The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor
Summary: Two stories intertwine as Pierre, an ancient vampire, retraces his journey across the ocean to come home at last and a teenage girl named Tiffany from his old community finds herself at odds with her family and herself. When Pierre rents a room at Tiffany’s father’s house, he becomes involved in her life and helps to give her some direction when things in her life go downhill. The connection between the two, though brief, is enough to set Tiffany straight and helps Pierre bring a satisfying close to a long and lonely life. Number of Pages: 215 Age Range: 17-18 Review:...
Read MoreAngeline by Karleen Bradford
Summary: Angeline is a fourteen year old living in the 1100s who joins a child’s crusade to march on Jerusalem to reclaim it for the Christians. Enamored by the faith and conviction of crusade’s leader, Stephen, Angeline finds herself being sold as a slave in Egypt when Stephen’s visions don’t turn out as planned. After expecting a triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, Angeline must deal with her disappointment and find a way to adjust to her new life, which includes bullying from other slaves and Stephen’s profound loss of faith. With the help of some unusual...
Read MoreThe Cripples’ Club by William Bell
Summary: George has a mysterious past that tortures him through nightmares and visions but remains just beyond his conscious memory. When he meets Hook, a young man left a paraplegic after a motorcycle accident, Hook realises George is also dealing with circumstances that make him different and befriends him. New laws mean students dealing with disabilities are all eligible to receive the same education as ‘normal’ students, and Heather and Amie both end up at the same school as George and Hook as a result. Together they form a tight group of friends who call themselves...
Read MoreForbidden City by William Bell
Summary: Alexander’s father is a cameraman for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and when he is offered the opportunity to help cover Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to the People’s Republic of China in 1989, he decides to take his son along for the trip. Fascinated by historical miltary operations, Alex hopes to see China’s Terra Cotta Warriors in person. Instead, Alex finds himself in the middle of a student protest after the death of a prominent Chinese official, seeking a more democratic China. The story flips from Gorbachev’s visit to the...
Read MoreThe Color of Silence by Liane Shaw
Summary: After her best friend Cali dies in a senseless car accident, Lexi turns to silence in response to her feelings of grief and guilt. Through court-appointed volunteer work, Lexi is assigned to be a companion for Joanie, another seventeen year-old girl who lives at the hospital. Joanie is also silent, but her silence is because of a neuromuscular disorder, not by choice. Together, Lexi and Joanie both find their voices through a blossoming friendship, and the use of a computer called the Wizard that can read Joanie’s eye movements. When their friendship comes to an untimely end,...
Read MoreNight Runner by Max Turner
Summary: With no parents or family, and a complicated, undefinable medical condition, Zach has lived for the past eight years in a mental institution. One night Zach’s world opens up when a strange man runs his car into the facility, claiming that someone is after Zach and that he should run before it is too late. The uncle Zach never knew he had appears a short time later, telling Zach that he is a vampire, and before he died Zach’s father was a vampire hunter. Suddenly the pieces of Zach’s life are all falling to place, but getting out of the mental institution and facing...
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