From the moment Simon Whitfield burst onto the world stage at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games as triathlon's first Olympic champion, his winning personality and stellar athletic abilities have inspired young people around the globe.

In Simon Says Gold, Simon describes his personal journey to Olympic glory as he recounts not only that glorious day in Sy …

Dime tiene 15 años y siempre está enojada. Sus padres no la comprenden y su hermano quedó paralizado por un accidente. Cuando las peleas y las acusaciones la sobrepasan, Dime se muda con su hermano. Pero los problemas la siguen. Si Dime no entiende que debe comenzar a responsabilizarse de sus actos, nada va a cambiar.

Dime is fifteen and always a …

When Mike Longridge gets himself in trouble yet again, he is given a choice: juvenile detention or an outdoor program called Explore.

He opts for Explore, but soon finds himself wondering how he is going to survive ten months with the hippies and keeners in the program. He's never felt so out of place and is certain he will never get the hang of the …

Mealworms are small creatures that live in dark secret places. Jeremy is a bit like that when he leaves his home in rural Nova Scotia and moves to Toronto with his mother. Lots of things keep him from enjoying his new life, but the worst is his science partner, Aaron, who is more annoying than sand in a bathing suit. Jeremy is also burdened by the …

Edward is a classic slacker.

He's got better ways to spend his time than toiling over homework, and as long as he gets passing grades he's happy. When his fifty percent average is threatened he has to find a way to pull up his grades without applying himself. Edward discovers that special education students get more time to complete tests, and he th …

Julie está cansada de que la atormenten en la escuela, harta de no encajar en ninguna parte y de ser el centro de las bromas. Un día, su hermano trae a casa una cámara con imágenes de su principal torturador en una situación comprometida y Julie ve la oportunidad de igualar las condiciones del juego. Pero cuando su intento de voltear las cosas …

Megan’s brother, Danny, is dead. Killed in an apparent robbery in a bar. It seems like a terrible but simple case of mistaken identity, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But as the truth comes out, Megan realizes that Danny was “known to the police.” He was in much deeper than she realized, and the police are not motivated to sol …

At first Kaz intends to help the old lady who's fallen in the park. But then he starts thinking about how he never gets what he wants. The next thing he knows, he's running away with her purse. The purse contains only five dollars and a battered watch. When Kaz learns who the old woman is and where the watch came from, he begins to understand conse …

Fundraising wunderkind Bilaal Rajan shares his tips for effective fundraising, using examples from his own amazing life to show how it can be done—and how you can have fun doing it. The second part of the book is a section entitled Eight Principles to Maximize Your Full Potential, which includes exercises to help you identify and attain your drea …

Dorf is all about skateboarding and so far that's worked out fine.

But now that he's in a new city, the terrain has changed. He's no longer free to skateboard where he wishes, school is more difficult, and his passion for skateboarding garners him the nickname and reputation of a freak. With daring stunts he gains the grudging respect of local troub …

Cassidy Silver is not having a good year. Her engineer father is in the Middle East, her artist mother is too busy to listen to the painful details of her daughter's grade seven life, her genius younger brother is being bullied, and her best friend Chiaki has abandoned her to hang out with the meanest girls in school. Then Cassidy meets Victoria, w …

Addison Addley hates math. He hates public speaking too. Actually, he hates anything that involves work, but he only has a couple of weeks to write and memorize his grade five speech. The problem is, he can’t think of a single topic. When he finally comes up with an excellent idea for a speech, it almost writes itself, but it's his poor math skil …

Derek thinks he might be falling in love. The problem is, he hasn't been entirely honest with his online boyfriend. Derek sent Ethan a photo taken before he got depressed and gained eighty pounds. Derek hasn't been honest with his employer either. When he lied about his age and experience to get a job with disabled adults, the last thing he expecte …

Jinjoli está feliz cuando Brent la invita a salir, pero no tanto cuando los rumores empiezan a correr por la escuela. Muy pronto su nombre aparece en las paredes del baño y todos susurran y se ríen a su costa. Cuando su madre se involucra, la reputación de Jinjoli empeora todavía más. Convencida de que alguien tiene que hacer algo, Jinjoli re …

Dana is excited about her school trip to Japan despite the fact that she is surrounded by the Melly Mob, "in-crowd" kids who make fun of her.

Dana is certain she will be less of an outsider in Japan, home of manga and anime. But she soon discovers that it's just as difficult to fit in with a foreign culture as it is to fit in at school. And the only …

Tyler is a good, solid hockey player, but not a great one. That honor belongs to the obnoxious Riley, a sixteen-year-old spoiled superstar who makes Tyler's life miserable. When Tyler and Riley are sent to volunteer at a local youth program, Tyler finds the passion and commitment he needs to step up his game on ice—and off.

When master fact-gatherers TJ and Seymour are asked to join the school Quiz Kids team, TJ thinks Seymour should take the stage at the upcoming contest against the high-pressure Fairview School team.

TJ is already more than occupied rescuing his cats and helping Gran get ready for her upcoming trip to Belize. When he goes with his dad to help with a …

Fifteen-year-old Sophie sees her move to Victoria as a chance to start over and leave her old self behind. She is soon drawn into the orbit of the charismatic but troubled Zelia. As their friendship develops, and Zelia's behavior becomes increasingly self-destructive, Sophie struggles to maintain both the friendship and her own sense of self. Then …

Ben is determined to learn to surf. In the rough North Atlantic waters near his home, only the tough can make it on the water. His first attempt is a disaster. Then he meets Ray, a surfing veteran from California. Ray promises to teach him to surf—and to face his inner demons. As Ben becomes more comfortable on his board he learns to face his fea …

When Nick and Kia are invited to former Toronto Raptor Jerome "Junk Yard Dog" Williams' basketball camp in Washington, DC, they quickly discover that this is no ordinary summer hoop camp. This is a basketball boot camp that focuses on discipline and hard work. Jerome and Johnnie's father, "Sergeant Push-up" to the campers, is the no-nonsense camp d …

Ray Hockaday plays center for the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League. He's spent his hockey career hiding something from the world. When his new Russian room-mate shows up, Ray is assigned to help Vlad get used to life in Canada. What Ray doesn't know is that Vlad is also hiding something. And that secret could get both of them killed …

No one knows why she hurt herself, least of all Skey. After five long months in treatment for self-destructive behavior, Skey continues to dream of dark tunnels with mysterious designs carved into their stone walls, a place where she is safe and alone. Then she encounters another dreamer, a boy her own age, dreaming the same dream, wandering the sa …

Because of a moment of indiscretion, Hope's parents send her to New York to spend the summer with her hipster sister while they travel to Thailand. Miserable, Hope ends up meeting Nat, and developing a powerful crush. The only problem is that Nat is a girl. Hope is pretty sure she isn't gay. Or is she? Struggling with new feelings, fitting in and a …

Julie is tired of being tormented at school, tired of not fitting in and being the butt of jokes. When her brother brings home a camera with images of her chief tormentor in a compromising situation, she sees a way to level the playing field. When her attempt at turning the tables goes wrong, she is left even more on the outside and struggling to d …

Turk needs cash, but he's allergic to his own sweat, so getting a job is out of the question.

Then Turk makes an important discovery: Girls love dogs. And Turk's friends will do anything to meet girls. So Turk starts a dog walking business. His friends walk the dogs and Turk collects half the money. In an attempt to impress dog-loving Carly, Turk br …

Beauty is afraid to sleep—her dreams are haunted by the Shadow Lady who stalks and threatens her.

During her waking hours, Beauty's life is safe, safer than she wants it to be. Since her mother's death, her father has become so over-protective that he has locked away all the knives in the house. Her mother's death, the accident, is never discussed …

Fresh from a thrilling basketball season playing for the varsity team, Matt is looking forward to a new challenge: baseball. The South Side team seems to be strong this year—if only Matt can control his fear of being hit by an errant pitch. But when Matt's friend, Jake, the team's star, falls in with the wrong crowd, the entire season—not to me …

Josh had been living in a group home after being ratted out by Scott, his one-time best friend.

Now Josh has moved in with his brother and overbearing sister-in-law and has been sent to a class designed to teach him to deal with his anger. When an old enemy continues to push his buttons and Scott appears to be up to his old tricks, Josh struggles to …

Matt is desperate to fit in at summer camp. One night he gets lost when he goes off on his own to retrieve a forgotten life preserver. A wolf appears and Matt overcomes his fears and follows it. He finds a half-wolf, half-dog pup whose mother is dead. Is the big wolf who guides him the same wolf that his father rescued years before from a trap?

Lawrence hates being teased about his dimples, but nothing he does seems to make any difference. Joe goes right on teasing him, and the teasing gets meaner and meaner. Finally, Lawrence notices something about his friend Stewart that may provide the tool he needs to tease-proof himself once and for all.

Beverly is in Hawaii, helping her uncle at his dive shop, learning how to dive and trying to lose weight and get a boyfriend. When Garth, an accomplished diver, shows an interest in her, Beverly is ecstatic, until it turns out Garth is only interested in one thing. Struggling with failing strength from her self-imposed starvation diet, Beverly find …

The year is 1903, and Charlie Sutherland, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is on the run. Three years earlier, he was sent by Dr. Barnardo’s Home in England to work on the remote Alberta homestead of Albert and Buck Brooks. Charlie has been treated poorly by the two brothers, but he has endured. However, when Albert dies under curious circumstances, an …

Sophie is in a lot of trouble. She is on probation for stealing and is doing poorly at school. Her mom doesn't really talk to her, and the other adults in her life are pressuring Sophie to talk about her bruises. Sophie worries that if she tells, she will be sent to live in a group home. Her friend Jujube is the only person who knows the truth, and …

For as long as he can remember, Matt has wanted to play basketball. Now, as he tries out for the team at his new middle school, he realizes that the easy days of elementary ball are over and that this is a much more serious game. Dealing with a hard-driving coach, competitive teammates and his own insecurities in a new school, Matt needs to call on …

Nell makes two wishes on her birthday, but the next day they show little sign of coming true. Everyone in her household is busy and wants her out from underfoot and no one is willing to help her find her lost cat. In the end she finds more than a cat and she makes her own wishes come true with the help of a row of tall, bright, smiling sunflowers.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Key Selling Points

• New, enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.

On her seventh birthday, Pauline rode across the lawns on her street followed by her best friend Henry, he on the blue wooden horse, she on the red. On the seventh lawn at the top of the street, she collapsed, becoming a sudden victim of the polio outbreak of the summer of 1954.

Five years later, when In the Clear begins, she has survived, but paid …

With the three-on-three tournament over, it's now time for tryouts for the school rep team. The question is will grade three students Nick and Kia have any chance to make the team? After all the rep team is normally made up only of grade five players. When Nick and Kia decide that they will try out for the team, they find they get a chilly and some …

Fourteen-year-old Pamela Collins is struggling to come to terms with her mother's death.

Somewhat shy, Pamela is thoughtful, full of passion, often funny, and sometimes tearful as she learns to cope with the emotional overload the tragedy has brought to her life. Her favourite things include walking alone in Lynn Canyon Park, the art of Emily Carr, …

Nick and Kia get excited when their school gym teacher announces a "three-on-three" basketball tournament. The two most dedicated players in grade three, they know they'll be tough to beat. But when Nick finds out they'll be up against teams in grade four and five, he is ready to throw in the towel before they start. How can shrimps like them ever …