Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman

After she helped them successfully retrieve a priceless baseball card from the guy who swindled it from them, best friends Griffin Bing and Ben Slovak feel they have to help Savannah Drysdale track down her missing pet capuchin monkey.  However a class trip to a floating zoo docked at a nearby nature preserve solves one [...]

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Marshmallow Magic and the Wild Rose Rouge by Karen McCombie

After a year in Balgownie, a small town in the highlands, soon-to-be thirteen-year old Laurel “Lemmie” Ferguson is still haunted by what happened in Edinburgh before she and her parents moved away.  Ridiculed for her highly artistic approach to dressing, and her unusual, exuberant and sometimes clumsy behaviour, by the time Laurel left her private [...]

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Protector of the Small Quartet: First Test by Tamora Pierce

Keladry of Mindelan has her heart set on becoming a knight.  Though her parents worry that it might prove too difficult a challenge even for a girl with Kel’s courage, she is determined to join the pages being trained at the court of King Jonathan.  Since a new proclamation has decreed that girls be permitted, [...]

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Ten year-old Lucky Trimble lives with her guardian Brigitte in a cobbled-together trailer home on the edge of Hard Pan, California, population 43.  Perched in the Mojave Desert, on the site of an old gold mining town, Hard Pan is home to an odd collection of individuals who have known hard times.  The Captain, a [...]

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In the spring of 1939, a nine-year old girl named Liesel Meminger comes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann in their tiny house in Himmel Street, in Molching, a small town near Munich.  Having recently survived the death of her younger brother, and separation from her sickly mother, Liesel is angry, defensive, and driven [...]

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Ingo by Helen Dunmore

Sapphire and her older brother, Conor, live with their parents in a small cottage at the edge of the sea.  Together, Sapph and Conor spend their summers climbing down the cliffs to the small sandy cove near their home, where they explore the narrow caves, study the tidal pools, swim in the ocean, and eat [...]

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Loch by Paul Zindal

Fifteen-year old Luke, and his younger sister Zaidee, have spent most of their lives moving around with their marine biologist father, Dr. Sam Perkins.  Sam works for the wealthy and controversial Anthony Cavenger, who travels the world in pursuit of mythological creatures – yetis, dragons, sasquatches and sea monsters.  This time, Cavenger’s hunt has brought [...]

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

The Moon Children by Beverley Brenna

Conditioned by his experiences, both at school and at home, eleven-year old Billy Ray has learned not to expect much from life.  His inability to read more than a handful of simple words or to recall numbers, and his hyperactivity in class have made him the butt of his classmates’ taunts and putdowns.  At home, [...]

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Chocolate River Rescue by Jennifer McGrath Kent

Sent outside to enjoy the wintery weather, Shawn Mahoney and his younger brother, Craig, along with Shawn’s best friend, Tony, wander over to the new bridge built near their homes in Riverview.  The bridge, which spans the Petitcoudiac river, links their town with the city of Moncton, New Brunswick.
Standing on the bridge watching the river [...]

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

The Third Eye by Mahtab Narsimhan

While the other people in their village celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, Tara and her seven-year old brother Suraj sit watching from the front step of the family hut, mourning the anniversary of their mother’s disappearance.  One year earlier, the kind and beautiful Parvati had crept to Tara before dawn and told her that [...]