Camp X by
It's 1943, and nearly-12-year-old George and his older brother Jack are spending a restless wartime summer in Whitby, Ontario, where their mom is working at a munitions plant while their dad is off fighting the Germans. One afternoon, the boys stumble across Canada's top-secret spy camp-and so begins an exciting and terrifying adventure as George and Jack get caught up in the covert activities of Camp X. Fascinated by Camp X and its secrets, the boys begin to suspect local townspeople of being spies. Is the police chief keeping tabs on people for enemy purposes? Is Jack's boss at the newspaper really amassing information for sinister reasons? Unable to resist the camp's allure, the boys keep going back to find out more details of what's going on-they even meet William Stephenson, the Man Called Intrepid himself. They also attract the attention of a very sinister character, someone who is determined to use George and Jack's knowledge against the Allies, no matter the consequences . . . or the casualties.
Chance and the Butterfly by
Every time Chance turns around, he gets in trouble. In school, he can't sit still. Reading is hard and math is harder, but anything to do with science fascinates him. When his class starts raising butterflies from caterpillars, Chance is hooked. School is suddenly fun again, but when he decides to take his caterpillar home, he learns that loving something often means letting it go.
Flying geese by
When Margaret's family moves from their prairie farm to London, Ontario in 1915 so her father can find work, she desperately tries to finish her flying geese quilt, believing it can help them return to her beloved farm
Forest of Reading 2003 nominee.
Silver Birch Fiction award nominee 2003.
Footsteps in the snow : the Red River diary of Isobel Scott by
Isobel thinks that she and her family will find their fortune in Canada. But Isobel's mother dies before they even cross the ocean, and other misfortunes follow their every step. Isobel's family and the other Selkirk Settlers are caught in the fur-trading rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company and cannot even start to build when they do reach their destination.
The harsh climate, and escalating threats against the settlers, make it impossible to start a new life. Only through perserverance and help from the local Cree band are Isobel and her family finally able to put down roots in the Red River Valley. Vetted by historical experts, each book in this series contains maps, numerous period illustrations, and an extensive historical note.
I Have Been in Danger by
Ten-year-old Sidney saves her older sister on a camping holiday in the mountains, helping them learn that the depth and permanence of their relationship as sisters is an important part of what defines them.
Jo's Triumph by
In the late 1850s in and around Carson City, struggles between the Indigenous and local white people are growing. During the struggles, Joselyn, a young orphan, meets Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute girl who becomes her friend and gives her some valuable advice. When Joselyn takes that advice and escapes from the Carson City Home for Unfortunate Children, she has no idea that her boy's disguise and her love for and expertise with horses will lead her straight to the Pony Express. Joselyn becomes Jo and turns to a life that demands all her inner strength and resources. Then the meanest man on the route learns her secret and uses it to extract a promise that kept or broken could mean death.
The light-bearer's daughter by
Eleven year-old Dana has just learned that her musician dad plans to return to Canada, so they will be moving from Ireland, maybe forever. To leave her friends, school and the only home she has ever known is bad enough. But if they go, Dana must abandon all hope of ever finding her mother, who disappeared when Dana was three. Dana is unwillingly drawn into the world of Faerie. Wandering the woods, she meets a strange young woman who charges her with an important but dangerous mission : to carry a message from the High King of Faerie to his second-in-command deep in the mountains. If she succeeds, Dana will have her heart's desire - any wish will be granted.
Forest of Reading 2003 nominee.
Silver Birch Fiction award nominee 2003.
Summer of Changes by
Anneke had heard the noise too. A twig cracking. Slow steps coming from the partly overgrown path. Was it the cougar? The bear? Searchers? She'd have to outsmart them all. Bear, play dead and dumb; cat, play big and brave. . . When her mother is no longer able to take care of her, eleven-year-old Anneke takes her border collie, Sheera, and moves to a cave near her home in the Kootenay mountains. Although she knows how to survive and stay hidden in the woods, she is shaken by a close encounter with a cougar and a terrifying thunderstorm. Anneke may need to turn to the kind foster parents she stayed with several years earlier, but they are poor substitutes for the mother she misses so much. Why can't the doctors find the right medication to control her mother's schizophrenia? Anneke finds comfort from Gram, who lost her own mother at an early age, and in her talent in woodworking, as she copes with a difficult summer of changes and adjustments. Summer of Changesis the first in a series of realistic adventure stories by award-winning author Ann Alma.
TJ and the Cats by
TJ may not like cats, but that doesn't stop a taxi from showing up at his door bearing his grandmother's four felines. Killer, Cleo, Kink and Maximillian the Emperor--Max for short--invade TJ's life and replace dinosaurs as the topic for his school project. His friend and partner for the project, Seymour, is deeply disappointed; the cats in his drawings all come out looking prehistoric. The animals' presence in TJ's house leads to a series of adventures, one involving the police and another involving a mass escape.
The White Horse Talisman by
In The White Horse Talisman, Chantel, Adam, Holly and Owen must help Equus, the great white horse, find his mate and foal and regain his magical talisman. But as the horse rises, so does the dragon. The age-old battle between good and evil threatens the bond between Chantel and Adam and endangers the quest. This is fantasy as its best, a story that raises hairs on the back of the neck and sends satisfying chills up and down the spine, a story that, while clearly drawn from the rich world of make believe, feels truer than true.
Camp X by
It's 1943, and nearly-12-year-old George and his older brother Jack are spending a restless wartime summer in Whitby, Ontario, where their mom is working at a munitions plant while their dad is off fighting the Germans. One afternoon, the boys stumble across Canada's top-secret spy camp-and so begins an exciting and terrifying adventure as George and Jack get caught up in the covert activities of Camp X. Fascinated by Camp X and its secrets, the boys begin to suspect local townspeople of being spies. Is the police chief keeping tabs on people for enemy purposes? Is Jack's boss at the newspaper really amassing information for sinister reasons? Unable to resist the camp's allure, the boys keep going back to find out more details of what's going on-they even meet William Stephenson, the Man Called Intrepid himself. They also attract the attention of a very sinister character, someone who is determined to use George and Jack's knowledge against the Allies, no matter the consequences . . . or the casualties.