National Network for Equitable Library Service

Ruthie Swain, the bedridden daughter of a dead poet, tries to find her father through stories -- and through generations of family history in County Clare.

Eric is sent to spend the summer with Septimus Trinket, the father he barely knows, in the remote village of Middle Wogglehole, where strange things happen, and soon he and his friend Jessica must battle evil in an unfamiliar world.

Thirteen-year-old Bing-wing Chan must conquer his fear of ghosts as his father’s gambling debts force him to dig for human bones in a graveyard and then to work as a houseboy in a haunted house. Set in Vancouver’s Chinatown The Bone Collector’s Son is a moving study of the struggle of Chinese immigrants and racism at the turn of the century.

In 17th Century Rome, connections are everything. But for 15-year-old Beppo Ghirlandi, an indentured servant accused of murder, there is nowhere to turn. The only one who will help him is the painter from across the Piazza, the madman-genius known as Caravaggio who, unfortunately, has himself just killed a man. By helping Caravaggio flee, Beppo might just be able to stay alive.

In 1923 Alberta, Leroy "Doodlebug" Barnstable runs away from his aunt and abusive cousins and finds work with a travelling Chautauqua show.

With purple hair and '90s retro clothes, Ash Perrault is a modern-day Cinderella. She has a new stepmother, annoying stepsisters and a rocky relationship with the school prince. But she has a problem Cinderella didn't have - a dangerous problem that keeps on getting worse.

On summer vacation in Siena, Angela befriends a fiery horse and trains him to race in the Palio, despite being written off by the horse's owners.

This moving tale of self-discovery takes place during the Oka uprising in the summer of 1990. Adopted as an infant, Carrie has always felt somehow out of place. Recurring dreams haunt her, warning her that someone close to her is in danger. When she discovers that her birth family is Mohawk living in Quebec, Carrie makes the long journey and finally achieves the sense of home and belonging that has always eluded her.

Written from the points of view of four young people living in Johannesburg and Soweto in 1976, one white, one South Asian, one a Black student and one a Black gangster, this book explores the roots of the Soweto Riots and the relationships between the races in a South Africa about to explode.