Special Collections

Rookie Season

Leigh Aberdeen is determined to win the hockey championship with a new, all-girls team, the Chinooks. So when the coach adds a know-it-all boy to the mix, Leigh is furious. To make matters worse, the team goalie -- Leigh's best friend -- starts mysteriously dropping out from practices just as the Chinooks show they can win. With humour, action, and suspense, Jacqueline Guest weaves these threads together to their surprising conclusion.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Soccer Star!

Samantha Keyes is used to a life on the move. Her military family has been transferred across Canada, and she's grown up with stories of her Inuit ancestors exploring the far north. For Sam, soccer has been the one constant in her life. But now that she's thirteen, her home base isn't the only thing that's changing. Sam longs to show up Carly, her school's reigning soccer star, but Sam's new interest in theatre is taking up a lot of time. Does she have the time to practice her sport and be the lead in the school play? And just how far will she go to prove to her parents that she can handle more than one extracurricular activity?

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Queen of the Court

Kallana wears the wildest clothes of anyone at her suburban Calgary junior high school. Still, it seems it's not enough to get the attention of her freelance photographer father or her non-kid-friendly mother. When her dad signs her up for the basketball team after Kallana is sent home from school for wearing "provocative" clothes, she's mortified: she can't dribble, she can't shoot, and the uniforms are just hideous. But as things get worse at home, basketball practice comes to be a welcome relief, and the self-confidence she learns at the free-throw line helps her prepare for the difficult changes she has to face. "Queen of the Court" is the touching story of a young girl whose experience of sport helps her cope with unexpected change.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Impossible Things (Orca Books)

Cassidy thinks that making friends is impossible until she meets Victoria, who has some very unusual abilities.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Dominion

Molly grew up hearing the tales of Haviland Stout, her ancestor who discovered the dangerous magical spirits that inhabit the far corners of the world. Now, on the edge of the New World, in the British Dominion of Terra Nova, Molly and her family collect spirits aboard their airship, the Legerdemain. But when Molly captures a spirit that can speak and claims to have been Haviland's friend, her entire life is upended. What if everything she knows about the spirits, and her own history, is a lie? In her hunt for the truth, Molly will have to challenge the most powerful company in Terra Nova and find the courage to reshape her world.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Katie's Midnight Ride

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 horse named Midnight, some are convinced he's bad luck. Katie aims to prove them wrong. Katie's Midnight Ride captures all the excitement of rodeo riding in an appealing story about a girl who learns to stand up for herself.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Mud Run

When Matt is too late to register for his new school's hockey team, he decides to join the cross-country running club instead. At first it's every one for themselves--no one runs with the pack, until finally a new coach demonstrates that tough competitors know the value of teamwork. When the championship finals arrive pouring rain makes the course a slippery mess, and forces the runners to make some hard choices. Mud Run is a fast-paced, humorous story about team spirit and taking life one step at a time.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Breathless

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 finds herself in deep trouble when she has to fight Garth off underwater. Also available in Spanish.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Shapeshifter

This is the turbulent and heartbreaking story of Sive, a girl of the Otherworld who must flee her world of plenty to live as a hunted beast. Surviving hardship, danger and crushing loneliness, she finally finds refuge -- and unexpected joy -- with a mortal champion, Finn Mac Cumhail, the great hero of Irish legend. But Sive's ordeal is far from over. She has a gift the Dark Man craves, and the smallest misstep will give him his chance to snatch her away from all she holds dear. Set in the wild, magical landscape of Iron Age Ireland, Shapeshifter is a tale of rapacious evil, quiet courage and the healing power of love.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (An Adapted Classic)

It is generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. Includes a reading review at the end.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Oil King Courage

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 teamwork, about the North and about a dangerous family secret.

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Chasing Brooklyn

When Lucca died, no one took it harder than his best friend, Gabe. It's exactly one year later, and Gabe has just died of a drug overdose. Tragedy striking yet again. Brooklyn, Lucca's girlfriend, has learned to wear a mask of strength and indifference after losing the boy she loved. But inside, her emotions are in turmoil. Now her dreams are being haunted by a ghost, gray and sinister. She knows it's Gabe chasing after her, but she doesn't know why. She's desperate to find a way to stop the nightmares, but she feels like she has no one to turn to. Nico, Lucca's brother, has learned to cope by shutting everyone out. So when he learns of Gabe's death, he's not too fazed by it. But soon he begins hearing voices in his sleep, seeing notes on his window, and getting general signs requesting him to do one thing: Save Brooklyn. Convinced it's Lucca, Nico reaches out to help Brooklyn as best he can. Together they discover a mutual desire to live again, as they also discover a growing desire for each other.

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Payback

This is the fourth story featuring Dylan O'Connor after The Snowball Effect, Caught in the Act, and Rise of the Zombie Scarecrows. Dylan O'Connor is in trouble again. While riding his bike home after dark, he has a run-in with a truck but doesn't give it a second thought until police show up at his door the next day. CCTV cameras put Dylan at the scene of a crime, and when the police question him, Dylan realizes he was an inadvertent witness. But he doesn't tell them the driver of the truck was Jeff Walker, a nasty piece of work. Dylan knows it's in his best interests to keep his mouth shut. Then he starts getting stalked by Jeff's weirdo sidekick, Eliot Barnes, a classmate of Dylan's. Is Eliot trying to protect Dylan, or is he making sure he stays silent? This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

Date Added: 03/15/2018

A Christmas Carol (Adapted)

Adapted from the classic by Emily Hutchinson. This 88-page book includes described drawings and an 8-page study guide at the end.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

A Tale Of Two Cities (An Adapted Classic)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . " With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the novel's hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic attorney who, inspired by a woman, makes the supreme sacrifice. One of Dickens's most exciting novels. A Tale of Two Cities is a stirring classic of love, revenge, and redemption. Note: The classic novel has been adapted to utilize shorter sentences and simpler vocabulary. Unusual words are footnoted and defined at the bottom of the pages. There are study questions at the end of the book. Illustrations have been described.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

The Hemingway Tradition

Shaw is trying to outrun his father's ghost. (Orca Soundings)

Date Added: 05/25/2017

He Who Dreams

Juggling soccer, school, friends and family leaves John with little time for anything else.

But one day at the local community center, following the sound of drums, he stumbles into an Indigenous dance class. Before he knows what's happening, John finds himself stumbling through beginner classes with a bunch of little girls, skipping soccer practice and letting his other responsibilities slide.

When he attends a pow wow and witnesses a powerful performance, he realizes that he wants to be a dancer more than anything.

But the nearest class for boys is at the Native Cultural Center in the city, and he still hasn't told his family or friends about his new passion. If he wants to dance, he will have to stop hiding.

Between the mocking of his teammates and the hostility of the boys in his dance class, John must find a way to balance and embrace both the Irish and Cree sides of his heritage.

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Boost

Thirteen-year-old Savvy is six two and full of raw basketball talent; her three-point shot is deadly. But she’s also skinny and gets pushed around on the court. Her older sister, Callie, is a freshman on varsity cheerleading, but she’s not quite light enough to be a flier—her coveted position. Both girls need to boost their level of competition to get off the bench and into the action. When steroids are found in Savvy’s gym bag, she claims they are not hers. Suddenly, accusations are flying and nobody knows who is telling the truth. When it comes to competitive sports, no one is exempt from being offered a boost. Read Kathy Mackel's posts on the Penguin Blog. .

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Flip Turn

Victoria is a hard-working member of a Montreal swim team. Other swimmers are spurred on by their parents - but not hers. Her mother doesn't seem to be interested in much of anything these days.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

The Man in the Moonstone (Orca Books)

When Dinah gets a part in the musical adaptation of Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone", she stumbles onto a plot to steal a priceless ring.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Sticks and Stones

Jujube is thrilled when Brent asks her out. She is not so happy when the rumors start flying at school. Pretty soon her name is showing up on bathroom walls and everyone is whispering behind her back. When her mother gets involved, Jujube's reputation takes another hit. Deciding that someone has to take a stand, Jujube gathers all the other girls who have been labelled sluts—and worse—and tries to impress on her fellow students the damaging effects words can have on a person The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Titan Clash

Jack Spencer has more to worry about than being kicked off his high school's basketball team. He uncovers suspicious circumstances surrounding the car crash that severely injured his mother and learns of his father's arrest for fraud. Jack's dad is tough on him, but he has learned to live with it. For the most part, he has it pretty good. Jack is a star player on his high school basketball team with everything going for him-scoring records, popularity and an easy path to a college scholarship. Almost as fast as the crash that put his mom in the hospital, everything Jack believes in starts to crumble. His only hope is to discover what's really going on, and quickly. If he doesn't, Jack may lose much more than a basketball career.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Knock It Off

Leo is still getting used to moving from the big city to a small country town. When his class goes to the city for a field trip, he skips out to meet with old friends. But all is not as he planned.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Watch Me

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 consequences in a new way. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

No Problem

Curt seems to have it all: a girlfriend, friends, a good summer job and a guaranteed position on the baseball team with the promise of a professional career. Then, one misstep causes his world to unravel and his life to plummet into the depths of depression and addiction. A bleak yet ultimately hopeful story about one teen's struggle with the pressures of growing up, fitting in and getting by.

Date Added: 05/25/2017