Across Frozen Seas
John Wilson
Grade 4-8
Subjects: Northwest Passage, Fiction, Arctic, Fiction
John Wilson takes on the rich territory of the 1845 Franklin expedition. Cabin boy David Young travels aboard the ill-fated vessel HMS Erebus from London, England, en route to Canada’s frozen and uncharted north, and his adventures comes to a modern-day Dave Young in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, in a series of dreams.
Answers in the Pages
David Levithan
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Books and reading, Censorship, Fiction, Family, LGBTQ
Donovan must speak up and come out as parents lobby to ban a beloved book from the school curriculum.
Because of Mr Terupt
Rob Buyea
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Teacher-student relationships, Fiction, Interpersonal relations, Teachers, Schools
Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by “rookie teacher” Mr. Terupt.
Benefits of Being an Octopus
Ann Braden
Grade 5-8
Subjects: Poverty, Fiction, Self-esteem, Competitions
Seventh-grader Zoey likes to stay under the radar at school. Unfortunately, she’s not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate club.
Beyond the Bright Sea
Lauren Wolk
Grade 5-8
Subjects: Orphans, Fiction, Girls, Family
Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. One night a mysterious fire appears across the water, triggering a series of events leading to Crow finding her secret history.
Blackthorn Key
Kevin Sands
Grade 5-8
Subjects: Apprentices, Fiction, Supernatural, Friendship, London (England), History
In 1665 London, fourteen-year-old Christopher Rowe, apprentice to an apothecary, and his best friend, Tom, try to uncover the truth behind a mysterious cult.
The Boundless
Kenneth Oppel
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Trains, Sasquatch, Canada, History, Fiction
Will Everett finds himself with a first-class ticket for The Boundless, the longest, most glamorous locomotive in the world. But its maiden voyage won’t be a smooth ride for Will.
The Breadwinner
Deborah Ellis
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Taliban, Fiction, Afghanistan, Muslim
Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan. When Parvana’s father is arrested the family is left without someone who can earn money or shop for food. Forbidden to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy, and become the breadwinner.
Charlie Mackay
Sharon E. McKay
Grade 5-9
Subjects: War stories, Courage, Fiction
Charlie Wilcox, a Newfoundlander, is interested in one thing only: going to sea, just like his father and uncles. His parents have different plans for him, however: they want him to go to university. Charlie sets out to prove he can measure up to the men in his family, and stows away on a ship. It’s only when they are far out to sea, and he is discovered, that he realizes he’s on a troopship bound for France!
City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Fantasy
The city of Ember was built deep underground as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. Lina and her friend Doon must decipher a message before the lights go out on Ember forever.
Counting by 7s
Holly Sloan
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Genius, Fiction, Eccentrics and eccentricities, Orphans, Gardening, High schools
Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.
Coyote Sunrise
Dan Gemeinhart
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Moving, Grief, Fiction, Family, Road trips
Five years. That’s how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus. It’s also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. When Coyote learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises a plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days.
Over the journey, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all.
Crenshaw
Katherine Applegate
Grade 5-7
Subjects: Imaginary creatures, Fiction, Family problems
Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. Crenshaw is a cat. He has come back into Jackson’s life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything?
Ellen Outside the Lines
A.J. Sass
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Friendship, Fiction, Neurodivergent people, LGBTQ, Jews
Ellen, an autistic thirteen-year-old, navigates a new city, shifting friendships, a growing crush, and her queer and Jewish identities while on a class trip to Barcelona, Spain.
Fatty Legs
Christy Jordan-Fenton
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Fiction, Inuit, Canada, Residential schools, Inuit women, Biography, Indigenous Peoples
The moving memoir of an Inuit girl who emerges from a residential school with her spirit intact. Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Her father finally agrees, but he warns her of the terrors of residential schools. This inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl’s determination to confront her tormentor will linger with young readers.
Fish in a Tree
Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Grade 5-7
Subjects: Dyslexia, Fiction, Reading, Behaviour, Schools
Ally’s greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she is because she still doesn’t know how to read. However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of.
Flora and Ulysses
Kate DiCamillo
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Squirrels, Fiction, Human-animal relationships
Freak the Mighty
Rodman Philbrick
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Learning disabilities, Fiction, Physically handicapped, Friendship, Bullies
Meet Maxwell Kane, narrator of Freak the Mighty. He’s a timid soul stuck in the body of a teenage giant with size 14 shoes. Haunted by a dark secret in his past, he hides out in his basement room, avoiding the world. But when a new kid moves in next door Max’s life changes forever. The two outcasts form the ‘normal’ world team up to become “Freak the Mighty.”
From Ant to Eagle
Alex Lyttle
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Brothers, Fiction, Death, Family
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
E.L. Konigsberg
Grade 4-6
Subjects: Runaways, Fiction, Brothers and sisters
When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money.
Girl Who Drank the Moon
Kelly Barnhill
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Fantasy fiction, Witches, Magic, Friendship
An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a perfectly tiny dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her. As Luna turns thirteen it is up to her to protect her loved ones from outside enemies.
Holes
Louis Sachar
Grade 5-10
Subjects: Juvenile delinquency, Fiction, Homeless persons, Friendship, Buried treasure
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake?
How to Eat Fried Worms
Thomas Rockwell
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Humorous stories
People are always daring Billy to do zany things. But Billy may have bitten off more than he can chew when he takes his friend Alan’s bet that Billy can’t eat fifteen worms in fifteen days. If Billy wins, Alan has to fork over fifty dollars. Billy wants the money to buy a used minibike, so he’s ready to dig in. He sets up mustard and ketchup, salt and pepper, and sugar and lemon to disguise the disgusting taste.
I am a Taxi
Deborah Ellis
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Coca industry, Bolivia, Fiction
Diego lives with his family in a Bolivian prison where his parents have been jailed for growing coca. As their situation grows more and more desperate, Diego falls prey to a desperate plan.
I am Canada: Blood and Iron
Paul Yee
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Chinese, Canada, History, Fiction, Canadian Pacific Railway Company
Depicts the incredible sacrifices made by Chinese workers when building the transcontinental railway. Heen’s father and grandfather have brought their family in China to the brink of ruin with their gambling habits. To solve their money troubles, Heen and his father come to Canada to build the railway. The living conditions provided for workers are wretched and work on the railway is excruciating.
Inkling
Kenneth Oppel
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Family, Fiction, Grief, Creativity
Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance’s sketchbook, a small burst of creativity that’s about the change everything for the Rylance family. Inkling helps Ethan with a school project and eases Sarah’s longing for a puppy. But then Inkling goes missing…
Into the Sun
Luanne Armstrong
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Canada, History, Adventure
Reine learned self-reliance and independence at an early age. Now, with the help of her new friend Dan Archibald, she performs a heroic act to keep her family safe.Full of adventure, excitement and historical details of the early days of the Red River settlement, this is a terrific novel based on the true story of one of Canada’s most amazing pioneer families.
Just my Luck
Cammie McGovern
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Brothers, Family, Adolescence, Fiction, Autism
Fourth grade is not going at all how Benny Barrows hoped. He hasn’t found a new best friend at school. He’s still not a great bike rider—even though his brother George, who’s autistic, can do tricks. And worst of all, he worries his dad’s recent accident might be all his fault. Benny tries to take his mom’s advice and focus on helping others, and to take things one step at a time. But when his dad ends up in the hospital again, Benny doesn’t know how he and his family will overcome all the bad luck that life seems to have thrown their way.
King and the Dragonflies
Kacen Callender
Grade 3-7
Subjects: LGBTQ, BIPOC, African Americans, Fiction, Louisiana, Brothers
Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy-that he thinks he might be gay. But when Sandy goes missing and King finds his former best friend hiding in a tent in his backyard, he agrees to help Sandy escape from his abusive father, and the two begin an adventure.
Endling: The Last
Katherine Applegate
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Animals
Byx is the youngest member of her dairne pack. Believed to possess remarkable abilities, her mythical doglike species has been hunted to near extinction in the war-torn kingdom of Nedarra. After her pack is hunted down and killed, Byx fears she may be the last of her species. The Endling. So Byx sets out to find safe haven, and to see if the legends of other hidden dairnes are true.
Lemonade War
Jacqueline Davies
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Brothers and sisters, Fiction, Moneymaking projects, Arithmetic
With just five days left of summer vacation, Evan and Jessie launch an all-out war to see who can sell the most lemonade before school starts. As the battleground heats up, there really is no telling who will win—and even more important, if their fight will ever end.
The Mountain that walked
Katherine Holubitsky
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Frank (Alta.), History, Landslides, 1903
The year is 1903, and Charlie Sutherland, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is on the run. He ends up in Frank, a coal-mining town in the Rocky Mountains. In this true event of April 29, 1903, Turtle Mountain collapses, burying a portion of the town.
My Side of the Mountain
Jean Craighead George
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Survival, Self-reliance, Fiction, Mountain life
The Nine Lives of Travis Keating
Jill MacLean
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Grief, Fiction, Fathers and sons, Moving, Household, Newfoundland and Labrador
After his mother’s death, Travis Keating and his father move to Ratchet, Newfoundland, to start a new life. Travis decides to visit the dangerous Gulley Cove, which some of the kids say are haunted. Instead of ghosts, Travis discovers a colony of feral cats, sickly and starving, and unused to kindness. Putting aside his own problems to care for them is about to bring Travis more satisfaction-and more danger-than he ever would have thought possible.
Pax
Sara Pennypacker
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Friendship, Fiction, Animals, Nature
Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter’s dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. Peter strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, to be reunited with his fox. Meanwhile Pax embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own.
Pay it Forward
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Kindness, Fiction, Conduct of life
Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town, accepts his teacher’s challenge to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world. His idea is simple: do a good deed for three people and instead of asking them to return the favour, ask them to ‘pay it forward’ to three others who need help.
Restart
Gordon Korman
Grade 4-8
Subjects: Bullies and bullying, Fiction, Memory
Chase’s memory just went out the window. Chase doesn’t remember falling off the roof. He doesn’t remember hitting his head. He doesn’t, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again… starting with his own name. When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return. Pretty soon, it’s not only a question of who Chase is — it’s a question of who he was… and who he’s going to be.
Shadows of Disaster
Cathy Beveridge
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Landslides, Alberta, Frank, Fiction
In 1903, disguised as a boy, Jolene discovers a way to revitalize her father’s museum by preserving the story in history, and she prepares herself to take a few risks herself – as a girl.
Silverwing
Kenneth Oppel
Grade 4-8
Subjects: Bats, Fiction, Animal migrations
The thrilling story of Shade, a young silverwing bat, who is separated from his colony during the long winter migration, and finds himself on an incredible journey.
Slacker
Gordon Korman
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Social action, Fiction, Video games, Fiction, Responsibility, Brothers and sisters, Friendship, Middle school
When eighth-grader Cameron Boxer creates the Positive Action Group at school he intends it as a diversion to fool his parents, teachers, and sister into letting him continue to concentrate on his video-gaming but before he knows it other kids are taking it seriously.
Small Steps
Louis Sachar
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Juvenile delinquents, Rehabilitation, Fiction, Cerebral palsy, People with disabilities, Singers, Interpersonal relations, African
Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit seems to be on the right path until X-Ray, a buddy from the camp, comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme.
Stone Child
David A. Robertson
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Fantasy fiction, Indigenous Peoples, Fiction, Orphans, Foster families
After discovering a near-lifeless Eli at the base of the Great Tree, Morgan knows she doesn’t have much time to save him. And it will mean asking for help from friends old and new.
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
Jonathan Auxier
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Fantasy fiction, Historical fiction, London, Mythical creatures
For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on “climbing boys”- orphans owned by chimney sweeps – to clean flues and protect homes from fire. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived -and a girl. When Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. She wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature – the creature that saved her from the fire.
Touching Spirit Bear
Ben Mikaelsen
Grade 5-9
Subjects: Indigenous Peoples, Juvenile delinquency, Fiction
Ben Mikaelson delivers a powerful coming-of-age story of a boy who must overcome the effects that violence has had on his life. Mischief-maker Cole Matthews is in major trouble. But instead of jail time, Cole is given another option: attend an alternative program on a remote Alaskan Island. While there, Cole is mauled by a mysterious white bear and left for dead. Thoughts of his abusive parents, helpless Peter, and his own anger cause him to examine his actions and seek redemption.
Undercover Book List
Colleen Nelson
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Books and reading, Fiction, Friendship, Middle Schools, Identity
Tyson Flamand known as the class troublemaker. Jane MacDonald known as the bookworm. But when every note they send is anonymous, identity is suddenly what they make it.
War I Finally Won
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Grade 4-8
Subjects: Orphans, Fiction, World War, 1939-1945
When Ada’s clubfoot is surgically fixed at last, she knows for certain that she’s not what her mother said she was – damaged, deranged, crippled mentally as well as physically.
War that Saved My Life
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Grade 4-8
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945, Evacuation of civilians, Fiction, People with disabilities, Brothers and sisters, Great Britain, History
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.
Weird Rules to Follow
Kim Spencer
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Indigenous Peoples, Fiction
In the 1980s in the coastal fishing town of Prince Rupert eleven-year-old Mia and her best friend, Lara, have known each other since kindergarten. But even though they both live in the same cul-de-sac, Mia’s life is very different from her non-Indigenous, middle-class neighbor. Even though their differences never seemed to matter to the two friends, Mia begins to notice how adults treat her differently, just because she is Indigenous.
When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Space and time, Fiction, New York (N.Y.), History, 1951-, Fiction
Shortly after a fall-out with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, and she doesn’t know what to do. The notes tell her that she must write a letter—a true story, and that she can’t share her mission with anyone. It would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except that whoever is leaving them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that is the case, then Miranda has a big problem—because the notes tell her that someone is going to die, and she might be too late to stop it.
White Jade Tiger
Julie Lawson
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Time travel, Fiction, Adventure stories, Railroads, Canada, Canada, Post-Confederation
On a trip to Chinatown, thirteen-year-old Jasmine steps through a doorway in Fan Tan Alley and mysteriously finds herself in the early 1880s. Adventure begins with a new friend, a journey to the Fraser Canyon during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and a search for an ancient amulet. But Jasmine is not the only one searching for the white jade tiger…
Wildoak
C. C. Harrington
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Human-animal relationships, Fiction, Snow leopard, Self-confidence
Twelve-year-old Maggie’s stutter causes her much heartache and only her menagerie of pets, whom she can speak with fluidly, provide her comfort, but when she finds Rumpus, an abandoned snow leopard in a forest in Cornwall, their chance encounter will change their lives forever.
Wish
Barbara O’Connor
Grade 4-6
Subjects: Human-animal relationships, Fiction, Dogs, Family, Conduct of life
With the help of the dog of her dreams a girl discovers that family doesn’t always have to be related – they are simply people who love you for who you are.
Wildfire
Rodman Philbrick
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Adventure fiction, Wildfires
When flames race toward Sam Castine’s summer camp, he must run for his life. Drought has made the forest a tinderbox, and Sam struggles to remember survival tricks he learned from his late father. Then he encounters Delphy, an older girl who is also lost. Their friendship grows as they join forces to return to civilization.
Wishtree
Katherine Applegate
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Magic, Fiction, Community life, Friendship, Immigration and emigration
Red is the neighbourhood “wishtree” – people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo, this “wishtree” watches over the neighbourhood. When a new family moves in not everyone is welcoming and Red’s experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.
Within a painted past
Hazel Hutchins
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Adventure, Fiction, History
Lonely and a little insecure, 12-year-old Allison steps through a magical painting and into the Rocky Mountains of 1898. While trying to solve the mystery of her time travel, she also begins to explore her emerging sense of identity.
Wonder
R. J. Palacio
Grade 3-7
Subjects: Abnormalities, Human, Fiction, Self-acceptance, Middle schools
August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. In a world where bullying among young people is an epidemic, this is a refreshing new narrative full of heart and hope.
Word Nerd
Susin Nielsen
Grade 4-7
Subjects: Friendship, Fiction, Games, Bullying
Twelve-year-old Ambrose befriends twenty-five-year-old Cosmo after discovering a shared love of Scrabble. Cosmo introduces Ambrose to the West Side Scrabble Club where Ambrose is accepted and finds a place to call home.
