Dragonfly Song

Ancient Minoan civilization comes to life in this highly anticipated new middle-grade novel by the author of Nim’s Island. Aissa is the first-born daughter of the high priestess of her island nation, destined to inherit ... Read More »

October 10, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

The Kingdom of No Worries

By Philip Roy

When a small island appears in the middle of a river running through their town, 12-year-old best friends Billy, Charlie, and Sami lay claim to it – and the Kingdom of No Worries is born. ... Read More »

September 20, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Sit

By Deborah Ellis

Children, like dogs, are often told to “sit.” But in Deborah Ellis’s new collection of 11 short stories, the kids are much too rambunctious for that. In “The Glowing Chair,” Miyuki is a 12-year-old Japanese ... Read More »

September 18, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Spirited Away: Fairy Stories of Old Newfoundland

By Tom Dawe; Veselina Tomova (ill.)

In Newfoundland, fairies are dangerous. They steal babies, play wild music that forces people to dance till they drop, and lead travellers over cliffs to their deaths. Sometimes they spirit people away completely: heedless berry ... Read More »

September 14, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

The Night Garden

By Polly Horvath

Children’s literature abounds with magical gardens: from the walled plot that Mary Lennox coaxes back to life in The Secret Garden, to the setting for a time-travelling friendship in Tom’s Midnight Garden, to Oxford’s Botanic ... Read More »

September 12, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power!

By Brooke Allen (ill.); Mariko Tamaki

In 2013, comic publisher Boom! Studios started an imprint called Boom! Box – a space for experimental, creator-driven work by writers and artists from outside the mainstream industry. Their second title, Lumberjanes (2014), was a ... Read More »

September 11, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

The Painting

By Charis Cotter

Like its well-received predecessor, The Swallow, Charis Cotter’s new novel involves untimely death, ghosts, and two isolated tween girls who narrate the story in rapidly alternating sections. Both of The Painting’s 12-year-old heroines have issues ... Read More »

August 30, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

The Mosaic

By Nina Berkhout

In her first YA novel, Archibald Lampman Award–winning poet Nina Berkhout builds on the promise of her adult fiction debut, The Gallery of Lost Species, trimming away the extraneous language in that novel to deliver ... Read More »

August 30, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

House of Ash

By Hope Cook

No matter the era, life as a teenager is fraught with peril. Take Curtis and Mila, the protagonists of House of Ash, the powerful new YA fantasy from Edmonton writer Hope Cook. Curtis, in the ... Read More »

August 14, 2017 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

Caterpillars Can’t Swim

By Liane Shaw

Liane Shaw, a former special-education resource teacher, has never shied away from tough topics. Her previous novels have tackled foster care (Fostergirls), physical and emotional limitations (The Color of Silence), and autism spectrum disorder (Don’t ... Read More »