Baboon by
Fourteen-year-old Gerry Copeland has mixed feelings about flying back to his parents' research camp in the African savanna. While his biologist mom and dad study baboon behavior, he'll be thinking about the video arcade and restaurants back in the city. Suddenly, their small plane's engine stutters and dies. They go down hard. Gerry wakes up thinking a baboon has broken his fall. He's shocked to realize the furry arm is his own. Somehow, he's become one of the beasts his parents are studying. Gerry's only chance is to stay with the baboon troop. His parents don't recognize him and he begins to lose hope he'll ever be human again. His final, desperate bid to turn back means giving up the animal family he's come to care about for the human family where he truly belongs. Baboon is the riveting story of one teenager's journey into the heart of the baboon world, where he confronts terrifying attacks by predators and humans, threatening behavior within the troop, and the day-to-day struggle to survive.
Directed by Kaspar Snit by
Fresh from their victory over the nasty Kaspar Snit, -- who was last seen trying to steal the fountains of Rome in The Fortress of Kaspar Snit -- the Blande family have certainly earned a rest. They're not actually an average family (what average family has the power to fly?), but they like to relax in front of the TV like everyone else. Their favorite show (except for Dad) is the hugely popular hit, "The Zoomers." When it's Zoomer time, mom makes a batch of popcorn, Solly settles his rat GW on his shoulder, and Eleanor watches avidly as the Zoomer family of superheroes set off on their weekly adventure. But Eleanor's noticed an odd detail: the director is one I. M. Partankiss. And that's none other than Kaspar Snit. Surely he must have reformed? After all, he is planning to donate a million dollars to his beloved native land, Verulia. Problem is, "The Zoomers" won't be seen on TV until a million dollars has been raised. The Blande parents are off to a romantic vacation in Tuscany and Eleanor and Solly are left in the care of their new, extraordinary nanny, Mrs. Leer, and so the fun begins. The adventures they embark on are much more exciting than anything they've seen on "The Zoomers." The thousands of readers who made The Fortress of Kaspar Snit such a success will welcome Cary Fagan's laugh-out-loud sequel. Not only does this book stand alone as a hilarious story, but it also introduces the most memorable nanny since Mary Poppins.
Jakeman by
Diamond Willow Award nominee, 2008 Silver Birch Fiction shortlist, 2007 CLA Children's Book of the Year Award 2008 shorlist VOYA's Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers list, 2007 Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award Jake and his sister Shoshona have been under foster care since their single mother was arrested for possession and trafficking three years before. Both have found their own ways to cope: Shoshona has become a bossy mother figure; Jake, who is a budding comic book artist, has created an alter ego named Jakeman. And unbeknownst to his sister, Jake continues his one-man letter-writing campaign to the Governor, pleading for clemency for their mom. Along with an assortment of nervous, angry, and damaged kids, Jake and Shoshona take a community-provided school bus four times a year on the long overnight journey through New York State to visit their mother in jail. This time will be like no other trip they've ever taken. Their adult chaperones contract food poisoning on the way back and must be dropped off at a hospital. And their driver, refusing to wait for another adult to replace their chaperones, sets off again with only the kids and a hidden bottle of booze in tow. In no time they are off the main highway and lost. And their driver, now staggering drunk, abandons the kids and walks off, leaving them in the middle of nowhere. Angry and sick to death of a system that has deserted them at every turn, Shoshana takes the wheel. And through a series of crazy side trips, Jake and the others hatch a plan to visit the Governor's mother. And when the old lady sees that her son has dismissed Jake's appeals and refused to even reply, she helps them face off with the Governor himself. Jake and the others find themselves at a photo opportunity that ends in tragedy even as it gives the long-abandoned kids a forum to be heard at long last.
Never to Be Told by
Asia has lived with elderly Ira and his wife Maddy on their farm for as long as she can remember. When Ira has a heart attack Asia's world is turned upside down. Faced with the possibility of losing the only family she has ever known, Asia is frightened but fascinated by the appearance of a ghost that only she can see and hear.
Odd Man Out by
Kip is spending the summer with his grandmother and his five eccentric girl cousins, including Emily, who thinks she's a dog. Gran's house is about to be demolished, so anything goes, whether it's drawing maps on the wall or sawing off the banister for a smoother ride. When Kip bashes through an old closet, he discovers the binder his late father kept as a teenager. He's bewildered by what he finds: puzzling lists, hair samples, old newspaper clippings, and business cards -- all accompanying a confidential report written by a mysterious young operative who is carrying out a secret plan to infect teenagers with a cell-altering virus. When the cousins tell Kip he needs to think up something to do for Talent Night, he panics -- until he remembers the binder. But Kip's literary reading has frightening consequences that reveal even more strange secrets about his beloved father. This wonderful new novel has all the Sarah Ellis hallmarks -- quirky characters, insight, wit -- underpinned by resonant themes of family, memory, and the creative imagination.
Pigboy by
Dan is not sure he'll survive the boring field trip to a remote heritage farm. How could a place with no running water, telephone or electricity be anything but dull? The farmer knows nothing about farming and is angry about having to conduct the tour. And what's with his tattoo? The teacher requests a private word with the farmer and then mysteriously disappears. After a messy attack of allergies, Dan is excused to find a tissue. He sneaks back to the school bus and discovers the driver and teacher have been bound and gagged. The farmer is really an escaped convict with nasty plans. Will Dan be able to find help in time?
The Secret of Grim Hill by
Cat Peters just transferred to Darkmont High and is already desperate to get out. When she hears that Grimoire, the private school nearby, is offering scholarships to the winners of a Halloween soccer match, Cat jumps at the chance. Her little sister, Sookie, and their bookworm neighbor, Jasper, try to tell her there's something ... just not right about the old school on the hill, and their worries are confirmed when they uncover a mystery about an entire soccer team that disappeared many years ago. Further investigation leads Cat to a book about ancient Celtic myth and fairy lore, and she soon realizes that there is something truly wicked at work inside the walls of Grimoire.
Shadows on the Train by
It's all aboard! for mystery when Dinah Galloway takes the cross-country train from Vancouver to Toronto, to appear on a TV talent show. But will she make it-or be permanently derailed? Along with her sister Madge, and her fellow junior musicians, tree fanatic Pantelli Audia and history buff Talbot St. John, Dinah is shadowed by someone who wants to get hold of an $80,000 treasure left by her late dad. But what is the treasure? The redheaded, singing sleuth realizes that the secret dwells somewhere in her dad's murky past, and involves a funny, if less than respectable, ex-con named Ardle McBean, and a mysterious man with a bowl cut. The mystery accelerates when Dinah's sweet, elderly piano teacher, also on the train, disappears and the danger to Dinah increases. She struggles to keep on the tracks of the mystery before the shadows, past and present, overwhelm her. This is the fifth installment in the best-selling Dinah Galloway Mystery series.
Torrie and the Snake-Prince by
A magical adventure and an all-new quest -- filled with action and irresistible humor. The moment Torrie meets the peddler Wren, he knows her talents are destined for more than the beautiful ornaments she makes from feathers and scraps of wire. When Crown Prince Liasis is kidnapped and no one steps forward to attempt a rescue, both Torrie and Wren realize it time to act. And so the two pick up the trail, even as the prince -- transformed into a snake and held captive by a sorcerer -- plots his own escape by winning a friend among his captor's goblin followers. Torrie and Wren travel through the mountains and into the Wild Forest, where they must deal with a goblin spy, an irate and deadly dryad, and the puzzle of Rookfeather the minstrel. And when they finally reach their goal, Wren learns surprising truths about herself and the strangely powerful ornaments she makes to sell. Therein lies the secret to freeing the prince and making him human again. Torrie and the Snake-Prince is another magical adventure of action and irresistible humor in the exciting Torrie Quests series.
The Vampire's Visit by
In The Vampire's Visit , Salt and Pepper's visit to London, England takes an unexpected turn when they notice that garlic hangs at every window in their home away from home except theirs! Sure enough, a teenage vampire soon shows up and asks for their help. When they refuse, Christine's little brother Hal disappears--an event that soon embroils the dynamic duo in a full-fledged vampire gang war!
The Secret of Grim Hill by
Cat Peters just transferred to Darkmont High and is already desperate to get out. When she hears that Grimoire, the private school nearby, is offering scholarships to the winners of a Halloween soccer match, Cat jumps at the chance. Her little sister, Sookie, and their bookworm neighbor, Jasper, try to tell her there's something ... just not right about the old school on the hill, and their worries are confirmed when they uncover a mystery about an entire soccer team that disappeared many years ago. Further investigation leads Cat to a book about ancient Celtic myth and fairy lore, and she soon realizes that there is something truly wicked at work inside the walls of Grimoire.