Canada

Materials from Canada

Give Up The Ghost

Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody…and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school. But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass’s whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees. As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim’s life, she’s surprised to realize he’s not so bad—and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance….

Secret of the Night Ponies

In 1965 Newfoundland, thirteen-year-old Jessie’s brave and impulsive nature leads her to commit a variety of daring acts, including rescuing a herd of wild ponies and kidnapping a poor orphan girl who is being mistreated by her guardians. Includes factual information about the history of the Newfoundland pony.

 

Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures

Alison Dare: Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft in fabulous, graphic adventures.
Alison Dare is not your typical twelve-year-old. She’s the daughter of an archaeologist/adventurer and the masked hero known as the Blue Scarab. To top it off, she’s also the niece of an international super-spy; it’s no surprise that a craving for danger is in her blood! Unfortunately, her parents have locked her away at the prestigious St. Joan’s Academy for Girls, hoping that this would lead to a more “normal” life for their daughter.

But despite all the strict rules at the school, Alison and her best pals – Wendy and Dot – somehow manage to find themselves involved in adventures that rival those of Alison’s globetrotting, planet-saving relatives. Whether it’s magic genies, super-powered bank robbers, or a dastardly baron bent on world domination,

Grease Town

A heartbreaking history of prejudice, family ties, and the loss of innocence.When twelve-year-old Titus Sullivan decides to run away to join his Uncle Amos and older brother, Lem, he finds an alien and exciting world in Oil Springs, the first Canadian oil boomtown of the 19th century.The Enniskillen swamp is slick with oil, and it takes enterprising folk to plumb its depths. The adventurers who work there are a tough lot of individuals. In this hard world, Titus becomes friends with a young black boy, the child of slaves who came to Canada on the Underground Railroad. When tragedy strikes in the form of a race riot, Titus’s loyalties are tested as he struggles to deal with the terrible fallout.Though the characters are fictitious, the novel is based on a race riot that occurred in Oil Springs, Ontario, on March 20, 1863. Grease Town is historical fiction at its finest.

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.

Mercury

Tara is forced to move in with her cousins after her house burns down. She faces a difficult adjustment while her mother is away trying to earn money. Interwoven with this story is that of Tara’s ancestors, who in 1859 were convinced by a mysterious stranger to put all their money into searching their property for gold.

 

 

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.