December 31, 2021

The Science of Song: How and Why We Make Music

Have you ever wondered what makes music, well, music? How is it made? How do we hear it? And why you just can’t get that one song out of your head? Find out all the answers to these questions and more in The Science of Song as you see how music and the way we listen to it has changed through the ages. From the earliest animal-bone instruments to the demise (and rise) of vinyl to hologram concerts, this instrumental exploration of the science of music is sure to be a hit!

December 31, 2021
Physics of fun cover

The Physics of Fun

Why are you able to jump higher from a trampoline than from the ground? What forces are at work when you do an ollie on a skateboard? The answer is: physics! In The Physics of Fun, kids ages 12 to 15 explore the science behind awesome activities that kids love. From Newton’s laws of motion to the behavior of electrons, the science of physics is an integral part of any amusement park, play center, video arcade or home gaming center. Links to online media, discussion questions and career connections offer middle schoolers the chance to do some real, hands-on science around fun activities they already enjoy!

December 17, 2021
When the world runs dry book cover

When the World Runs Dry: Earth’s Water in Crisis

What would you do if you turned on the faucet one day and nothing happened? What if you learned the water in your home was harmful to drink? Water is essential for life on this planet, but not every community has the safe, clean water it needs. In When the World Runs Dry, award-winning science writer Nancy Castaldo takes readers from Flint, Michigan and Newark, New Jersey to Iran and Cape Town, South Africa to explore the various ways in which water around the world is in danger, why we must act now and why you’re never too young to make a difference.

Topics include: lead and water infrastructure problems, pollution, fracking contamination, harmful algal blooms, water supply issues, rising sea levels and potential solutions. Reading age: 10-18.

December 17, 2021

Sink or Swim

Sixteen-year-old shy, socially awkward trans teen Bass reluctantly skips school and goes on a boat trip with his adventure-seeking girlfriend, Rosie. When a sudden storm smashes their boat on a rocky shore off a deserted island, Bass and Rosie struggle to make it to safety. Bruised and battling hypothermia, the pair have to seek shelter and work together to survive until they can be rescued. After a horrible night, Rosie, an experienced climber, decides to scale a steep cliff to find help. She falls and injures herself badly. Now Bass has to find the strength and courage to swim around a dangerous headland and make his way back to civilization before it’s too late.

December 17, 2021
The Montague Twins book cover

The Montague Twins

Brothers. Detectives. Witches? Meet Pete and Alastair Montague in the first installment of a new graphic novel duology that is the Hardy Boys meets Paper Girls. Pete and Alastair Montague are just a couple of mystery-solving twins, living an ordinary life. Or so they thought. After a strange storm erupts on a visit to the beach, they discover there is more to their detective skills than they had thought. Their guardian, David Faber, a once prominent professor, has been keeping secrets about their parents and what the boys are truly capable of.

At the same time, three girls go missing after casting a mysterious spell, which sets in motion a chain of events that takes their small town down an unexpected path. With the help of David's daughter, Charlie, they discover there are forces at work that they never could have imagined, which will impact their lives forever. An exciting new graphic novel from innovative creators Nathan Page and Drew Shannon that is at once timely and thrilling.

December 3, 2021

All Day Is a Long Time

David has a mind that never stops running. He reads Dante and Moby Dick, he sinks into Hemingway and battles with Milton. But on Florida’s Gulf Coast, one can slip into deep water unconsciously; at the age of 14, David runs away from home to pursue a girl and, on his journey, tries crack cocaine for the first time. He’s hooked instantly. Over the course of the next decade, he fights his way out of jail and rehab, trying to make sense of the world around him—a sunken world where faith in anything is a privilege. He makes his way to a tenuous sobriety, but it isn't until he takes a literature class at a community college that something within him ignites.

All Day is a Long Time is a spectacular, raw account of growing up and managing, against every expectation, to carve out a place for hope. We see what it means, and what it takes, to come back from a place of little control—to map ourselves on the world around, and beyond, us. David Sanchez’s debut novel resounds with real force and demonstrates the redemptive power of the written word.

December 3, 2021

Crushing: An Illustrated Misadventure in Love and Loneliness

She’s lonely and searching for connection. He’s lonely and afraid to reach out. Life in the big city means being surrounded by connections—making them, missing them and longing for them. But is finding someone else really the answer to their problems?

Crushing, the stunning debut graphic novel from Sophie Burrows, is a story told in silence; a story without words but bursting with meaning; a story about loneliness and love.

Achingly beautiful, quietly defiant and full of subtle wit and wisdom, Crushing is a unique meditation on the human condition in the twenty-first century, and a timely examination of young adult life in an age of isolation.

December 3, 2021

White Privilege: Deal with It in All Fairness

For some kids, ways they can help eliminate racial injustice might be hard to see. After all, they are taught that people in society are all equal under the law. So why then does racial conflict still exist? And what can they as individuals do about it right now? One way is for white children to understand the unearned advantages they were born with based solely on the colour of their skin. This concept is called white privilege and this book will help children of all races understand it, see how it affects them and find ways to speak out and take real action against it.

White Privilege: Deal with It in All Fairness provides scenarios, quizzes and Q&As that develop readers’ understanding of the subject using situations that are realistic and that easily relate to their everyday lives. The topic is approached from three points of view: those who are “privileged,” those who identify as “racialized” and those who want to be allies.

December 3, 2021

Guardians of Porthaven

On his fifteenth birthday, Malcolm Gravenhurst is preparing to take on the mantle of Guardian, like many Gravenhursts before him. The Guardians are tasked with defending the city of Porthaven, and his family is the only one to possess the superpowers necessary to battle the frequent alien invasions of robotic klek. But power has brought the Gravenhursts more than just responsibility―it has also brought them fame and wealth. When Malcolm meets some teens living and working in secret, he learns that underneath their heroic facade, the Gravenhurst family is hiding some very dark secrets. With the threat of annihilation on the horizon, soon Malcolm must choose between family loyalty and doing the right thing.