November 19, 2021

New From Here

From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a poignant middle grade novel about courage, hope and resilience as an Asian American boy fights to keep his family together and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.

When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans’s mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move—and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work.

At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he’s from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn’t even know when he’ll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox’s blurting-things-out problem.

As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you’re feared; can you protect if you’re new? And how do you keep a family together when you’re oceans apart? Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own lovable uniqueness.

November 19, 2021

The Wall

In a post-apocalyptic future, civilization is no more and humanity lives on looting and hacking, organizing itself into makeshift villages or caravans of roaring wrecks. In this brutal society, a young repairman named Solal does what he can to protect his sister Eva, who suffers from a respiratory illness. But when their medication runs out, they have only one hope: to go to the “Wall,” a gigantic impregnable enclosure guarded by monstrous robots. Inside that fabled shelter lives a community of powerful people with the resources to help them... but all is not as optimistic as it seems…

Collecting the full dystopic trilogy created by film director Antoine Charreyron and artist Mario Alberti, The Wall is a fast-paced survival story mixing elements of science fiction and horror in perfect blockbuster proportions. Brimming with the nihilism of Mad Max and The Walking Dead, this gripping drama plunges us into a maelstrom of dust, rust and blood. A graphic feat for a wild and post-apocalyptic road movie that, in the purest tradition of the genre, questions the future of humanity and the consequences of our actions.

November 5, 2021

The Survivors

A gripping tour de force in which three estranged brothers return to the Swedish lakeside cottage where, more than two decades before, an unspeakable accident forever altered their family and changed the course of their lives.

"Takes you deep into an emotional labyrinth [where] you'll cry for these brothers. For the men they became, for the boys they were, for the innocence they lost. Brilliant, haunting and unforgettable." —Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove

There is Nils, the oldest, who couldn't escape his suffocating home soon enough, and Pierre, the youngest, easily bullied and quick to lash out. And then there is Benjamin, always the family's nerve center, perpetually on the lookout for triggers and trap doors in a volatile home where the children were left to fend for themselves, competing for their father's favor and their mother's elusive love.

But as the years have unfolded, Benjamin has grown increasingly untethered from reality, frozen in place while life carries on around him. And among the brothers a dangerous current now vibrates. What really happened that summer day when everything was blown to pieces?

In a thrillingly fast-paced narrative, The Survivors mixes the emotional acuity of Edward St. Aubyn, the literary verve of Ian McEwan and the heart of Shuggie Bain. By brilliantly dissecting a mind unravelling in the wake of tragedy, Alex Schulman reveals the ways in which our deepest loyalties leave us open to the greatest betrayals.

November 5, 2021

Off Trail

A laugh-out-loud coming of age story of one teen’s preposterous experience in a wilderness therapy program.

Daniel grew up in the shadow of his older sister, the brash, self-assured and utterly reckless Jackie, now living with her dirtbag boyfriend and wandering through dead-end jobs. When his parents find her marijuana stash in his closet and decide they do not want him to turn out like his sister, Daniel suffers the “trickle-down parenting” effect and is sent to Quest Trail.

Surrounded by other similarly uprooted teens, Daniel endures a series of preposterous self-discovery exercises and gets caught up in a rivalry with Troy, a too-tough poser, as they vie for the attention of Vera, a charismatic California teen who grew up with too much money and not enough emotional connection.

Just as Daniel’s confidence begins to grow and things start to look up, the Quest Trail program dissolves into complete chaos.

Sometimes humorous, sometimes painful, Off Trail shows an authentic account of all the embarrassing and heart-wrenching moments of being a teen.

November 5, 2021

The F Words

Sophomore Cole Renner knows teamwork inside and out from running cross-country at his multi-ethnic Chicago public school. He knows about braving the elements and not getting passed in the chute.

What Cole doesn't know is how much he'll need all of his mental and physical skills when the heavy doors of Cook County Jail slam shut on his father, a community activist; when his English teacher catches Cole tagging the school with the F word and sentences him to write two poems a week, each on a word that starts with F; when his best friend Felipe Ramirez runs for class president against the girl who dumped him; when the school bully prowls the halls looking for Cole and the principal seems more interested in punishing Cole than the bully.

As much as Cole wants to win meets, what he wants even more is justice -- for his father, for himself, for Felipe and for his fellow students. Cole learns that actions matter, but so do words. He takes his write words (in both Spanish and English) and turns them into the right words to fight for justice.

November 5, 2021

Jeff Fleischer

Jeff Fleischer is a Chicago-based journalist, editor, author (and newlywed!) who has written five nonfiction books, mostly for young adults. He has written for many magazines including Mother Jones, Chicago Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, National Geographic Traveler and Mental Floss. He has also lived and worked in Australia, New Zealand, San Francisco and Indiana. His various books explain the American election process, explore the history of mass hysteria, profile iconic revolutionaries and, most recently, focus on climate change. He has also published short stories in more than seventy publications.
November 5, 2021

Five Little Indians

Winner: Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, Amazon First Novel Awards, Kobo Emerging Author Prize. Finalist: Scotiabank Giller Prize, Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Prize, BC & Yukon Book Prize. Shortlist: Indigenous Voices Awards. Finalist: Kobo Emerging Author Prize. National Bestseller, a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of the Year, a CBC Best Book of the Year, an Apple Best Book of the Year, a Kobo Best Book of the Year, an Indigo Best Book of the Year.

Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention.

Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission.

Fuelled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations. Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can’t stop running and moves restlessly from job to job—through fishing grounds, orchards and logging camps—trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew.

With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward.

November 5, 2021

Hygiene Hijinks

October 21, 2021

Youth

October 21, 2021

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year

The tenth book in the Six-Word Memoir series tells the story of a world we never expected to be in and can’t stop talking about. Told through the lens of students, teachers and parents around the world, A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year offers hundreds of inspirational, playful and profound takes on life during the pandemic. For some, this book will be a window. For others, a mirror of their own experience. For all of us, A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year is a time capsule to be read, shared and discussed and is certain to prompt friends, family and neighbors to ask each other: "What's your six-word pandemic story?"