National Network for Equitable Library Service

Après l'ivresse de ses débuts dans le gang, Marc se rend de plus en plus compte du côté violent, souvent «militaire» de sa fraternité. Il fait entrer de la drogue à l'école, monte son réseau et engage de jeunes revendeurs. Mais quand il se fait voler sa marchandise, c'est la catastrophe. Il doit trouver une solution pour rembourser cette perte sinon il risque d'en subir les conséquences.

Je ne voulais plus rien savoir de la Fraternité. Enfermé chez moi, je ne parlais à personne. Mais l'appel du gang a été le plus fort. Je suis retourné à la rue.

Je sens la menace se préciser autour de moi. Je suis livré à moi-même, sans aucun recours. L'angoisse m'empêche de réfléchir. Ce qui m'obsède, c'est l'idée que je serai le suivant à disparaître.

Marc est un garçon solitaire, pas très courageux. Il est témoin d'une scène de viol par des jeunes de son quartier, dans un terrain vague de Montréal. Paralysé par sa peur, il n'intervient pas et se sauve. Mais il vit dans l'angoisse d'avoir été reconnu, et dans le dégoût de sa propre lâcheté. Cet événement va avoir une incidence dans son quotidien, puisqu'il décidera de lâcher l'école pour suivre une autre voie.

Laure Baudot's This One Because of the Dead is a collection of stories about the power of what goes unsaid – of the truths people keep hidden from each other, which guide their relationships and their decisions in unexpected ways. A former ballet dancer and her boyfriend who is about to scale Mt. Everest struggle with the contradictions between what they want from life and what they need from each other. A man on a business trip in Tokyo navigates culture shock as well as the muddy waters of life back home.

These eleven short stories cover a wide range of territory - from Toronto to Cuba to Eastern Europe. And, wide-ranging over geography as they are, they also cover an array of characters and situations that can only be situated in the twenty-first century.

Deep Girls tells stories that defy the conventions of young adult literature. The clichés of fictional relationships are tossed aside, and instead we read about girls whose relationships with their families are like the real relationships readers see in the world around them. There are stories showing family members at their worst: a girl must stand up against expectations put on her by her parents and boyfriend; a sibling's assault on a parent drives a young woman to dark thoughts, and admiration for a rule-bending classmate; an ill grandmother is cruel to her daughter.

More devilish delights for fireside reading by the Connoisseur of Creepy himself, A.S. Mott. An ideal stocking stuffer! - a beautiful young widow is shocked to discover, upon her own accidental death, that her late husband has chosen to spend his afterlife haunting another woman... - after a 16 year-old girl dies from a botched operation, her spirit decides to remain with her family. During the year that follows, the young ghost records what she sees in her diary...

Kids encounter all kinds of animal ghosts in this spirited debut volume. Some involve pets, others involve wild animals, but all are based on fact and very, very scary! When a fishtank comes mysteriously to life, a boy struggles to convince his parents of the danger... The ghost of a dead puppy reminds a preteen of her special childhood bond... While on a European tour, a group of foolhardy kids chide the locals for their superstitions--only to be attacked by a swarm of ghostly birds of prey...

John O'Neill's gothic short stories, set in the Canadian Rockies, are haunted by the violence inherent in nature and humans. The mountains are majestic and impassive. The characters are surprising, bent, but also empathetic. Their survival is tenuous. A two-sister team of goth tour guides offers guided excursions up switchback mountain trails; a paroled convict thumbs his way into the life of a family driving west; and an animal pathologist, while performing a necropsy on a grizzly bear, has an unusual encounter with both technology and humanity.