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True Colours

by Lucy Lemay Cellucci

9781926607139

$9.95

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. Zoe soon learns that nothing is as it appears, as she is confronted by angry parents, a dangerous sociopath, and an ill-advised romance.

Wild Spirits

by Rosa Jordan

9781554887293

$12.99

Eleven-year-old Danny Ryan and nineteen-year-old Wendy Marshall think their friendship is only about looking after two baby raccoons that Danny has rescued. But when a bank holdup upsets Wendy so much that she can hardly stand to be around people, she leaves her job as a teller, retreats to a farm, and surrounds herself with injured and orphaned wildlife. Danny, neglected at home and considered weird in a town where other boys are into hunting, finds peace on the farm, too, plus excitement, as he and Wendy adopt ever more exotic animals such as llamas, bobcats, a serval, an ocelot, and a blind lynx.

Over time the two friends develop a bond that goes beyond care of the animals to caring for each other. As it turns out, Wendy rescues not just wildlife but Danny, as well. What’s more, the bank robbers are still at large and still a threat, and Danny, now fourteen, must act to save Wendy’s life.

Jak’s Story

by Aaron Bell

9781554887101

$10.99

Thirteen-year-old Jak Loren is a typical boy with the usual problems a family with older sisters and younger brothers presents. Never mind the troubles at school — bullies and girls!

When Jak goes to the ravine near his home in Brantford to get away from Steven Burke, a bully who’s been tormenting him, he discovers the ravine has a history that’s much older than he thought. He meets Grandfather Rock, who shares with him the story of the people who have lived near the ravine for thousands of years. Soon Jak’s eyes are opened to a new world of beings and respect.

He learns about First Nations people and how their teachings inhabit the spirits of all living things that surround us even today. The tales of the First Nations help Jak to understand that the gift of life is something to be cherished. And when a construction crew arrives in his neighbourhood and threatens his beloved ravine, Jak knows he has to act to save it.

Snakes and Ladders by Shaun Smith

9781550028409

$12.99

For as long as thirteen-year-old Paige Morrow can remember, the tree fort in the giant oak near her cottage in Ontario’s Muskoka has been her sanctuary. Now everything is changing. It’s the summer of 1971, and she and her little brother, Toby, have been at their cottage with their mother since school let out. But this year, Paige feels more alone than ever. Her father has stopped coming up from the city on weekends, while her mother buries herself in whiskey and writing.

Paige retreats to her tree fort, but becomes concerned when the farmer who owns the property hires a creepy arborist — a “tree doctor.” Is something wrong with the farm’s apple orchard or with her tree? When Paige befriends the arborist’s troubled teenage daughter, Janine, and her group of rowdy locals, she is pulled into a maze of dark secrets and shocking truths that leads to a life-and-death confrontation.

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