Special Collections
High Interest Y. A. Novels
Description: High Interest, Low Vocabulary books are for teenagers looking to advance their reading capabilities. Perfect for emerging teen readers. #teens
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Breathing Not Required
by Michele Martin BossleyGracie and her friend Laura are both on the synchronized swim team in their hometown of Cochrane, Alberta. Gracie is focused and hard-working, eager to be chosen for a solo. Laura is more relaxed about synchro, wanting above all to enjoy the sport. As the swim meet nears, these different approaches strain their friendship and threaten the success of the team itself. Lively and good humored, "Breathing Not Required" is a novel about competition, jealousy, and the importance of friendship.
Cracked
by Michele Martin BossleyTrevor, Nick and Robyn are ready to solve another mystery. When bobsledder Josh Gantz is accused of deliberately injuring a fellow competitor, he runs the risk of being thrown out of the sport -- right before the World Cup. Courtney Gantz asks Trevor, Nick and Robyn to help clear her brother's name. Can they find out who framed Josh? What is the meaning of the strange coded messages they keep finding around Olympic Park? Who eats orange bananas, anyway? The kids must unearth the clues in a race against time, before Josh's championship dreams end up on ice.
Danger Zone
by Michele Martin BossleyJason loves playing for his Calgary hockey team, but everything changes when he accidentally checks an opposing player from behind. The player hits the boards hard and is seriously hurt, and Jason faces suspension from the league. Against tough odds, Jason must find a way to prove himself -- to his family, his friends, his teacher and to his team. Powerful and entertaining, Danger Zone follows the struggle of an underdog -- both on and off the ice.
Fraud Squad
by Michele Martin BossleyWhen 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's going on. Is the new visiting scientist behind the fraud, or did Robyn's enthusiasm to save the dig lead her astray?
Goon Squad
by Michele Martin BossleyJason's rough moves on the ice nearly got him kicked out of the hockey league, but he's learned to keep his aggression in check. Now he's on an elite team and his new coach is pressuring him to return to his old ways. If he doesn't toughen up, he might lose his spot on the team. But if he starts playing dirty, he could get kicked out of the league. Jason finds himself fighting to play fair in this exciting and often comic sequel to Power Play and Danger Zone.
Jumper
by Michele Martin BossleyReese 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 are will be sold for slaughter. Determined to save the horses from a terrible fate she finds herself in deeper than she expected and fighting for her life.
Kicker
by Michele Martin BossleyIzzy and Julia have been on the same 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 what is the connection to a century-old train robbery and the rumor of buried treasure? Trying to solve the mystery and keep the team in the playoff race, Izzy and Julia find themselves in deeper than they thought, and in more danger than they imagined.
A Leap of Faith
by Michele Martin BossleyWhen Amy trains for the Novice Canadian Figure Skating Championship she knows the stakes are high. If she does well, she's one step closer to the Olympics; if she doesn't, she's convinced her parents will stop paying for her skating lessons. One day in practice she falls, hard. Afraid she'll miss the championship, she doesn't tell her coach about the screaming pain in her right knee. As the day approaches, however, it gets worse and worse until it threatens to end her skating dreams. "Leap of Faith" shows the extremes to which competitive ambition can drive young athletes, and the consequences that follow.
The Perfect Gymnast
by Michele Martin BossleyAbby has been having a hard time since her family moved from Edmonton to Calgary--she misses her best friend, and at school she feels terribly awkward, a klutz. So she's outraged when her mother signs her up for gymnastics at a local club; outraged, that is, until Hilary befriends her. Hilary is outgoing, confident, and a top-ranked gymnast: in short, everything Abby wants to be. Soon, however, she discovers that Hilary has a serious problem: an eating disorder she tries to keep secret from everyone. Abby wants to act, but doesn't know whether she'll be helping Hilary or betraying her. The Perfect Gymnast is a story about a girl who struggles to do the right thing, even at the risk of losing her best friend.
Pool Princess
by Michele Martin BossleyWhen Gracie is suddenly moved from the life she loves in Cochrane, Alberta, to the big city of Calgary, she feels lost. She leaves behind her school, her friends, and worst of all her synchronized swimming team. So things start to look up when she finds a new team in the city: she's excited to be training with some of the best swimmers in the province. When Rosalyn, the star of the Calgary team, starts driving Gracie to shape up fast or quit, she's relieved to see the familiar face of Christy Aldredge, the top swimmer at her Cochrane synchro club. Talking with Christy, Gracie finds allies in her stand against Rosalyn's unfair bullying. Pool Princess is a story about the pressures of competitive amateur sport, and about how friendship can help overcome them.
Power Play
by Michele Martin BossleyPower Play is a dramatic and fast-paced story about a boy who who wants to play hockey but not get hurt.
Queen of the Court
by Michele Martin BossleyKallana 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.
Swiped
by Michele Martin BossleyWould-be detectives Trevor, Nick and Robyn are hot on the trail of a sandwich thief when they learn that more than food has been going missing at school. A valuable hockey book has been stolen from the library, and the kids worry that the librarian might lose her job if it isn't found. Who would steal a hockey book? Could it be Robyn's arch-nemesis and hockey enthusiast Cray? Or could it be Ms. Thorson, the Oiler fan teacher? The kids are determined to solve these mysteries even though their sleuthing efforts land them into trouble at every turn.
Taking a Dive
by Michele Martin BossleyJosie is afraid that her record-breaking swim in the 200-metre butterfly at the Alberta provincial championship was a fluke. As her Calgary swim team trains for a big meet she can't come anywhere near her best time, and sees her dreams of national and Olympic glory slipping away. When she participates in her school's Athletic Challenge, however, she's forced to learn the meaning of "personal best" all over again. The insight she gains there spurs her on when she hits the water again. Taking a Dive uses the exciting world of competitive swimming to explore the links between self-confidence and success.
Trapped!
by Michele Martin BossleyJane Evans is excited to start a new soccer season with her Calgary team, the Hurricanes, especially when her friend Ashley announcing she's joining the team too. The season starts badly, however, when the players find someone has been stealing their belongings. Suspicion soon turns to Ashley, who's new to the squad and is the sister of a notorious troublemaker. As morale drops lower and lower, Jane sets out to find the truth about the thefts, to save both the team and her friend's reputation. Trapped is a story that shows how tiny rumours can have huge consequences, and how these consequences can be overcome with understanding and forgiveness.
Water Fight!
by Michele Martin BossleyJosie's sister Melissa is too perfect, better than her in everything--except in the pool. Josie dreams of Olympic swimming gold, and works hard with her Calgary swim team to achieve it. So when Melissa decides to join the team too, Josie is outraged and afraid that, once again, her sister will beat her. But as the big invitational swim meet approaches Melissa acts to help make Josie's dream come true, and forces them both to reconsider the value of sisterhood. "Water Fight!" is the story of two sisters who overcome sibling rivalry and learn to be themselves.
The Winning Edge
by Michele Martin BossleyJennie loves training at Richmond Skate, her Calgary figure skating club, but her Olympic dreams always seem impossibly far away. When her coach suggests she's got real talent, however, Jennie's ready to do what it takes to make her dreams real--or so she thinks. Soon she's trying again and again and again to land her double Axel, and sacrificing her social life for the rink. As the cost of skating success becomes higher and higher, Jennie starts to wonder if being a star is worth what she's losing along the way. The Winning Edge is an exciting, fast-moving story about a young skater whose ambitions force her to examine what she values most in life.
When Elephants Fight
by Eric Walters and Adrian BradburyBased on the eyewitness accounts of five children experiencing wars around the world, each chapter in this powerful volume tells one victim’s personal story in detail, followed by a long discussion of the history and politics of the conflict. The narratives are in the third person, accompanied by occasional moving photos of the child before the war, of his or her home under fire, and a brief final “follow-up” note about where the child is now. Some young people are direct targets in cases of genocide, with child soldiers trained to dehumanize others. Some children bear the brunt of an attack, as so-called collateral damage, and suffer starvation, disease, and loss of shelter. They also lose out when there are no resources for health and education. Some are in refugee camps and army barracks. A few lucky ones are immigrants who escaped. One, Toma in Chad, remains an ongoing victim of war. The harrowing individual accounts humanize today’s news reports and statistics.
Absolute Pressure
by Sigmund BrouwerIan 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.
All-Star Pride
by Sigmund BrouwerIt'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.
Barracuda
by Sigmund BrouwerFishing for barracuda from a kayak in the Florida Keys. That's what Jim Webb thinks this resort vacation with his grandfather should be about. Except the dying resort owner holds the key to legend about a generations-old crime. A crime that is worth way too much to those who want the legend to be true. Webb soon discovers that what lurks in the sun, sand and shallow waters of the Keys is much more dangerous than a slashing game fish. And along the way, he learns an important truth about himself and his own past. In this exciting prequel to Devil's Pass and Tin Soldier, the musically gifted and tenacious Webb finds himself caught in a dangerous mystery.
Blazer Drive
by Sigmund BrouwerWhen 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 chance to play in the National Hockey League. On the other hand, there's a beautiful and interesting girl who believes more prize bulls will be killed. 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.
Chief Honor
by Sigmund BrouwerLauren Cross is the first female player on a WHL team—goaltender Joseph Larken's team, the Spokane Chiefs. For Joseph, the prospect of a season in the publicity shadow of a new female goalie promises to be a nightmare. Hiding behind a carefully built wall of anger, Joseph is relieved when a scandal knocks Lauren off the team…until he begins to believe she was framed.
Cobra Strike
by Sigmund BrouwerAfter 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, his own football future, 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, and that means a chance at a winning season and a college scholarship for Linden, the team's senior receiver. But then he stumbles onto a deadly secret in the small coal-mining town. Revealing this toxic threat may cost him his best friend and his football career. But remaining silent could cost him much more.
Escalate
by Sigmund BrouwerTeam Retribution has been contacted by a teen who is being blackmailed into handing over secrets from the family business. Jace, with the help of his brother, Bentley, start to investigate and soon learn that the teen's family, like his own, is not what it appears to be. Jace, after learning he was switched at birth, then sets out to track down his birth family. The Retribution series is made up of six books, the original three, Burned, Exposed and Unleashed, and the three sequels, Terminate, Infiltrate and Escalate, by authors Natasha Deen, Judith Graves and Sigmund Brouwer.