Andrew is a 15-year-old boy on the autism spectrum who believes that his twin brother was killed by his father when they were five years old. Though his father pleaded innocent, he is serving ten years in jail. His mother, who now suffers from alcoholism, supports her husband, who continues to claim that his son’s death was a fishing accident. Too scared to get in the canoe, Andrew waited patiently sitting under a tree by the edge of the lake. After witnessing from afar what he thinks is murder, he is unable to speak with the investigators. Bruised and scarred, he blames himself and now has to live with the memory of that day and all that has transpired thereafter. Though dealing with past turmoil, Andrew also deals with present issues of bullying and neglect, trying to fit in to a high school environment where he is often misunderstood.
Corbin Hayes has felt alone for as long as he can remember. His mom’s illness means lost jobs, constant moves, new schools and friendships that never get to grow. There’s a gap in his life that’s been waiting to be filled.
So, when a classmate offers Corbin the talking bird she can no longer keep, he’s stoked.
But when things begin to spiral out of control, Corbin can no longer get his mom – or himself – through the dark period. At his lowest moment, he’s forced to do the one thing he fears the most.
"You think you're better than everyone else? Listen to me, I'm going to kill you."
Hector has always minded his own business, working hard to make his way to a better life someday. He's the chess team champion, helps the family with his job at the grocery, and teaches his little sister to shoot hoops overhand.
Until Joey singles him out. Joey, whose older brother, Chavo, is head of the Discípulos gang, tells Hector that he's going to kill him: maybe not today, or tomorrow, but someday. And Hector, frozen with fear, does nothing. From that day forward, Hector's death is hanging over his head every time he leaves the house. He tries to fade into the shadows - to drop off Joey's radar - to become no one.
But when a fight between Chavo and Hector's brother Fili escalates, Hector is left with no choice but to take a stand. The violent confrontation will take Hector places he never expected, including a reform school where he has to live side-by-side with his enemy, Joey. It's up to Hector to choose whether he's going to lose himself to revenge or get back to the hard work of living.
Mark is a city kid who has come to a small town to live with his grandmother after his mom goes into rehab. He has to take a school bus home for the first time. The long, noisy ride home is nothing like riding city transit. There's some kind of secret code of knowing where you're allowed to sit, the kids scream non-stop, and there's pudding and cheese flying through the air. Someone even tries to set Mark's seat on fire. Mark quickly decides that all these kids are nuts and does his best to avoid interacting with any of them. But when the bus is involved in a serious accident, Mark has to work with a couple of other students to get everybody to safety. He soon learns that he has more in common with these rural kids than he would ever have imagined. In turns funny and heartbreaking, The Ride Home is about learning that not everything is as it seems and that everyone has a story.
Thirteen-year-old Robbie leads a double life. It's just Robbie and his dad, but no one knows that his dad isn't like most parents. Sometimes he wakes Robbie up in the middle of the night to talk about dying. Sometimes he just leaves without telling Robbie where he's going. Once when Robbie was younger, he was gone for more than a week. Robbie was terrified of being left alone but even more scared of telling anyone in case he was put into foster care. No one can know. Until one day when Robbie has to show the tough new girl, Harmony, around school. Their first meeting ends horribly and she punches Robbie in the face. But eventually they come to realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought. Can Robbie's new friend be trusted to keep his secret?
Seventeen years old. Rich. Hot. Captain of the Drone War team. Head prefect of a surreally elite boarding school. Tremmy is dying.
His illness strips everything from him---including the support of his teachers and friends who once nurtured his bright future. Worst of all, his best friend’s meteoric rise has come at the expense of Tremmy’s spectacular fall. Far from going out with the bang he’d hoped for, Tremmy faces betrayal.
But his illness has the power to expose the best as well as the worst of his school, his friends and himself. Tremmy sets out to prove that the community he loves has to overcome its fear of death in order to truly begin to live. And Tremmy receive the momentous end he so fervently desires.
Rolando’s job was crushing his soul… and then it crushed his hand. Now he can barely get out of the house, marathoning TV and struggling to find meaning. Nerais a restless spirit who loves to taste everything life can offer, but sleeps in a broken-down food truck and can’t see a way to make her dreams come true. When their paths cross at a raucous rock show, the magical night seems to last forever. Together they throw caution to the wind, fix up the truck and hit the road for a wild adventure of biker gangs, secret herbs, mystical vision, and endless possibilities. But have they truly found the spice of life? Or has Rolando bitten off more than he can chew?
Ciel is excited to start high school. A gender non-conforming trans kid, Ciel has a YouTube channel and dreams of getting a better camera to really make their mark. Ciel can always rely on their best friend, Stephie, a trans girl who also happens to be a huge nerd. But their friendship begins to feel distant when Stephie makes it clear she wants the fact that she’s trans to be less visible now that they’re in high school. While navigating this new dynamic with Stephie, Ciel is also trying to make a long-distance relationship work with their boyfriend Eiríkur, who just moved back to Iceland. Add to the mix a cute swim star named Liam, and Ciel’s life is becoming more complicated by the minute!
Thirteen-year-old basketball star Jordan Ryker feels like his life is falling apart. All Jordie wanted was for his parents to stop fighting. Soon, he gets his wish. His parents separate and then his dad announces he’s gay. Shocked, Jordie struggles with how to process all this. His dad taught him everything he knows about basketball, and there’s an important championship game coming up. He needs him more than ever. But Jordie feels like his dad has abandoned his family. He doesn’t want anything to do with him now and he definitely doesn't want to meet his dad’s new boyfriend. It takes a new girl with wicked basketball skills and a revelation from his best friend to help Jordie realize that while some things change, other things never do.
“When you’re hurt, the natural instinct is to hurt back. That doesn’t make it right. But it does make you human. Making mistakes is human, but trying to make things right after makes you a better one.”
This novel is a perfectly-flowing, well-told tale that intersperses delicate issues and emotions with gripping basketball scenes. There’s everything from fun, snappy dialogue to raw emotions and the restorative power of best friends and caring family. Boys accustomed to locker-room banter and team-sports pressure will relate. Athletic and independent-minded female readers will embrace it for the high-spirited character named Tammy, a budding basketball star who chooses to be the first girl on a boy’s team.
The Mighty Muskrats are off to the city to have fun at the Exhibition Fair. But when Chickadee learns about Grandpa's little sister, who was scooped up by the government and adopted out to strangers without her parents' permission many years ago, the Mighty Muskrats have a new mystery to solve. Once in the bright lights of the big city, the cousins get distracted, face off with bullies, meet some heroes and unlikely teachers, and learn many of the difficulties of life in the city, as well as hard truths about their country’s treatment of First Nations people.
In what should have been a stellar trip to the big city, a once-in-a-lifetime tween's chance to see a famous rock band and spend some time at the Exhibition Fair, Otter and the other Muskrats find themselves the victims of an old-friend-turned-bully, and in serious trouble. A series of bad choices and mishaps turn a sad situation into something unsalvageable, and the cousins learn the hard way that some things aren't meant to be. However, there are a couple of silver linings in their family vacation that surprise all of them, and reward the Muskrats for all their frustrations, trials and efforts.
During the road trip to their Auntie's place, Otter, Sam, Atim and Chickadee learn about how their great aunt went missing as a child and hasn't been seen since. They are shocked to hear how their beloved grandfather's little sister was taken away during the Sixties Scoop, and adopted out to a non-Indigenous family by Canada's government in the 1960s. After they settle into their cousin's rec room with junk food and plans on how to spend the next several days, it becomes clear to Chickadee that locating their missing auntie needs to become their primary focus.