young adult NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

His Sweet Favour
Diane Tucker

ISBN: 978-1-897235-64-5/ trade paper
$16.95 CAD / Ages 13+

Meet Favour Wyatt and her friends, Leith, Maryruth, Brady and Rick, grade twelve students at Mooney Secondary in Vancouver. Bonded by the dream of having their own theatre company, the group’s friendship is challenged by two events: Leith believes he has been given a message, “Darkness and light must join and be one, or every good promise will be broken”; and, Favour and Leith begin a serious relationship. Favour now wrestles with how to love someone and retain her sense of self, and as the friends rehearse for their final high school performance, each adopts different attitudes toward Leith’s message and toward each other, with profound consequences for all. His Sweet Favour explores the real-life drama of first love, peer pressure, failure and self-determination, and is a passionate exploration of friendship’s double-edged sword: friends can hold you captive or set you free.

“His Sweet Favour is so alive, you’ll swear that Favour, the budding actress narrator and heroine of this book, was an actual honey-haired girl who came of age and learned about love during her final year of high school in the 1980s. You won’t be able to stop thinking about her (or the rest of the cast of characters in this highly readable, virtuoso performance of a sad and “sweet” story), and you’ll see — you’ll wish the book would never end.”
— Russell Thornton, author of House Built of Rain

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Einstein Dog
Craig Spence

ISBN: 978-1-897235-65-2 / trade paper
$14.95 CAD / Ages 9-13

Bertrand Smith’s father, Alex, thinks he’s making the world a better place by developing a breed of super-intelligent canines. But SMART dogs turn out not to be such a smart idea when a global arms dealer decides to “dognap” the experimental litter to use as his next secret weapon. Bertrand, Ariel Krieger, and their four-legged friends Einstein and Genie find themselves drawn into this dangerous game and the frightening action that follows. Can these gifted dogs and the young detectives match wits with the cunning corporate villain Hindquist? Will SMART Dogs change the way that people and man’s best friend have always been connected in friendship and loyalty? What are the limits of sacrifice between friends, and brothers and sisters, whether they be people or dogs? In Einstein Dog, writer Craig Spence deftly connects our love for dogs and their unquestioning loyalty to us, but he also asks the question: What would happen if dogs were as smart or even smarter than us? Set in suburban Vancouver, the outcome of this high-tech kid thriller isn’t decided until the final pages. Young readers — and their parents — will find themselves immersed in the action, hoping desperately the characters survive, that the evil Hindquist is vanquished, and pups are saved from a terrible fate.

Other Books by Craig Spence
Josh & The Magic Vial

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Return To Bone Tree Hill
Kristin Butcher

ISBN: 978-1-897235-58-4/ trade paper
$12.95 CAD / Ages 9-13

Did Jessica murder one of her playmates, a troubled boy named Charlie when she was twelve years old? A recurring dream forces her to ask that question. Disturbed by the vision and needing to clear her conscience, Jessica returns to Victoria, British Columbia, her hometown and the site of the possible crime. There she catches up with her longtime best friend, Jilly, who confirms that Charlie did in fact go missing the week that Jessica’s family relocated to Australia. But a memory-erasing bout of meningitis at the time of the incident means Jessica doesn’t recall the questioning police officers, the extensive ground search, or being the last person to see Charlie alive. As a real best friend would, Jilly jumps head first into this six-year-old mystery and offers support during one of Jessica’s most trying times. She keeps Jessica from tackling the dangerous dilemma alone and summons the police when the two become neck deep in trouble. After a thrilling summer in Victoria will Jessica be able to acquit herself of murder before entering college in Calgary, or will her memory of Charlie’s death remain a fear she must learn to live with?

In Return to Bone Tree Hill, experienced YA writer Kristin Butcher chronicles a mystery that has the reader piecing together the evidence alongside Jessica and Jilly. From life and love conversations under the Bone Tree and the feverish nightmare that continues to offer nebulous clues, to midnight sleuthing and a few life or death confrontations, even the most reluctant readers will be caught up by the minute-to-minute action of these furtive, accidental detectives.

Other Books by Kristin Butcher
The Tomorrow Tunnel

young adult
short fiction

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Something To Hang On To
Beverley Brenna

ISBN: 978-1-897235-57-7/ trade paper
$12.95 CAD / Ages 13+

In the title story of Something to Hang On To, award-winning author Beverley Brenna develops the story of Taylor Jane Simon, the protagonist from her acclaimed young adult novel Wild Orchid, portraying Taylor’s return to city life after the wild orchid summer. Taylor’s story is just one narrative from the assembly of distinctive characters who inhabit this inventive collection of teen short stories, and readers will find the other characters just as compelling.

With warmth and immediacy, Brenna explores adversity from a variety of angles. Many protagonists in this collection deal with serious life issues: loss, family violence, autism, Down Syndrome, and marginalization by a society that judges without really seeing. From a boogie-boarding Australian who finds community in surfer culture to a young Cree girl with a unique gift, the twelve stories that comprise Something to Hang On To vary in time, place, and perspective. In addition to first and third person narrations, the collection even includes an existentialist one-act play. Offering pathos as well as zany humour, these stories share important messages about courage and finding your way, along with the belief that when the going gets tough, we all need something to hang on to.

young adult NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

Cheating Fate
Audrey Pfitzenmaier

ISBN: 978-1-897235-41-6 / trade paper
$12.95 CAD / Ages 13+

This is the charged story of four teens, all best friends, who have grown up together in a small town in the BC interior. Loyal, compassionate, and trusting they accept their friendship bonds with a resoluteness that only another teen could understand. But when they survive a serious snowmobile accident and discover they share remarkable and frightening memories of their near-death experience, they fear that their fates are sealed and that they will die at some unknown time — together. The action is paced through four distinct voices Sukhwinder, a laidback Indo-Canadian teenager who loves his friends but gets lured into illegal activity with his urban cousins; Kyle, a restless teen wanting to conquer the motocross world with extreme riding; Jeremy, a sensitive teenager craving attention from a busy single father and absentee mother; and Cassidy, the only girl in the group of friends who fears for the boys and their flawed sense of invincibility.

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

The Mystery Of the Mad Science Teacher
Marty Chan

ISBN: 978-1-897235-38-6 / trade paper
$10.95 CAD / Ages 8-12

When Trina’s bicycle is stolen, Marty and Remi gear up to solve the case. Once they start their investigation they are both stunned that the evidence leads them to the doorstep of their new elementary school teacher. Mr E proves to be quite resourceful as an opponent, and the new girl at school, Ida, seemingly foils their attempts to catch the school thief. When Marty discovers that he and Remi share the same feelings toward Trina, things get complicated as they try to find out who she likes. For Marty, friendship, loyalty, and trust suddenly seem less straightforward when the mystery of girls is involved.

Other Books in the Marty Chan Mystery Series
The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul
The Mystery of the Frozen Brains

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

Shimmerdogs
Dianne Linden

ISBN: 978-1-897235-37-9 / trade paper
$10.95 CAD /Ages 9-13

Lester B. Hopkins — Mike to almost everyone except his mother, Master Corporal Alice Mackelwain — is just a boy trying to make sense of his life, which is becoming more complicated by the world of his absent soldiering mother. Mike is very worried about his mother’s safety while she is in Bosnia. He, like his sister, gets caught up in his mother’s tragic stories of Bosnian boys whose daily lives include nightmares of the violence and terror of war. Mike wonders how to make sense of it all, how to step outside the fears he harbours and the unanswered questions he has. Stumbling upon a book he finds in the library that describes the ancient belief that “shimmerdogs” guard the doorways to death, he begins to shape an understanding of his troubles. Then his dog, Merit, disappears, and he reasons she is on some kind of peacekeeping mission, like his mother.

In her new book Dianne Linden takes us on a journey into the world of Mike Hopkins, the little brother we met in her highly-successful young adult novel, Peacekeepers. It’s an authentic, unsentimental journey, but one shimmering with magic, myth and miracle – too good to miss! — Glen Huser, Governor General Award winning author of Stitches, Governor General Award Finalist for Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen

• Shortlisted for the 2008 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

The Adventures of Caraway Kim...Right Wing
Don Truckey

ISBN: 978-1-897235-43-0 / trade paper
$10.95 CAD / Ages 9-12

Ever since legendary hockey broadcaster Foster Hewitt’s “He shoots, he scores!”, Canadian kids have been lacing up their skates, grabbing their hockey gear and heading out to the rink. Caraway Kim’s quest in The Adventures of Caraway Kim . . . Right Wing is to become the top goal scorer on his hockey team. He is highly motivated, skilled but not the rough and tumble kind of hockey player who dominates the ice. And, of course, there is such a player on his team — Bradley Rooks — a bigger, stronger, older rival who seems to dominate play and the puck and seems certain to take the crown. What Brandley Rooks doesn’t know is that Kim is truly a student of the game and when the curved stick becomes the latest innovation in hockey, Kim adopts “the secret weapon” revolutionizing the game.

Every kid in Canada should read this book. — Eric Duhatschek, hockey analyst, Globe & Mail and Hockey Night in Canada

Other Books in the Caraway Kim Series
The Adventures of Caraway Kim...Southpaw

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

Breathing Soccer
Debbie Spring

ISBN: 978-1-897235-42-3 / trade paper
$10.95 CAD / Ages 9-13

Breathing Soccer is the realistic account of Lisa who is forbidden to play soccer because of her asthma. At its core the novel reveals the plight of asthmatics who desire the challenge and thrill of sports, but who must weigh that desire against some very real health issues. Dr. Emerson, Lisa’s family doctor, has warned her that her asthma must be taken seriously, and that the aggressive demands that soccer places on her breathing could be lethal. Her parents believe the doctor and as a result become overly protective. Even her soccer coach, Wilcox, decides not to play her in the games because he does not want to take a chance on her getting sick and weakening the team’s chance to win.

But just when it seems that the world has conspired against her, while watching the Olympic Games, Lisa discovers a new source of strength in the example of Olympic Rower Silken Laumann. Lisa is inspired by Silken who, after a terrible accident, was told by doctors that her career was over, but who rose above their verdict to overcome her own barriers in order to win the Bronze medal for Canada.

Other Books by Debbie Spring
The Kayak

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

Sandbag Shuffle
Kevin Marc Fournier

ISBN: 978-1-897235-22-5 / trade paper
$12.95 CAD / Ages 13+

April 1997: the city of Grand Forks is destroyed, thousands are evacuated, and Owen and Andrew are starting to enjoy themselves as they follow the flood to Winnipeg.

In this odd, exciting, and cheerfully irresponsible adventure, Owen and Andrew are opportunists with rapid-fire wit, no pasts and, in Owen’s case, no legs. On the lam during the Manitoba Red River flood of 1997, these rogues quickly grasp the tactics necessary to exploit the chaos, and manipulate sympathy into personal gain. Scamming money as bogus Salvation Army reps, pawning a benevolently donated “sport coupe” of a wheelchair for profit, and eating like kings through volunteer food rations, are all in a day’s work. Sandbag Shuffle serves as an insider’s look at the architecture of natural disaster, disability, vagrant youth, and loyalty.

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

The Youngest Spy
Barry McDivitt

ISBN: 978-1-897235-17-1 / trade paper
$12.95 CAD / Ages 8-12

Set against a backdrop of rising Canadian nationalism, The Youngest Spy follows the extraordinary exploits of a fourteen-year-old Canadian boy, caught up in the drama of the American Civil War. George Duguay’s father has joined the Yankee army, leaving him in charge of the family farm. George makes a very unlikely spy but when he uncovers a plot that could result in an American invasion of Canada he, at first, relishes the adventure of his double life: meeting Confederate gentlemen, American detectives and British agents. However, as the shady side of the job reveals itself, forcing him to betray the man he considered a friend, he becomes a victim of conflicting loyalties. With strategic savvy, George is finally able to declare his own independence and save his imprisoned father. This fictionalization of historical events offers an entertaining lesson in social issues, Canadian-American history, and moral decision-making.

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

The King Of Arugula
Christopher Millin

ISBN 978-1-897235-21-8 / trade paper
$12.95 CAD / Ages 8-12

"You hear that?" his first words were to me."That's the sound of the worms and spiders sharpening their knives."
“How did you end up in this hole, Mr Flex?”
"That's a very good question," he said. "I'd have to say it began with a bowl of soup."

Christopher Millin's adventure abounds with creepy fun and features a memorable cast of players including a vicious hyper monkey, plagues of locust, a museum of human legs, and a tomato-growing, one-eyed giant with a deliciously evil plan. The story’s narrator, is trapped in a nasty hole with the strange Mr. Flex who recounts the quest of ten-year-old Onus to restore the sight of his friend, Twig. With the help of Onus' sister’s ghost, Isis, and the green-haired, tattooed punker, Clay, the boys set out to find the source of the magic tomato of Arugula responsible for Twig's blindness, not quite anticipating the sinister events that await them. Fittingly, for boys on a quest, they must outwit and defeat the evil intentions of the villainous leg collector William Ernest Fang, who though evil, really has his own sad story to tell.

JUVENILE NOVEL

Available in the US
World Rights Available

Reviews

Third Times the Charm
Robert Howell

ISBN: 978-1-897235-20-1 / trade paper
$12.95 / Ages 8-12

A spell-binding tale combining a fascination with magic, a bit of sleuthing, and the charm of adolescent antics with a unique slant on historical witch-hunts.

Third Times The Charm brings together three estranged orphans who, under the protection of their great aunt Abadelle, must find their place in one of the most powerful and esteemed witch families; the Dramsmits. But their transformation from lost waifs into upper class gentry, with its benefits of a regal manor and servants, comes with new responsibility. To protect their arcane lineage from the dark forces that murdered their parents and grandmother, Sharron, Wally and Chip must combine their fledgling power and honour their familial bond.