Françoise Laurent has never had an easy life. The only surviving child of a destitute washerwoman and wayward soldier, she must rely only on herself to get by. When her parents die suddenly from the smallpox ravishing New France (modern-day Montreal), Françoise sees it as a chance to escape the life she thought she was trapped in.

Seizing her newf …

Did you know that aloe vera — now found in countless products, including sunscreens and soaps — was first used by Africans? They ground it into powder and used it to treat burns and other skin conditions, and hunters used it to disguise their scent from animals. They also used the nutritious oil from the fruit of the oil palm tree in everything …

It’s a toxic world out there. Poisonous snakes, toxic herbicides, noxious fumes — poisons in one form or another are all around us. An innocent-looking flower may be lethal, and smog can make it impossible to breathe. Poisons can be the death of us, but they can also cure disease.

The second book in Annick’s 50 Questions series provides answer …

Late in the next century, the human race is on the verge of extinction. A mysterious virus has resulted in no births in almost a generation. Despite the impending doom, three urban teenagers try to live their lives with hope.

Mia strives to preserve humanity’s compassion through her art and her volunteer work with the “oldies.” Tech-savvy Xian …

Seventeen-year-old Chloe’s summer vacation in Greece comes to an abrupt end when she is suddenly bound, gagged and whisked away to an unidentified location. Waking up from a drug-induced sleep, she finds herself in a squalid warehouse. Chloe can only imagine the worst. After several days of total isolation and utter despair, Chloe faces a new thr …

As the murmur of prayers fills the icy room, mother and baby seem doomed. When the newborn finally struggles into the world, the Count of Flanders flees in a rage. The child is not the expected male heir — but a girl.

Growing up under the disapproving eye of her heartless father, the strong-willed Marguerite instinctively learns to survive in the …

Not everyone can be an athlete, but that doesn’t stop thousands of others from participating in world-class sporting events.

When Patrick Reynolds realized that he couldn’t be a race car driver, he turned his love of cars into a successful career as a NASCAR mechanic.

A passion for grass and baseball lead Nicole Sherry to become the groundskeeper …

Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential schools.

At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, …

The narrator of TRAIN WRECK is looking back at the year she was 15 … She is in love with a bad boy named Johnny. Johnny’s friends play a cruel trick on a misfit named Susie by convincing her that Johnny is attracted to her. When the prank goes too far, the narrator wants something big to happen to prove Johnny still loves her. The prank goes tr …

In TOO LATE, 15-year-old Greg is in a teen sex offenders’ facility because of an assault on his stepsister. He hates the professionals who try to help him and can’t wait to go home. When he enters a room for a meeting, his mother is there crying. Her partner, whom Greg calls Step Dude, sits at her side. They have come to tell Greg they don’t …

Abby loves her pink and brown sandals with the lime green trim, and she wears them wherever she goes. But as summer draws to a close, Abby’s mom announces that it’s time for the sandals to go. Abby is determined to keep them on — until one day, while swinging at the park, her sandals flip off and fly away.

All winter long, Abby wonders what he …

From furry felines to hard-working horses, animals have had a tremendous impact on world history. For example, rats, through the diseases they carry, have probably killed more people than any war or natural disaster, goats may have been the first to discover coffee and, thanks to camels, people were able to survive for long periods in the desert an …

If you act like Marlene, you end up like Marlene — messed up, lonely and broke. No wonder Samantha rejects her mother’s lifestyle. In THE TROUBLE WITH MARLENE, mother and daughter share one thing — thoughts of suicide. Marlene never stops talking about it, but for Samantha, it’s a private affair. There’s one other private thought for Sama …

Best friends Tamanna and Yasmine cannot believe their good fortune when a school is set up in their Afghan village; however, their dreams for the future are shattered when the Taliban burns down the school and threatens the teacher and students with death.

As Tamanna faces an arranged marriage to an older man, and the Taliban targets Yasmine’s wes …

In the early 1980s, thousands of Ethiopian Jews fled the civil unrest, famine and religious persecution of their native land in the hopes of being reunited in Yerusalem, their spiritual homeland, with its promises of a better life. Wuditu and her family risk their lives to make this journey, which leads them to a refugee camp in Sudan, where they a …

In poignant and insightful interviews, Anrénee Englander presents the voices of ten pregnant teens as they discuss their experiences and choices around motherhood, adoption and abortion. First published to critical acclaim in 1997, this new edition contains the original interviews as well as d material including a resources section. Presenting dif …

Everyone remembers that first love. Or the first all-out fight with a parent or sibling; the feeling of being let down by someone you love; losing something or someone that matters to you; struggling to fit in. I.D. collects 12 first-person accounts about life’s pivotal moments and offers each as an incisive graphic narrative.

With raw honesty, an …

If we took time to examine the flames in our world—fires that have built civilizations, sparked entire religions, and literally changed the surface of the Earth—can you imagine how many questions we would have? The 50 questions in this book may be just the beginning, but they will intrigue and excite young readers.

From the question of “Who’ …

In this new collection of plays based on the stories of Robert Munsch, experienced playwright Irene Watts has adapted eight of his best-loved tales for the stage, classroom or backyard! Complemented by funny, energetic illustrations, including those of long-time Munsch collaborator Michael Martchenko, each story is presented in an accessible play f …

When the new kid from Afghanistan is put in Martin’s class, Martin ridicules his clothes and nicknames him “Taliban.” But the two realize they have more in common than they thought, and unexpectedly become friends—until a brutal drug bust at school tears them apart ... maybe forever. DESCENT INTO PARADISE confronts the hypocrisies of Wester …

Louella hates her name. She’s obsessed with colors and when she gets upset, she yells herself hoarse. People call her “slow,” but Lou knows one thing for sure: she wants to be with her boyfriend—no matter what her parents or doctors think. Poignantly and sensitively told, NOTHING BUT YOUR SKIN chronicles the aftermath of a mentally challeng …

In I AM NOT EMMANUELLE, thirteen-year-old Adele impulsively steals a pack of gum, launching her into a rambling monologue about her inability to live up to the “perfect” sister who died. Convinced that her parents would have preferred her to die instead, Adele can’t help acting out. A powerful pair of stories exploring the teen psyche with un …

Some people might think it’s odd when a teenage boy starts making movies of his classmates kissing. But in A PLACE TO LIVE, the aspiring filmmaker’s project turns into a compelling protest against authoritarianism that could get him kicked out of school, and expose his surprising feelings for his best friend.

In THE POOL WAS EMPTY, 16-year-old Celia’s boyfriend, Alex, is dead after falling into an empty swimming pool—and his mother has accused Celia of his murder. As Celia tries to clear her name and move on from her devastating loss, she reveals that the shocking events of that fateful day may not be what they seem.

In JUST JULIE, Julie’s idolized older brother is accused of murder. When she refuses to attend his trial, her shattered family is bewildered. But Julie knows more about her brother than she wants to admit, and a fateful decision is in her hands: should she speak the truth, or protect her family?

Fifteenth-century Spain is a richly multicultural society in which Jews, Muslims, and Christians coexist. But under the zealous Christian Queen Isabella, the country abruptly becomes one of the most murderously intolerant places on Earth.

It is in this atmosphere that the Benvenistes, a family of scribes, attempt to eke out a living. The family has …

Leslie can’t seem to avoid trouble, whether it’s at school or at home. Just as life seems at its lowest, Jason McCready, the exceedingly cool new guy at school, enters her life. Now Leslie is the envy of all the girls. But Jason’s appearance is deceiving –he is determined to control every aspect of Leslie’s life and he begins terrorizing …

Bartholomew hasn’t had a lot of life experience. As a novice monk aboard the spaceship monastery Prominence, he spends his days in worship and creating exquisite sun-fired pottery. These trips to the sun are the only life Bart has known. Then, while training to be a pilot with Gary, the ship’s hard-drinking captain, Bart hears tales of life bey …

As a child in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, Mariatu Kamara lived peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Rumors of rebel attacks were no more than a distant worry.

But when 12-year-old Mariatu set out for a neighboring village, she never arrived. Heavily armed rebel soldiers, many no older than children themselves, attacked and torture …

Nothing ever happens on the Otter Lake reservation. But when 16-year-old Tiffany discovers her father is renting out her room, she’s deeply upset. Sure, their guest is polite and keeps to himself, but he’s also a little creepy.

Little do Tiffany, her father, or even her astute Granny Ruth suspect the truth. The mysterious Pierre L’Errant is ac …

During a picnic overlooking the Nile, 14-year-old scribe Nebi spots the riders first. Led by the treacherous Count Nimlot, the raiding party slaughters Nebi’s master, the region’s head of police. Although wounded, Nebi escapes, the only living witness that the pharaoh’s northern territory is no longer secure.

Nebi is quickly catapulted into ev …

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 t …

Two years have passed since Roan fled the destruction of his village. He has survived the polluted wilds of the Devastation, escaped the lethal mind traps of the Dreamfield, and infiltrated the heart of the sinister City. Through it all, Roan has struggled to hold fast to Longlight’s legacy of peace. But now, an unimaginable evil looms and violen …

A guide to depression and its treatment for kids 13 and up with topics such as mood vs. mood disorders, bipolar disorder, anxiety, self-mutilation, etc. Includes quotes from teen sufferers and an afterword by a youth psychiatrist.

Willie Sutton was casing a bank when he noticed that the manager looked a lot like Sutton himself, so he walked into the vault, loaded up with banknotes, and calmly walked out. D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane, demanded $200,000 in payment, and parachuted from the aircraft. He was never captured.

Other criminals in this book were no less brazen: - Arthu …

One year has passed since Roan, Alandra, and the children escaped from the Brothers. Now, in the haven they call Newlight, Alandra has begun traveling the Dreamfield with the children, exploring their potential. But when the children mysteriously fall into life-threatening comas, Roan and Lumpy set off to find a cure. The remedy may lie in the hand …

SCAMS! reveals 10 true tales of trickery that will mesmerize young readers. They will discover how the Germans planned to destroy the British economy during World War II by flooding the world with millions of fake British bank-notes.

SCAMS! also includes:

- The Tasady: Stone Age cavemen of the Philippines - The Shakespearean forgery of William Irelan …

Chanda’s mother is not herself, her younger sister is acting out, and her best friend needs help. A powerful story set amid the African HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In this sensitive, swiftly paced story, readers will find echoes of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD as Chanda, a 16-year-old, astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang in Africa, mu …

When Roan’s parents and the people of Longlight perish in a raid, Roan is filled with rage. Torn between his desire for revenge and the legacy of peace he has inherited, he is taken in by a sect of warriors. Here he learns he has exceptional talent as a fighter. But Roan is haunted by visions he can’t understand. When he commits his first act o …

In 1979, the streets of Iran’s capital city, Tehran, turned ugly. Six Americans caught in the uprising found protection at the Canadian embassy. Through the feverish efforts of the embassy staff, the fugitives were disguised as Canadians—complete with fictitious passports—and able to escape the country.

History is full of such daring escapes, …

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 …