At the Speed of Gus by Richard Scrimger
Scholastic Canada, 2023. 9781443193115
When we first meet Gus, he’s putting his own special spin on morning announcements, much to the chagrin of school secretary Miss Funnand Principal Gorby. After being suspended for three days as a result of these antics, Gus takes up his sister’s invitation to take the ferry to Vancouver Island and meet at her college. Once on the ferry, Gus’s thoughts begin to race. He’s having trouble concentrating and can’t calm down. The ride gets wilder and wilder, and the reader follows along at the speed of Gus’s brain, until it’s hard to tell what’s real from what’s imagined.
Flight Plan by Eric Walters
Orca, 2023. 9781459835115
Thirteen-year-old Jamie’s plane is just taking off when something goes terribly wrong. The lights go out, communications halts and the engine stops. After a bumpy landing, Jamie realizes it’s not just his flight. All the other planes have been grounded too. And every car on the road has stopped in its tracks. And no one’s cell phone is working. Technology has shut down, and no one knows why. Soon, it becomes clear that this disaster is anything but local, and people begin to panic. Jamie is now stranded 1,200 miles away from home and the world is in chaos.
Hopeless in Hope by Wanda John-Kehewin
Highwater Press, 2023. 9781774920831
For Eva Brown, life feels lonely and small. Her mother, Shirley, drinks and yells all the time. She’s the target of the popular mean girl, and her only friend doesn’t want to talk to her anymore. All of it would be unbearable if it weren’t for her cat, Toofie, her beloved nohkum, and her writing, which no one will ever see. When Nohkum is hospitalized, Shirley struggles to keep things together for Eva and her younger brother, Marcus. After Marcus is found wandering the neighbourhood alone, he is sent to live with a foster family, and Eva finds herself in a group home.
Opposite Identicals by Deborah Kerbel
Great Plains Publications, 2023. 9781773371115
Surrounded by nature and quiet, open spaces, shy, bookish Nova is in heaven. But Joule – whose life’s ambition is to be famous and reach a million Hollagram followers – is desperate to escape. One day, Joule gets her wish, although not in a way anyone ever expected. In an instant, she’s gone – swallowed up by a mysterious sinkhole under her bedroom floor. Suddenly twinless, Nova is forced to step in and lead the search for her missing sister. But can she face her fears and figure out what caused the sinkhole in time to save Joule?
Out of the Dark by Julie Lawson
Nimbus Publishing, 2023. 9781774712344
On December 6, 1917, when two ships collide in Halifax Harbour, the resulting explosion changes everything. Jane Mooney awakes to discover that the North End of Halifax, including her home, has been destroyed; her father and three of her brothers have been killed; her mother, recovering from a head injury, has been left confused and forgetful; and her two surviving brothers are looking to her for guidance. Like so many Explosion survivors, Jane and her family are forced to start over.
The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett
HarperCollins, 2023. 9780063256552
Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It’s how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5.5 trillion and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out. But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84.7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end.
The Secret of the Ravens by Joanna Cacao
HarperCollins, 2023. 9780358650119
Twin siblings Elliot and Liza only have each other. Their parents are gone. Their home was taken, and to survive on their own, they’re forced to scrounge up plastic and metal to trade for coin within an abandoned garbage heap. Desperate to escape the vagabond cycle that they’re trapped in, the answer to their plight seemingly appears when they stumble upon a Raven Quest—magical tasks offered by mysterious message-carrying ravens that when successfully completed, promise the victors coin and untold riches.
Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow
Scholastic Canada, 2023.9781443193139
Ask Simon O’Keeffe why his family moved to tiny Grin And Bear It, Nebraska, and he’ll tell you they were driven out of Omaha by alpacas. In Simon’s version of the story, a blessing of the animals went sideways, his dad got fired from his church job, and the whole family moved to the National Quiet Zone. But Simon just wants to be Simon: a twelve-year-old in high tops and a Minecraft hoodie. Moving to the last town in America where no one can Google you is a chance for Simon to start fresh. To rewrite the narrative. And with the help of two new friends, a puppy, and a giant radio telescope, he’s determined to say something new.
The Space Between Here and Now by Sarah Suk
HarperCollins, 2023. 9780063255135
Seventeen-year-old Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, a rare condition that causes her to time travel to a moment in her life when she smells something linked to that memory. Her dad is convinced she’ll simply grow out of it if she tries hard enough, but Aimee’s fear of vanishing at random has kept her from living a normal life.
You Owe Me One Universe by Chad Lucas
Harry N. Abrams 9781419766862
Brian knows that anxiety and depression aren’t things that are magically fixed overnight, but he still doesn’t understand why it’s all hitting him so hard right now. Sure, his dad is still in prison and middle school is still stressful, but he’s seeing a therapist, he’s got good friends, and he’s doing really well on the basketball team. He should be fine, so why does he feel too tired to get out of bed some days? And why does he turn into “Cursed Monster Brian” and snap whenever someone asks him what’s wrong?