) that growing up can bring. Reenie thought she wanted Sandy Shores to never change, but after this summer nothing will ever be the same again." -Publisher's website
Unspeakable by
"A heart-wrenching, beautifully written account of a maritime tragedy that rivals the Titanic disaster. Working as a stewardess aboard the Empress of Ireland allows Ellie Ryan to forget about why she has been banished from the family home, why her great aunt ultimately had to find her this job. On her second voyage, Ellie finds herself drawn to the solitary fire stoker who stands by the ship's rail late at night, often writing in a journal.
Jim. Ellie finds it hard to think of him now, after that awful night. She tries to tell herself that he survived, but it's hard to believe when so many didn't.
So when Wyatt Steele, journalist for The New York Times shows up at her door in Liverpool, England, and asks for her story, Ellie refuses. But when he shows her Jim's journal, she jumps at the chance to be able to read it herself, to find some clue of the man she had fallen in love with, perhaps a clue to what happened to him. There's only one catch: she will have to tell her story to Steele and he'll "pay" her by giving her the journal. One page at a time.
Guided by Steele, Ellie slowly opens up. But more lies at the heart of her story than even Ellie knows, and as she spends more time with Steele and Jim's journal, she discovers what was one unspeakable -- for both her and Jim.
Based on the true story of the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland in May 1914, a disaster that lost more passengers' lives than Titanic, Unspeakable will be published in time to mark the 100th anniversary of this tragedy. " - Publisher's website
Zomboy by
"From the imagination of one of Canada’s funniest writers for young readers comes the story of a creepy young zombie named Imre Lazar, who, in spite of a few special challenges, is integrated into a regular classroom at Dresden Public School in Ontario. No one is less sure about the school board’s decision than narrator Bob, but his fearless best friend, Evil-O, is Imre’s greatest defender. Clashes and heroics ensue as the community’s tolerance for difference—and Bob’s tolerance for an undead rival—are pushed to the limit in this hilarious, exciting and surprisingly touching novel." -Publisher's website
The Rule of Three by
"A person can last 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. A community begins to die in just seconds.
One shocking afternoon, computers around the globe shut down in a viral catastrophe. At sixteen-year-old Adam Daley's high school, the problems at first seems to be a typical electrical outage, until the students discover the cell phones are down, municipal utilities are failing, and the only vehicles that function are a few ancient computer-free cars like Adam's. Driving home Adam encounters a storm tide of anger and fear as the region becomes paralyzed. Soon - as resources dwindle, crises mount, and chaos descents - he will see his suburban neighbourhood band together for protection. And Adam will understand that having a police captain for a mother and a retired government spy living next door are not just the facts of his life but the keys to survival." - Author's website