Nine beautifully evocative short stories from the pen of Governor General’s Award finalist Michelle Kadarusman On islands around the world from Manhattan to Phillip Island, Australia, to Komodo Island and beyond nine children face life changing moments: escaping a flood; embracing their identity; discovering that the adults in their lives can ease the burden of their eco anxiety. And although each child couldn’t be more different, one thing connects them all: a turtle swam into each of their lives at a critical moment, and left them changed.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
The Cricket War
A gripping story of a boy’s escape from Communist Vietnam by boat, based on the author’s own experience. It’s 1980, and 12-year-old Tho Pham lives with his family in South Vietnam. He spends his afternoons playing soccer and cricket fighting with his friends, but life is slowly changing under the Communists. His parents are worried, and Tho knows the Communist army will soon knock on their door to make his brother, and then him, join them. Still, it shocks him when his father says that arrangements have been made for him to leave Vietnam by boat, immediately. Thọ tries to be brave as he sets out on a harrowing journey toward the unknown.
This book is part of the Worlds of Words Global Reading List for 2023/24.
Global: One Fragile World. An Epic Fight For Survival.
Time is running out for Sami and Yuki. Sami and his grandfather live in a village along the Indian Ocean. They earn their living by fishing. But the ocean is rising and each day they bring back fewer and fewer fish. Yuki lives in the far north of Canada where warming temperature are melting the ice. Polar bears have less food to hunt and are wandering into town looking for something to eat. Yuki is determined to do something to help the bears.
Flora La Fresca & The Art Of Friendship
Ten year old larger than life Flora Violeta LeFevre uses humor and a little mischief to navigate her best friend moving away, her sister’s overbearing and all-consuming quince preparations, and a surprising new friendship.
Kingdom Of Without
Seventeen year old Zhong Ning’er, a wily young thief, must use her wits to survive in an alternate, futuristic Beijing.
Dawn of the Jaguar
After negotiating with the queen of the underworld for ten days aboveground, teenage bruja Ren sets out to save her friends and put the Lords of Night back to sleep forever, all without the help of her shadow magic and time rope.
Something Like Home
When a lost dog helps Laura find a way home to her family, they discover family in each other along the way.
Lei And The Fire Goddess
Twelve year old Anna must dig deep into her Hawaiian roots in order to save her best friend and her island from an angry fire goddess.
Fury Of The Dragon Goddess
When the ancient Tablet of Destinies falls into the wrong hands, it is up to Sikander Aziz and his friends to save humanity from having its future erased by two fearsome Mesopotamian gods.
Hopeless In Hope
We live in a hopeless old house on an almost-deserted dead end street in a middle of nowhere town named Hope. This is the oldest part of Hope; eventually it will all be torn down and rebuilt into perfect homes for perfect people. Until then, we live here: imperfect people on an imperfect street that everyone forgets about. For Eva Brown, life feels lonely and small. Her mother, Shirley, drinks and yells all the time. She’s the target of the popular mean girl, and her only friend doesn’t want to talk to her anymore. All of it would be unbearable if it weren’t for her cat, Toofie, her beloved nohkum, and her writing, which no one will ever see.
When Nohkum is hospitalized, Shirley struggles to keep things together for Eva and her younger brother, Marcus. After Marcus is found wandering the neighbourhood alone, he is sent to live with a foster family, and Eva finds herself in a group home. Furious at her mother, Eva struggles to adjust and being reunited with her family seems less and less likely. During a visit to the hospital, Nohkum gives Eva Shirley’s diary. Will the truths it holds help Eva understand her mother?