Piano-playing Nate loves to rock out Beethoven in a style characterized more by enthusiasm than training. Nate is gazing up at Vancouver’s newest luxury building, the Keynote, when a thief in a Beethoven costume mugs him and two other victims. But the day turns up-tempo when the Keynote’s owner, Mike Dante, offers Nate a gig playing piano in the courtyard. This is big-time opportunity knocking for a self-taught musician.
Nate thinks there’s no better way to thank his real-estate-tycoon boss than by sleuthing out the thief’s identity. But Nate soon finds himself in a mystery that grows more discordant with each beat. In his search for the thief, Nate learns about the harsh realities of those facing renovictions and about how thoughtless people in power can be. Nate’s big dreams and folly are sure to delight readers of The Fifth Beethoven. And his belief in standing up for what is right is sure to inspire them.
Derek didn’t mean to become popular. His accidental photo bomb — the one that made him internet-famous — took him from invisibility to middle-school fame overnight. And you know what? He’s not sure if he likes it. But his best friend Steve does, and schemes to find other ways to help Derek to remain the talk of the school. But what goes up must come down, and Derek’s reluctant rise is followed by a regrettable crash.
Funny, emotionally rich, and inspiring, The Rise and Fall of Derek Cowell is the latest book by award-winning, bestselling author Valerie Sherrard.
From New York Times bestselling author Gordon Korman comes a hilarious middle grade novel about a group of kids forced to “unplug” at a wellness camp—where they instead find intrigue, adventure and a whole lot of chaos. Perfect for fans of Korman’s The Unteachables, the Masterminds series, and Carl Hiaasen’s eco mysteries.
As the son of the world’s most famous tech billionaire, Jett Baranov has always gotten exactly what he wanted. So, when his father’s private jet drops him in the middle of Little Rock, Arkansas, at a wellness camp called the Oasis, Jett can’t believe it. He’s forced to hand over his cell phone, eat grainy veggie patties and participate in wholesome activities with the other kids.
At the Oasis, he meets Grace, who is his polar opposite. She thrives in the wellness atmosphere and resents Jett’s terrible attitude. Then there’s Tyrell, who suffers from a dizzying list of food allergies that render him constantly itchy. And also Brooklynne, a girl who definitely seems to be hiding something. As the weeks go on, Jett starts to get used to the unplugged life and even bonds with the other kids over their discovery of a baby lizard-turned-pet, Needles. But he can’t help noticing that the adults at the Oasis are acting really strange…
Jett is determined to get to the bottom of things, but can he convince the other kids that he is no longer just a spoiled brat making trouble?
Senior year changes everything for two teens in this poignant, funny coming-of-age story that looks at what happens when the image everyone has of us no longer matches who we really are. Senior year of high school is full of changes. For Hayley Mills, these changes aren’t exactly welcome. All she wants is for everyone to forget about her very public breakdown and remember her as the overachiever she once was—and who she’s determined to be again. But it’s difficult to be seen as a go-getter when she’s forced into TV Production class with all the slackers like Lewis Holbrook.
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.
Step into the ring at Glorious Wrestling Alliance, the universe's least-professional wrestling company. The Great Carp, an amphibious wonder, is feeling the weight of his championship. Miranda Fury has donned a mask to smash wrestling's glass ceiling. And Gravy Train is desperate for a new gimmick, but it's hard when you're shaped like a giant gravy boat.
Collected in colossal full color for the first time, Josh Hicks's cult-hit comic covers identity, anxiety and leg drops. In this hilarious love letter to the surreal theater of pro wrestling, the insecure grapplers of GWA lock up, throw things, throw each other and occasionally curl up into little balls.
I can’t say I’ve ever watched pro wrestling and thought, “I wonder what secret ambitions, side projects and existential crises go on behind the scenes for these people.” But maybe you have wondered; after all, if their wrestling is fake, how fake are their real lives? Welsh cartoonist and self-admitted non-wrestler Josh Hicks is here to imagine it with us, in a colorful and self-deprecating style that helped me breeze through this in an hour or two.
Keenan has lived all over the world but nowhere quite as strange as Centerlight Island, which is split between the United States and Canada. The only thing weirder than Centerlight itself is his neighbor Zarabeth, aka ZeeBee.
ZeeBee is obsessed with the island’s history as a Prohibition-era smuggling route. She’s also convinced that her beloved dog, Barney, was murdered—something Keenan finds pretty hard to believe.
Just about everyone on Centerlight is a suspect, because everyone hated Barney, a huge dog—part mastiff, part rottweiler—notorious for terrorizing the community. Accompanied by a mild-mannered new dog who is practically Barney’s opposite, ZeeBee enlists Keenan’s help to solve the mystery.
As Keenan and ZeeBee start to unravel the clues, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that dates back to Centerlight’s gangster past. The good news is that Keenan may have found the best friend he’s ever had. The bad news is that the stakes are sky-high. And now someone is after them. . .
The literary scavenger hunt of a lifetime, starring an endlessly endearing non-binary tween. Zed Watson loves a few things: their name (which they chose themself!), their big rambunctious family and—oh yeah—monsters. When Zed discovered the mystery surrounding an unpublished novel called The Monster’s Castle, they were completely hooked. Now Zed is a member of a small but dedicated legion devoted to finding the long-buried text.
When a breakthrough discovery leads Zed to the route that they are sure will take them to the treasure, they know it’s time for a road trip. And with the help of their shy, flora-loving neighbour, Gabe, and his sister, Sam, a geologist who is driving back to college in Arizona, Zed and company are soon off on a wild adventure following cryptic clues.
But it’s not all fun and games. Gabe doesn’t like Zed’s snacks, Sam is a bossy driver with total command of the ancient Impreza’s stereo and Zed is often misgendered. It’s a good thing they also encounter kind strangers, potato-themed dance-offs and lots and lots of ice cream along the way. If Zed and Gabe can combine their strengths, survive Sam’s wrath and best the greedy historian who’s also hot on the book’s trail, they just might find the greatest treasure of all.