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.
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.
In this sequel to the award-winning A Boy Is Not a Bird, a boy is exiled to Siberia during World War II. Based on a true story.
Torn from his home in Eastern Europe, with his father imprisoned in a Siberian gulag, 12-year-old Natt finds himself stranded with other deportees in a schoolyard in Novosibirsk. And he is about to discover that life can indeed get worse than the horrific two months he and his mother have spent being transported on a bug-infested livestock train. He needs to write to his best friend, Max, but he knows the Soviet police read everyone’s mail. So Natt decides to write in code, and his letters are a lifeline, even though he never knows whether Max will receive them.
Every day becomes a question of survival, and where they might be shunted to next. When his mother is falsely arrested for stealing potatoes, Natt is truly on his own and must learn how to live the uncertain life of an exile: Practice being invisible as a ghost, change your name and identity if you have to, watch out for spies and never draw the attention of the authorities.
Even then, he will need luck on his side if he is ever going to be reunited with his family.
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Windsnap series, Liz Kessler, comes a poignant and harrowing story of three young friends whose fates are intertwined during the devastation of the Holocaust—based on a true story.
Three friends. One memory.
Vienna. 1936.
Three young friends—Leo, Elsa and Max—spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that they will soon be cruelly ripped apart from one another. With their lives taking them across Europe—to Germany, England, Prague, and Poland—will they ever find their way back to one another? Will they want to?
Inspired by a true story, When the World Was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and that shows how the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.
I took my case to my bedroom and began to pack. Soon it was almost filled with clothes, books, a few toys and some odds and ends. I opened my drawer by my bed and took out the photograph from my ninth birthday. Sitting on the side of my bed, I squinted at the photo. It was hard to believe it was only three years ago. It felt like a lifetime. The carefree smiles on our faces-- I couldn’t imagine smiling so freely like that ever again. The last happy day of my childhood and the day we had met Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. A tickle and a chase and a trip over a lady’s foot. And to make up for it, an extra ride on the Ferris wheel and a piece of Sachertorte. That was what we had given them. And in return they were offering us a whole new life.
When the World was Ours is a novel set in World War II Europe, in the midst of the German invasion of Poland and its surrounding countries. The novel depicts a story a horror, hope and salvation that is written in the perspective of all three main characters: Max, Elsa and Leo. These three best friends begin their adventure in 1936 Vienna, as nine-year-old children living (quite literally) “the best day of their lives.” As the days, month and years unfold throughout the novel, the children’s lives are changed drastically, as life’s circumstances rip them apart and force them through different experiences. These grueling experiences allow readers to obtain a frightening glimpse into Holocaust reality in order to empathize with and understand just some of the alarming moments that society and the people within it had to undergo.
A story of telling truth from lies — and finding out what being a hero really means. There are two things Trevor loves more than anything else: playing war-based video games and his great-grandfather Jacob, who is a true-blue, bona fide war hero. At the height of the war, Jacob helped liberate a small French village, and was given a hero's welcome upon his return to America.
Now it's decades later, and Jacob wants to retrace the steps he took during the war; from training to invasion to the village he is said to have saved. Trevor thinks this is the coolest idea ever. But as they get to the village, Trevor discovers there's more to the story than what he's heard his whole life, causing him to wonder about his great-grandfather's heroism, the truth about the battle he fought, and importance of genuine valor.
Bill Mosienko was one of Manitoba’s greatest hockey players and athletes. Mosienko became a hockey legend in 1952 when he recorded the fastest hat-trick in NHL history—a record that stands to this day. This biography tells the story of a Manitoba legend, from his childhood spent skating on the rinks of Winnipeg’s North End in the 1920s and 30s, to his illustrious fourteen-year NHL career, to his return to Winnipeg to play with the Winnipeg Warriors, to his post-retirement career as the owner of the iconic Mosienko Bowling Lanes. Through exclusive interviews with Mosienko’s friends, family, and teammates, Dilello paints a vivid picture of Mosienko, a man known for his sportsmanship and community spirit as well as his incredible hockey talent.
Ty Dilello’s beautifully written biographical account of William “Bill”Mosienko also depicts some of the National Hockey League’s other G.O.A.Ts. (Greatest of All Times). We follow their journey from virtually unknown to world famous players. The book chronicles the early days of immigrant families living in North End -- one of Winnipeg’s poorest neighborhoods, plagued by poverty and diseases -- and how they dealt with culture shock, economic hardships and racism.
The family’s initial trip should have taken them to Saskatchewan, but a chance encounter with the Shibickys (NHL star Alex Shibicky’s parents) may have been a blessing in disguise.Roman Shibicky somehow convinced them to go to Winnipeg and this is where Bill was introduced to the sport that would eventually make him a household name.
Daniel Mosienko certainly had it hard -- maintaining his extremely large family on such a minimal salary ($1.25 per hour) from his job as a boilermaker with Canadian Pacific Railroad. The depression certainly made life unbearable, yet amidst all that hardship, the Mosienkos found a way to make it through.