Kids Litspace Lists

Browse the books in the All Lit Up Kids Litspace by category.

Browse by Category

All Books in this Collection

Showing 97–112 of 143 results

  • Stormstruck

    Stormstruck

    By: Cathy Beveridge
    $9.95

    This historical time-travel novel, for children ten and up, is the third volume in Cathy Beveridge’s ongoing series on Canadian disasters. Once again we meet Jolene and her twin brother Michael, this time in an RV on the shores of the Great Lakes, where her father and grandfather are conducting research into the Great Storm of 1913.

    Away from home, twelve-year-old Jolene feels fragile and lost, lacking a sure sense of direction in her life. When Grandpa discovers a time crease that enables them to step back into 1913, Jolene embraces the opportunity, feeling that she may find some help for her self-doubts in witnessing an earlier time.

    At first, however, the past offers no answers. Jolene’s high-spirited new friend Em is a total mystery, and her ardent support of the suffragettes reinforces Jolene’s self-doubts. Then Em inadvertently leads the twins onto the Regina as the ship sails onto Lake Huron and into the Great Storm. When the order to abandon the sinking ship comes, they manage to escape and spend a night clinging to a raft in frigid waters. With her twin brother injured, Jolene is forced to draw on all her resources to allow the threesome to survive. In the process, she discovers her inner strength and a new passion for life.

  • Submarine Outlaw

    Submarine Outlaw

    By: Philip Roy
    $11.95

    Submarine Outlaw takes young adult readers on a unique journey when Alfred, a young boy who wants to be an explorer – not a fisherman, as his family demands – teams up with a junkyard genius to build a submarine that he sails around the Maritimes. The book takes the reader through the hands-on process of submarine construction into the world of real ocean navigation, replete with a high-seas chase, daring rescue and treasure hunting. Children will identify with Alfred’s desire for an adventurous life and the sense of empowerment that comes with building his own submarine and operating it independently. They will also love the unusual crew – a rescued dog and a quirky seagull. The First Prize Winner of the Atlantic Writers Competition, Submarine Outlaw shows how any great goal in life takes a good deal of patience, determination and hard work. But also how hard work on one’s dream becomes an act of joy.

    “Philip Roy’s Submarine Outlaw is a wildly imaginative story of adventure full of surprises and fast paced, yet there is also wisdom and insight to be found here.” – Lesley Choyce

    “Submarine Outlaw and its sequels have firmly established themselves as a riveting adventure series that has gathered a significant following who are anxiously awaiting this next installment. And they will not be disappointed! This personal quest and the internal struggles that it evokes for Alfred give this book a new dimension and allow his character to be more fully developed. . . . Roy continues to keep this series fresh and engaging. We will all join Alfred in anticipating his next voyage.” – Atlantic Books Today

    “A truly riveting adventure story, Submarine Outlaw will likely capture the heart and minds of all who have longed to escape the confines of their everyday world and try something exciting and even dangerous.” – janeonbooks.edublogs.org

    “A refreshing Canadian novel about following a dream.” – Resource Links

    “A terrific and uniquely imaginative premise for an Atlantic Canada novel for kids.” – The Chronicle Herald

    “Submarine Outlaw is so well written it is totally believable. Dramatic and touching. Highly recommended!” – Hi-Rise Newspaper

    “Submarine Outlaw is a fast-paced, adventure novel that leaves you wanting more. . . . I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a great read.” – What If? Magazine

  • Sultans of the Street

    Sultans of the Street

    By: Anusree Roy
    $15.95

    When young orphans Mala and Chun Chun encounter brothers Prakash and Ojha on the busy streets of Kolkata, they are immediately at odds. The brothers come from a lower-middle-class family and spend their time flying kites instead of attending class, while Mala and Chun Chun can only dream of going to school, a goal Aunty promises will be fulfilled if they beg for money from passersby. After a petty fruit-stall heist lands Ojha in Aunty’s cunning hands, the brothers are blackmailed into begging alongside Mala and Chun Chun, forcing the children to interact. Though they find each other nuisances at first, the kids soon realize their strength in numbers as Aunty’s scheming is slowly revealed.

  • Survivor’s Leave

    Survivor’s Leave

    By: Robert Sutherland
    $10.95

    It’s 1944, and two young Canadian able seamen, Glen Cassley and Arthur “Ding Dong” Bell, find their ship sinking beneath them after a German submarine unleashes an acoustic torpedo. Miraculously, everyone on board survives, and Glen shouts out triumphantly:

    “You know what this means, Ding? Survivor’s Leave. We qualify for Survivor’s Leave!”

    With fun and adventure on their minds, Glen and Ding set off for London. But there is no rest from battle, for the Germans have begun dropping a new kind of bomb, the horrific V-1s, or doodlebugs. When a neighbour and her baby are trapped under their collapsed and burning home, an injured Glen is on the frontlines.

    Glen and Ding then accept an offer to travel to Cornwall where they are to stay in a rundown manor house, Penraven. Their stay turns out to be more exciting than the boys could have imagined. Built atop a cave-riddled cliff, Penraven has been the home of smuggling, murder, dungeons and ghosts. To add to the excitement, the boys meet two young English girls who turn out to be charming company!

    But the young seamen soon discover that sinister forces have an interest in what lies hidden below Penraven, for the Nazis have hatched an unprecedented scheme involving biological warfare, and it seems the caves are the perfect place from which to set the destruction in motion.

  • Sus Yoo / The Bear’s Medicine

    Sus Yoo / The Bear’s Medicine

    $19.95

    A mother bear shares with her cubs how to be grateful for all they have in the natural world. The Bear’s Medicine shows the interconnectedness of all things in the world they live in and how each season brings changes and blessings for the bears. It is a story of a mother’s love for her children as she teaches them how to survive.

    Written in English and Dakelh.

  • Swept Away

    Swept Away

    By: Natalie Hyde

    Swept Away

  • Tainted Amber

    Tainted Amber

    By: Gabriele Goldstone
    $12.95

    It’s 1937, and Katya-working as a servant girl on a Trakehner horse estate in East Prussia-dreams of being a writer. One hot June day, with Thomas Mann as her muse, and Minna Epstein as her friend, Katya heads to Rauschen, a spa town on the Baltic. Helmut and David, the estate owner’s two sons, accompany them. The foursome pairs off-Minna and Helmut, David and Katya-and things go from peaceful and predictable to dramatic and unsettling.
    By summer’s end, Minna leaves for Vienna, ostensibly, to study acting. The new girl who replaces her-Gretchen-is an avid Nazi supporter. She and Helmut, an aspiring SS recruit, soon become a couple.
    Meanwhile, David and Katya enjoy riding in the East Prussian countryside. One evening, David has a seizure. According to the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, he must be sterilized.
    David and Katya struggle to salvage their relationship, while babies seem to crop up everywhere. Katya attends a cousin’s baby shower and Gretchen deals with morning sickness. Throughout the story, Minna and Katya exchange letters and Minna finally reveals her own unwanted pregnancy.
    Breeding Trakehner horses might be an exact science, but breeding perfect Aryans is much more complicated.

  • Taking a Chance on Love

    Taking a Chance on Love

    By: Mary Razzell
    $11.95

    Falling in love creates an enchanted time, and when it’s on the magical Sunshine Coast of British Columbia during the Second World War, it is never to be forgotten. The increased emotions of a country at war and the heartache as many of the young men join up to serve their country are always present. A special music becomes the background. It is the era of the big band, and Glen Miller, Count Basie and Frank Sinatra top the Hit Parade on the radio each week. For Meg, who is seventeen, it is a special time, but she is also living in an isolated village. She has only one other girl for company, and the highlight of the day is the daily arrival of Union Steamship with the mail and supplies. A summer job at the local guesthouse introduces her to a number of boys with whom she strikes up a friendship. But it is Bruce, a young naval officer who has been badly burned in the Battle of the Atlantic, who most interests her. He’s bitter, she’s naive, but they fall in love. And yes, they live happily ever after.

  • Tenth Pupil, The

    Tenth Pupil, The

    By: Constance Horne
    $8.95

    The Tenth Pupil, for readers eight to fourteen, is set in a small logging camp on Vancouver Island in 1934. Eleven-year-old Trudy Paige enjoys her life in Mellor’s Camp. She has a loving family, a shaggy dog, friends, a swimming hole, a fishing stream, books to read, wild animals to lend a touch of danger, and a friend in Vancouver to visit. She especially enjoys school, until the government threatens to close the school because there are only nine children, and ten are legally required if the government is to fund the school.

    Unexpectedly, Shigi, a Japanese boy, becomes the tenth pupil. Trudy is delighted, but other people in the camp are not pleased and Trudy discovers a dark side to life. Over the school year, she witnesses several incidents of prejudice against the Japanese, including a frightening riot in Little Tokyo in Vancouver. Trudy is faced with a dilemma: should she succumb to the prejudice in the camp in order to fit in or should she defy them all and continue to be Shigi’s friend?

    This historical novel for young adults offers a taste of logging camp life just at the time when railway logging was giving way to truck logging, and when children were still used to beat out the sparks from the locomotives. Horne offers an insightful account of racism in the pre-WWII period, but does so while giving both the Japanese-Canadian and Euro-Canadian points of view.

  • The Airplane Ride

    The Airplane Ride

    By: Howard White
    $16.95

    “Recommended… 3 stars out of 4.”-Stephanie Yamniuk, CM Magazine.Since its publication in 1993, thousands of children have enjoyed the whimsical text and illustrations of The Ferryboat Ride and its companion volume, The Ferryboat Ride Colouring Book. These bestselling titles have garnered praise from teachers, parents and young people, with more than 12,000 copies sold to date.Now, Greta Guzek takes her colourful paintings to the air, this time accompanied by text by award-winning author Howard White.In The Airplane Ride, a young boy gets on a plane for the first time to go visit his grandparents, and we experience the newness of his journey along with him. From the sculptures of the Vancouver Airport to the expanse of the Rockies, the Prairies and the Great Lakes, The Airplane Ride captures the grandeur of the Canadianlandscape.With its delightful combination of winning illustration and simple, playful text, The Airplane Ride is a surefire children’s classic.

  • The Beggar King

    The Beggar King

    By: Michelle Barker
    $15.95

    ?The world is merely wallpaper. Hide behind it. ?

    At last Jordan Elliott has a gift. He can disappear?but at what price? The Beggar King never gives without taking. Jordan is about to discover that everything has an underside: even magic, even him.

    A political coup on Jordan?s fifteenth birthday brings the disappearance of many Cirrans, including his mother. Brinnian guards have imprisoned them at an unknown location.

    The time is also coming for Jordan to choose a vocation and take his robes, and not a single talent has revealed itself besides a gift for mischief. On his sixteenth birthday he risks everything in a defiant act punishable by hanging. The guards spot him; he is doomed.

    When the Beggar King offers him the gift of disappearing, he has no choice but to accept. Who is this man, anyway? No one believes there?s such thing as a Beggar King.

    But there is, and he means to bring back the undermagic, a dangerous dark power from long ago. Jordan needs this power to save his mother, so he agrees to help the sorcerer. But he discovers that the undermagic is difficult to give up once you?ve tried it. And there is always a price, a terrible price, which the Beggar King does not name in advance.

  • The Book of Us

    The Book of Us

    By: Shane Peacock

  • The Boy Who Saw the Colour of Air

    The Boy Who Saw the Colour of Air

    By: Abdo Wazen
    $16.95

    Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited. At thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write. Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind. At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious and cultural differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities.

  • The Call of the Rift: Crest

    The Call of the Rift: Crest

    By: Jae Waller
    $23.95

    Step through the portal into a world ravaged by chaotic spirits and corrupted magic in the third book of The Call of the Rift high fantasy series.

    Kateiko Rin lives a quiet life with her parents and her people in the coastal rainforest. Everything changes when her estranged uncle washes up on their shores, harried and half-dead, trailed by two blue-eyed children no one knew existed. To protect her family, Kateiko secrets away her young cousins. Caring for them includes hiding their ties to the Rúonbattai, a warlike cult trying to claim the land for themselves along with as many lives as they can. With the immigrant mage Tiernan and his companions Jorumgard and Nerio, Kateiko enters into the fray, facing strange, dangerous magic that unwinds the fabric of time. She must end the war before it tears the land, and her family, apart.

    In the third book in The Call of the Rift series, Jae Waller invites us into another dimension and introduces an alternate version of her captivating heroine in a world full of familiar and unknown faces, including many we thought long dead.

  • The Compassionate Imagination

    The Compassionate Imagination

    By: Max Wyman

    The Compassionate Imagination

  • The Dead Kid Detective Agency

    The Dead Kid Detective Agency

    By: Evan Munday
    $9.95

    Thirteen-year-old October Schwartz is new in town, short on friends, and the child of a clinically depressed science teacher. Naturally, she spends most of her time in the Sticksville Cemetery, which just happens to border her backyard. And that backyard just happens to be the home of five dead teenagers, each from a different era of the past: there’s the dead United Empire Loyalist! The dead escaped slave who made her way north via the Underground Railroad! The dead quintuplet!Soon, October befriends the five dead kids. Together — using October’s smarts and the dead kids’ abilities to walk through walls and get around undetected and stuff — they form The Dead Kid Detective Agency, committed to solving Sticksville’s most mysterious mysteries. October’s like Nancy Drew, if she’d hung out with corpses.When Sticksville Central High School’s beloved French teacher dies in a suspicious car accident, it provides the agency with its first bona fide case. Soon October and her five dead friends find themselves in the midst of a nefarious murder plot, thick with car chases, cafeteria fights, sociopathic math teachers, real estate appointments, and a wacky adventure that might uncover the truth about a bomb that exploded almost 40 years ago.