Key Selling Points

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

Angus and his best buddy, Shahid, equipped with rearview sunglasses and an informant who lurks in the washroom, bungle their way through a series of hilarious encounters.

Angus and Shahid share a love of science and their robot, Gordon. But recently, the artistic Ella Eckles has had a peculiar effect on Angus. When a stink bomb at the school provide …

Key Selling Points

• This book was nominated for Best Quick Read by the American Library Association.
• Maxed Out is the first of two books that feature brothers Duncan and Max. The second, Camped Out, won the Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award.
• Enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading acce …

Dan Hogg is thrilled when his uncle offers him some work at a food fair, because he wants money to hire a professional trainer to help him with his scrawny physique.

Dan's excitement vanishes when he learns that the job is dressing up in a hotdog costume and handing out samples. Every dark cloud has its silver lining, Dan discovers, when he, or rath …

At a Battle of the Bands event, Ace and his best friend Denny notice that girls like musicians, no matter how dorky the dudes might be.

Having, so far, been severely challenged when it comes to meeting girls, they decide to start a band. Ace discovers that he loves playing guitar and electric bass. While Denny tweets their every move and their clean …

In most ways, Poe is like the other kids in his school.

He thinks about girls and tries to avoid too much contact with teachers. He has a loving father who helps him with his homework. But Poe has a secret, and almost every day some small act threatens to expose him. He doesn't have a phone number to give to friends. He doesn't have an address. Poe …

Casey Finnegan is a talented skateboarder. He lives to skate.

At the end of his final year of high school, Casey is wondering what to do with his life. He hasn't applied to any colleges, and other than skateboarding, he doesn't believe he's very good at much of anything. When a young movie star contacts Casey and offers him the job of stunt double i …

Maddie has big-city dreams, and this summer she's found her chance to visit New York.

An art magazine is holding a portrait painting contest, and the first prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to the Big Apple. Maddie plans to win, but her mother has different plans for her: a mother-daughter adventure in organic farming. Maddie is furious. How will s …

Jamie is determined that nothing—not even his annoyingly popular younger brother Seth—is going to spoil his fun at a mountain biking camp in the backcountry.

Nothing except stumbling on a giant grow-op in the woods, that is. And watching their fellow campers get captured by violent drug dealers. And working with Seth to figure out a way to save …

Alex's goal in life is simple: to snowboard all day, every day.

Alex ultimate dream is to be part of the Backcountry Patrol, an elite group of snowboarders who patrol the ungroomed slopes of British Columbia. But first, he and three other young hopefuls (Dave, Bryce and Hope) must endure a series of tests, which takes them to remote and dangerous te …

Key Selling Points

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

When Cody and his friends accept a challenge from a local gang to steal a park bench, their main concern is keeping themselves on the gang's good side.

Cody learns that the stolen bench had been dedicated to the father of the English teacher who sponsors the school newspaper—the paper that Cody has just started writing for—and he's worried about …

Laurel, caught up in the thrill of an investigation, is willing to risk her reputation to get the story, but her ultimate discovery changes everything.

Laurel discovers her passion for investigative journalism when she writes an article for her school paper about a person experiencing homelessness who's been living at the school. Eager to write more …

Clay would much rather work as a lifeguard at the beach than at Safari Splash, the new water park in town.

Clay is certain the summer will drag along, despite his position at the Boa, the park's fastest slide. The summer job starts to get interesting when he learns that someone has been wandering the park in a lynx costume, scaring the staff. When f …

Dylan and his friends snowball cars for entertainment on the weekend.

When they don't get enough reaction from passing cars, they put rocks in the middle of their snowballs. Their first attack with the loaded snowballs causes a car crash. His friends flee, but Dylan goes to the scene of the accident to make sure the driver is okay. He runs off when …

Liza, determined to prove that her mother's boyfriend is no good, starts researching the oil company he works for.

Liza discovers a lawsuit against the company for compensation that is long overdue to Guatemalan farmers. She starts a group at school called GRRR! (Girls for Renewable Resources, Really!) and launches an attack on Argenta Oil. As her a …

After a member of her competitive cheerleading team is injured in practice, sixteen-year-old Marnie is asked to be a flyer-the most coveted role in cheerleading.

The Soar Starlings team has a real shot at the provincial championship, and Marnie has only a few weeks to prepare. But as she scrambles to polish her lifts and throws, Marnie's personal li …

Ryan is determined to be a professional snowboarder but he's learned from what happened to his whistle-blower father that doing the right thing doesn't always pay off.

When his parents leave Kamloops, Ryan decides to stay with relatives so he can be near the Salmon Valley Ski Resort. He spends all his time at the ski hill, volunteering with the Jun …

It's hard enough for Eve to adjust to a new high school without the extra weight she's gained over the summer.

Her best friend is ashamed to hang out with her, and she's become the focus of a schoolmate's cruelty. Determined not to be "that pathetic fat girl" at school, Eve struggles with a diet and forces herself to join a mentoring program. The di …

While volunteering at the local zoo, Robyn, Nick and Trevor learn that grizzly bears are being poached.

The bears' gallbladders are being removed for use in alternative medicine. Always ready to solve a mystery, the kids set out to find the poachers. Bear is not only big game, they learn, but big money to poachers. The stakes are high and the suspec …

The principal announces that the school is implementing uniforms, and Ian finds himself caught in a conflict.

Julia, the student body president and Ian's friend, wants Ian to devise a plan to fight the decision, but the principal is determined to convince Ian the uniforms are a good idea. Ian doesn't see the problem with uniforms and wants nothing t …

Josh knows he's riding recklessly when he knocks down the old man he suspects is the hermit of Loggerman Creek.

Josh is shocked when the hermit walks into the forest with his bike after the accident. Being without his beloved bike for a week motivates him to hike into the woods and confront the crazy old man. The hermit, Jonathan, has fixed Josh's b …

When the Edmonton Oil Kings discover that Reuben Reuben has a hockey game as unforgettable as his name and his Inuit heritage, life changes in a hurry for him and his best friend Gear.

A wealthy businessman sponsors a three-on-three pond-hockey tour across the western Arctic, and Reuben and Gear find out more than they ever bargained for about team …

Justin is fascinated with the aged guard dog at the corner store.

Justin names it Smokey and sneaks the dog treats. Smokey belongs to a company that supplies working dogs to local businesses. Justin is thrilled to get a job working for Smokey's company, until he learns about the mistreatment of the animals. When Justin can't shake his suspicion that …

When Trevor, Nick and Robyn visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Robyn is inspired to raise funds for a dinosaur dig that will close soon if it doesn't find funding.

The kids are caught up in another mystery when a chain of suspicious events, including the disappearance of important fossils and a fraudulent discovery at the dig, leads them to wonder what …

Joe and his friend Skip are enjoying the thrill of the Big Dip, a famous rollercoaster, until they learn the old man in front of them has been shot.

The old man mutters with his dying breath something about getting a Margaret Rose to the police. Joe leaves the crime scene to get on with his life. But someone is desperate for the Margaret Rose and th …

Travis and his best friends Ryan and Jasper live for the thrill of watching their horses race.

When a thief starts hacking off the tails of Standard-bred horses stabled at Blackdown Park, suddenly the track isn't such a great place to hang out. Things get even more unpleasant when a troubled girl comes between Travis and his friends. Travis has to m …

Lizzie Lane is used to life at the top of the food chain.

Her near-perfect life is ruined when Rachel, a girl she socially destroyed, exacts her revenge by getting Lizzie in trouble for cheating on a test. Friendless and facing detention, Lizzie obsesses over finding the perfect revenge. When Stella, Lizzie's strange new neighbor, teaches Lizzie abo …

Key Selling Points

• New, enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.
• Vicki Grant is the author of many books including In the Buff, Hold the Pickles and Pigboy in the Orca Currents line.

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 …

Ian has been going to Key West every summer for years, helping his Uncle Gord at his dive shop and spending as much time as he can underwater.

When he's not scuba diving, he's admiring Sherri, the girl who works at the dive shop, and wondering how she would feel if he told her that he tastes blackberries whenever he sees her. A series of accidents l …

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 …

Sixteen-year-old Salvador "Slam" Amaro thinks being the assistant coach of the Brookfield High School girls' basketball team will be an easy gig.

Slam plans to show up, run a few drills and pad his resumé so he can win a spot on the Ontario Provincial Under-17 team. But his job suddenly gets a lot harder when the girls' coach and her daughter, the …

Linebacker Reggie Scott is forced to deal with the repercussions of an incident that shakes his belief in the game he loves.

When Reggie is persecuted by angry fans for being a "dirty" player, Reggie is forced to confront his own guilt and decide whether he can continue to play his senior season and beyond.

This short novel is a high-interest, low-re …

The first flash mob Ian puts together himself is a sixty-plus person, four-minute pillow fight in a department store.

Ian's friend Oswald is thrilled with the event, but Julia, the one Ian really wants to impress, is still convinced that flash mobs are stupid. While Ian tries to prove Julia wrong by initiating flash mobs with political impact, Julia …

Trevor, Robyn and Nick decide they have a mystery to solve when Trevor discovers a suspicious-looking young man snooping around.

The three learn about missing research involving the use of carob beans to aid in cancer treatment-potentially valuable information. With a shady-looking grad student, a bitter activist, and an employee of a medical resear …

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 …

Colin didn't think getting a job would make him a suspect in a series of robberies.

When Colin accepts the job to clean up the graffiti in an upscale neighborhood he worries that he might be targeted by gangs. But every time he is sent to clean up graffiti, the police are nearby investigating a crime. Colin knows he's done nothing wrong, but even he …

Despite his father's opposition, Simon "Spacey" Drake is determined to become a long-distance sailor, so he signs up for a week-long live-aboard sailing course.

The trip gets off to a rough start, but the real trouble begins when Simon and Olivia, another student, get curious about a nearby cabin cruiser in an anchorage. They investigate and stumble …

Fifteen-year-old Kyle Evans has been a jock for years—a triple-threat basketball player who can dribble, pass or shoot with considerable skill.

But once he decides to try out for the school musical production at Sainsbury High, Kyle finds there is much more to life than hightops and hookshots. Conflicting priorities cause problems between Kyle and …

The students of the 121 Express are infamous for bad behavior and Lucas knows his role on the bus will determine his social standing at his new school.

Lucas is tired of being one of the nerds. When he attracts the negative attention of the cool troublemakers, he saves himself by teasing another kid. His ploy works and soon Lucas is right in the cen …

Safira doesn't believe in ghosts, but the girl in her cabin at camp was not a living person, so what was she?

Safira's friend Trinity is convinced Safira's seen a ghost and sets out to discover who the ghost girl is. Safira is too busy dealing with her family to help solve the mystery. Safira has never gotten along with her sister, Mya, and now that …

Trenton Hiser is trying to walk in the footsteps of his uncle, Mike Hiser, a successful Hollywood director.

During Trenton's summer vacation, he goes with his uncle to film the inside story of Scarlet Thunder, a top-level stock-car racing team. As they film the action, too many things go wrong, deadly mistakes are made and Trenton finds out that muc …

Once again Callie is forced to take part in her mom's latest crusade.

They head into ranch country to camp—bloodthirsty mosquitoes, stinky outhouses and all—at a protest to save a rural school. Callie's grandmother shows up with her biker buddies and the singing grannies. Callie hates camping and wants nothing to do with the protest. To make mat …

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 …

When David's family moves from northern Ontario to Miami, Florida, it takes him less than a day to discover how out of place he is in his new neighborhood.

David joins his school's track team, hoping to make new friends, but soon he is pulled into a school-wide web of secrecy and danger. And the one person who can help him keeps running away.

This sh …

Left winger Nolan Andrews thinks it's great that he can play hockey in Calgary, where his older brother, Nathan, is a star center for the Hitmen.

When Nolan finds out that a lot of things about Nate's new life in Calgary don't make sense—or might not even be legal—Nolan has to make some difficult choices that will affect him and his brother for …

Fourteen-year-old Matt has only one goal in life: to become a hermit.

He has no use for school, but he loves the solitude of the forest. When he hikes up to the cabin he built for himself, he discovers a mysterious stranger named Forrest has moved in. At first, Matt doesn't connect Forrest's appearance with the rash of local robberies. Forrest seem …

Sam's grandfather vanished from his life the day Sam's father was buried.

Now, ten years later, Grandpa Max wants to make amends. He sends letters that lead Sam on a scavenger hunt. Sam follows his grandfather's bizarre instructions though he's still not ready to forgive. To alleviate his anger at his grandfather, Sam turns to his favorite stress re …

Izzy and Julia have been on the same soccer team for years.

Izzy is frustrated that Julia spends too much time cherry-picking and getting all the credit when they score. But when someone starts threatening the team and their home field is sabotaged, the friends must work together to find the answers. Why would someone threaten their star player? And …