Inside Out and Back Again

By Thanhha Lai

262 pages

The year is 1975.When war threatens, Hà, her mother, and her three older brothers are forced to flee Vietnam.The refugees travel by overcrowded boat to an uncertain future, leaving behind family, school, friends, home and all that is familiar.This award-winning story, written in free verse, poignantly describes how Hà finds herself again in a brand new place where everything feels alien, where a unfamiliar language is spoken, and where she is regarded as different and strange.  Grade 5.

Homer

By Elisha Cooper

See a perfect summer's day from the perspective of a happy dog.  A simple, beautifully illlustrated story of contentment.  Grade 1.

Boy vs. Beast: Aquatan

by Mac Park

75 pages

The perfect bridge between early readers and chapter books for boys!  The story is basic: Kai is a border guard; with his robot dog BC3 and many other techie gadgets, he protects Earth from threatening beasts in surrounding territories.  With big fonts, sound effects, diagrams, a comic strip section, lots of battles and just 75 pages, this provides chapter-book satisfaction, without discouragement.  First in the series.  Grade 2.

How Many Jelly Beans? 

A Giant Book of Giant Numbers!

By Andrea Menotti, illustrated by Yancey Labat

Can you ever have too many jelly beans? Emma and Aiden are about to find out!  A surprising and colourful picture book which playfully teaches number sense up to…a very high number!  Read and see.  Grade 1.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

Christopher Healy, illustrated by Todd Harris

438 pages

What happens when the four princes of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel get tired of being unknown "Prince Charmings" and unite their forces to claim their own heroic status? The bards will need to rewrite their songs when Princes Liam, Gustav, Frederik and Duncan battle trolls, witches, bandits and dragons to save their kingdom. This fun caper turns the well-known fairy tales on their heads.
Grade 5.

The Whispering House

by Rebecca Wade

272 pages

A great summer thriller!  Due to renovations, fourteen-year-old Hannah Price and her parents are forced to move into Cowleigh Lodge.  It has a history of short-term tenants and it is soon clear why:  the house is old, dilapidated and full of secrets.  The creepy discoveries Hannah makes, the dreams she has, and eerie incidents in the house all point to the unresolved death of an 11-year-old girl, 140 years before.  Will Hannah be able to understand the whisperings of the house and bring peace to it at last?  Grade 4.