Between the pressure from his immigrant parents to ace every class, his crush on Melissa, who lives in the rich area of town while he and his family live in a shabby apartment complex, and trying his best to fit in with his friends, he feels like he’s being pulled in too many different directions.
But harder still, Ali is becoming increasingly aware of the racism around him. Comments from his friends about Pakistani food or his skin color are passed off as jokes, but he doesn’t find them funny. And when Ramadan starts, Ali doesn’t tell anyone he’s fasting because it just seems easier. Luckily he finds solace in putting his feelings into words―and poems. But his father is dead set against him using art as a distraction when he’s got schoolwork and a future career as a doctor to focus on.
Ali’s world changes when he, his mom and his little brother are assaulted by some racist teens. Ali must come to terms with his roiling feelings about his place in the world, as a Pakistani immigrant, a Muslim and a teenager with his whole life ahead of him. With help from his grandfather, an inspiring teacher and his friend, Ali leans on his words for strength. And eventually he finds his true voice.
A lonely teen discovers a website that grants wishes.
Eshana is a bit of a social misfit. She feels more comfortable talking to people online than in person. One day she discovers a website that claims to be a safe space where young people can support each other in making their dreams come true. She starts talking with someone called Wise One. They hit it off immediately. Eshana admits to the Wise One how hard it is for her to make friends. The next day she goes to school and suddenly everyone wants to talk to her. Eshana is thrilled. But then, after telling Wise One about a girl who has been bullying her, she hears that the girl has been injured in a car accident. Are Eshana’s wishes really coming true? If so, is having the life she’s always wanted worth the costs?
With the help of her Catholic friend, an eleven-year-old Jewish girl creates a provocative local tourist attraction to save her family’s failing motel.
Buying and moving into the run-down Jewel Motor Inn in upstate New York wasn’t eleven-year-old Miriam Brockman’s dream, but at least it’s an adventure. Miriam befriends Kate, whose grandmother owns the diner next door, and finds comfort in the company of Maria, the motel’s housekeeper, and her Uncle Mordy, who comes to help out for the summer. She spends her free time helping Kate’s grandmother make her famous grape pies and begins to face her fears by taking swimming lessons in the motel’s pool.
But when it becomes clear that only a miracle is going to save the Jewel from bankruptcy, Jewish Miriam and Catholic Kate decide to create their own. Otherwise, the No Vacancy sign will come down for good, and Miriam will lose the life she’s worked so hard to build.
He’s just shown up at Nicki’s high school . . . and he knows her.
In fact, Jackson Kraft knows more about Nicki and her family than she does and so when Kraft abducts her little sister into the dreamworld known as the Vale, Nicki will need to learn how to navigate this alternate universe. She will also need to learn to trust others—one quirky friend, one loser dad, one ghost mom, and one shape-shifting “witch” from the past.
Raven is cunning, aggressive and whip-smart―she’s had to be to survive.
She was taken in at a young age by the boss of a car-theft ring, who rescued her from a life of hell. For too long she’s believed she owes him everything and used her uncanny urban climbing skills to train young recruits for what she believes are victimless crimes. Until Raven discovers that his compassion for the kids he wrangles into the ring is just a front, and they are all merely tools of his trade, nothing more. When he’s responsible for the death of Raven’s young “apprentice,” she finally sees him for what he really is―and sets out to bring him down.
When eleven-year-old Pascale Chardon finds herself on a lifeboat drifting toward an uncharted island with no memory of how she got there, all she wants is to get back to her family. The islanders, however, have a different objective.
For many decades, the islanders have been anticipating the arrival of someone foretold only as the Long Awaited. The Long Awaited is said to have knowledge of the island’s future and will tell the islanders of their fate seventeen days after their arrival.
At first Pascale is sure she’s not the Long Awaited, but when strange things begin to happen, she finds it impossible to be certain of anything. Could she be the Long Awaited after all?
Best friends, Maddy and Cat spend their summers looking for action on magical Cortes Island, but they get more than they bargained for when they go lagoon-diving at midnight with Cat's twin brother, "Draggin." The three twelve year-olds emerge from the current to find themselves in a whole new world; familiar, yet unknown, and increasingly dangerous. Their simple quest to return home turns into the adventure of a lifetime.
A hilarious collection of misfires, creative solutions, dumb luck ― and startling victories!
Where else but Canada would you find a town that turns its main street into a giant tubing run? Or witness a Mission Impossible-style heist where a thief drops down through the ceiling and makes off with over $120,000 worth of hockey sticks? Not to mention the slippery ― or was that sticky? ― bandits who stole 20,000 litres of maple syrup . . . And where else would you find an aircraft carrier made out of blocks of ice, a man building a miniature version of the entire country, or a moose giving you a carwash?
It all makes perfect sense, really. Living in Canada means responding uniquely to a unique environment. And it’s our ― sometimes highly questionable ― ideas that makes us who we are. In an engaging, hilarious and always fascinating exploration of geography, history, wildlife, science, culture, food, art . . . and giant roadside attractions ― this is our nation at its most jaw-droppingly unusual and innovative.
Though we can poke fun at ourselves, readers will walk away with a sense that there is so much to celebrate about what it means to be Canadian.
