Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Up To Low

Young Tommy hasn’t been to the town of Low for two years – not since his mother’s death. And it’s been two years since he’s seen little Baby Bridget, the girl with the trillium-shaped eyes. But now Tommy, his father, and his father’s friend Frank are driving in a shiny new Buick up the through the Gatineau Hills to reach the small Quebecois town – a place steeped in the culture of its Irish settlers. A host of colorful characters await him in Low – Crazy Mickey, Tommy’s 100-old Irish great-grandfather; Grandma Minnie, Mickey’s 99-year-old wife; and dear Aunt Dottie, who carries a huge bottle of Lysol for washing raspberries and socks. Then there’s Mean Hughie, Baby Bridget’s abusive father who is ill with cancer. For Tommy, it’s a summer when love and death are all mixed up – and healing comes in unexpected ways.

Camilla D’errico’s Burn

Burn was once human.He also had a family and friends, until a metallic angel of death took everything from him. This mechanical monster, Shoftiel, was one of many living machines made to help humanity that revolted and declared war on their creators. It tore through Burn’s home and wreaked havoc on his city until the buildings collapsed, crashing down upon them.Emerging from the rubble, Burn and Shoftiel discover their once separate bodies have become one — neither human nor machine, but a freak union of both. Internally their minds are caught in a raging battle for control. Just as mankind must struggle against the sentients for survival, Burn must find the strength to overcome Shoftiel’s genocidal programming to retain whatever’s left of his humanity.

Off to War

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have impacted the children of soldiers–men and women who have been called away from their families to fight in a faraway war. In their own words, some of these children describe how their experience has marked and shaped them.

Hannah

Life is incredibly hard for all the immigrant families who work in the mine, but harder still for Hannah’s – her father recently killed in the mine, her mother nearly dead from giving birth to the latest child. Hanna defies all convention and passes herself off as a boy to get into the mine that is their only real hope of salvation. Common wisdom is that women are bad luck in a mine, so when her secret is discovered, the superstitious miners are furious. Will she survive this too? Author Diana Vazquez paints a gritty portrait of the bleak mining shanty town and the lives of the people who live there. But it is the indomitable spirit of her unsentimental, blunt, and fearless heroine that will remain memorable to all who encounter her.

Ortega

With a thick finger he slowly traced the path of a stray raindrop that had landed near the corner of his eye and trickled down his cheek. And he thought to himself that it was probably a very good thing that gorillas didn’t know how to cry. Raised in a laboratory, Ortega might seem nearly human to his scientist-caregivers, but to the children at his new school, a talking gorilla is nothing but a freak. Unless he wants to spend the rest of his life locked in a cage, however, Ortega is going to have to change people’s minds. More than a comic-adventure novel, Ortega asks the reader to reflect upon the limits of science, imagine how it feels to be profoundly different from those around you and, most of all, consider what it really means to be human.

Everything Asian: A Novel

You’re twelve years old. A month has passed since your Korean Air flight landed at lovely Newark Airport. Your fifteen-year-old sister is miserable. Your mother isn’t exactly happy, either. You’re seeing your father for the first time in five years, and although he’s nice enough, he might be, well–how can you put this delicately?–a loser.You can’t speak English, but that doesn’t stop you from working at East Meets West, your father’s gift shop in a strip mall, where everything is new.Welcome to the wonderful world of David Kim.

Native Cultures in Alaska (Alaska Geographic)

Alaska Geographic presents the people, places, and wonders of Alaska to the world. Over the past 30 years, Alaska Geographic has earned its reputation as the publication for those who love Alaska.

Living With The Eskimos: In Greenland, A Land Of Ice And Snow (Young Discovery Library)

Describes the homes, food, clothing, and everyday life of an Eskimo community in Greenland and includes information on animals that live in arctic regions.

The Inuksuk Book

An introduction to the many forms of the inuksuk structure The image of a traditional Inuit stone structure, or inuksuk, silouetted against an arctic sky, has become a familiar symbol. Yet, for many, their purpose remains a mystery. In a stunning new book, artist and children’s author Mary Wallace, in consultation with Inuit elders and other noted experts, gives a fascinating introduction in words, pictures, and paintings to the many forms of the inuksuk structure and its unique place in Inuit life and culture.