British Columbia inherited a legal system that granted married men control over most family property and imposed few obligations on them toward their wives and children. Yet from the 1860s onward, lawmakers throughout the Anglo-American world, including legislators on the Pacific Coast, began to grant women and children new rights. Domestic Reforms …

In the early 1900s, British Columbia embarked on a brief but intense effort to manufacture a modern countryside. The government wished to reward Great War veterans with new lives: settlers would benefit from living in a rural community, considered a more healthy and moral alternative to urban life. But the fundamental reason for the land resettleme …

Hunters at the Margin examines the conflict in the Northwest Territories between Native hunters and conservationists over three big game species: the wood bison, the muskox, and the caribou. John Sandlos argues that the introduction of game regulations, national parks, and game sanctuaries was central to the assertion of state authority over the tr …

Hunters, medicine men, and missionaries continue to dominate images and narratives of the West, even though historians have recognized women’s role as colonizer and colonized since the 1980s. Kristin Burnett helps to correct this imbalance by presenting colonial medicine as a gendered phenomenon. Although the imperial eye focused on medicine men, …

Patricia E. Roy is the winner of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Historical Association.

Patricia E. Roy examines the climax of antipathy to Asians in Canada: the removal of all Japanese Canadians from the BC coast in 1942. Canada ignored the rights of Japanese Canadians and placed strict limits on Chinese immigration. In response, Ja …

Captain James Cook first made contact with the area now known as British Columbia in 1778. The colonists who followed soon realized they needed a written history, both to justify their dispossession of Aboriginal peoples and to formulate an identity for a new settler society. Writing British Columbia History traces how Euro-Canadian historians took …

Historians have long engaged in passionate debate about collective memory and national identity. Alan Gordon focuses on one national hero – Jacques Cartier – to explore how notions about the past have been passed from generation to generation in English- and French-speaking Canada and used to present particular ideas about the world. Nineteenth …

In 1913, Toronto launched Canada’s first woman’s police court. The court was run by and for women, but was it a great achievement? This multifaceted portrait of the cases, defendants, and officials that graced its halls reveals a fundamental contradiction at the experiment’s core: the Toronto Women’s Police Court was both a site for feminis …

Katie plans to win the junior girls' barrel race at her Alberta town's Heritage Days Rodeo. She has a good chance on her fast, sure-footed trail horse Fudge.

As the day approaches, however, her older brother John claims he needs to ride Fudge, and their parents back him up. Katie scrambles to locate another mount. When she finally finds an all-black …

Arresting Hope reminds us that prisons are not only places of punishment, marginalization, and trauma, but that they can also be places of hope, blessing even, where people with difficult lived experiences can begin to compose stories full of healing, anticipation, communication, education, connection, and community. The book tells a story about wo …

Jeff is not impressed when his family moves from Toronto to small-town Nova Scotia. He doesn't know anyone and there isn't much to do--until he joins his new school's basketball team.
Jeff is fast on the court and has a sharp jump shot, and soon he's hanging out with with his new teammates. Some of them are pretty rough, though, and when they sta …

Matthew Eagletail is the star player for the Warriors, his basketball team on the Tsuu T'ina First Nation near Calgary.
When his mother remarries, everything in Matthew's life is suddenly different and new: a new school, a new father, five pesky new sisters, a new dog named Precious. Worst of all, he has to quit the Warriors. When he's asked to j …

Anxiety is the watchword at most school reunions, with side-eye comparisons of greying hair and extra pounds around the belly. Not our Randy Craig. She's more concerned with resolving a 20 year old CanLit scandal and catching a ruthless killer. While helping her best friend Denise organize their 20 year reunion at the University of Alberta, Randy's …

Left alone for the first time on the island he calls home, Simon is looking forward to a day of personal indulgence.

Simon's sister Ellen only wants to make sure they get their chores done. Their parents are busy trying to convince the government not to close the lighthouse that the family operates, and it's up to the kids to make sure everything ru …

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 …

Lily is discovered by a big-name director when she’s auditioning for a role in a toothpaste commercial.

He wants her for his new movie, which is great except for the fact that it’s shooting in Los Angeles and Lily lives in Vancouver. With the help of her Chinese grandmother, she convinces her parents to let her go to LA with her agent as a chape …

Reese loves horses and longs to be a competitive show jumper.

When the leased horse she rides is sold, she is left riding the orneriest horse in the stable. She decides she must find a horse of her own. Her parents can't afford a trained horse, so she decides to buy a wild horse at auction.

Outbid, she discovers that many of the wild horses will be s …

Jasmine used to love dance. Now she struggles to hold on to that love as her dance team trains for a big competition.

Jasmine's teammates are bickering, and when their teacher suggests that Jasmine might not have what it takes to be on the team, Jasmine is ready to quit. At a particularly rough practice, she channels her anger into her moves, surpri …

Everything stops making sense for southpaw Travis Barkley when his parents die in a car crash and he is separated from his sister, Amanda.

After years of being in the foster-care system, Travis receives a puzzling postcard from Amanda and heads to southern California to try to find her. His search is a dead-end until he meets Jesse and Ethan. With t …

Everything stops making sense for extreme surfer Kevin Taylor after his parents die in a plane crash.

When Kevin disappears, leaving only a cryptic note, his best friends Luca and Esme have no choice but to try and find him. Their journey takes them to the coast of Panama, where they must confront unfriendly locals, a surfer who seems bent on destro …

Fourteen-year-old Simone is having trouble making friends at her new school when her leadership studies class is paired with kindergarten students to mentor throughout the school year.

To her surprise, Simone enjoys the Kinderbuddy Project, and she develops a special friendship with her Kinderbuddy, Lily. But as the bond between Simone and her Kind …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Edge of Flight is the toughest rock-climbing route Vanisha has ever faced. She has one last chance to conquer it before she moves to Vermont to start university.

University is a sore point for Vanisha, who yearns for a career in the outdoors but feels pressured by her mother to earn an academic degree. Trying to put school out of her mind, she heads …

Ever since he was small, Franklin has been soothed by fire.

Staring into the flames helps Franklin forget his problems. And right now, he's got a lot to forget. Franklin's mother has left the family home to be with her hairdresser boyfriend. Franklin's father, the mayor of Montreal West, is too busy worrying about his public image to do anything abo …

At fifteen, Will already knows he wants to spend his life playing classical violin.

When Will is invited to take part in a summer program for young musicians, he realizes it is a chance to make his dream a reality. But years of playing only for Mr. Jorgensen, his elderly neighbor and mentor, haven’t prepared Will for what will happen when he steps …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Linda joins her high school's private online forum and gains a following, but someone wants to take it offline.

Linda is shy and avoids getting involved at school. But when her high school sets up online chat rooms she can't resist the urge to visit them. Fuelled by interest in a student with the nickname Cyrano, Linda participates in online convers …

Dylan is back, and this time he is making a movie, The Rise of the Zombie Scarecrows, with his best friend, Cory, and his girlfriend, Monica.

The film is for school credit, and their plan is to film on Halloween. Everything is falling into place until Dylan and Monica encounter a zombie scarecrow that causes Mr. Dalton, a friend of Dylan’s grandmo …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Chloe thinks of herself as a normal teenage girl—if there's any such thing—until a formless alien being inhabits her body.

The being is named Welkin and claims to be a Universal. Welkin has entered Chloe's body as part of a school project. Chloe agrees to let this weirdo observe her life for three days as long as Welkin doesn't interfere. Welkin …

Briar has a vision for the one-act play she's been chosen to direct at her performing arts high school.

Briar is going to create a masterpiece. If only everyone involved in the production shared her vision. Her leading lady is gifted but troubled, her leading man has a crush on the leading lady, her stage manager doesn't have a clue, and her best fr …

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 …

Eric and Chris are avid geocachers who stumble into a very strange search.

At first they are merely curious, but as the stakes rise and the challenges become more trying, the boys get truly hooked. Convinced they are indeed on the trail of treasure, they become consumed with the search, and though their quest tests their strength, intelligence, cour …

Rufus and his sister Alexa hate each other at the best of times.

When Rufus's friend Phil manages to hypnotize Alexa, Rufus is ready to enjoy the power. They begin by ordering Alexa to be kind to her parents and Phil. The plan backfires when Alexa sweetly suggests canceling an expensive family vacation in favor of a week at home playing board games. …

Owen has a crush on Kamryn. Kamryn has a crush on Owen's brother Kyle.

Owen knows extreme action is necessary to make sure Kamryn does not end up dating his brother, a jerk who manipulates every situation to get what he wants. So what does Owen do? He manipulates the situation. With the help of his friend Hannah, Owen sets up a blog called The Oracl …

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 …

Has a protest to save a tree gone too far?

Callie's mother has chained herself to the neighbor's tree and is living inside the treehouse. She refuses to come down until the neighbor, Mr. Wilson, agrees to leave the tree standing. Soon reporters arrive, followed by an activist group called the Singing Grannies and a gang of bikers—each group addin …

Hockey stars Mike "Crazy" Keats and his new friend, Dakota, are caught in a web of violence which makes winning a championship the least of their concerns.

Dakota Smith is in trouble. But Mike "Crazy" Keats doesn't care. He is new to the Seattle Thunderbirds, and Dakota seems like a good guy to have for a friend. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts …

Josh is afraid of what will happen if he gets involved. As he learns more, he's afraid of what will happen if he doesn't

When Josh Ellroy, left-winger for the Kamloops Blazers, and his dad find more than a dozen dead cattle on the family ranch, Josh has some serious decisions to make. On one hand, the Western Hockey League playoffs are ahead, plus a …

It's the All-Star team, made up of the WHL's young hockey players, just one short step away from the NHL.

Their goal is to beat the Russian All-Stars in a best-of-seven series to be shown as a television special. Hog Burnell, one of the biggest and toughest players in the league, is happy to be part of it. He could use the money that would come with …

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 …

At first Kaz intends to help the old lady who's fallen in the park.

But then Kaz 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 …

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 …

After discovering tainted water in the creek near his grandmother's cabin in the Kentucky hills, senior Roy Linden slowly uncovers a connection between his high school team's new star quarterback and the source of the pollution.

Roy Linden should be thrilled. His high school football team, the Johnstown Striking Cobras, just got a new quarterback, a …