Nicolette's awful stepsisters call her Mechanica to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother's knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have pushed her into a life of dreary servitude. When she discovers a secret workshop in the cellar on her sixteenth birthday-and befriends Jules, a tiny magical metal horse-Nicolette starts to imagine a new life for herself. And the timing may be perfect: There's a technological exposition and a royal ball on the ho...
Annie’s family work hard to survive on their Ohio farm. Annie’s happiest when hunting game with her pa, and she doesn’t care one bit that it’s not the kind of thing girls are meant to do. When tragedy strikes, the family is thrown into deepest poverty. Until one day, Annie dares to pick up Pa’s old rifle, and find a way to feed her starving family. As the family’s fortunes worsen, Annie is sent away to work, and life becomes an ever greater struggle. Yet Annie has the courage and pluck to surv...
A year after running away with a traveling carnival to escape his unbearable home life, sixteen-year-old Michael returns to Miami, Florida, to find that his mother is going on trial for the murder of his abusive stepfather.
Chemo, radiation, a zillion surgeries, watching my mom age twenty years in twenty months: if that's part of the Big Dude's plan, then it's pretty obvious, isn't it? Somebody Up There Hates You. SUTHY has landed me here in this hospice, where we -- that's me and Sylvie -- are the only people under 30 in the whole place, sweartogod. But I'm not dead yet. I still need to keep things interesting. Sylvie, too. I mean, we're kids, hospice-hostages or not. We freak out visitors. I get my uncle to sneak...
At the end of high school, Johanna finally begins dating the girl she has loved from afar, but Reeve is as much trouble as she claims to be as she and her twin brother damage Johanna's self-esteem, friendships, and already precarious relationship with her sister.
Old Mickey is one hundred and twelve years old. He can't remember what he ate for lunch today, but he can remember every detail of what happened one hundred years ago, when he and his mother ran away from his violent father to take refuge in the hills north of Ottawa. Brilliantly combining humor and tragedy, Uncle Ronald is one of Brian Doyle's most emotionally powerful novels.
Forged by Fire (Hazelwood High Trilogy, #2) (Hazelwood High Trilogy (Thorndike), #2)
by Sharon M Draper
The flame of love burns bright in the second book of Sharon M. Draper’s award-winning Hazelwood High trilogy. When Gerald was a child he was fascinated by fire. But fire is dangerous and powerful, and tragedy strikes. His substance-addicted mother is taken from him. Then he loses the loving generosity of a favorite aunt, and a brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half sister, Angel, whom he strug...
If there is one thing that seventeen-year-old Rain knows and knows well, it is survival. Caring for her little brother, Walker, who is "Touched," and losing the rest of her family to the same disease, Rain has long had to fend for herself on the bleak, dangerous streets of Earth City. When she looks to the stars, Rain sees escape and the only possible cure for Walker. And when a darkly handsome and mysterious captain named Johnny offers her passage to the Edge, Rain immediately boards his spaces...
Written with sensitivity, humour and a lightness of touch, HEART-SHAPED is a companion to Siobhan Parkinson's highly-acclaimed novel, BRUISED - for fans of Meg Rosoff, Aidan Chambers and David Levithan.Annie makes a startling discovery one day - and everything changes. She fears for the safety of her boyfriend Jonno, who has vanished, knowing he is in desperate trouble. Feeling alone, she clings to her dad, her only parent, but he can't fill in all the gaps in the puzzle that is Annie's life. No...
A brand new edition of a humorous tale by beloved author Michael Morpurgo. School bully Darren Bishop is furious after he is out paced in the school race. He can't have that now, can he? So when he is challenged to a battle of courage, Darren thinks he can't lose and can't wait to show the class who's boss. See who turns out to be the chicken in this satisfying tale. Beautifully crafted story from a multi award-winning and bestselling author. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dy...
In this horse adventure perfect for fans of Black Beauty, a Connemara pony is pampered and beloved, then abused and neglected, until twelve-year-old Rae brings love to her again. Princess lives a charmed life of brown sugar cubes, crunchy apples, sweet grass, and adoration. But it is a lonely life; her elderly owner keeps Princess separate from other ponies so his show-ring champion will remain pristine. When Princess's owner has a stroke, she is thrust into the care of an unscrupulous trainer...
Publishers Weekly BEST Books for Summer 2016 "Sea Change is like a dip in cold Canadian waters: just step inside, and soon you're completely swept away, finding yourself overwhelmed and breathless, entranced by this whirlwind of a book. Bravo, Frank Viva. And glub, glub, glub." - Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events "Truly heartbreaking! Viva ingeniously weaves words and pictures to evoke that strange, wonderful moment - when the very worst experience of your life somehow b...
Like all boys, Martin had a peepee, and this peepee didn't cause him any problems. Of course, from time to time, Martin worried a little. He wondered if one day his peepee would look like his dad's peepee. But that's normal, all boys wonder about that. So, everything was going quite well. That is, everything was going well until one day in the locker room the big bully Adrian started making fun of Martin's peepee in front of everybody! Poor Martin. And to make matters worse, Martin and the bull...
A teenage boy faces his past and seeks redemption in the gripping companion book to Red Kayak Nine months in a juvenile detention facility was the punishment for his crime. After just a month he makes a bold escape that nearly kills him and soon an angry fourteen-year-old Digger is on the run. When injuries stop him, Digger hides at a riverside campground, where he befriends a young boy and a girl his own age. New friends, a job caring for rescued horses, and risking his life to save another ma...
When Carly Cameron picks Dustin Groat's name for a class interview assignment, she feels like screaming. Almost everyone in her community fears the Groats--a gun-toting, lawbreaking clan that lives on the edge of town. Sure enough, the first few interviews confirm Carly's suspicions: like the rest of his family, Dustin is surly and unresponsive. But as time goes by, Carly uncovers the tragic truth about Dustin's home life, and realizes that behind the tough exterior is a scared and unhappy boy w...