National Network for Equitable Library Service

It’s spring break, and 14-year-old Hannah Anderson is spending it with the “Coast-Is-Clear” program, a group committed to cleaning Pacific Rim National Park Reserve’s beaches of debris that has drifted across the Pacific from the tragic Japanese tsunami of 2011. Soon after Hannah arrives, Jack, her raven sidekick, discovers something washed up in the surf: a luminous glass ball marked with a strange Japanese character. Immediately, unusual things start to happen, beginning with the arrival of “Kimiko,” a Japanese girl with a secret past.

The Kingdom of No Worries is the story of three young friends who create their own kingdom on a piece of land that emerges in the middle of the river that runs through their city. Inspired by their actions to create a democracy that is a model of social tolerance and global thinking, the surrounding community turns out in the thousands to participate in what becomes a radical cultural hub of the city. Over the course of one hot summer the boys grapple to learn what a democracy is and to oversee its demands.

This young adult historical novel focuses on Charlotte and her family, Loyalists who are forced to flee their home in the Mohawk Valley as a result of the violence of the “Sons of Liberty” during the American Revolution. At the beginning, fifteen-year-old Charlotte Hooper is separated from her sweetheart, Nick, who sympathizes with the Revolutionaries. The war has already taken the lives of her three brothers, and it is with a sense of desperation that Charlotte and her parents begin the long trek north to the safety of Fort Haldimand (near present-day Kingston).

Submarine Outlaw takes young adult readers on a unique journey when Alfred, a young boy who wants to be an explorer — not a fisherman, as his family demands — teams up with a junkyard genius to build a submarine that he sails around the Maritimes. The book takes the reader through the hands-on process of submarine construction into the world of real ocean navigation, replete with a high-seas chase, daring rescue and treasure hunting.

The fifth volume in the “Forging a Nation” series begins in 1791. The year a new province is created in the country that will one day be called Canada. The year Hope Cobman’s life turns around. At thirteen, she must leave the orphanage where she has lived since her mother’s death one year ago. Alone in the world, she dreams of finding her father and three brothers — all complete strangers to her, for even before her birth the American Revolution had scattered her family.

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. But as she settles into her old life, she finds herself falling for someone new … the same girl her stepbrother Lionel is in love with. When Lionel's bipolar disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help him before he hurts himself--or worse.

Audrey Rose Wadsworth often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

Four teenagers are on the verge of exploding. The anxieties they face have nearly pushed them to the point of surrender. They are desperate to cope, but nothing releases the pressure. Because, as they discover, the only way to truly escape their world is to fly right into it.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class patron and dreaming of the freedom of the commoners. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and their unlikely friendship causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her family.

On the ruined planet earth, where resources are scarce, Deedra comes across a boy named Rose--a boy with a secretive past and special abilities. Little do Deedra and Rose know how much their relationship will affect the fate of everyone on the planet.