National Network for Equitable Library Service

Caz has a pretty good reason when she punches her boyfriend in the face, but she gets expelled anyway. Moving to a new school, she is told she is dyslexic and is sent to special education classes. Caz tries to fit in and get by while suffering the taunts and abuse that others throw at the students in her class. Her friendship with Amanda leads her into new territory, shoplifting and skipping school. Coupled with her parents’ impending separation, her life is spiraling out of control.

Since the death of his father, everyone has been telling Cam that he’s the man of the house. Cam takes his responsibility seriously. He keeps the grieving household organized and takes care of his sister. But when the man who had been driving the truck that killed his father seems to be stalking his family, he is not sure he’s up for the task. How does the man of the house handle a stalker?

When Canada went to war with Japan following the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Canadians of Japanese descent were declared "Enemy Aliens." Without recourse of any kind, they were forced to leave their homes along with the British Columbia coast, their possessions were sold, and their rights as citizens denied. Caged Eagles follows fourteen-year-old Tadashi Fukushima and his family as they embark on a tortuous physical and emotional journey.

After almost drowning in a swollen creek, Wes wonders if what his friend Zach says is true: Wes owes a life debt to the old lady who rescued him. It doesn't help that Wes keeps hearing his dead father's voice saying things like, "A man pays his debts, Wes," and "A man always treats a woman with respect, Wes." But how does a guy go about paying back a life debt anyway? And what if it involves a transmission tower, an ice-cream truck and a few sticks of dynamite?

When Linda’s high school sets up online chat rooms, she can’t resist the urge to visit them. Fueled by interest in a student with the nickname Cyrano, Linda, a girl who suffers from extreme shyness, gets chatty online. Using the nickname Roxanne, she gains a reputation as the queen of one-liners. Soon Linda starts receiving gifts from a secret admirer, and she feels like her life might be turning around. But she has a lot to learn about the risks of online anonymity.

After discovering tainted water in the creek near his grandmother's cabin in the Kentucky hills, senior Roy Linden slowly uncovers a connection between his high school team's new star quarterback, his own football future, and the source of the pollution. Roy Linden should be thrilled. His high school football team, the Johnstown Striking Cobras, just got a new quarterback, and that means a chance at a winning season and a college scholarship for Linden, the team's senior receiver. But then he stumbles onto a deadly secret in the small coal-mining town.

When Renata is chosen to play the lead role in the school musical, students who used to ignore her start saying hello and congratulating her in the hall. She is happy until it becomes evident that Karin, a wealthy girl who expected to get the lead role, will go to great lengths to ruin Renata's reputation.

Royce (aka Rolly) is having a bad year. Not only has his mother dragged him across the country in order to be close to her aged father Arthur, a celebrated cellist, but he's also recovering from mono. When he convinces his mother to let him finish the school year by correspondence, he's left feeling isolated and lonely, and spends his time watching TV and plotting ways to get back to his friends in Nova Scotia. But before his plans can be implemented, his grandfather has a small stroke.

Colby Wyatt has had a rough year. Her dad disappeared, she doesn’t have a place to live, and she’s addicted to meth. Thankfully, her best friend Gigi’s grandma takes her in, and Colby helps out with the family business, selling stolen goods in Gram’s pawnshop, stuff that Colby and Gigi along with Gigi’s brother Milo steal when they break into people’s houses, which Colby is pretty good at. Now she’s pregnant. Colby doesn’t tell anyone who the dad is. Instead, she checks herself into rehab so she can get clean and figure out how to keep the baby.

Megan’s brother, Danny, is dead. Killed in an apparent robbery in a bar. It seems like a terrible but simple case of mistaken identity, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But as the truth comes out, Megan realizes that Danny was “known to the police.” He was in much deeper than she realized, and the police are not motivated to solve the crime. As Megan watches her family self-destruct, she decides she has to find the truth. But the truth is hard to come by, and there are people who will kill to keep it hidden.