National Network for Equitable Library Service

More than anything, Max wants to play hockey like he used to. But since the death of his dad, Max has to take his special-needs brother, Duncan, with him everywhere he goes. The team needs Max to win an upcoming game, but one practice with Duncan makes it clear that it’s not safe to leave him unattended on the sidelines. With only a week to figure out how he can play in the big game, Max is feeling the pressure. Will he find a way to be a good teammate, a good brother and a good son? Or is it too much for one kid?

The year is 1909 and Joseph has just immigrated to the United States from Russia. He thinks that life in New York City will be wonderful, but he has not bargained for the challenges of learning English and of resisting the pressures to skip school, steal and fight to earn a place among the boys in his neighbourhood. Just Call Me Joe presents a full picture of life in New York City for the working poor. Anna, Joe's older sister, struggles to cope with the terrible factory conditions of the time. Aunt Sophie must take in boarders to make ends meet.

Life is smoothest for thirteen-year-old Ellie when she keeps her opinions to herself, gets good grades and speaks carefully when her parents ask her to settle their arguments. She feels guilty that she welcomes the chance to spend the summer in another city with her mother's older sister, Jeanette. Ellie makes a new friend and learns to play an Argentine instrument called the bandoneón, which she finds in her aunt’s basement.

At the end of The True Story of George, George, a small plastic man, went for a ride on a rocket and flew apart. Now, with Katie and Mackenzie’s help, all his parts must find each other. But his head has been frozen deep in a bag of blackberries. Will he ever be whole again?

Jinjoli está feliz cuando Brent la invita a salir, pero no tanto cuando los rumores empiezan a correr por la escuela. Muy pronto su nombre aparece en las paredes del baño y todos susurran y se ríen a su costa. Cuando su madre se involucra, la reputación de Jinjoli empeora todavía más. Convencida de que alguien tiene que hacer algo, Jinjoli reúne a otras chicas que han sido etiquetadas como chicas fáciles (o como cosas peores) y trata de hacer que sus compañeros entiendan todo el daño que puede ocasionar una etiqueta que reduce a una persona a un mero objeto.

Seven-year-old Christina desperately wants a dog. When she visits a kennel with her parents, she comes home with Prince, a greyhound recently retired from his champion racing career. Christina is thrilled and spends all her time with her new pal. They are like two peas in a pod. But one day, when Prince is left alone in the backyard, he escapes. Christina's mother searches everywhere for him only to find him at the schoolyard gate waiting for Christina. Promising never to leave him alone in the backyard again, her father brings home a little Chihuahua named Chancho.

Sam Campbell's school team, the Laggan Lairds, always loses. When someone suggests that their name be the Laggan Lard Butts, Sam thinks the team should change its name. What is a Laird anyway? The basketball coach agrees, and soon the whole school is involved in an election for a new team name. Sam and his friends nominate the name Lard Butts. When the basketball team starts winning games after a warm-up cheer of "Go Lard Butts!" it seems the Lard Butt campaign might actually win the election.

Joe “Mojo” Lumby is a champion on the track. But when he gets caught up in the mystery of the Margaret rose, he runs into trouble. Someone thinks Joe knows where a mysterious treasure is hidden, and will stop at nothing to get it. In his search for the Margaret rose, Joe finds himself in a race against his toughest opponent yet, time.

The summer is off to a lousy start when Levi's bike is stolen from outside the corner store. He feels even worse because he didn't lock it. But when his best friend Riley's locked bike is stolen the very next day, the boys are determined to get both of them back. When they discover there has been a string of bicycle thefts in the area, the friends hatch several plans to find the culprit. There are so many potential suspects, Steve Morrow and his gang, the tattooed guy who sits at the bus stop, the owners of the secondhand-bike store.

Mealworms are small creatures that live in dark secret places. Jeremy is a bit like that when he leaves his home in rural Nova Scotia and moves to Toronto with his mother. Lots of things keep him from enjoying his new life, but the worst is his science partner, Aaron, who is more annoying than sand in a bathing suit. Jeremy is also burdened by the secret he carries about the motorcycle accident that injured him and killed his father. Although Jeremy is haunted by his past, he starts to feel at home in Toronto when he realizes he has some skills he can share with his classmates.