NNELS Upgrade

In The Golden Grasshopper, ten-year-old Lisa’s and her cousin Paul’s lives were changed forever when they met Gagar, from the planet Ylepithon. In Galena’s Gift, Gagar returns with his precocious young daughter, asking Lisa, now a twelve-year-old grade sixer, to babysit her and teach her about life on Earth. How will Lisa and Paul accomplish this without arousing the suspicion of their fellow earthlings? Using her remarkable abilities, Galena is able to save a young alpaca close to Lisa’s heart from a serious medical emergency.

Jade is a curious nine-year-old who likes to help out at her family’s Chinese restaurant, The Fragrant Garden, after school. Though she is often allowed to help set tables or clean up, she longs to be part of the more exciting tasks such as helping in the kitchen or using the cash register. Her father thinks she is too young for these responsibilities - until a fire breaks out in the kitchen. Jade’s quick-thinking response wins her praise and her father reconsiders her request for more responsibility at the Fragrant Garden.

It’s an exciting time for seventeen-year-old Libby, as she announces to her aunt that she plans to leave Toronto in the 1950s to spend the summer living alone in the empty family home in Pinkney Corners. Libby is determined to make it on her own and to spend some time honing her skills as a writer so that she can become a novelist and journalist like her deceased mother. But living alone can be a challenge. Libby makes a little money working at the five and dime, but the local paper can’t afford to hire.

There was something floating in the water ahead of the canoe. It looks dead, whatever it is, someone said. Thats where the mystery begins, and eleven-year-old Alan and his friends are determined to solve it on their own, without adult interference. They have all the tools they needZiggys canoe, Jose’s ability to impress parents, and Alans detective instinct. Mix in a gang of bullies on jet-skis, an eccentric hermit, and the theft of a priceless violin, and the stage is set for a fast-action summer adventure in cottage country.

Willa has never known her father. In fact, her mother has refused to tell the eight-year-old anything at all about him. Willa dreams about what he might look like and who he might be. She often asks herself why her hair, which is "afro-crinkly", and her skin, which is dark, are so different from her mother’s brown hair and pale skin. A substitute teacher’s request that the class draw pictures of their dads for a Father’s Day card launches Willa on an odyssey to discover the truth.

The Okanagan summer stretches out in front of twelve-year-old Nikki like a sparkling rainbow, with lots of time to spend at the beach and with her horse, Ginger. When her cousin Trevor arrives in his wheelchair, spoiling all her plans, they take an instant dislike to one another. But a vision in the clouds will change both her and Trevor’s feelings about a lot of things and, in fact, will help make a dream come true as Trevor competes in the B.C. Games for the Physically Disabled.

Twelve-year-old Martin Jessup, teller of tall tales and other untruths, cannot understand his sister’s objections to the family’s move from Winnipeg to small-town Ontario. With Dad in the military, moving is a fact of life. Settling into his new home, Martin is intrigued by a deserted house across the street and by an unfriendly neighbour, who seems to be waiting for something to happen. Martin and new friends Granger and Holly form a club that meets in the deep end of an empty swimming pool.

Twelve-year-old Moon lives with her father after her mother disappears, leaving her with nothing but a beautiful ring, which also mysteriously vanishes. After her mother’s departure, her father has become unusually depressed and moody. Moon, however, firmly believes that she will see her mother again and develops a strong interest in magic as a way to find her. Her breakthrough comes when she finds a strange key in the office of Ms. Tanglemoth, the intimidating school librarian.

In the sequel to The Great Laundry Adventure, the three Lawrence children, Abigail, Jacob and Ernest (from oldest to youngest) are again embarked on a mysterious adventure, but this time, the adventure is initiated, it appears, by a small blue stone buddha which Ernest has discovered in a mysterious shop. The little buddha has a way of showing Ernest the unhappiness of others, and his brother and sister have expressly forbidden him to bring the buddha along on their summer holiday.

Angry at missing a week of summer video game entertainment, Jesse, a twelve-year-old boy of European/Native American descent, grudgingly follows through with his deceased father’s request that he join his Uncle Matthew and cousin Jason at Six Islands, on Georgian Bay, for a special camping trip. Uncle Matthew explains that Jesse’s father wanted Jason’s vision quest to be his introduction to their native culture. During their first night around the camp-fire, it is Jesse who has a vision, and the adventure begins.