June 3, 2022

The Limitless Sky

Trapped in a life she didn’t choose, Rook struggles to find meaning in her appointed role as an apprentice Keeper of ArHK. Even though her mam soothes her with legends of the Outside and her da assures her there are many interesting facts to discover in the Archives, Rook sees only endless years of tracking useless information. Then one day Rook discovers historic footage of the Chosen Ones arriving in ArHK, and she begins to realize her mam’s legends are more than bedtime stories. That’s when Rook begins her perilous and heartbreaking search for the limitless sky.

Gage is also trapped. Living on the frontier line with his family, his is a life of endless moving and constant danger. As he works with the other Scouts, Gage searches for the Ship of Knowledge to help his society regain the wonders of the long distant past, when machines transported people across the land, illnesses could be cured and human structures rose high into the sky.

June 3, 2022

Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Buildings, Temples and Skyscrapers

Why did they build it so high?

People have been constructing tall buildings for thousands of years, for many different reasons. Castle walls kept people safe. Utility towers transmit TV and cell-phone signals. Observatories give people a bird’s-eye view of the world. Beautiful buildings stand out in the crowd. Skyscrapers provide housing for a lot of people. There are some good reasons for building up, and a few bad ones as well.

With a growing global population, we will need more and more space to live, learn and work in. But what does that mean for the health of the planet? Can we do it sustainably?

Tall buildings may be part of the answer. From the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Burj Khalifa and the Shanghai Tower, Why Humans Build Up asks why and how we build higher and higher, and what that means for the planet.

June 3, 2022

Second Chances

Thirteen-year-old Dale Melnyk finds himself stuck in an iron lung, desperately fighting for breath — and wishing he could die. It is the worst outbreak of polio in the history of Winnipeg, and Dale is one of the many young victims being treated in the early 1950s.

Second Chances follows Dale's slow and often agonizing struggle to regain his life, first of all to breathe on his own and then to regain the use of his limbs. Will he ever be able to play hockey again, he wonders? Dale comes to realize that he is doing better than a number of the other patients including Charlene, a young Métis girl confined to a wheelchair but always trying to help their fellow patients.

When Dale discovers his younger brother Brent is also in the polio ward because their father rejected the school program vaccine, a confrontation with his father becomes inevitable. Brent is not getting better and will be dealing with paralysis indefinitely.

When Dale finally emerges from his recovery he must reassess what is most important in life — a life that has been changed forever.

May 6, 2022

The Oracle of Avaris

Leaving the oasis, Sesha and her friends set sail for Avaris, intent on stopping the Hyksos chieftain from claiming the throne and declaring war on Thebes. On the journey, Sesha learns that she and the scroll are at the centre of a pair of prophecies made by a famed oracle — ones with staggering implications for both her and the Hyksos people.

But when the crew arrives in the bustling port city, they are stunned to discover the oracle is missing. With the prophecies now in doubt and their lives in danger, Sesha, Paser, and Reb must race to find a mysterious priestess sect and witness the third, and final, prophecy before the upcoming lunar eclipse.

As the young scribes seek answers, Sesha must untangle her past and future while keeping war from erupting in the present. For there is one person she cannot bear to face across the Hyksos battlefield: her brother.

May 6, 2022

The Slugger’s Shadow

Aaron is a 12-year-old baseball phenom, but only when he’s playing in the field. At the plate, he struggles. Now, it’s the last inning of the last game of the season, and Aaron’s in the batter’s box, down by one with the bases loaded.

Just as he steps up to the plate, Aaron spots his superstar-athlete older brother, Will, who completely abandoned him at the worst possible time. Can Aaron come through in the clutch when his team needs him most, and will his brother come through for him and their family?

This fourth book from the In the Clutch series hooks readers with a do-or-die moment from youth sports, then rewinds to show how the book’s young athletes find themselves needing to perform under pressure.