- friendship (170)
- non-classifiable (118)
- mysteries & detective stories (94)
- law & crime (90)
- self-esteem & self-reliance (89)
- humorous stories (81)
- values & virtues (64)
- canadian (60)
- post-confederation (1867-) (53)
- literary (44)
- death & dying (43)
- siblings (41)
- emotions & feelings (39)
- crime (36)
- general (see also headings under social themes) (35)
- school & education (35)
- bullying (33)
- hockey (33)
- survival stories (32)
- imagination & play (29)
Thunderbowl
Jeremy's band is hot--really hot. Thunderbowl is on the way up and they have had their first big break--a long-term gig at a local bar. The only problem is that while Jeremy should be doing his homework and keeping up in school, he is spending most nights in a rowdy club, trying to keep the band together while his life is falling apart. Trying to b …
Down the Chimney with Googol and Googolplex
Googol and Googolplex are on a mission to learn about Earth.
The alien robot duo begin by collecting a number of items including a blackbirdís song, snowballs and a chocolate bar. Pippa and Troy are happy to help, especially when they get to ride to the North Pole in a spaceship. But when they return, Martin, the bully next door, sees something tha …
Catching Spring
The year is 1957, and Bobby lives on the Tsartlip First Nation reserve on Vancouver Island where his family has lived for generations and generations.
Bobby loves his weekend job at the nearby marina. He loves to play marbles with his friends. And he loves being able to give half his weekly earnings to his mother to eke out the grocery money, but he …
The Puppet Wrangler
Telly Mercer is shy and quiet, used to living in the shadow of her older sister, Bess. Then she finds herself on the set of a puppet show, staying out of the way of her overstressed aunt Kathleen. One evening she makes a surprising discovery that launches her on an adventure with an unpredictable and angry puppet.
Cougar Cove
Eleven-year-old Sam's first visit to the remote west coast of Vancouver Island is nothing like she'd expected.
Her older cousins tease "the city kid" mercilessly when they're not ignoring her altogether. She often finds herself left to her own devices. Still, the woods and beaches around Brackenwood Point offer plenty of room to explore. Then, one d …
Underdog
It's a new season for Nick and Kia and once again they have to prove they've got what it takes to make the Mississauga Magic rep team.
There is no free ride on Coach Barkley's team. The tryouts are tough but fair and it looks like the nucleus of last yearís team will be together once again. But there is one new player who seems to have the skills t …
TJ and the Rockets
TJ overcame his fear of cats in TJ and the Cats and his fear of ghosts in TJ and the Haunted House. Now, he's not so keen on facing his fear of failure. His best friend Seymour is determined to come up with the latest greatest invention and TJ's gran expects TJ to build a rocket. The kittens, T-Rex and Alaska, are eager to get involved. When the fi …
The Hippie House
The "summer of love" is a time of idealistic freedom and experimentation for Emma, her cousin Megan, and the young people of Pike Creek. While her brother Eric's band practices in what Uncle Pat has dubbed the Hippie House, the girls suntan on their small lake and hitchhike into town to hang around the Drop-In Center. They find the growing crowd of …
A Noodle Up Your Nose
Kate has decided on a pirate theme for her party. She thinks that seven is going to be the best age to be. Her friend Jake is going to teach her to ride a two-wheeler. And her party is going to be fabulous. That is, until Violet starts spreading stories. Kate goes right on with her planning, but she is worried. When Violet is the only one to show u …
Far From Shore
Faced with instability on many sides, and living in an outport community in Newfoundland, fifteen-year-old Chris gropes for direction in a family broken apart by unemployment. Even his easy-going, humorous attitude fails to steady him as he stumbles through the summer after grade ten. He's failed his year, he can't find a summer job, and he's incre …
Robbie Packford - Alien Monster
The prime directive has been changed and four billion robots with atomic blasters are poised to take over the universe. Only Robbie Packford, Earth boy and grade six math nerd, can stop them. But when Robbie drinks the secret formula that is supposed to make him invincible, he turns into a mythical creature from the planet Kerbosky with a disturbin …
Niagara Flavours
This book celebrates the cuisine and the countryside of Niagara and southwestern Ontario. You'll find wonderful recipes, appealing full-colour photographs, and up-to-the-minute profiles of more than 40 fine dining establishments. The Niagara Peninsula and southwestern Ontario grow some of Canada's tastiest fruits and vegetables and produce a wide …
Salvage King, Ya!
Finalist, ReLit Award
Amazon.ca's 50 Essential Canadian Books selection
First published in 1997 to much critical acclaim, Salvage King, Ya! is a novel firmly rooted in Canada’s favourite national pastime—hockey. Critics have called Salvage King, Ya! “the great Canadian novel,” and a “postmodern Canadian classic.” Drinkwater, Jarman’s n …
Just Call Me Joe
The year is 1909 and Joseph has just immigrated to the United States from Russia. He thinks that life in New York City will be wonderful, but he has not bargained for the challenges of learning English and of resisting the pressures to skip school, steal and fight to earn a place among the boys in his neighbourhood. Just Call Me Joe presents a full …
Runaway
Max is horrified when he sees Sam Black, a new neighbor, strike a boy who is in his charge, but Max still shouts, "Thief," and tries to catch the boy when he sees him steal from the General Store in The Landings. When the abused boy runs away and takes refuge in Max’s secret fort in the woods, Max must decide where his loyalties lie.
The Scream of the Hawk
Lissa is the new kid in town. She is lonely and she blames her mother and her mother's new husband for her troubles. To make matters worse, she has to look after a boy who believes that his dead mother's spirit lives on in the red-tailed hawk that he secretly keeps captive. Ironically, the resulting adventure takes Lissa's mind off her own troubles …
Torn Away
Thirteen-year-old Declan lives only for revenge. His mother, father and sister were all killed on the streets of Belfast, and Declan will stop at nothing to settle the score. When he is torn away from his native soil and sent to live with relatives in Canada, he is disgusted by their efforts to welcome him into their lives, and determined to make t …
My Name is Mitch
Mitch MacLeod may be the smallest kid in grade six, but he has a great sense of humor and a strong backbone. He can read, sometimes, but never at school when he has to. "You don't know what humiliation is until you have a grade one reading buddy who reads better than you do," he says. But things start to change for Mitch when he creates an opportun …
From the Atelier Tovar
One of the Village Voice's Top 25 Books of 2003.
Guy Maddin is one of Canada's most celebrated and original filmmakers, the director of such delirious films as Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Careful, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary and the forthcoming The Saddest Music in the World. Few know, however, that he is just as gifted a writer, and his …
Tough Trails
When Ambrose is forced to sell his horse because of an injury, he must find a new animal that can handle the rigors of the mountains while packing for his uncleís trail-riding outfit.
To save an old lady's beloved companion from the meat-buyers, Ambrose buys a horse who would be better off in retirement than climbing the treacherous trails of the R …
Truth
When an adult neighbor is brutally murdered during a high-school house party, everyone in school seems to have an idea who did it, but no one will go to the police.
Jen was there and saw the body and she has her own ideas about who is responsible. As a reporter for the school TV show, she decides to try and uncover the truth and discover if a classm …
Hit Squad
This is Mickey's first year at Grandview High. After transferring, all he wants to do is keep his head down, work hard and fit in with the upscale crowd. He is approached, because of his tough reputation, to join a group of students to take back the school from the bullies. Mickey finds himself caught up in a shadowy world of violence and retributi …
Fastback Beach
Miles Derkach is in trouble. Along with two friends, he stole a car and went joyriding. When the dust clears, he is all alone and his friends have left, leaving him to take the blame—and the punishment—while maintaining his silence. Placed on probation and sentenced to community service, Miles begins working for a man who after suffering a stro …
Earth and High Heaven
When Erika Drake, of the Westmount Drakes, met and fell in love with Marc Reiser, a Jew from northern Ontario, their respective worlds were turned upside down. Set against the backdrop of the first three years of the Second World War, Earth and High Heaven captured the hearts and minds of its generation and helped to shape the more diverse and incl …
How Canadians Communicate, Vol. 1
How Canadians Communicate (vol. 1) is a timely collection that chronicles the extraordinary changes that are shaking the foundations of Canada's cultural and communications industries in the twenty-first century. With essays from some of Canada's foremost media scholars, this book discusses the major trends and developments that have taken place in …
Wolf Mountains
Situating the wolf in the history of Canadian national parks, Karen Jones considers changing ideas of nature and wilderness and competing visions of the North American West. Wolf Mountains is essentially a work of environmental history, treating the land as an actor in the historical process.
This controversial study examines the tumultuous relation …
In Quest of Fur
In 1909, fur buyer William Oliver Kennedy Ross traveled overland from his home in Quebec City, along the North Shore of the St. Lawrence into Southern Labrador and across the Strait of Belle Isle to the west coast of Newfoundland. His main purpose was to purchase furs from local trappers and middlemen. During his travels, he occasionally bought oth …
Dance of the Stones
Chantel, Adam, Holly and Owen are eager to begin the next stage of their adventure. "The Stones have stirred," Ava, Hawkwoman and Wise One, tell Owen, "The time is near for the Circle Dance." The stones are the ancient stone circle of Avebury in England. But the Dark Being approaches, and her servant, a wraith, blocks the children’s progress. Whe …
The Shining World
The Shining World is the second book in a projected trilogy, and the sequel to The Nordlings, Kathleen McDonnell’s fantasy-adventure novel published in 1999. When the story opens, sixteen-year-old Peggy has gone up north to plant trees for the summer, hoping to make enough money to finally get out of her mother’s house and gain her independence …
Bull Rider
Layne wants nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps and to be a bull rider.
His dad was one ride away from a National Championship when he got trampled to death. Layne wants to be able to give his dad that championship—by winning it for him. What he doesn't want, though, is to end up like his father and die in the rodeo arena. When t …
TJ and the Haunted House
TJ does not believe in ghosts, so when he agrees to create a haunted house in his own home as a fundraiser, he does not anticipate problems...
...at least not until it turns out that a ghost may inhabit the spare room in his century-old house. The ghost, real or imagined, leads TJ to some fascinating family history. TJ finds a way to bring that hist …
Flight from Big Tangle
Kaylee used to love to fly. With two pilots for parents, how could she not? But when her father's plane goes down and neither the wreckage nor his body is found, she develops a terror of flying. She is too afraid to convince her mother to take her back to the Caribbean to search for her father. And she is haunted by fear whenever her mother goes up …
The Trouble with Liberty
Liberty Hayes has just moved to Sutter's Crossing and is the talk of the town. She has plenty of money and everyone wants to be her friend. When Liberty accuses a male teacher of sexually assaulting her, the rumors start. Val, her new best friend, is torn between believing Liberty and trusting her old friend Ryan when it comes to the truth. What is …
Waiting for Sarah
Mike's parents and sister are dead and his legs are gone. The horrific accident that shattered his life continues to haunt him. When he grudgingly returns to school and a life that he no longer understands, Mike is bitter and unwilling to participate in school life. To avoid one of his classes Mike agrees to put together a 50th Anniversary history …
No Problem
Curt seems to have it all--a girlfriend, friends, a good summer job and a guaranteed position on the baseball team with the promise of a professional career. Then, one misstep causes his world to unravel and his life to plummet into the depths of depression and addiction. A bleak yet ultimately hopeful story about one teen's struggle with the press …
Who Owns Kelly Paddik?
Kelly Paddik is locked up. Sent to a secure facility because she is a "danger to herself," Kelly wants only to escape. But her painful past continues to haunt her until she is forced to face up to the most painful memory of all. A searing look at one girl's struggle for self respect.
Off Season
Readers of Hoop Crazy will remember Ned as the bug-loving beanpole who lives in an isolated national park out West, three hours from the nearest basketball court. But Ned's participation in the three-on-three tournament when he visited Nick has sparked his interest in the game and now he and his father have built their own basketball court in the w …
Dinosaurs on the Beach
Josie is fascinated with the secrets of the prehistoric world. She and her grandfather, an amateur paleontologist, explore the beaches and cliffs near Stone Trees Cottage in Nova Scotia. Tiny bones have been discovered, but what are they from? As Josie searches for the answer, she is forced to cope with an accident and competition from an unpleasan …
The Lottery
Every student at Saskatoon Collegiate knew that all the most important aspects of school life were controlled by a secret club called Shadow Council.
Each fall, Shadow held a traditional lottery during which a single student's name was drawn. The rest of the student body called the student the lottery winner. But Shadow Council knew better; to them …
One More Step
Fourteen-year-old Julian's parents separated when he was a baby and he is still angry and hurt.
His mother has had relationships since--all of which have ended disastrously—but this time it seems serious. Jean-Paul looks like he might be the real thing. Julian is wary—and critical—as he comes to terms with the fact that he and his brother may …
Kicked Out
Dime is fifteen and angry all the time. Her parents don't like the way she dresses, her boyfriend, her attitude. Her older brother Darren was paralyzed in an accident she walked away from, and Dime is sure her parents wish she were the one in the wheelchair. When the fights and accusations finally become too much, Dime moves in with her brother. At …
Refuge Cove
Greg is an avid sailor. On a solo trip off the rugged Newfoundland coast, he stumbles upon a family of desperate refugees stranded in a lifeboat. Fearing for their lives if they are deported to their homeland, the family convinces Greg to help them, and keep their existence secret. He promises not to call the authorities and takes the family home. …
Road Trip
Nick, Kia and their Mississauga Magic teammates are on the road, heading off to an elite hoop tournament in the Midwest.
Feeling outmatched by many of the high-profile teams, the kids are still looking forward to a good time. However, Coach Barkley, who played college ball in the area and is still regarded as a hero, has other ideas. As usual, nothi …
Birdie for Now
Dickon wasn't happy in his old home or his old school. He hopes that in his new neighborhood he will meet children who never knew his old, hyper self, who will like him for who he is now. And he hopes for a dog of his own. Dickon's mother calls him Birdie. She feeds him milk from a teddy bear mug. She worries if he's out of her sight for a moment a …
TJ and the Cats
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 d …
Generals Die in Bed
All war is hell. But for troops serving in World War I, it was the bloodiest trench warfare ever known. GENERALS DIE IN BED is a first-hand account of one young man catapulted from new recruit to walking wounded on the Western Front.
From day one, he’s surrounded by mud and fear. Artillery whistles down without warning. Boys, barely men, cry out f …
Dancing Naked
Kia is sixteen and pregnant. Her world crumbles as she attempts to come to terms with the life growing inside her and what she must do. Initially convinced that abortion is her only option, Kia comes to understand that for her, the answers are not always black and white. As the pregnancy progresses, Kia discovers who her real friends are and where …
The White Horse Talisman
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 …
Long Shot
When Nick and Kia arrive for try-outs for the basketball team they played on the previous year, they are surprised to meet their new coach. Coach Barkley is a former college star known for his fierce desire to win. Though the coach has been away from the game for many years, his competitive instincts are as strong as ever and his aggressive coachin …
The Spy in the Alley
Confronting a prowler in the backyard, Dinah is determined to find out why someone has taken an interest in her older sister and herself. Who is the buck-tooth burglar? Why are the Rinaldi's tomatoes always involved? And what is the connection between Madge's boyfriend and GASP, a group of well-intentioned anti-smoking activists? When it becomes ap …