Top Grade: Fall 2011

Broken Trail is the story a thirteen-year-old white boy, the son of United Empire Loyalists, who has been captured and adopted by the Oneida people. Striving to find his vision oki that will guide him in his quest to become a warrior, Broken Trail disavows his white heritage - he considers himself Oneida. But everything changes when Broken Trail, alone in the woods on his vision quest, is mistakenly shot by a redcoat soldier.

Two-and-a half millennia after it was created, Homer's Odyssey remains one of humanity's most memorable adventure stories. In this re-creation of Homer's classic as a young adult novel, we see the aftermath of the Trojan War through the eyes of Alexi, a fifteen-year-old Trojan boy. Orphaned by the war and enslaved by Odysseus himself, Alexi has a very different view of the conquering heroes of legend.

Despite a simmering anger towards his captors, Alexi gradually develops a grudging respect for t …

In this fast-paced novel for readers ten and up, James Graham, a Canadian journalist, is kidnapped in a market in Buenaventura, Colombia, right in front of Marco, his thirteen-year-old son. When the kidnappers try to grab Marco, his father yells at him, "Run Marco, run!" Marco manages to escape, and seeing no possibility of help in Colombia, he stows away on a freighter headed to Vancouver where a good friend of his father is living and who may be able to help.

During his search, Marcoencounters …

As much as life has irrevocably changed since the death of his father, much has stayed the same for Cam. He's always had a great deal of responsibility around the house, but the burden is heavier now in combination with the load of grief he's been carrying. After the man who was driving the truck that killed his father turns up at the end of the driveway, Cam feels pressure to keep his family safe as well. He starts to see the man everywhere: at his work, in stores, at his sister's school. Cam n …

A collection of potential book covers and a bit of a story for each - but YOU write the ending!

An interactive collection of lavishly illustrated book covers for twelve different storybooks and the beginning (or ending) of each story allows children's imagination to take over. With intriguing titles like "Breakfast on a Dragon's Tale," "Growing Up Alien," and "The Book of Wondering," these pictures and stories are sure to engage young readers as they encourage them to explore and share their own …

Pete Enzoe is Chipewyan Dene from Lutsel K'e, Northwest Territories, on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. He is a hunter, fisher, and trapper. He sees his role in life as protector of the caribou and spends much of his time reading" the land as he travels his peoples' traditional areas. Pete also helps scientists to monitor the herd's health and migration.

In The Caribou Feed Our Soul, the sixth book in The Land is Our Storybook series, Pete takes readers on a respectful caribou harvest. Along t …

When Daniel enters a convenience store on a secret mission, he doesn't expect to run into anyone he knows. That would ruin everything. And when Rosie enters the same store to see what her father wants, she's hoping to make a quick getaway with her waiting boyfriend.

All Daniel and Rosie want is to get in and out without any trouble. Neither expects what happens next. A masked man enters the store.

"This is a stickup," he announces. He has a gun and isn't afraid to use it. When he's ready to leave, …

Legend has it that a paymaster lost his gold during the War of 1812, and Sam, Eadie, and Ben are determined to find it.

The Jackson family has moved into an old house on Commissioners Road near London, Ontario, and twins Sam and Eadie discover an exciting legend that involves their new home. Their neighbour, Ben, tells them that a skirmish in the War of 1812 took place right in front of their house, and that, during the fight, it is thought that an army paymaster lost a chest of gold that has ne …