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Middle Grade
A selection of middle grade fiction titles featured on ALU’s Kids’ Litspace.
All Books in this Collection
Showing 33–48 of 67 results
My Sister’s Girlfriend
$13.95Fifth grader Talia Cohen-Sullivan isn’t sure how she feels about boys, crushes, and the love thing even though her best friend, Carmen, is already dreaming about kissing–and it’s only September. Losing her mom to cancer a few years ago made Talia afraid of change, though she still has her big sister, Jade, to help her through hard times. But when she sees Jade kissing a girl, Talia is suddenly thrust into a world she doesn’t understand and faces important decisions. With the help of her therapist, and Carmen, and Jade herself, Talia learns that love has many faces; love might even be something she’s interested in soon . . . for herself.
Teacher resources available on publisher website:https://www.rebelmountainpress.com/my-sisters-girlfriend–teacher-resources.html
Northern Kids
$12.95Children and teenagers experience Canada’s North in a way that adults do not. They have shaped its history, and yet how often are they asked to tell its story? Northern Kids is a collection of tales about the unforgettable young people of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and remote regions of the western provinces. Based on personal interviews and thorough archival research, each true story is narrated in the voice of a young northerner. Travel along with these kids as they hunt for caribou or hidden gold, mush a dogsled team, climb over the Chilkoot Pass, float down the Yukon River on a homemade raft, and explore the Arctic tundra through every season. While Northern Kids celebrates the independent spirit of young north?erners—their wilderness skills, sense of humour and love of fun—it also takes an unflinching look at their hardships. At the end of each story, a section called “What do we know for sure?” offers the reader detail and historical context. This is the fourth book in the Courageous Kids series, which includes Kidmonton: True Stories of River City Kids, Rocky Mountain Kids, Island Kids, and now Northern Kids. For more about this exciting series, please visit www.courageouskids.ca.
Old Brown Suitcase, The
$14.95The Old Brown Suitcase, an award winning book that has sold extraordinarily well both nationally and internationally, now appears in a new edition by Ronsdale Press. The novel narrates the absorbing story of a young girl who survived the Holocaust against all odds.
At age fourteen, Slava comes to Canada with her parents and sister and a suitcase filled with memories of a lost childhood, memories that now haunt her new life. She cannot forget the hunger, stench and disease in the Warsaw Ghetto, nor the fear and humiliation of being incarcerated behind a high brick wall. She cannot forget her extraordinary escape from the Ghetto when she walked alone through the gate while the guards were looking the other way. Nor can she forget being swallowed up in a strange and unknown place to survive under a hidden identity.
The story juxtaposes heart-wrenching scenes from a child’s life in war-torn Poland with the life of a teenager trying to adjust to a new country in time of peace. In Canada, it is not easy for Slava to build a bridge between two cultures; nor is it easy to live with the turmoil of her immediate past. At the same time she must face the new challenges involved in being an immigrant, a Jew and a teenage girl. This new edition appends notes on the Warsaw ghetto and a bibliography for future reading.
Outlaw in India
$11.95In Outlaw in India, the fifth volume in the best-selling Submarine Outlaw series, Alfred and his crew of Seaweed the seagull and Hollie the dog begin their exploration of India with a piece of bad luck when they surface behind a frigate and bring the wrath of the Indian navy down upon them. After a near fatal encounter off Kochi, Alfred befriends a ten-year-old homeless and illiterate but highly intelligent boy, and is given the chance to explore the changing face of India through the eyes of one of its “untouchables.” Discovering India to be an ancient land filled with extremes of beauty, wealth, tradition and danger, Alfred is tricked into making an overland pilgrimage to Varanasi, one of the world’s oldest cities. Along the journey he witnesses practices which deny human equality and dignity, but also happy events that celebrate the spirit of new beginnings, as personified in Ganesh, the Hindu god with four arms and the head of an elephant. Alfred cannot help falling in love with India, the most beautiful place he has ever seen. And for the first time, he leaves a part of himself behind.
“Perhaps the most imposing character in Outlaw in India is not a character at all. It is India. The country, as Alfred experiences it, is a living entity, a complicated being of the expected (e.g., the heat and amazing foods) and the surprising (e.g., discrimination and kindness). Though the series could easily be promoted as a great adventure series for boys, the Submarine Outlaw books will continue to garner fans of both genders for its great characters and adventure with a frisson of the impossible and the hope for everything working out well (a.k.a. the happy ending). Readers will continue to find all that here in Outlaw in India, fresh and engrossing, just as each new book in the series has offered.” – CanLit for Little Canadians
“Outlaw in India . . . is a stand-alone novel that can be enjoyed without reading the others. . . . The plot is full of incident and excitement. . . . This fifth volume is the best Submarine Outlaw book yet. It’s a fast-paced, fun read with interesting themes that will appeal to anyone who likes travel and adventure. Highly Recommended.” – CM Magazine
“[T]houghtful and philosophical . . . a Humanities curriculum would be well served to add . . . [Outlaw in India] . . . to a list of recommended reads in multicultural literature.” – The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature
Lexile Measure: 700L
Peanut Butter And Chaos
$12.95Nominated for a 2023/24 Red Cedar Award
Nominated for the 2024 MYRCA Sundogs!
When twelve-year-old Sam is struck by a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky, he suddenly sees everything in pixels. His life is further upended by Flum, a non-binary being from a parallel world, a missing neighbour, and astonishing powers that may not last long. Science and magic collide as Sam races to solve a mystery and help Flum return home. But what happens when solving one mystery sparks another?Peanut Butter and Chaos is a middle grade fantasy grounded in science.
Pete’s Gold
$10.95Pete’s Gold, a novel for readers ten and up, is a captivating book of adventure that will appeal in particular to boys. Luanne Armstrong takes the classic adventure story of the search for gold and updates it with the inclusion of a young boy’s contemporary problems. Pete has been sent to stay with his grandmother in the country for the summer because his parents are splitting up. At first, he thinks country life will be boring, but that is before he hears of a hidden stash of gold – gold that may allow his grandmother to keep the farm that is heavily mortgaged. Along the way, Pete makes new friends. He also finds himself being chased by a ghost, trapped in a cave with a skeleton, and lost on the far side of the lake, far from help. Through the stories told by his grandmother, and with the companionship of a wonderful dog, Pete begins to discover what really matters to him. Although he has always had a hard time talking to adults, by helping his grandmother, Pete discovers a new sense of maturity and self-confidence. In this adventurous but sensitive story, Luanne Armstrong draws us into a world of discovery, fun, friendship and family.
Pickles vs. the Zombies
Pirate Glitterbeard
$14.95Alone In his cabin, Pirate Glitterbeard sprinkled pink glitter onto his beard and put on his finest pink skirt!
All aboard The Heart’s Desire! Pirate Glitterbeard loves everything pink and glittery. Will his crew rebel when they find out? In this rollicking sea tale, the captain and his quirky crew journey to find their treasure – the Wikkie-Tikkie’s legendary meat pies. But, argh, evil Pirate Squidlips and her ship, The Rotten Turnip draw near…
teacher resources available https://www.rebelmountainpress.com/pirate-glitterbeard-teacher-resources.html
Project Superhero
$13.95Join 13-year-old Jessie as she keeps a diary of her class’s yearlong research project on superheroes, which culminates in the Superhero Slam: a head-to-head debate battle! It’s shy, comics-obsessed Jessie’s dream come true . . . and worst nightmare. She decides to champion Batgirl, a regular person (albeit with major talent and training under her utility belt), and soon Jessie wonders what it would take to be Batgirl. Will she prove to her best friends, Cade and Audrey, that she’s more than a sidekick? Can she take down archenemy Dylan at the Slam?Combining science facts, lively illustrations, and comic-book trivia with actual correspondence from superhumans such as NYPD Sergeant Mike Bruen, Olympian Clara Hughes, and Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, Project Superhero is a celebration of the heroes among us and of one girl’s super-secret identity: herself.
Radio Jet Lag
“A gem of a novel.” — Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour
Stephen Millburn moved halfway across the country, from Ottawa to Victoria, to fulfill his dream of being an early-morning radio host, but he’s barely holding it together. Trying to balance parental duties (he and his wife have a newborn son) with his work schedule leaves Stephen running on coffee fumes and falling asleep at the most inconvenient times, including mid-broadcast.
Stephen treads a narrow path at CIFU. When he arrived, the station ranked dead last in ratings. Months into his new hosting position, his show and the station are growing in popularity. He’s something of a golden boy — but he’s a golden boy with a passion for good journalism, which leads him to pursue a story about an encampment of unhoused people on the lawns of the city’s court house.
Bleeding heart liberalism is not the stuff that Mr. George Caulfeild, station owner, believes his new audience wants to hear at eight a.m. and Stephen finds himself in a seriously conflicted position. He needs this job to support his growing family and pay down his crippling mortgage, but he knows this exposé is ethically and politically important — and it’s a journalist’s dream story. Will he be able to pull it all together or is he heading for a downfall?
River Odyssey
$11.95In the third volume of the Submarine Outlaw Series, Alfred sets off in his submarine up the dark and wilful St. Lawrence River. With Hollie and Seaweed, his dog and seagull crew, Alfred follows the route of Jacques Cartier, nearly five hundred years before them, as they sail down the Strait of Belle Isle into the largest river mouth in the world. But the St. Lawrence is a treacherous river, concealing many dangers beneath its surface, not least of all the cursed and ghostly Empress of Ireland, a sunken ocean-liner that has claimed the lives of over a thousand people and that reaches up to entangle the sub as they pass. Alfred must sail to Montreal to confront the man who abandoned him at birth – his father. Only then will he escape the unfinished business that haunts him. But is the quest worth the danger? And why is Alfred plagued with bad luck? Is someone, or something, trying to turn him back?
“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
“The age-old quest for the father gives depth to this exciting adventure story. Readers who discover the Submarine Outlaw in this book will want to read his earlier adventures and will eagerly await the next one. Highly recommended.” – CM Magazine
“Great books for reluctant readers. The language is clear and simple, the plot is full of exciting episodes-completely engaging.” – Kim Aippersbach
Rocky Mountain Kids
$12.95With careful research and imagination, author Linda Goyette has created a collection of 25 stories based on the true stories of named children of the past and present.
Too often the youngest Canadians are erased from our historical memory. Rocky Mountain Kids provides firstperson creative non-fiction narratives from the region’s children, many of whom went on to be influential adults. In the style of its successful predecessor, Kidmonton, these are lively and entertaining stories, but they don’t flinch in their description of hardship and heroism. Balanced and well-researched, Goyette writes of First Nations, Métis, immigrant and settler children as well as contemporary kids of the Rockies, with informative postscript to help readers distinguish between the fact and the fiction. Against the timeless backdrop of the Rockies, we can all embrace a sense of childhood wonder.
Please visit www.courageouskids.ca for more information on the whole Courageous Kids series.
Rosa Rose
$10.00Silver Medal for the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards
Honorable mention in the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry
From Terry Fox to Ghandi, Rosa Parks to Elijah Harper, Robert Priest has collected some of his most inspiring poems together in this book for young people. Priest, an award-winning poet and musician, has written these thought-provoking poems to introduce children to men and women across the planet that have changed the world. Illustrated with bold line drawings by Joan Krygsman, Rosa Rose is a captivating book sure to delight all readers.
Semi-Detached
Semi-Detached
Shadows of Disaster
$15.95“Sometimes it’s good to take a risk.” Twelve-year-old Jolene knows that her grandfather’s words are true, but she’s not a risk-taker like her twin brother. Frustrated, Jolene convinces herself that it would be easier to take risks if she were a boy. Her grandfather disagrees, but then her father thinks her grandfather might be as crazy as his old stories. For her part, Jolene thinks her father, who’s trying to preserve history in a Museum of Disasters, is the crazy one.
Jolene learns the truth when they take a trip to the Crowsnest Pass to research the Frank Slide, and she discovers that her grandfather has found a way to step back into time. In 1903, disguised as a boy, Jolene must face the wrath of an impatient teacher, challenge her ability as a gymnast, and disentangle herself from an embarrassing love triangle. She must also face the fact that the generous people of the town of Frank are living in the path of disaster and she cannot save them.
She can, however, save herself and her grandfather and does so in a desperate race against time. But the lessons of the past are not lost in the present. 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. An historical novel for readers age nine and up, Shadows of Disaster brings to life Canada’s deadliest rockslide through a portrait of a young girl learning to be her own self.
Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I.
Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I.