National Network for Equitable Library Service

Ellie Gold is an orthodox Jewish teenager living in Toronto in the late eighties. Ellie has no doubts about her strict religious upbringing until she falls in love with another girl at her grandmother's cottage. Aware that homosexuality clashes with Jewish observance, Ellie feels forced to either alter her sexuality or leave her community. Meanwhile, Ellie's mother, Chana, becomes convinced she has a messianic role to play, and her sister, Neshama, chafes against the restrictions of her faith.

Izzy and Julia have been on the same team for years. Izzy is frustrated that Julia spends too much time cherry-picking and getting all the credit when they score. But when someone starts threatening the team and their home field is sabotaged, the friends must work together to find the answers. Why would someone threaten their star player? And what is the connection to a century-old train robbery and the rumor of buried treasure?

Fifteen-year-old Maddie has big-city dreams, and she’s found her chance to visit New York. An art magazine is holding a portrait contest, and the first prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to the Big Apple. Maddie plans to win, but her mother has different ideas for her: a mother-daughter adventure in organic farming. Maddie is furious. How will she find an inspiring subject for her portrait amid the goat poop and chickens?

Jim Doolen discovered his father's fate in Written in Blood and met Billy the Kid in Ghost Moon. Now, in the final installment of The Desert Legends Trilogy, he's a scout for the Army in the middle of a brutal war to force Victorio's Apaches onto a reservation far from their traditional lands. Deeply troubled by the violence he's witnessed and been a part of, and having lost so many friends, both white and Indian, Jim feels trapped between the two worlds he's encountered over the past three years.

Shelley arrives at her aunt and uncle's cottage on Grey Rocks Lake and is excited to see her cousin Kyle. Her excitement quickly turns to disappointed when she discovers Kyle's friend Marcus is staying at the cottage too. Shelley feels left out of the boys' games. Then the fossil she found at the beach goes missing, and she thinks Marcus took it. But when Topper, Kyle's dog, loses her ball, Shelley and Marcus are given an opportunity to become friends.

The year is 2147. Chago, twenty-four, is a prisoner in a world made up only of prisoners and those who guard them. The only bright spot in Chago’s life is his son, Jim-Jim, whose mother is a guard. In an effort to resolve overcrowding in the prison, the warden introduces the Innocence Device, a high-tech machine he claims can determine innocence or guilt. Prisoners are encouraged to walk through the Innocence Device and experience its rewards: immediate freedom or death. When they discover the machine is rigged, the prisoners riot and take over the prison.

When Nat, her best friend Jess and singing-star wannabe Harper sing together, their harmonies bring down the house. For Nat, the experience sparks a driving new desire to perform. But when the girls form a trio and enter a contest for a chance to play at the Tall Grass Music Festival, Nat finds that harmony, musical and otherwise, is hard to maintain. Her bandmates almost never agree, her new boyfriend starts behaving more like a non-boyfriend, and the trio’s famous-musician mentor doesn’t even like the way Nat breathes.

Sheila, Rusty and Katie are on the road again. Fresh from their adventures in Barkerville, the trio is now in southern Alberta. Sheila has been anxiously anticipating her reunion with her father and is worried about how they will get along. Her fears are confirmed when they arrive at the Triple W Ranch and he is not there to greet them. When the police arrive, Sheila finds that her father is in big trouble. Developers want to take over his land to build new housing and a golf course and when the night watchman at the development is shot, all the evidence points to Sheila's father.

Pete likes to play pranks. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it gets a laugh. When he impersonates his vice-principal on a radio call-in show, he goes too far and is suspended from school. Pete's parents send him to spend the summer working with his uncle, a whale-watching guide in a tourist town far from the city. When a whale is injured by a reckless tour guide, Pete struggles to save the animal. Then Pete has to pull the most important prank of his life to bring the guide to justice.

Miles Derkach is in trouble. Along with two friends, he stole a car and went joyriding. When the dust clears, he is all alone and his friends have left, leaving him to take the blame, and the punishment, while maintaining his silence. On probation and sentenced to community service, Miles begins working for a man who, after suffering a stroke and not being able to drive, has kept his beloved hot rod under wraps in the garage. Seeing a chance to learn more about cars and pursue his dream of becoming a mechanic, Miles helps to restore the car.