Using a recipe to tell this heartwarming tale, Quintero humanizes the process of breadmaking and ultimately shows us the undeniable love and connection we all share with food from our culture. … More The Only Way to Make Bread by Cristina Quintero, illus. Sarah Gonzales
What I really appreciated about Someone is Always Watching is the strength of Blythe’s voice. As the main character, the story is told from her first-person point of view, and I could feel her feelings with her, moment by shocking moment. … More Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong
If You Cry Like A Fountain is a children’s picture book about the benefits of letting oneself cry. It follows a sad pink worm as he learns that it’s alright for him to express his emotions, and that there are great benefits of doing so. This book reveals crying can actually be a really important way to express how we’re feeling and could help introduce this idea to young readers who tend to bottle up their emotions. Vola takes on this stigmatized topic by demonstrating the different humorous ways crying can help! … More If You Cry Like A Fountain by Noemi Vola
Loyalty, sacrifice, loss, and love form the foundations of Chain of Thorns, exploring relatable themes of grief and relationships in a fantasy world. … More Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare
Have you ever taken a personality test and felt dissatisfied with the result? According to a website called Fatefinder.com, eleven-year-old Leo is an Auditor. This means he is curious and cautious, but he’s tired of being labelled so. His dad is a Problem Solver, his mom is a Counselor, and his younger sister, Lizzie, is an Adventurer, which Leo wishes he could be. Luckily, his wary ways are tested on a trip to visit his Grandpa on Heron Island in Western British Columbia. When the beehives that Leo’s Grandma cared for before her passing away are stolen late at night, Leo, Lizzie, and Grandpa undertake a bold mission of getting the hives back—they call it their big sting. … More The Big Sting by Rachelle Delaney
Decoding Dot Grey is a tender story about a teenage girl navigating personal loss for the first time, distancing herself from her worst memories, and trying to find refuge in animals instead. … More Decoding Dot Grey by Nicola Davison
Have you ever watched Romeo and Juliet and waited the entire play hoping that the ending would be different this time? After the crippling heartbreak, faked deaths, real deaths, and gang wars of the Shakespeare retelling These Violent Delights come two novellas with the happily-ever-after both characters and readers deserve. … More Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong
Gilly loves her flippers. Her best friend is a fish named Finnegan, and together they flap their flippers in Lighthouse Bay. However, when rumours of a monster snarfing, swiping, and pinching start to swirl around, Gilly decides that she will catch the monster and restore peace to the little town. … More Gilly’s Monster Trap by Cyndi Marko
Shannon Messenger’s Keeper of the Lost Cities is the epitome of the middle-grade fantasy series my younger self sought. Messenger offers a diverse and complex world and fills it with main characters who deal with familiar young adult issues alongside saving the world. … More Keeper of the Lost Cities: Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger
Have you ever seen a gnome? Perhaps you have noticed the squishing of mud, the rustling of leaves, or the faint humming of something familiar that you cannot quite recall. If you look closely enough, you might find there is a whole other world right under your nose. Maybe those slight disturbances are Minoletta on an adventurous day out, or Abel Potter tinkering with a new nut conveyor belt, his fellow accomplice Billy Buttons by his side. According to the Hidden World of Gnomes, the level of activity of the gnomes is largely dependent on the cycle of the moon. If you are wandering in the daytime, you might find some busy, working gnomes during the Bursting Moon, or some partying gnomes during the Frog Moon. These are only a few examples in a tremendously rich world filled with gnomes. … More The Hidden World of Gnomes by Lauren Soloy
YOUNG ADULTING 