Special Collections

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

Speaking Our Truth

Canada's relationship with its Indigenous people has suffered as a result of both the residential school system and the lack of understanding of the historical and current impact of those schools.

Healing and repairing that relationship requires education, awareness and increased understanding of the legacy and the impacts still being felt by survivors and their families.

Guided by acclaimed Indigenous author Monique Gray Smith, readers will learn about the lives of Survivors and listen to allies who are putting the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into action.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Can Your Smartphone Change the World?

Can Your Smartphone Change the World? is a twenty-first-century guide for anyone who has access to a smartphone. This how-to manual looks at specific ways you can create social change through the tap of a screen. Filled with examples of successful hashtag campaigns, viral videos and new socially conscious apps, the book provides practical advice for using your smartphone as a tool for social justice. This is the first book in the PopActivism series. Can Your Outfit Change the World? comes out in spring 2018 and Can Your Conversations Change the World? in fall 2018.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Hit the Ground Running

Sixteen-year-old Dee and her seven-year-old brother, Eddie, have been on their own for six weeks.

Their father has seemingly vanished into the baking Arizona desert. Their money is drying up and the rent is coming due, but it's a visit from a social worker and the prospect of being separated from Eddie that scares Dee enough to flee.

She dupes her brother into packing up and embarking on the long road trip to Canada, their birthplace and former home.

Lacking a driver's license and facing a looming interrogation at the border, Dee rations their money and food as they burn down the interstate in their ancient, decrepit car.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Worst Date Ever

Jennie has been a widow for two years. Her twelve-year-old son thinks it's about time she started dating, and so does her best friend, Angela. So with Angela's help, Jennie signs up to an online dating site. Within hours, she has several dates lined up for the week. Surely there will be one Prince Charming in the bunch. And if not, it's only one date, right? How bad could it be?

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Pop Quiz

Fifteen-year-old Aiden is a minor cast member on a long-running high school "dramedy" with a low budget and a loyal following. Aiden and his friends are excited that they're being promoted to lead roles for the upcoming tenth season of Pop Quiz. But then they learn the show is being canceled. According to the producers, no one even watches TV anymore, with kids preferring the antics of YouTube stars. With the help of some former cast members and a group of hardcore fans, Aiden and his friends attempt to create a movie special to wrap up the storylines and give the series the send-off it deserves.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Plank's Law

Trevor has known since he was ten years old that he has Huntington's disease, but at sixteen he is informed that he has one year to live. One day while he's trying to figure stuff out, an old man named Plank finds him standing at a cliff by the ocean. It's the beginning of an odd but intriguing relationship. Both Trevor and Plank decide to live by Plank's Law, which is "just live." This means Trevor has to act on the things on his bucket list, like hanging out with real penguins, star in a science fiction movie and actually talk to Sara—the girl at the hospital who smiles at him.

With the aid of Plank and Sara, Trevor revises his bucket list to include more important things and takes charge of his illness and his life.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Up North

Rob Maclean and his mom have moved to a small community in northern Ontario in order to be closer to Rob's imprisoned brother, Adam. One night after a rowdy party, Rob and some friends end up in a van speeding through a First Nations reserve. The driver of the van has a deep hatred for Indigenous people, and he lobs rotten fruit at a group of young men gathered in front of a community center. The young men chase them down, and Rob's friend Alan is injured and ends up in a coma. Now the police are pressuring Rob to identify their prime suspect. This is the second story featuring Rob and Adam Maclean after Coming Clean.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Payback

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 is the fourth story featuring Dylan O'Connor after The Snowball Effect, Caught in the Act, and Rise of the Zombie Scarecrows.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

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

Out of Tune

When Alicia, a talented violinist at Riley Donovan's high school, is found bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of town, suspicion immediately falls on Carrie, the teen's musical rival. But Riley isn't convinced of Carrie's guilt, and even though her police-officer aunt tells her to stay out of it, Riley goes searching for the truth. Did Carrie really kill Alicia in a fit of jealous rage, or is there another explanation for Alicia's death?

Date Added: 03/15/2018

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

Caged

Even if Kenzie's dog had somehow managed to escape from the family's fenced backyard, Kenzie knows the big, lovable chocolate Lab wouldn't have gone far. As they search for Clancy, Kenzie and his dad keep hearing stories about other dogs that have gone missing too. When Kenzie finds Clancy's ID tag and spots a van loaded up with dog food, he knows he has to investigate further. With the help of a schoolmate whose dog has also disappeared, Kenzie uncovers an illegal operation that grabs dogs off the street and turns them into bloodthirsty killers.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Heavy Freight

Fifteen-year-old Maxwell Stone has been surviving and thriving in the tough part of Wast Vancouver by being smart and fast. But when a drug deal goes wrong, Max suddenly finds himself on the run from both the bad guys and the cops. Desperate to escape, Max impulsively decides to hop on a moving freight train. His first attempt to climb aboard fails, but at the last second a hand reaches down and pulls him in. Joseph has been riding the rails for years, and his tales inspire Max to take a journey to the last place he ever expected to go.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Gold

Sam and Annabel are on vacation with Annabel's parents in Italy. While visiting the small hilltop town of Civita, they hear rumors of looted gold from World War II buried somewhere in the town's network of underground tunnels and caves. Once again the two friends cross paths with their old nemesis, Humphrey Battleford, but he is not the only one in pursuit of the gold. An intimidating man named Kurt, the grandson of a ruthless Nazi, is also snooping around. After Annabel is kidnapped, Sam must solve the mystery of the hidden treasure to save his friend. This is the fourth mystery featuring Sam and Annabel, after Stolen, Bones and Lost.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

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

Winter Road

Sixteen-year-old Kat and her mom haven't seen much of each other since Kat's father died last year. Her mom has taken over the family trucking business and has been away a lot. She promised that Kat could join her on her next run, a journey across the frozen Manitoba lake known as the "winter road." But at the last minute she changes her mind. Kat, who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes, stows away in the back of the semi instead. By the time her mother discovers her, it's too late to turn back.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Learning Seventeen

New Hope Academy, or, as seventeen-year-old Jane Learning likes to call it, No Hope, is a Baptist reform school where Jane is currently being held captive. Of course, smart, sarcastic Jane has no interest in reforming, failing to see any benefit to pretending to play well with others. But then Hannah shows up, a gorgeous bad girl with fiery hair and an even stormier disposition. She shows Jane how to live a full and fulfilling life even when the world tells you you're wrong, and how to believe in a future outside the "prison" walls. Jane soon learns, though, that Hannah is quietly battling some demons of her own.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

True Blue

Elle is on the road as an opening act for Johnny James, the biggest star in country music. Touring is everything she's ever dreamed of, but it has unexpected downsides: crazy fans, jealous backup singers, weird rules on the tour bus. But when something goes terribly wrong during a performance, Elle struggles to figure out how she can make things right with her fans, her father, her record company and with her friend Webb. True Blue continues the story that began in Billboard Express.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Running on Empty

Everyone expected Leon Kline, anchor for the 4x100 sprint relay, to secure Gilburn High's spot in the record books. But a freak accident on the final stretch changes everything. Suddenly his future is gone. No more running, no scholarship, no college. But then he meets sassy and straight-talking Casey De Vries, and life doesn't look quite so bleak. She even gets him running again. He can't sprint anymore, but he can handle longer distances. As he gets to know Casey better, he realizes that something is not quite right. How can he help her if she won't tell him what’s going on?

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Kryptonite

Jackson knows how to get what he wants. Whether it's sweet-talking his friends into buying lunch or convincing teachers to give him extensions, he feels entitled to take whatever he wants—even a day off school or a new pair of shoes. Now he's set his sights on Abby, a troubled girl fresh out of juvie who only has eyes for Bryce, the go-to dealer of a dangerous new drug called kryptonite.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Stones on a Grave

Sara has never been out of the tiny town of Hope, Ontario, where she has been in an orphanage all her life. After a fire destroys the orphanage, clues about her parentage--a medical certificate and a Star of David--lead her to Germany. Despite her fears--she doesn't speak the language, she knows no one in Germany, and she's never been on an airplane--Sara arrives in Germany determined to explore her newly discovered Jewish heritage and solve the mystery of her parentage. What she encounters is a country still dealing with the aftermath of the Holocaust. With the help of a handsome, English-speaking German boy, she discovers the sad facts of her mother's brief existence and faces the horrible truth about her father. Ultimately, the knowledge she gains opens up her world and leads her to a deeper understanding of herself.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Back

Jojo's back, released from jail, and people are tense and afraid all over again. They wonder if his friends will start showing up again. They wonder if they'll be walking down the street one day and they'll run into Jojo and Jojo will give them attitude or shove them around, just for fun. Jojo's friends have a way of making it hard -- really hard -- on people who decide to press charges against Jojo. Those people just wish Jojo would go away and never come back. Then there are the people who have hate in their hearts. These people wish something bad would happen to Jojo. Something really bad. Ardell Withrow is one of those people.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Impossible

Seventeen-year-old Jemma's older brother took her in when she needed to get away from her abusive ex-boyfriend, Razor. All Jemma wants now is to be a good mom to her baby daughter, Violet. But one night she needs to go out, just for a few minutes, to get diapers and ice cream. On her way back, she witnesses the drive-by shooting of a kid, Kwame, who lives in the same building. The driver is Razor. Jemma is terrified. If she tells anyone what she saw, they'll know she left her baby alone and she might lose custody. But if she doesn't, Kwame's killer will go free. Razor convinces Jemma to make a deal to save her life, but Jemma isn't sure she can live with the consequences.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Shadow

Fourteen-year-old Preston Craft is organizing a film festival for his school's film club. When one of the films goes missing two days before the festival begins, Preston is convinced it was stolen and is determined to get it back. The only indication of the theft is a suspicious shadow that Preston noticed right before he discovered the film was gone—but Preston is legally blind and no one quite believes him. However, not unlike the gritty private eyes in the classic black-and-white films he adores, Preston refuses to give up. Can he solve the mystery based on such a shady clue?

Date Added: 03/15/2018