Special Collections

Plastic

When Jack develops an interest in something, he puts his all into it, making lists, doing research and learning all he can. When his best friend Leah decides to have plastic surgery for her sixteenth birthday, Jack is horrified—and then determined to stop her. Researching the surgery and the results, he finds that there are unscrupulous surgeons operating on the very young, and no one does anything about it. Jack organizes a protest and becomes an instant celebrity. But when someone else takes up the cause and the protest turns violent, Jack is forced to make some tough decisions.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Absolute Pressure

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 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 leads Ian to believe that his uncle is in grave danger, but the truth is more complicated and terrifying than he could ever have imagined.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Two Foot Punch

Nikki blames her brother, Derek, for their parents' death in a house fire, but when Derek gets involved with a gang, Nikki knows she is the only one who can save him. Enlisting the help of a girl named Rain, who uses her athletic abilities to carry out acts of petty thievery, Nikki uses all her gymnastic and free-running skills to stay ahead of the gang and keep her brother from being killed.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

White Sand Blues

When paramedic Ashley Grant finds her boyfriend in bed with another woman, she moves out of her house (okay, his house), quits her job and takes a new one in a tiny Caribbean country, the Victoria and Albert Islands. Ashley is thrown into the deep end when she arrives. Her new colleague picks her up at the airport in the island's only ambulance, which is called to the discovery of a body floating off the beach at the exclusive Club Louisa. The body is that of a man vacationing with his daughter and glamorous new wife. Coincidentally, Sally, the daughter of the dead man, recognizes Ashley from high school. She is convinced that her stepmother killed her father and begs Ashley to help her prove it. Before she can even unpack her bags or enjoy the view from her ocean-side apartment, Ashley is unwittingly dragged into a murder investigation. First in a new series from award-winning author Vicki Delany.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Breathing Fire

When Ally’s mom dies, Ally is left with no family, no friends and no future. Put into foster care at the age of fifteen, she has less than $200 to her name and nothing left to lose. When Ally meets Tate, a busking fire breather, she starts to see a new life for herself as a street performer. Ally decides to run away from her foster home, but her problems follow her. Hiding her age, sleeping on the streets and avoiding fights with other buskers, Ally discovers that there’s more to life as a fire-breathing busker than not getting burned.

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Offside!

Alecia' s Vancouver soccer team, the Burrards, are a good, hard-fighting squad--her teammates are her friends and her coach is her loving step-dad.When Lexi, a new kid, joins the team, her bad attitude makes things fall apart fast. Alecia decides to find out what makes Lexi so difficult, and to hold the team together, on the field and off."Offside! shows how embracing unexpected change can make teams, and players, stronger.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Junkyard Dog

Justin is fascinated with the aged guard dog at the corner store. He 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 someone in the company is involved in a rash of thefts, he tries to quit. But Justin knows too much, and his boss won't let him go.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Yellow Line

Vince lives in a small town—a town that is divided right down the middle by race. An unspoken rule has been there as long as Vince remembers and no one challenges it. But when Vince's friend Sherry starts dating an Indigenous boy, Vince is outraged—until he notices Raedawn, a girl from the reserve. Trying to balance his community's prejudices with his shifting alliances, Vince is forced to take a stand and see where his heart will lead him.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

The Scarlet Letter (Adapted)

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

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Big Water

Seventeen-year-old Christina McBurney has led a sheltered life. But when her twin brother, Jonathan, dies of consumption, Christina, unwilling to be farmed out as a nursemaid or teacher, runs away from home and her destiny. In Owen Sound she boards the Asia, a steamship that transports passengers and freight throughout the Great Lakes. She doesn't really have a plan other than to get to Sault Ste. Marie. She'll figure things out once she's settled.

But a violent storm suddenly rises on Georgian Bay, and the overloaded and top-heavy steamship begins to sink. Christina is tossed overboard. Pulled to safety just before she loses consciousness, she finds herself on a lifeboat, surrounded by a number of bedraggled and terrified passengers and crew. One by one they succumb to their injuries, until only Christina and a brooding young man named Daniel are left alive.

The usual rules of society no longer apply—Daniel and Christina must now work together as equals to survive.

Big Water is a fictional account of the real-life story of the only two survivors of the sinking of the SS Asia in 1882.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Special Edward

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 thinks he's found the perfect scam. Little does he know that manipulating everyone around him will take more work than he ever imagined. Also available in French.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Hat Trick (Sports Stories)

Twelve-year-old Leigh is one of the top players - and the only girl on the Falcons hockey team. Leigh knows the the captain of the team doesn't like her, but she' s willing to stick it out. Her real problem is that she can't tell her mom. Leigh just knows her mom wouldn't approve of her playing hockey. But because her parents are divorced, it's easy to keep a secret. Or so Leigh thinks! Before long, things start to fall apart. Someone is leaving threatening messages on her answering machine, the captain is trying to get her thrown off the team and, on top of it all, Leigh's mother wants her to go to a recital on the same night as the finals. What a mess!

Date Added: 05/25/2017

All-Star Pride

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 a series win by the WHL All-Stars. At the very worst, it's a free vacation to Russia. It doesn't take Hog long to discover there's plenty more money to be made along the way...if he's willing to pay the price for it.

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Can Your Outfit Change the World?

What you choose to wear becomes part of your identity, but it doesn't affect just you. Your clothing sends a message to the world, whether you want it to or not! And often we don't know what that message really is. Can Your Outfit Change the World? looks at how and where clothes are made, how the people who make the clothes are treated and how the companies who sell the clothes affect the health of our planet. Armed with information, you can follow the book's guide to spending your fashion dollars in a responsible and eco-friendly way. Your outfits have more power than you might realize!

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Waking

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. Beauty has lost her desire to be an artist. At school Beauty tries to be invisible to avoid the questions and innuendo that have arisen since her mother's death. But when a new student arrives, things begin to change. Luna is a free spirit, confident and exciting. She encourages and challenges Beauty to come out of her shell. Beauty finally admits to her attraction to Poe, a boy who lives a few doors away. Her artistic drive returns. But as Beauty gains self-confidence, her nightmares become ever more terrifying, filled with dark images of blood and death. Beauty must now struggle to solve the riddle posed by her dreams: who is the Shadow Lady and what is the nature of her curse?

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Hurricane Power

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. He 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.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

90 Days of Different

Key Selling Points This coming-of-age novel follows a girl's quest to make her life more interesting after she is broken up with on the last day of high school for being too boring. High school is over, her 90 days before university start now. 90 Days of Differentexplores themes of boundaries, social media and finding yourself. This best-selling novel is now available in paperback for the first time. Author Eric Walters is a tireless presenter and speaks to over 100,000 students per year. Best-selling, award-winning author Eric Walters has published over 100 books and has been named a Member of the Order of Canada.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Kat's Fall

Darcy's mother is getting out of jail. Ten years ago Darcy's mom was convicted of throwing Darcy's baby sister off a fifth-floor balcony. Kat survived, but Darcy has spent the last decade raising his sister, giving her the love and support she has been denied by an absent mother and an uncaring father. Now, with their mother about to be released, their father has decided he has had enough of parental responsibility and is determined to return the children to their mother's care. Darcy is horrified, and adamant that he will not subject his sister to the woman who once tried to murder her. Struggling to understand and control the anger and resentment that has consumed him, Darcy is forced to confront his feelings and engage with the outside world. With newfound friendships and the unflagging support of his teacher, Darcy is able to understand some of the pain of the past and accept that he cannot control everything. As he grudgingly re-establishes ties with the mother he thinks he hates, he is accused of a horrific act. It will take incredible strength—his own and others—to fight the charges, but he finds that truth is often an elusive concept and that trust—and love—are powerful allies.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Ice Dreams

Twelve-year-old Maya is an accomplished figure skater whose mother, a former world champion skater and Olympic hopeful, died four years ago. Maya's family pressures her to pursue her mother's Olympic dream, but Maya lacks the drive and the passion. In fact, she has a dream of her own: to play hockey. The transition between sports is not easy, but Maya learns that drive is born of persistence as she discovers a passion for goaltending. Ice Dreams is a touching novel about the hopes and struggles of one ambitious athlete.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Dunces Anonymous

Josh Johnson's mother wants him to run for class president. Josh just wants to run and hide. If only there were a club to help downtrodden eleven-year-olds escape their parents' ambitions! But since no such club exists, Josh has to invent one—he calls it Dunces Anonymous, and before he knows it, the membership is up to three. Magnolia and Wang help Josh lose the school presidential election, but that's just the beginning of the club's activities. Magnolia, pressured by her mom into trying out for the role of Juliet in the school's play, finds herself fending off the advances of an overly amorous Romeo. Wang's father has forced him to join the school chess club, but Wang desperately wants to take fencing lessons instead. As the three friends try to free Magnolia from the school play, liberate Wang from the chess club and get rid of horrible Stacey Hogarth, who has vowed to become the new president of Dunces Anonymous, they realize that they all have talents—if only their parents could see them.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Slam Dunk

Sixteen-year-old Salvador "Slam" Amaro thinks being the assistant coach of the Brookfield High School girls' basketball team will be an easy gig. Show up, run a few drills and pad his resumé so he can win a spot on the Ontario Provincial Under-17 team. But Slam's job suddenly gets a lot harder when the girls' coach and her daughter, the star point-guard, vanish after being threatened. Getting to the bottom of their disappearance puts Slam in confrontation with a mysterious stalker. But that's not his only problem. With the girls facing playoff elimination, Slam has to come up with some new coaching strategies while he battles some tough competitors for a place on the Ontario squad.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Misconduct

Matthew has always been a popular student and hockey player. But after an altercation with a tough kid named Dillon at hockey camp, Matt finds himself number one on the bully's hit list.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Plunge

Cade's dad thinks triathlons are for wimps. He doesn't think it's a real sport and wishes Cade would play football instead, like his older brother, Trent. So Cade trains in secret and qualifies to compete in the provincial championship in Sylvan Lake. The night before the event, Cade's coach suddenly can't go, and Cade is forced to ask his dad for a ride there. He only agrees because Trent has a football game nearby. The road trip takes a nasty turn when his dad swerves to avoid a deer and their car hurtles into an ice-cold river. It's up to Cade to use his skills to save his entire family.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Running the Risk

After being the victim of an armed robbery, Sean should be terrified but he isn't. He finds he likes the rush that comes from danger and tries to recreate the feeling. But when his risktaking leads him to some of the worst parts of town and he finds himself face-to-face with the original armed robbers, he finds he must do the right thing.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Voice of the Valley

Voice of the Valley is a poetic, multi-layered, coming-of-age story inspired by the controversial flooding of Saskatchewan's Souris Valley. Onja Claibourn is almost fifteen. Her world is one of sage, buffalo bills, brown-eyed susans, cactus, flax, buckbrush, foxtail and orange moss—the world of the valley just beyond the family farm. Old roads twist like a game of snakes and ladders into the valley. Onja and her horse Ginger spend their summer days in exploration. But things begin to change when Onja discovers first an archeological dig and then the startling fact that there is a plan to dam and flood her valley. She cannot contemplate this change to the landscape she loves so much. And when she also discovers sixteen-year-old Etthen, working with the archaeologists, she begins those first faltering footsteps toward a totally unfamiliar landscape—romantic love. Onja Claibourn is a wonderfully complex and very real character—innocent, wise, shy, stubborn, playful, and caring. The other major character in the novel is the prairie landscape itself—huge sky, harsh sun, rolling hills, sweeping fields of grain.

Date Added: 05/25/2017