WINNER
DEAR JO: THE STORY OF LOSLING LEAH… by Christina Kilbourne
Lobster Press 2007 1-897073-51-8 IL: 5+
Best friends Maxine and Leah are both 12-year-olds and are spending more time on the computer. One day Leah invites Maxine over to her house to chat with boys online. Their parents have no idea what is going on, and very quickly both girls are sending love notes to boys online and lying about their ages. Maxine hears one morning that Leah has disappeared, and Maxine realizes the boys they met online were not telling the truth either. Through daily entries, Maxine shares her feelings of losing Leah.
HONOUR BOOKS
SCHOOLED by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada 2007 978-0-545-99990-8 IL: 5+
Having lived all his life on a farm commune being home-schooled by his aging, hippie grandmother, thirteen-year-old Cap Anderson has no experience with public school. That all changes when his grandmother is hospitalized for a few months, and Cap must adjust to new living arrangements and the teenage intrigues of Grade 8 in Claverage Middle School. The results are hilarious!
SKETCHES by Eric Walters
Puffin Canada 2007 978-0-14-305334-7 IL: 5+
Based on a real art drop-in centre for street kids in Toronto, this is the story of fourteen year-old Dana who runs away from an abusive home situation. On the street, she bonds with sixteen-year-old Ashley and eighteen-year-old Brent. The three teens help each other to beg for food, money and to protect themselves from the inherent dangers of life on the street – until Dana stumbles upon help at the drop-in-centre called Sketches.
NOMINEES
BABOON: A NOVEL by David James
Annick Press 2007 978-1-55451-053-5 IL: 5+
Fourteen-year-old Gerry lives part of the year in England and part of the year in Africa where his parents’ scientific research is the study of baboons in their native habitat. En route to Tanzania, the family’s plane crashes and when Gerry regains consciousness he has been transformed into a baboon body but with his mind intact. Gerry joins a baboon troop and many things change. His sense of smell and sight radically improve, and he learns to eat bugs and mice. As Gerry begins to lose more and more of his human characteristics he can’t help but wonder if he will remain a baboon forever…
CHOCOLATE RIVER RESCUE by Jennifer McGrath Kent
Nimbus Publishing 2007 1-55109-600-5 IL: 5+
Brothers, Shawn and Craig along with their friend, Tony, find themselves on an unexpected ride on the Petitocodiac River. Trapped on a continuously shrinking piece of ice the boys travel down river, only to see all hopes of a safe rescue escape their eyes, until the thrill seeking girl, Petra, comes to save the day – or so they all think. This fast paced, suspenseful adventure will keep you on your toes until the very end.
DARKWING by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Publishers 2007 1-55109-600-5 IL: 4+
Before humans there were apes; before bats there were chiropters, mammals with sails attached to their forelegs that allowed them to glide and swoop, but not to flap and fly. Sometimes there had to be a chiropter bat who wanted to do just that – to flay and fly. Dusk was one of these bats, and being different is never easy, even if – especially if – it makes you better at some things than your peers.
ELIJAH OF BUXTON by Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic Press 2007 0-439023-44-0 IL: 5+
It is 1860, and eleven-year-old Elijah is the first freeborn in Buxton, Canada, a tight-knit community of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. When the money Elijah’s friend has been saving to buy his family’s freedom is stolen, Elijah sets off on a dangerous journey to America where he comes face to face with the brutal realities of the slavery his parents fled. Will he be able to make it back home safely?
THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT by Lesley Choyce
Red Deer Press 2007 978-0-88995-379-6 IL: 8+
Despite a loving family, sixteen-year-old Carson is filled with hatred towards himself and everything in his life. Sent to “Flunk Out Academy” boarding school, Carson encounters all kinds of rebellious teens. It is only when he meets Christine, a local high school drop-out that Carson begins to grow up. Through first love and a school crisis, Carson becomes more empathetic, gains independence, and begins to understand the world around him.
EYE OF THE CROW by Shane Peacock
Tundra Books 2007 978-0-88776-850-7 IL: 5+
Set in London in 1867, this murder mystery presents the first case of detective Sherlock Holmes, with Sherlock as a thirteen-year-old boy. When a man is falsely accused of murder, Sherlock intervenes and tries to save Mohammad Adalji from hanging for a crime he did not commit. The book depicts the dark alleyways and dangerous inhabitants of the seedy side of Victorian era London and challenges readers to keep pace with the sharp-minded Sherlock.
HOW IT HAPPENED IN PEACH HILL by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books 2007 978-0-88776-773-9 IL: 5+
During the 1920s, fifteen-year-old Annie and her mother travel from town to town in upstate New York. Her mother is a clairvoyant and she needs Annie’s help to figure out what people want to hear. Annie has to act like the village idiot to get the information from everyone and she is tired of lying. Annie wants to normal life and through the pages of this book. Annie discovers the joy that can happen when she is honest with her Mother and herself. This is a wonderful coming of age story.
THE NIGHT WANDERER by Drew Hayden Taylor
Annick Press 2007 1-554510-99-6 IL: 7+
Life on Otter Lake Reserve feels confined and too predictable for 16-year-old Tiffany Hunter. Her overprotective father and new white boyfriend’s values only add to her defiance and insecurities. To help with money issue her family takes in a polite yet disconcerting European border, Pierre L’Errant. His night-owl wanderings and ultimate life or death intervention forces Tiffany to re-examine her Ojibwa heritage, its mythology and her own journey into maturity
OUT OF THE COLD by Norah McClintock
Scholastic Canada 2007 978-0-545-99728-7 IL: 6+
Robyn can’t believe she let Billy talk her into volunteering at a homeless shelter. And she doesn’t appreciate Ben, the cute guy who also volunteers at the shelter. At first Ben doesn’t take Robyn’s being there seriously, but he begins to change his mind when he sees Robyn’s genuine interest in the clients at the centre. Ben begins to help Robyn investigate the accidental death of Mr. Duffy, one of the center’s clients, when the facts don’t fit with his recent change in habits. Robyn soon has a new appreciation for the reality of homeless people and the series of events that can lead them to the streets.
A PERFECT GENTLE KNIGHT by Kit Pearson
Puffin Canada 20027 0670-06682-6 IL: 5+
Set in Vancouver in the 1950’s, the Bell children struggle to cope with the death of their mother. The oldest child, fourteen-year-old Sebastian, involves his siblings in fantasy games in which he plays the role of Sir Lancelot. The story is primarily presented from the perspective of eleven-year-old, Corrie. Although she loves the Knights of the Round Table games, Corrie is concerned that Sebastian has lost his grip on reality.
SOAMES ON THE RANGE by Nancy Belgue
Harper Trophy Canada 2007 0-002007-68-1 IL: 7+
Fifteen-year-old Cisco Soame’s life isn’t easy. Between dealing with hippy parents, delinquent sisters and school bullies, his hands are full. When his father confesses that he is gay and moving in with his boyfriend, things get worse. After being expelled from school for fighting, Cisco is sent to his Uncle’s dude ranch. Can Cisco come to terms with his father’s decision, help save his Uncle’s ranch and still find time for a life of his own?
VENDETTA by Chris Humphreys
Random House 2007 978-0-375-83293-2 IL: 7+
Sixteen-year-old Sky’s Viking grandfather has taken possession of his cousin Kristin’s soul! Sky knows this and so he travels to Corsica to invoke the spirits from the other side of his family. Perhaps in the hot Corsican sun he can find the ancient magic needed to defeat icy Viking rune lore.
VISIONS: FREAK II by Carol Matas
Key Porter Books 2007 978-155263-932-0 IL: 5+
Fifteen-year-old Jade had developed psychic powers – an ability to “hear” others’ thoughts, and sometimes to see into the future – as a result of her brush with death from meningitis six months ago. Suddenly she has started dreaming, seeing women being murdered by someone whose face she cannot see in a place she cannot identify until she reads about it in the Winnipeg newspaper. Should she try to help the police find the killer, or will they just laugh at her?
WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS by Irene N. Watts
Tundra Books 2007 0-887768-21-0 IL: 5+
A worthy sequel to Flower. Set in the Great Depression, almost thirteen-year-old Millie admirably tries to fill the void her mother’s death creates. She maintains the home including keeping house and looking after her brothers, on an infant. This is a sensitive, thoughtful story about a family.
WHEN THE CURTAIN RISES by Rachel Dunstan Muller
Orca 2007 978-1-55143-615-9 IL: 5+
Ten-year-old Chloe is not having a good time. She just finished a horrible piano recital and now she faces a boring summer with nothing to do. Her parents suggest going to visit her elderly great-aunts in Ontario. She is reluctant to do so, but she soon changes her mind when she tries to solve a family mystery about her magician Great-Grandfather.