Bank Job by James Heneghan,Orca, 2009, 9781551438559Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

Thirteen-year-old Nell knows that stealing is wrong but when she and  her foster brothers find out about their foster parents’ financial problems, they hatch a desperate plan to rob a bank and thus keep their family together. But when their initial success leads her foster brother Billy further into a life of crime, Nell realizes that it will  take more than money to save their family.

Dunces Anonymous by Kate JaimetOrca, 2009, 9781554690978Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

Have your parents ever wanted you to be something that you’re not?  Eleven-year-old Josh Johnson’s mother wants him to be class president,  but Josh just wants to be left alone. When he forms a club for kids like him with his new friends Wang and Magnolia, the three friends realize that getting out of a school play, and ditching the chess club, while trying to lose an election, is not as easy as they think. Will their crazy plans help them outsmart their parents, or just make their lives worse?

Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter by R. J. AndersonHarperCollins, 2009, 9780061554742Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

Knife has grown up in the great Oak, the last refuge of a dying faery realm. A chance encounter with a young human sparks her life-long curiosity with the forbidden human race. When a journal hinting at  past relationships with humans is found, Knife realizes that humans hold the key that will either destroy or save her people; but does she have the courage to find out which?

Faster Than Wind by Steve PittDundurn, 2009, 978-1-5502-837-9Interest Level: Grade 6 & up

Set in Toronto in 1906, a group of adolescents enjoys an exciting new sport-iceboat racing on Lake Ontario. This fast-paced book also gives  a glimpse into the lives of new Canadians, especially the Irish, settling into their new existence in their adopted country.

The Giant-Slayer by Iain LawrenceDelacorte, 2009, 978-0-385-73376-2Interest level: Grade 5 & up

Set in 1955, this book is a mix of fantasy and historical fiction. Eight-year-old Dickie Espinosa contracts polio and is placed in a hospital iron lung. The iron lung helps Dickie to breathe, keeping him alive despite his paralyzed lungs. Dickie’s eleven-year-old friend, Laurie Valentine, Visits the polio ward and begins to tell the patients a story. In the story, little Jimmy and his companions seek  to slay the giant, Collosso.

Home Free by Sharon JenningsSecond Story, 2009, 978-1-897187-55-5Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

For her big 6th Grade Writing Club project, Lee decides to write a book about her previous summer’s discoveries: being a real-life orphan is not as exciting or romantic as portrayed in Anne of Green Gables; body parts are occasionally a source of curiosity and amusement; and  the sudden death of a loved one brings about unexpected life changes.

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur SladeHarperCollins, 2009, 9781554683543Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

Modo, a fourteen-year-old hunchback, has been raised by the mysterious Mr. Socrates to become a secret agent. Modo’s ability to change his appearance becomes a necessary skill when he has to survive unnoticed  on the streets of London. Modo must learn to look beneath the surface when his first case arrives in the form of the mad scientist, Dr. Hyde, who is obsessed with creating an unstoppable weapon.

Laughing Wolf by Nicholas MaesDundurn, 2009, 978-1-55488-385-1Interest Level: Grade 6 and up

Fifteen-year-old Felix Taylor lives in a futuristic society that has eliminated all the problems of the world, except one. When the human race is threatened by a mysterious plague, it is Felix’s outdated understandings of language and history that is their only chance for survival. Time traveling back to Ancient Rome with his reluctant partner, Carolyn, Felix must find the now extinct flower lupus ridens  (laughing wolf), and return to save his family. An exciting mix of the  past and the future that considers the relationships between  technology and humanity

Not Suitable for Family Viewing by Vicki Grant,HarperCollins, 2009, 9781554681808Interest Level: Grade 7 & up

With a musician father, famous mother, and all the money a kid could  want seventeen-year-old Robin’s life seems perfect. But when she  accidentally discovers information that makes her question her mother’s identity, her life is turned upside down. On a journey that takes her all the way to Nova Scotia, this once-lonely rich girl makes new friendships and finds love but can she piece together the mystery that has brought her here?

Pop by Gordon KormanScholastic Canada, 2009, 978 0 545 98033-3Interest Level: Grade 6 & up

Marcus, new in town and hoping to play high school football in the fall, meets and befriends Charlie, an older man and the best football  player Marcus has ever seen. When fall rolls around, Marcus meets Troy Popovitch, the starting quarterback and he and Marcus don’t see eye to eye about football, or anything else – especially Charlie. Marcus  decides he is willing to do anything to help his friend.

Queen of Disguises by Melanie JacksonOrca, 2009, 978-1-55469-037-4Interest level: Grades 5-7

Thirteen-year-old, Dinah Galloway, has just made a career break-through from singing salami commercials on radio to belting out the advertising theme song of the Vancouver Olympics. But a condition  attached to this advance is that she be physically fit. So it is off to camp on Salt Spring Island, pursued by an vengeful escaped convict,  hounded by anonymous warnings, and plagued by inexplicable  “accidents.” Can she discover what is going on before one of the accidents stops her singing permanently?

Return to Bone Tree Hill by Kristen ButcherThistledown, 2009, 978-1-897235-58-4Interest Level: Grade 7 & up

Jessica Lawler has a recurring dream/nightmare in which she appears to  be responsible for the death of a childhood classmate at Bone Tree  Hill. But Jessica has no actual memories of the incident. So, when she visits her home town six years later, she hopes that by returning to the scene of the crime she will finally be able to unlock the mystery of who killed Charlie.

Rex Zero: The Great Pretender by Tim Wynne-JonesGroundwood, 2009, 978-0-88899-946-7Interest Level: Grade 5 & upTwelve-year-old Rex Zero’s family is moving – again. Not wanting to leave his old friends, he forms a plan to take the bus to the same  school that they attend. The plan succeeds for a while, until Rex encounters trouble with bullies and the press runs a newspaper story about him.

Taken by Norah McClintockOrca, 2009, 9781554691524Interest Level: Grade 6 & up

The town is beginning to panic after two young girls mysteriously disappear. Sixteen-year-old Stephanie lives with her mom and step dad, Greg, and though she matches the description of the girls who have been taken, she doesn’t believe it could happen to her. When she vanishes and wakes up in a cabin deep in the woods, she will need to try to escape and make her way back to safety before her kidnapper  returns.

Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate by Adrienne KressScholastic Canada, 2009, 978-0-99042-4 (Hardcover) 1-4431-0084-6 (Paperback)Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

Eleven-year-old Timothy Freshwater goes to China to help return Mr. Shen to his dragon form before the end of the New Year celebrations.  In his adventure, Timothy deals with menacing black cabs, is captured and almost killed by a ninja, jumps from a helicopter, and joins forces with Alex to rescue Mr. Shen from a fleet of Chinese pirate Junks and deliver him to the ancient Dragon’s Gate.

Vanishing Girl by Shane Peacock Tundra, 2009, 978-0-88776-852-1Interest level: Grade 5 & up

This is the third book in The Boy Sherlock Holmes series. In his third case, thirteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes investigates the mysterious disappearance of Victoria Rathbone, the daughter of a wealthy English politician. The police are at a loss to explain the mystery and seem incapable of solving the crime. Young Sherlock, however, recognizes clues that others miss.

Walking Backward by Catherine AustenOrca, 2009, 978-1-55469-147-0Interest Level: Grade 5 & up

“Phobias are serious things,” Josh writes in his journal. Josh is twelve-years-old, in between grades 6 and 7, when his other’s intense fear of snakes causes a car crash which kills her. But how and why did  a snake get inside his mother’s car? During the summer following her  death, Josh and his younger brother and their dad all try to cope with  their loss in different ways.

Wolf Pack of the Winisk River by Paul Brown, illustrated by Robert KakegamicLobster, 2009, 978-1-897550-10-6Interest Level: Grades 4 -7

Written in free verse and told through the eyes of a courageous young male wolf, this novel is about the journey in northern Ontario that a small pack of wolves must make during one summer in their struggle to survive. The wolves and their journey are realistic, not romanticized.  A map of their journey, plus black and white illustrations are included.