Born With: Erika and Gianni by
Meet Erika and Gianni: One is a fifteen-year-old girl who loves to dance and sing and make people laugh. She tells people that she was born with an extra gene, but her sister has to buy hers at the mall (ha, ha!!). Being in three dance numbers in the school production of Grease is a big job, but with the help of her Best Buddy, Gianni, Erika knows her can be a star. The other is a Grade 11 boy with a secret. Like his Best Buddy, Erika, who was born with Down Syndrome, Gianni loves to sing and dance. He also knows that he was born different from the other boys in his school -- but is he that different from Blake, the cool, attractive male lead in the school play? Or is he just imagining that the sparks between them are mutual? And will the rough gang of guys at school also pick up on who he really is? Told in the alternating voices of Erika and Gianni, Born With is the story of two teens who help each other to find their own versions of success and acceptance. Each One-to-One novel tells the story of a different pair of teens participating in the Best Buddies program at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School. Follow the lives of this group of friends who come together with different expectations and problems, seeing the world from their own unique perspectives and facing it head on together.
Flickers by
"A movie scream so chilling and powerful, it will open up another dimension...
Orphaned twins Isabelle and Beatrice Thorn are living a glamorous 1920s Hollywood life as wards of Mr. Cecil, a mysterious and influential director. Isabelle is a silent film starlet, destined for greatness in the very first 'talkie' - a horror flick. Beatrice spends her days hidden away on the Cecil estate with her books and her insect collection, scarves covering her birthmarks and baldness. But Beatrice's curiosity about the death of her parents and the unsettling fate of a reporter is getting the better of her and she's starting to realize Mr. Cecil has truly dark designs for this movie." -Author's website
The Hill by
Seeking cell phone reception after a remote plane crash, city kid Jared and local Kyle scale a hill that Kyle's Cree grandmother has forbidden him to climb. Coming down the next day, the boys find that the plane has disappeared, the forest has changed, and something is hunting them. A modern imagining of the Cree Wîhtiko legend. Jared's plane has crashed in the Alberta wilderness, and Kyle is first on the scene. When Jared insists on hiking up the highest hill in search of cell phone reception, Kyle hesitates; his Cree grandmother has always forbidden him to go near it. There's no stopping Jared, though, so Kyle reluctantly follows. After a night spent on the hilltop--with no cell service--the teens discover something odd: the plane has disappeared. Nothing in the forest surrounding them seems right. In fact, things seem very wrong. And worst of all, something is hunting them. Karen Bass, the multi-award-winning author of Graffiti Knight and Uncertain Soldier, brings her signature action packed style to a chilling new subject: the Cree Wîhtiko legend. Inspired by the real story of a remote plane crash and by the legends of her Cree friends and neighbours, Karen brings eerie life--or perhaps something other than life--to the northern Alberta landscape in The Hill.
Lucky Jonah by
"Bullied by his brother and living in the shadow of his athletic best friend, Jonah is crippled by self-loathing and insecurity. Then a mysterious stranger hands him a disposable camera with the power to transport him into someone else's body - and someone else's life. But with a limited number of shots and trouble mounting click by click, will this unhappy boy find a new life? Or will the secret he's been keeping follow him wherever he goes?" - Publisher's website
MiNRS by
A boy and his friends must find a way to survive in the mining tunnels after their new space colony is attacked in this gritty action-adventure novel, which School Library Journal called "a solid survival story." In space. Underground. And out of time. Christopher Nichols and his family live on a new planet, Perses, as colonists of Melming Mining's Great Mission to save the earth. Dozens of families like Christopher's have relocated, too, like his best friend Elena Rosales. A communications blackout with Earth hits, and all of Perses is on its own for three months. It's okay, though, because the colonists have prepared, stockpiling food and resources to survive. But they never prepared for an attack. Landers, as the attackers are called, obliterate the colony to steal the metal and raw ore. Now in a race against time, Christopher, along with a small group of survivors, are forced into the maze of mining tunnels. The kids run. They hide. But can they survive?
Sea Change by
"One summer can change your whole life. As soon as school lets out, Eliot's parents send him to the very edge of the world: a fishing village in a remote part of Nova Scotia. And what does the small town of Point Aconi have to offer? Bugs, bullies, and grumpy old men. But along with way, Eliot discovers much more - a hidden library, starry nights and a mysterious girl named Mary Beth." - From publisher's website
Shattered Glass by
Toni has always had nightmares about fire, and she also has burn scars but no idea how she got them. So when fire destroys the orphanage she has grown up in, she is ready to make her way to Toronto, where she hopes to discover the truth about the mother she believes hurt and then abandoned her. Toronto proves to be both daunting and exciting for Toni, whose charm and innocence attract attention--not always positive--wherever she goes. Buoyed by the music she hears at the folk club where she finds a job, and encouraged by her glamorous landlady, Toni unearths shocking information that contradicts everything she believes and makes her re-evaluate what she feels for all the new people in her life. Part of the SECRETS--a series of seven linked novels that can be read in any order.
Shooter by
A lockdown catches five grade 12 students by surprise and throws them together in the only unlocked room on that empty third floor wing: the boys' washroom. They sit in silence, judging each other by what they see, by the stories they've heard over the years. Stuck here with them--could anything be worse? 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 this modern-day Breakfast Club takes a twist when Isabelle gets a text that changes everything: NOT A DRILL!! Shooter in the school! Suddenly, the bathroom doesn't seem so safe anymore. Especially when they learn that one of them knows more about the shooter than they realized...
Trouble Is a Friend of Mine by
Of course Zoe Webster didn't like Philip Digby when she first met him. No one does! He's rude and he treats her like a book he's already read and knows the ending to. But Zoe is new in town and her options for friends are . . . limited. And before she knows it, Digby--annoying, brilliant, and somehow attractive?--has dragged her into a series of hilarious and dangerous situations all related to the investigation of a missing local teen girl. When it comes to Digby, Zoe just can't say no. But is Digby's manic quest really worth all the trouble he's getting Zoe into?
The Unquiet Past by
Tess has always been tormented by waking visions that make her question her sanity. When the orphanage she lives in burns down, she decides to face her fears and find out once and for all what is wrong with her. She believes the truth must lie with her parents, and so, armed with only an address and phone number, Tess travels to a crumbling mansion in rural Quebec, where she discovers evidence of mistreatment of mental patients. She also makes an unlikely ally and gradually unearths her family's sad history--and finally accepts the truth about her paranormal powers. Part of the SECRETS--a series of seven linked novels that can be read in any order.
Shooter by
A lockdown catches five grade 12 students by surprise and throws them together in the only unlocked room on that empty third floor wing: the boys' washroom. They sit in silence, judging each other by what they see, by the stories they've heard over the years. Stuck here with them--could anything be worse? 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 this modern-day Breakfast Club takes a twist when Isabelle gets a text that changes everything: NOT A DRILL!! Shooter in the school! Suddenly, the bathroom doesn't seem so safe anymore. Especially when they learn that one of them knows more about the shooter than they realized...