National Network for Equitable Library Service

Fifteen-year-old Zoe is many things, but confident is not one of them. Perhaps that’s why she prefers the company of animals. A self-professed advocate for their rights, Zoe is not above taking matters into her own hands. But the stakes are raised when she finds herself at the centre of a dangerous conspiracy involving the disappearance of animals from a shelter. She turns to street-savvy Alex Fisher, her troubled Social Studies partner, to help unravel the mystery.

Winner of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice: Best Books for Kids & Teens Seventeen year-old Nathan is running – running from his past and running from his present. Raised by a white mother and never having known his native father, he must cope with prejudice and stereotypes. When he meets Sally, the beautiful outsider, he finds someone who believes in him. But when Sally’s house is put to the torch by an arsonist, suspicion falls on Nathan and he finds himself embroiled in an intrigue and murder that threaten to drive the two teenagers apart.

Two wrongs may not make a right, but what about three? JP Rodriguez’s debut novel is an examination of what it means to live a modern life and the price of inaction in a world where chances at redemption and happiness are all too few. Watched over by the majestic mountains of the Canadian west, the narrator came early to understand that every action creates a reaction, and what goes up comes downusually hard. So he’s spent his life in an emotional straitjacket, living comfortably on the surface of things.

In the third action-packed thriller of the West Quebec series, Meg Harris is back more determined than ever to fight against injustice, but sometimes the line between right and wrong is fuzzy. During a wild, whitewater paddle down a wilderness river, Meg discovers the skull and bones of a woman whose very existence takes the archeological world by storm. But when her neighbours, the Migiskan Algonquin, declare their rights to the ancient remains, Meg becomes embroiled in a fight that pits ancient beliefs against modern ones and can only lead to murder.

Lucky Strike is a light-hearted laugh-out-loud mystery with a cast of characters who epitomize life Down East. Eric Spratt, a conservative accountant from Toronto, is forced to flee to the remote Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia and there, become Charles Trenchant, reclusive writer. He knows that anonymity and discretion are the only weapons he has to protect himself from the retribution of the Mafia dons whom he helped to send to jail. Surely, fifty years of a quiet, unassuming existence would prepare him for the life that he must now lead.

Barrett Fuller’s privileged life is about to change radically … or else. Barrett Fuller is a world-famous and very wealthy children’s author who writes under a pseudonym because he’s a self-absorbed womanizer and drug-user. His life changes when he receives an extortion letter, challenging him to live up to the morals he currently espouses in his books. He is presented with a series of tasks to complete or face having his identity revealed to the public, resulting in the ruin of his financial empire.Richard Fuller, Barrett’s nephew, has a secret too, and it’s one no kid should bear.

Prohibition takes the battle, along with the party, to the streets. Jack McCloskey returned to Windsor, Ontario, from the Great War shell-shocked and battling inner demons. Channeling his energy into amateur fights, he’s noticed by a gangster sidelining as a boxing promoter. After a brief professional stint, Jack is invited to join the crew. It’s the early days of Prohibition along the Detroit River. Feeling trapped, Jack often tries to escape by throwing himself into relationships that are doomed from the start.

Fourteen-year-old Jake MacRae’s life is spinning out of control. He’s making all the wrong choices — gambling, drinking, hanging around gang members and now he’s been asked to make a special delivery. What should he do? Jake knows either way that his decision will seal his fate, but what he doesn’t realize is that this choice might not only destroy his life but the lives of those close to him. Before Jake has a chance to make up his mind, he receives a mysterious text message inviting him to a flash party on a midnight subway train.

Short-listed for the 2004 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel After her marriage breaks down, shy schoolteacher Blithe Morrison takes refuge for the summer with her parents in the affluent Toronto neighbourhood of Rose Park. Blithe’s return home evokes memories of her lifelong sibling war with Noel, her golden-boy older brother, now a diplomat posted in England. But when Blithe befriends a lonely 11-year-old girl and takes on a local history project, she uncovers truths about a long-rumoured buried treasure that forever alter her perceptions of her family, her friends, and herself.

The day Pauline sees Ramona's mug shot in the paper, she knows she's going to be called upon to relive the darkest period of her life. Charged with murder, Ramona and her husband, Jim, have also been accused of sexually abusing female victims for years in their home. And when the police discover a stash of scripts for disturbing plays performed years earlier by Pauline, Ramona, and Jim, Pauline becomes a key witness in the trial. Tell Everything follows Pauline as she prepares for her testimony, and in the process reawakens memories that she has buried since she was a teenager.