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Kids Litspace Lists

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

Browse by Category

All Books in this Collection

  • The Medusa Deep

    The Medusa Deep

    $15.00

    Nate Silva has enough to deal with at home, with a house full of unwanted relatives and the scars from his last encounters with the Resurrection Church of the Ancient Gods keeping him up at night, so there is no way he is looking west, no matter who warns him. But before he knows it, Nate finds himself press-ganged into service on Sorcerer, the airship that’s haunted his dreams since the last midnight games, and quickly discovers its terrifying secrets. Now Nate is headed just where he doesn’t want to go, to the Pacific Ocean, where a Great Old One, trapped for decades in the wreckage of a sunken ship, schemes to rise again from the undersea abyss called the Medusa Deep.

    In this electrifying follow-up to his award-winning young adult novel The Midnight Games, David Neil Lee takes Nate Silva to the rain-swept Pacific coast. There, with old and new friends, he once more confronts an ancient evil, all while the Resurrection Church threatens to return to power at home.

  • The Mitochondrial Curiosities of Marcels 1 to 19

    The Mitochondrial Curiosities of Marcels 1 to 19

    $13.95

    Her hands lay inert and upturned on her lap – probably stunned, she thinks, by the hideousness of the skirt underneath them. Centre seam puckered, zipper mangled, it’s handmade in a way that makes people say, ‘Did you sew that yourself?’ when they mean, ‘How can you wear that thing?’ But she made it the day after he died, and she talked to him in her head the whole time. Which is why it looks like hell and why she had to wear it anyway.

    Biology is not Dree’s thing. Equally heinous are English, Social Studies, her sister and mother, not to mention Edmonton in general. Toronto is where she belongs – specifically the upcoming Renegade Craft Fair.

    Mercifully, escape is imminent: on her fifteenth birthday, she will get the special fund her father promised, and the day after that, she’ll be on WestJet Flight 233 to Toronto. Instead, her dad has a fatal heart attack, and all she finds are clues leading to the ominous Alberta Psychiatric Hospital where her parents once worked.

    Along the way: two fires, a family scandal, nineteen sassy sock creatures named Marcel, a new friend, a mystery, a stepmother who’s maybe sympathetic after all, the unceasing misery of school and the search for a proper way to grieve a father.

    Instructions for renegade crafts and associated illustrations included.

    ‘Every now and then, a novel that is as solid as steel lands in readers’ hands. A novel that needs the right proportion of its own hardening agents to deliver on the page. The Mitochondrial Curiosities of Marcels 1-19 is such a book … Brown’s prose is astonishing.’

    Vancouver Sun

    ‘In this debut … Jocelyn Brown transcends … genre with a novel of depth and texture, rich with incident and very contemporary dialogue. She takes her readers deep into the complicated psyche of her narrator and heroine (yes, that’s the right word), which is, as it turns out, exactly where her readers will want to be, richocheting from one OMG to another.’

    Globe and Mail

    ‘This novel is about as strangely and intricately knotted as one of Dree’s craft creations, and as hilariously fascinating.’

    Quill and Quire

    ‘Brown’s complex characters, unusual narrative style and fabulously quirky dialogue make this a fun book with layer after layer to uncover.’

    Geist Magazine

  • The Moon King

    The Moon King

    $14.95

    ***BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS AND TEENS 2020, PICTURE BOOKS***
    When the magical Moon King tips over the night, it spills across the land and sea, and he seeks the help of animals big and small to collect the stars and return them to the sky. In this beautifully illustrated bedtime story, Cara Kansala weaves an enchanting fable destined to become a children’s classic—the perfect way to welcome the night and celebrate the wonder of dreams.
  • The Patron Saint of Stanley Park

    The Patron Saint of Stanley Park

    $16.95

    Siblings Josh and Jennifer are coping with the loss of their father, who disappeared in a float plane accident on Christmas Eve one year ago. While Josh scours the Internet for proof that his father is still alive, Jennifer rebels against his denial and their mother Marcia’s efforts to return the family to normalcy. When Marcia insists that Josh and Jennifer spend Christmas Eve with relatives, the children instead set out for Stanley Park to honour their father’s memory. Trapped by a catastrophic storm, the children are rescued by Skookum Pete, a strange vagabond who takes them to a fantastical bunker beneath the Prospect Point café, where they experience wondrous visions that help them understand the truth about their father and the healing power of love.

  • The Possible Lives of W.H., Sailor

    The Possible Lives of W.H., Sailor

    $15.99

    ?What truths would you utter from your mouth
    If you could tell us your story?
    ? The Possible Lives of W.H., Sailor

    In this powerful and deeply moving poetic narrative, author/artist Bushra Junaid gives presence to W.H., a mysterious nineteenth-century sailor whose remains were discovered in Labrador in the late 1980s. What little can be deduced about W.H. archaeologically is that he was of African heritage, and buried alone on the coast of a forbidding landscape. Junaid?s poem embraces the mystery of W.H., ponders his life?who he might have been, how he might have lived? and in so doing not only offers a daring look at the history of the African experience in North America, but claims as kin a man isolated, alone, and until now, forgotten.

    The Possible Lives of W.H., Sailor was inspired by ?What Carries Us: Newfoundland and Labrador in the Black Atlantic?, an exhibition that Junaid curated at The Rooms (St. John?s, NL) in 2020. The book includes a timeline about the Black experience in North America, as well as helpful material for further discussion.

  • The Rule of Thirds

    The Rule of Thirds

    $9.95

    A fresh voice in YA fiction brings a charming heroine to life in this series debutSixteen-year-old Pippa Greene never goes anywhere without her camera. She and her best friend/supermodel-in-training Dace long ago mapped out their life plan: Pippa will be the noted fashion photographer, and Dace the cover girl. But ever since last spring, things have changed for Pippa — and her junior year at Spalding High proves to have its own set of challenges. Not only is Vantage Point, the statewide photography competition, in three short weeks, but her mandatory volunteer placement lands her at St. Christopher’s Hospital, a place Pippa never wanted to set foot in again. With humour and pluck, she navigates her new role as a candy striper (watch out for Code Yellows), her changing relationship with her best friend (goodbye Honesty Pact), and — perhaps most stressful of all — her new love interests (yes, love interests plural).Will Pippa make it to Vantage Point without having a panic attack? Will either one of the guys prove less sketchy than her last boyfriend? Can she and Dace figure out a way to dream big and be best friends? One thing is certain: real life is a lot more complicated than a photograph.

  • The Street Belongs to Us

    The Street Belongs to Us

    $14.95

    A sweet middle-grade chapter book about two best friends who transform their torn-up street into a world where imaginations can run wild.

    In 1984 Los Angeles, Alex is a tomboy who would rather wear her hair short and her older brother’s hand-me-downs, and Wolf is a troubled kid who’s been wearing the same soldier’s uniform ever since his mom died. They temporarily set their worries aside when their street is torn up by digging machines and transformed into a muddy wonderland with endless possibilities. To pass the hot summer days, the two best friends seize the opportunity to turn Muscatel Avenue into a battleground and launch a gleeful street war against the rival neighbourhood kids.

    But when Alex and Wolf make their headquarters inside a deep trench, Alex’s grandmother warns them that some buried things want to be found and some want to stay hidden and forgotten. Although she has the wisdom of someone who has survived the Mexican Revolution, the Spanish Flu, and immigration to a new country, the kids ignore her warning, unearthing more than they bargained for.

    The exuberant and expressive line drawings by Gabriela Godoy perfectly capture the summers of youth, when anything feels possible and an adventure is always around the corner. Bursting with life and feeling, both the people and the land come alive in a tale interwoven with Mexican-American identity, experience, and history. The Street Belongs to Us is a story of family, friendship, and unconditional acceptance, even when it breaks your heart.

    Ages 8 to 12.

  • The Tales of Dwipa

    The Tales of Dwipa

    $14.95

    ***2023 IPPY AWARDS: MULTI CULTURAL NONFICTION – JUVENILE-YOUNG ADULT***

    Through a framework of traditional tales, fantastic creatures struggle with issues of marginalization, opening discussion for parents and children in an accessible form.

    The Tales Of Dwipa is a collection of short stories adapted from the Panchatantra, a collection of simple, engaging, and interrelated animal tales penned by Pandit Vishnu Sharma in the hopes of awakening the dim intelligence of a powerful Indian king’s idle sons. The ancient stories of the Panchatantra still find meaning in today’s world despite originating in India before 300 BCE. These stories are set in a Canadian context with topical themes, bringing together two distinct cultures—Indian and Canadian—for the most impressionable minds of our society.

  • Things That Go Bump: Plays for Young Audiences

    Things That Go Bump: Plays for Young Audiences

    $24.95

    These six recent Canadian plays for elementary school age audiences is a companion volume to 2009’s Things That Go Bump, Volume 1.

    Lig & Bittle by Elyne Quan and Jared Matsunaga-Turnbull:

    The story of Lig, who is big, and Bittle, who is little, as they embark on a funny, wild and adventure-filled journey to a place called Perfeckt Phitt, in hopes that they’ll find somewhere to belong.

    A Giraffe in Paris by Mark Haroun:
    When the young Prince of Egypt sets out to bring a giraffe to the King of France in Paris, blistering heat, crocodiles, a scheming circus ringleader and growling wolves are just some of the adventures that mark their cross-continental journey.

    The Secret Life of the Octopus by Clem Martini:
    When Leah and Willis are forced to serve their detentions in their school’s gloomy science room they reluctantly meet and then become attached to the mysterious eight-legged occupant of the corner aquarium.

    Bluenose by Emil Sher:
    Three bumbling, colonizing, red-nosed pirates get more than they bargained for when a blue-nosed captive punctures their assumptions and beliefs.

    The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh by Chris Craddock:
    All her life, people have told Jamie Cavanaugh to “Slow down!” Jamie knows she is developing Super Speed, but her parents suggest the culprit might actually be ADHD.

    Under the Big Top by Jan Derbyshire: About to be heads over heels in love, ZooZoo hesitates; why did her happy-go-lucky clown parents divorce, when they were all under the big top and living the happy dream?

  • Thirty Poems for Children

    Thirty Poems for Children

    $15.95

    With vivid imagery and an appealing use of Arabic meters and rhymes, the poems in this book explore nature, family, school, play, and boundless world of the imagination. The diverse themes and sounds in Thirty Poems for Children cultivate cognitive and contemplative senses along with unique layout and drawings of the book. The 30 poems deliver an important educational message in simple, yet captivating language, and prompt children to think creatively through the senses and the imagination.

  • Time of Treason

    Time of Treason

    $15.95

    Picking up where Edge of Time left off, Time of Treason continues the story of Riley and Alec, otherwise normal teens whose special genetic traits grant them powers they are only now learning to control – powers that also make them targets for the extraterrestrial Tyons. Riley and Alec travel back in time to the start of their adventures, courtesy of Alec’s creepy time shifting abilities. But instead of fixing things, it’s made everything much worse. The Tyons tracked their time shift and are hot on their heels, and Rhozan is back, more dangerous than ever. After a brazen attack, Alec finds himself out of the frying pan and definitely into the fire. Can Riley save him? Or is Alec just a pawn of time?

  • Tommy’s Fairy Tales

    Tommy’s Fairy Tales

    $14.95

    Does our childhood really end when we are no longer afraid to look under the bed? Join Tommy the magical dwarf, Flammeus the owl, and a host of other original and amusing characters in this lively and inventive collection of adventures for children of all ages, penned by award-winning writer Giorgi Kekelidze and illustrated vibrantly and heart-warmingly by Salome Khotivari.

  • Torn from Troy

    Torn from Troy

    $11.95

    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 them. As the Greeks fight off the angry Cicones, weather a storm that pushes them far beyond charted waters, and nearly succumb to the blandishments of the bewitching Lotus-eaters, he realizes that they are not the demons they were said to be, but people like himself.

    At the same time, Alexi’s quick thinking, bravery, and the healing skills that he learned from his father prove to his captors that he is no ordinary slave. His key role in their escape from the Cyclops earns the respect of his master, Odysseus, and a striking discovery during their escape gives his life a newfound purpose.

    Straddling the boundary between historical fiction and mythology, Torn from Troy is written in a hard, realistic style and brings to life the travails of a bronze-age slave of the Greeks in a form that will appeal especially to teen boys. While this book is the first volume of the author’s Odyssey of a Slave trilogy, it is a compelling and fully-realized work on its own.

  • Tough Case

    Tough Case

    $16.95

    Sixteen-year-old Dane and his mom have relocated to Nova Scotia hoping to flee an abusive relationship with Dane’s father. In the midst of this, Dane has been getting into trouble with the law. He’s been caught breaking into and vandalizing an elderly woman’s home and is about to be charged with a host of serious offences unless he participates in a court-ordered restorative-justice program. With dreams of joining the military, Dane decides to co-operate so a criminal record won’t follow him. There he meets Nessa, a social worker who grew up in a tough north Halifax housing project and the only person able to connect with Dane. A contemporary story about one teen’s journey through the restorative justice system, a mother fighting for her son, the scared and angry victims of a senseless crime, and the mediator who helps them all come together.

  • Vancouver Kids

    Vancouver Kids

    $12.95

    Children and teenagers stroll between the skyscrapers in Vancouver and experience the city in a different way than adults do. They have helped Vancouver transform from humble trading post to towering metropolis, yet how often are they asked to tell their side of the story? Vancouver Kids is a collection of tales about the unforgettable young people of the city of Vancouver. Based on personal interviews and thorough archival research, each true story is narrated in the voice of a young Vancouverite. Join in the adventure as these kids dodge the first cars on newly paved streets, watch the famous Stanley Park take shape, gaze up at brand new high-rises, and even learn the secrets—and dangers—behind big city crime.

    Vancouver Kids arrives just in time to celebrate the 125th birthday of the city of Vancouver. It is the fifth book in the Courageous Kids series, which includes Kidmonton: Stories of River City Kids, Rocky Mountain Kids, Island Kids, and Northern Kids. For more about this exciting series, please visit www.courageouskids.ca.

  • Where the Crooked Lighthouse Shines

    Where the Crooked Lighthouse Shines

    $19.95

    A dark, fantastical collection of narrative poems that draw on unique elements of Newfoundland and Labrador culture and folklore.

    Intended to be read aloud, Where the Crooked Lighthouse Shines draws on Newfoundland and Labrador’s long tradition of lyric storytelling, making whimsical use of rhyme and rhythm. 

    Young readers will enjoy the humour in the verse while seeing how problems (even the dark and scary ones) can be resolved without losing one’s sense of playfulness and wonder.