The Best We Could Do Thi Bui Upon becoming a first time mother, Thi Bui reflects on the lives of her Vietnamese parents. In an effort to understand her tense relationship with her parents, the author explores her family’s story and recreates it in this beautiful graphic memoire. During the fall of South Vietnam in […]
The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden GardenBy Karina Yan Glaser Another run-of-the-mill summer has just started for Josie, Oliver, Hyacinth and Laney (a.k.a. the Vanderbeekers). Their sister Isa is away at music camp, but otherwise things are pretty standard at their Harlem brownstone. But when their beloved upstairs neighbour, Mr. Jeet, has a stroke, and his […]
The Last by Katherine ApplegateThe Last is book #1 in the Endling Series by Katherine Applegate. It is the story of Byx, the baby of her pack, and a member of the nearly extinct dairne species. Dairnes are dog-like creatures that have magical abilities and are able to glide when they spread their arms and expand […]
IllegalBy Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano Ebo and his siblings know they must leave their home in Ghana to make a better life in Europe. Sisi, his sister, has already gone. When Kwame, his brother, disappears, Ebo follows. He is determined not to be left behind. When he meets up with […]
The Thirteenth Tale By Diane Setterfield “There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.” (p. 8) […]
The Summer Before the War By Helen Simonson The Summer Before the War is a slow burning story of the inhabitants of Rye, England at the outbreak of World War I. Despite the threat of war, in typical British style, the inhabitants of Rye keep calm and carry on. Focusing on the everyday lives of […]
One Came HomeBy Amy Timberlake Thirteen-year-old Georgie Burkhardt’s older sister, Agatha, has disappeared. To her family’s horror, a mostly unidentifiable body is found on the wagon road to another town and everyone assumes it’s Agatha. But even though the body is wearing Agatha’s blue-green dress and has the same auburn hair, Georgie does not believe […]
by Ellie Irving Matilda is a budding scientist who finds out her grandma was once a famous scientist herself until she suddenly left her job. After finding the reason was because of a new planet her grandmother had discovered only to be stolen by her boss, Matilda convinces her grandmother they must stop him from […]
Our Homesick Songs By Emma Hooper The Connors live in Big Running, Newfoundland where, for generations, people have lived by the ebb and flow of the cod fishery. The sea is their lifeblood. Emma Hooper masterfully depicts the culture of small town Newfoundland in Our Homesick Songs. Parents Aidan and Martha can remember when fishing […]
By: Djamila Ibrahim Things are good now tells poignant and thought provoking stories of immigrants and refugees to Canada from East Africa and the Middle East. From a female ex-freedom fighter struggling with her new reality of cleaning toilets and hospital sheets to a newly adopted young Ethiopian girl facing the horrors of her first […]