Mel's best friend Dustin is her dream guy, but she lost her chance with him last year and now he's seeing someone else. Enter Colter, the handsome new guy in school who is definitely interested in her. It's just the thing Mel needs to get her mind off Dustin. Before Mel realizes it, she's spending almost every waking moment with Colter, even skippi …

Cale Finch's plans for Spring Break? EAT, SLEEP, SKATE.

Cale's determined that this time he'll successfully ollie the set of seven stairs that mark initiation into the Seven Stair Crew, a group of older, junior-high skaters. But Cale soon finds that not all local skaters are welcoming to grommets (new skaters) like him. He has to find his voice, lea …

Growing up above his parents' Chinese family restaurant in Sexsmith, Alberta, Warren Chen has always dreamed of being a football star. At 90 pounds and five feet tall, he's not exactly built like a linebacker, but even short kids from tiny towns have big dreams. At first the coach is reluctant to even let him try out, but soon he sees Warren's stre …

Ethan is trying his hardest to get some attention from his family, but his dad's focus is always directed towards troubled stepsister Haley. When a dark secret threatens to destroy his family life, Ethan turns to his hacking skills to figure out who to believe: his father or Haley. He must also deal with the fact that he has spent his life striving …

Podium Sports Academy's star goalkeeper wants nothing more than to play on Canada's National Team. Parmita works hard at school and on the pitch, so if it seems like she's avoiding boys, she hopes everyone will think it's because she wants to be the best, and not because she's secretly attracted to girls.

The team's new assistant coach may actually …

The odds are stacked against Melanie and Trent, who are trying to stay in high school while holding down part-time jobs to survive. They can't live at home, and they can't rely on the social support system. They're going to have to help each other through if they're going to make it.

Previously published as Falling Through the Cracks, a Canadian Chi …

It seems like Kat's parents have done little but prepare for her sister Hannah's return since she was sent away to a home for troubled teens. Everyone is determined to find out what went wrong with Hannah and make things right again -- everyone except Kat, that is.
Kat dreads going back to a life dominated by her sister's tantrums and rule-breakin …

Tara's life in Halifax is about as good as it gets--she gets top marks in her class, her parents are cool, she has a good part-time job, her boyfriend Ron edits an alternative paper.

Her life is especially good compared to her friend Janet's. Janet fights with her parents whenever she sees them, which isn't often. She spends more time begging for ch …

Todd Lerner's never been much of a student, but he's got plenty of street smarts and he's a mean poker player. Todd's always had a thing for Claire, the most beautiful girl in grade eleven -- but Claire likes nice things. If Todd wants to date her, he'll need cash and plenty of it. Soon, a weekly poker game turns into a costly and dangerous obsessi …

Between showing the award-winning jumper Mirror Glider, working at South Hills Stables, and washing dishes in her dad's South Asian family restaurant, thirteen-year-old Dev Rani doesn't always have a lot of time left for homework or a social life. But when Mirror Glider has an accident and is forced to retire, Dev is suddenly faced with a new probl …

This book offers a short, comprehensive history of post-war Canada. All the major events and developments in Canadian history are discussed: the evolution of the welfare state; the growth of economic domination by the United States; the halcyon days as a Middle Power; the Quiet Revolution; the First Nations' quest for autonomy; the flowering of Eng …

The media says you should be worried about your pension, the banks and financial advisors say Canadians aren't saving enough for their retirement, and Ottawa says drastic cuts to the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security lie ahead. Is the future sounding a little ominous? In the face of all this negativity, just what are you supposed to do?

Pensi …

In the early morning of August 19, 1942, over five thousand Canadian troops landed on the beach at Dieppe to reclaim the shore from German troops occupying France. It was a mission doomed from the start. Mere hours later, over two-thirds of the men were dead, wounded, or taken prisoner by German forces. It was the worst disaster in Canadian militar …

Canada's creative industries encompass book, periodical, and newspaper publishing; radio and television broadcasting; the music industry; video game production; filmmaking and video production; telecommunications; and the new media. These industries represent a major sector in the Canadian economy and exert a profound influence on many aspects of C …

Canada's universities have lost their autonomy. Under the guise of accountability, reformers from government and large corporations have undermined the original purposes of these institutions, insisting that they operate according to a business model.

The chief tool used to effect this change is the performance indicator, a method of evaluation and …

In 2011 the Harper Conservatives won a majority government with a minority of votes. If the opposition parties were willing to work together, they would have an excellent chance of defeating the Conservatives in the next election. Yet a merger doesn't seem to be in the cards any time soon.

In Power Trap, veteran journalist Paul Adams draws on many h …

Gavin and his friends Mido and Critter are starting high school this year, which means moving from a school with a championship-winning soccer team to a school that doesn't have a team at all. With a little encouragement from his friends and granddad, a former "footballer" from England, Gavin musters up his courage and makes a deal with the school …

Takeo Nakano immigrated to Canada from Japan in 1920, later marrying and starting a family in his adopted homeland. Takeo's passion was poetry, and he cultivated the exquisite form known as tanka.

Then came the Second World War. Takeo Nakano was one of thousands of Japanese men forcibly separated from his family in 1942 and interned in labour camps …

Willie O'Ree quietly made NHL history at the Montreal Forum on January 18, 1958, when he became the first black player to take to the ice. In the dressing room before the game, his Boston Bruins teammates told him not to worry. If any one of the Montreal players said anything to him, they'd have his back.

There was a round of applause when O'Ree ste …

David Milgaard was a troubled kid, and he got into lots of trouble. Unfortunately, that made it easy for the Saskatoon police to brand him as a murderer. At seventeen, David Milgaard was arrested, jailed, and convicted for the rape and murder of a young nursing assistant, Gail Miller. He was sent to adult prison for life.

Throughout his twenty-three …

Of all Podium Sports Academy's attackmen, Calgary native Nathan Moore stands the best chance of getting a lacrosse scholarship at a U.S. college. But at 5'10" and 125 lbs, Nathan's told by the scouts that he has some filling out to do before he can take the hard hits. Waiting for his body to catch up to his dreams isn't an option, so Nathan takes d …

Abby and Sarah are as different as two sisters can be, but they get along well -- that is, until they join the same school basketball team. Older sister Abby is bound and determined that their team will win this season. But outgoing and carefree Sarah seems to treat practices as a chance to goof off with friends, when she bothers to show up at all. …

Since Dexter's parents' death, he's been living with his aunt in her Scarborough apartment. Even though it's been two years, Dexter is still struggling to control his anger and so far the best way for him to do this is through sports. Then one day he snaps and attacks the pitcher during a baseball game, and Dex suddenly finds himself off the team. …

Caitlin Myers's greatest ambition is to be a star, and she can outshine anyone at her school. But then Lianne comes to town and starts to give Caitlin a run for her money, even getting top billing in the school play. So when Caitlin's offered a bit role as the bikini girl in a low-budget slasher flick, she ignores the warning bells (and her parents …

I dont see why I have to become this new person just because I like guys. Most of who I am has nothing to do with who I hump.

Will's never been obvious about being gay. Not like Daniel, who takes the heat -- and the beatings -- at Spencer High. But then Will's best friend outs him on Facebook, and his small-town life starts to spin out of control. I …

At twenty-four, Guy Paul Morin was considered a bit strange. He still lived at home, drove his parents' car, kept bees in the backyard, and grew flowers to encourage the hives. He played the saxophone and clarinet in three bands and loved the swing music of the 1940s.

In the small Ontario town where he lived, this meant Guy Paul stood out. So when t …

An Ottawa Citizen Notable Book for 2012

When Jack Layton died unexpectedly in the summer of 2011, millions of people mourned the loss of a man who had emerged as a much-loved political leader. They saw him as someone who combined values they shared with a personal style they admired.

In this book, co-editors James L. Turk and Charis Wahl have gathere …

According to Statistics Canada, all crime rates -- including violent crime -- have been trending downward over the last twenty years. Yet the Harper government continues to insist Canadians are in the midst of a crime epidemic. This is their rationale for spending billions on new prisons, and for legislation that will put thousands more behind bars …

This is the story of the most famous iceberg of all time--the iceberg that has gripped the imagination of the world, that humbled human technology and dramatized the wonders and dangers of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Author Richard Brown uses the iceberg's story to present the natural history of the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic at the turn of …

It wasn't until Canadian teams started losing in international tournaments in the mid 1950s that an epic hockey rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union began. Canadians believed hockey was
"their game." So Canadians were in for a rude awakening when they lost Game One of the 1972 Summit Series to the Soviets. The eight-game tournament quickly …

Adam loves hockey, and he's good at it. So when his family moves to Vancouver, he's sure he'll impress in the elite hockey league his father signs him up for. The only problem is that he'll have to wait three weeks to find out, and it's tougher than Adam thought to make friends in the big city. But then he meets Rodrigo, a soccer nut whose family i …

During 2008-2009, Israel lobby organizations made concerted efforts to block a planned conference on statehood for Israel and Palestine at Toronto's York University. This book is a report of an independent investigation by author Jon Thompson for the Canadian Association of University Teachers, an organization that has been active in the defence of …

After her mother suddenly leaves her family for good, Sandra is left behind with her alcoholic father -- and a lot of anger. At first, Sandra is more concerned with getting a job and getting on with her life, but then the people around her start pushing Sandra to at least try to find her missing mother. What will Sandra say to her mother if they ar …

Members of Eileen's tight-knit circle of friends have made a suicide pact. When her best friend's body is discovered, it's a race against time to find another missing teen and prevent another tragedy. Eileen finds an unexpected ally in Ron, one of a gang of bullies at school who always victimized Eileen's group of "losers." As Eileen and Ron franti …

No one in Alex's world is who they seemed to be. Alex struggles with his faith when he witnesses a church member cheating on his wife and learns that his brother is gay. When his brother is brutally attacked, Alex is forced to decide where his loyalties lie and what he really believes in.

Ryan Taber's father is about to deploy for his first tour of duty with the Canadian army in Afghanistan. Ryan lives his days on an army base in Alberta, and spends his evenings at the CyberKnights cafe, playing his favourite video game, Desert Death. At CyberKnights, Ryan meets the Desert Death ultimate champion and becomes entangled in a world of …

Skin Deep is a sincere and heart-felt look at a teenager's struggle to come to terms with her mother's mortality while struggling with her own ideas of beauty.
When her mother suddenly announces that she has breast cancer, Cori's world seems to end. Things that once seemed so important to her no longer matter -- it's hard to care if your hair is f …

Nicknamed "Cyclone" for his breathtaking speed, Fred Taylor was hockey's first superstar. Though known for his squeaky clean game, Taylor was often caught up in the politics and turmoil of hockey's early professional years. Star Power is the story of one of Canada's greatest athletes and a game in transition.

[Fry Reading Level - 4.8

David dreams of soccer glory, and is willing to suffer hours of monotonous practice drills to achieve it. His asthma might slow him down a little, but he works every day to be a better player.
The coach of his Winnipeg team has a different formula for success: play the best players, and let the rest spend the season warming the bench. When the fi …

The sons of Icelandic immigrants and friends since boyhood, the Winnipeg Falcons were a superbly talented team of just eight players who brought home Canada's first Olympic gold medal in hockey in 1920. But before they became world champions, the Falcons endured years of prejudice on and off the ice.

Author and renowned hockey historian Eric Zweig b …

The Christmas season is the one time of year that we all put aside the demands of the everyday to celebrate with friends and family; share stories, warm memories, and traditions; and feast on home-cooked food. But what happens when life simply won't pause in the name of good cheer and festive revelry? This unusual holiday collection brings to life …

Gregg Stokes can tell you exactly when his life took a turn for the worse. It was the day his new stepsister, Amy, joined the starting line-up of his hockey team, and everyone immediately felt the deep chill between them. Can they thaw their icy relationship for the sake of the team
and their new family? [Fry Reading Level - 3.4

George Chuvalo only wanted one thing: to become a boxer. When Chuvalo stepped into the ring, he was fearless. In ninety-three professional fights between 1956 and 1979, boxing everyone from George Foreman to Muhammad Ali, he was never once knocked out. But this heavyweight boxing legend never had it easy. After losing many loved ones to drugs, Chuv …

Kayak Combat is set in the highly competitive sport of kayak racing.
When it's announced that Cody's Calgary kayaking club will host a Canada-wide competition, no one doubts that Cody will represent them. He is the team's best paddler, after all. But Cody and the others aren't counting on a new guy from Ontario arriving who can out-paddle them al …

Edgy and suspenseful young adult fiction that explores topics teens want to read about.

It begins with a chance encounter: teenage Emily and her friends come to the aid of a stranger who is being bullied by a gang. Emily forgets about the incident, but the young man she helped becomes fixated on her. Only when her real love interest is attacked does …

When Erin arrives for class at Oshawa Secondary, she learns that her friend Marcel has been badly beaten up. She immediately wonders whether it was a gay-bashing, or whether he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Marcel is in a coma, so she has no clues to help her. As far as she knows he doesn't have any enemies, but there are plenty …

John White Hughes Bassett is an extraordinary figure in Canadian public life, a man who's been at the centre of politics, sports, the media and business for over forty years.
True to his style, John Bassett doesn't approve of an independent journalist who's neither a bosom friend nor an implacable foe writing his story. But his public career belon …

Fast-paced sports action novels that get kids reading.

Shay and his pal Toby are among the players on the school soccer team who fall foul of the "fair play contract" introduced by the new school administration. After being banned from playing on behalf of the school for the rest of the season, the dismissed players form their own unofficial team -- …

The soccer-mad gang from Brunswick Valley School featured in Robert Rayner's two previous books for this series is back, gathering every Saturday afternoon to play a friendly game against friends from a neighboring town. A well-meaning adult spots potential in some of the players and offers guidance, inspiring parents of the other side to get thei …

When Zach Thomas broke his wrist going into the boards early in the hockey season, he thought he was done for the year. But as his Cochrane, Alberta, Pee Wee team gets ready for the play-offs, his doctor tells him he's healed-up enough to pay. Zach isn't so sure.
His fear of being checked hard in the corner makes him very reluctant to head back o …