Special Collections

The Perfect Gymnast

Abby has been having a hard time since her family moved from Edmonton to Calgary--she misses her best friend, and at school she feels terribly awkward, a klutz. So she's outraged when her mother signs her up for gymnastics at a local club; outraged, that is, until Hilary befriends her. Hilary is outgoing, confident, and a top-ranked gymnast: in short, everything Abby wants to be. Soon, however, she discovers that Hilary has a serious problem: an eating disorder she tries to keep secret from everyone. Abby wants to act, but doesn't know whether she'll be helping Hilary or betraying her. The Perfect Gymnast is a story about a girl who struggles to do the right thing, even at the risk of losing her best friend.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Perfect Revenge

Lizzie Lane is used to life at the top of the food chain. Her near-perfect life is ruined when Rachel, a girl she socially destroyed, exacts her revenge by getting Lizzie in trouble for cheating on a test. Friendless and facing detention, Lizzie obsesses over finding the perfect revenge. When Stella, Lizzie's strange new neighbor, teaches Lizzie about magick, Lizzie can't resist creating a revenge spell. But she forgets the "rule of three," that whatever spell you cast comes back on you three-fold, and her zit spell backfires with dramatic results. When she asks for help from Stella's Baba, the only advice she gets is to "write the lesson of the zit on her heart." Can Lizzie find a way to teach Rachel a lesson without causing permanent disfigurement to herself? Also available in French.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Pigboy

Dan is not sure he'll survive the boring field trip to a remote heritage farm. How could a place with no running water, telephone or electricity be anything but dull? The farmer knows nothing about farming and is angry about having to conduct the tour. And what's with his tattoo? The teacher requests a private word with the farmer and then mysteriously disappears. After a messy attack of allergies, Dan is excused to find a tissue. He sneaks back to the school bus and discovers the driver and teacher have been bound and gagged. The farmer is really an escaped convict with nasty plans. Will Dan be able to find help in time?

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Plank's Law

Trevor has known since he was ten years old that he has Huntington's disease, but at sixteen he is informed that he has one year to live. One day while he's trying to figure stuff out, an old man named Plank finds him standing at a cliff by the ocean. It's the beginning of an odd but intriguing relationship. Both Trevor and Plank decide to live by Plank's Law, which is "just live." This means Trevor has to act on the things on his bucket list, like hanging out with real penguins, star in a science fiction movie and actually talk to Sara—the girl at the hospital who smiles at him.

With the aid of Plank and Sara, Trevor revises his bucket list to include more important things and takes charge of his illness and his life.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Plastic

When Jack develops an interest in something, he puts his all into it, making lists, doing research and learning all he can. When his best friend Leah decides to have plastic surgery for her sixteenth birthday, Jack is horrified—and then determined to stop her. Researching the surgery and the results, he finds that there are unscrupulous surgeons operating on the very young, and no one does anything about it. Jack organizes a protest and becomes an instant celebrity. But when someone else takes up the cause and the protest turns violent, Jack is forced to make some tough decisions.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Play On

Fast-paced sports action novels that get kids reading. Alecia is about to be adopted by a new stepfather, her soccer team, the Burrards, is preparing for the championship game, and a cute new boy has arrived on the scene. But there are even more changes on the horizon. The team's game is suffering as the players get distracted by other interests. If the Burrards are to make it to the finals, they must renew their commitment to their sport and to each other. Play On is the satisfying conclusion to the acclaimed series that also includes Offside! and Alecia's Challenge.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Plunge

Cade's dad thinks triathlons are for wimps. He doesn't think it's a real sport and wishes Cade would play football instead, like his older brother, Trent. So Cade trains in secret and qualifies to compete in the provincial championship in Sylvan Lake. The night before the event, Cade's coach suddenly can't go, and Cade is forced to ask his dad for a ride there. He only agrees because Trent has a football game nearby. The road trip takes a nasty turn when his dad swerves to avoid a deer and their car hurtles into an ice-cold river. It's up to Cade to use his skills to save his entire family.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

Pool Princess

When Gracie is suddenly moved from the life she loves in Cochrane, Alberta, to the big city of Calgary, she feels lost. She leaves behind her school, her friends, and worst of all her synchronized swimming team. So things start to look up when she finds a new team in the city: she's excited to be training with some of the best swimmers in the province. When Rosalyn, the star of the Calgary team, starts driving Gracie to shape up fast or quit, she's relieved to see the familiar face of Christy Aldredge, the top swimmer at her Cochrane synchro club. Talking with Christy, Gracie finds allies in her stand against Rosalyn's unfair bullying. Pool Princess is a story about the pressures of competitive amateur sport, and about how friendship can help overcome them.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Pop

When Marcus moves to a new town in the dead of summer, he doesn't know a soul. While practicing football for impending tryouts, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with an older man. Charlie is a charismatic prankster-and the best football player Marcus has ever seen. He can't believe his good luck when he finds out that Charlie is actually Charlie Popovich, or "the King of Pop," as he had been nicknamed during his career as an NFL linebacker. But that's not all. There is a secret about Charlie that his family is desperate to hide. When Marcus begins school, he meets the starting quarterback on the team: Troy Popovich. Right from the beginning, Marcus and Troy disagree-about football, about Troy's ex-girlfriend, Alyssa, but most of all about what's good for Charlie. Marcus is betting that he knows what's best for the King of Pop. And he is willing to risk everything to help his friend.

Date Added: 03/27/2018

Pop Quiz

Fifteen-year-old Aiden is a minor cast member on a long-running high school "dramedy" with a low budget and a loyal following. Aiden and his friends are excited that they're being promoted to lead roles for the upcoming tenth season of Pop Quiz. But then they learn the show is being canceled. According to the producers, no one even watches TV anymore, with kids preferring the antics of YouTube stars. With the help of some former cast members and a group of hardcore fans, Aiden and his friends attempt to create a movie special to wrap up the storylines and give the series the send-off it deserves.

Date Added: 03/15/2018

The Popsicle Journal

Harper's got a job at The Emville Express. But could anything have prepared him for what is coming? The election campaign starts and things change. His father is running and his editor urges him to uncover any secrets. Then his sister crashes her car after drinking and he's to cover the story in court.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Power Hitter

Connor Wells is looking forward to spending the whole summer parked on the couch with his video games, at home in Burlington, Ontario. Then something bad happens to his mother. Something really bad. When he's sent to stay with relatives in Winnipeg, he finds they play baseball--all day, every day--and he doesn't play at all. Soon, however, he discovers a hidden talent that helps him both on the diamond and off. Power Hitter shows how sport can help us understand even life's hardest experiences.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Power Play

Power Play is a dramatic and fast-paced story about a boy who who wants to play hockey but not get hurt.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Prove It!

Leo Marrelli has moved to a hick town that's so small it doesn't even have an arcade. And he's supposed to stay out of trouble. But the harder he tries, the more trouble seems to follow him. In fact, he makes an appointment with trouble for 10 o'clock at Hollows Bridge. And every kid in town comes to see what will happen.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Queen of Disguises

Amateur detective and singing sensation Dinah Galloway has enough on her plate without having to worry about being pursued by a vengeful stalker. The red-headed twelve-year-old is in the running to sing in commercials promoting beautiful British Columbia. To clinch the job, Dinah has to get fit at a wellness retreat on Salt Spring Island. Veggies? Exercise? Yech! Grudgingly, though, Dinah admits that her lifestyle could be a little healthier. Off to Salt Spring she goes, along with the two other finalists: one friendly, the other the last word in sulky. Her friends Talbot and Pantelli make their usual disruptive appearances, along with Dinah's ever-anxious mother and cool, elegant sister Madge. Hoping to shed not only pounds but her crazed pursuer, Dinah learns the true meaning of personal best—it truly is how you play the game, not whether you win or lose.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Queen of the Court

Kallana wears the wildest clothes of anyone at her suburban Calgary junior high school. Still, it seems it's not enough to get the attention of her freelance photographer father or her non-kid-friendly mother. When her dad signs her up for the basketball team after Kallana is sent home from school for wearing "provocative" clothes, she's mortified: she can't dribble, she can't shoot, and the uniforms are just hideous. But as things get worse at home, basketball practice comes to be a welcome relief, and the self-confidence she learns at the free-throw line helps her prepare for the difficult changes she has to face. "Queen of the Court" is the touching story of a young girl whose experience of sport helps her cope with unexpected change.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Queen of the Toilet Bowl

When Renata is chosen to play the lead role in the school musical, students who used to ignore her start saying hello and congratulating her in the hall. She enjoys her newfound acceptance at school until she realizes that Karin, a wealthy girl who expected to get the lead role, will go to great lengths to punish Renata for her success. Renata is not going to give up the role, but how much tormenting will she have to take?

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Quid Pro Quo

Quid Pro Quo is a high-stakes, fast-moving legal thriller about real people, and funny people at that. Cyril MacIntyre's mother is a twenty-eight-year-old ex-street kid who drags her son to all her law school classes, then proceeds to get herself kidnapped. That aside, Cyril's life isn't too different from that of other thirteen-year-olds. He has all the usual adolescent issues to deal with: parent problems, self-esteem problems, skin, hair and girl problems. He just has legal problems too. And he's got to solve them if he wants to save his mother's life.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Racing Fear

"Racing Fear" is an action-packed ride that takes a hard look at the selling of prescription drugs.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Ready to Run

When wise-cracking Remy O'Sullivan takes up running, she thinks she's training to race. But when her close friend get involved with an internet chat-room pal who isn't all that he seems, Remy's running skills are put to whole other kind of test. Ready to Run is a fast-paced tale of personal growth set against the dark side of cyberspace.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Rebel Glory

At 17, star defenseman Brian Thomas McPhee likes his chances of making it as a pro hockey player. Yet, a string of recent "accidents" threatens to knock his team out of the playoffs and ruin his promising career. B.T. McPhee has begun to question how many "accidents" can happen before they become more than a coincidence. But it's not a good time for questions. Not in the spotlight of high-pressure hockey. Not when the team needs him most. And not when he has some important lessons to learn about life. For B.T. McPhee, however, there is no choice. Unless the questions are answered, the team's season and his promising career will surely end.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Rebel's Tag

Sam's grandfather vanished from his life the day Sam's father was buried. Now, ten years later, Grandpa Max wants to make amends. He sends letters that lead Sam on a scavenger hunt. Sam follows his grandfather's bizarre instructions though he's still not ready to forgive. To alleviate his anger at his grandfather, Sam turns to his favorite stress release: climbing onto roofs and leaving his tag, a spray painted symbol for Aquarius. When he gets caught by an elderly couple, Sam learns a valuable lesson about forgiveness. He's ready to forgive his grandfather, but is he too late?

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Rebound

All C.J. has ever wanted is to play basketball--one day pro basketball. Already in grade nine she's the captain of her high school team in Naskup, British Columbia. But her success comes at a price: her teammate Debi can't accept someone so young as captain, and is making C.J.'s life as difficult as possible. To make matters much worse, one morning she wakes up and is barely able to get out of bed. When her doctor tells her she has arthritis, she worries whether she deserves to be captain. Recognizing her new limitations, however, she comes to truly understand teamwork, and becomes the leader her coaches knew she could be. Rebound is the story of how one young athlete overcomes adversity to become a better player, and a better person.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Red-line Blues

Lee comes from a family of NHL hockey players, but he's no hotshot--he plays because he loves the game. His coaches, however, spend all their time with the team's stars and leave ordinary players warming the bench. When the coaches' determination to win puts Lee in hospital, however, he's forced to take a stand against their recklessness. Red-Line Blues is the story of one player's fight for what's important in sport: fair play and love of the game.

Date Added: 05/25/2017

Red Sea

Fourteen-year-old Libby didn't want to go on a year long sailing adventure with her mother and her stepfather, Duncan, and she isn't about to let them forget it. Traveling through the Red Sea, Libby causes them to be late and make a dangerous crossing alone. When modern-day pirates attack, Duncan is killed and Libby's mother is left seriously injured and unconscious. Libby is left alone on a crippled boat to find safety and help for her mother. Libby must call on all her strength and face some hard truths about herself if she is to survive and reach land. A thrilling tale of one girl's struggle for survival against the elements and her inner demons, Red Sea is adventure writing at its best.

Date Added: 05/25/2017