Top Grade: K-8 selections, Fall 2014

Can three comic-book superheroes, and a rock that falls from the sky, really protect Robert Tourond's brothers as they fight the enemy in Europe during World War II? It's 1943 and World War II is raging. 13-year-old Robert Tourond is safe at home in Calgary, but his three brothers are all overseas, fighting the Nazis. A dreamer, Robert closely follows the exploits of his three favourite comic book heroes - Captain Ice, Sedna of the Sea and the Maple Leaf Kid - who also battle thebad guys in the …

When Nat, her best friend Jess and singing-star wannabe Harper sing together, their harmonies bring down the house.

For Nat, the experience sparks a driving new desire to perform. But when the girls form a trio and enter a contest for a chance to play at the Tall Grass Music Festival, Nat finds that harmony—musical and otherwise—is hard to maintain. Her bandmates almost never agree, her new boyfriend starts behaving more like a non-boyfriend, and the trio’s famous-musician mentor doesn’t …

Ali and his fiancée Zeynep dream about leaving their home in Anatolia and building a new life together in Canada. But their homeland is controlled by the Turkish government, which is on the brink of war with Britain and Russia. And although Ali finds passage to Canada to work, he is forced to leave Zeynep behind until he can earn enough to bring her out to join him.

When the First World War breaks out and Canada joins Britain, Ali is declared an enemy alien. Unable to convince his captors that h …

When the USS Truxtun was shipwrecked off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942, Lanier Phillips, an African-American serviceman, was rescued by the people of the town of St. Lawrence. The kindness he received transformed his life and ignited a lasting passion for civil rights. Lanier went on to a distinguished career in the US Navy, and he later marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., worked with Jaques Cousteau, and retold his story of transformation with the hope of inspiring change.
In Life Lin …