In a far-off galaxy, entire worlds are dying. Their suns and other stars are being consumed by Star Eaters, members of an intergalactic corporation who use advanced technology to steal energy from planets to fuel a fleet of roving starships. But Destin, a young and newly minted Star Eater, is reluctant to destroy worlds he’s never even seen. When he finds a mysterious stowaway girl named Calla on his ship after his first solo mission, Destin is torn. He must decide between turning her in or helping her save her planet.
Will’s father was just found dead in a pile of sulfur. He was a retired cop who'd been working as a night security guard at the SulCorp sulfur mill. Now, to determine if his death was a tragic accident or something more sinister, Will must return to the place he swore he'd never set foot in again.
Before she went to prison, Alison Kidd was the best thief in the city, but Ali has changed. All she wants now is to clean up her act and work in her brother Dean’s restaurant. She never wants to go back inside. On the day she gets out, Dean is supposed to pick her up, but he never shows. Ali makes her way to Dean’s apartment and uses her unique skill set to let herself in. Dean is missing. After some investigation, Ali discovers that he was kidnapped and is being held hostage by powerful crime boss, Lisa Wan.
After his girlfriend’s accidental death by overdose, Kipp has been living on the streets, overwhelmed by his grief. He wants to honor her memory and finds help to get clean, but just when he feels like he’s getting his life together, everything comes crashing down. He gets fired from his job and kicked out of his rented room on the same day. So when Reba, a friendly woman he met at the shelter, offers him a job and a place to live, he leaps at the chance. This is his lucky break. But when a girl comes to Reba's house looking for her missing brother, Kipp starts to wonder what Reba's real story is and if his lucky break might actually be a nightmare.
After moving into a dank and drafty basement suite in West Edmonton with her truck-driving father, nasty stepmother and taciturn twin brother, Ash, seventeen-year-old Greta doesn't have high expectations for her last year of high school. When she blacks out at a party and is told the next day that she's had sex, she thinks things can't get any worse. She's wrong.
Sadie works as a framer, building houses. She lost her own home in a recent divorce and now lives with her two daughters in a rented bungalow. When her landlady says she needs to move out, Sadie finds there's a housing crisis in her community. She can't find a place to live and is forced to move her family into a travel trailer at a local campsite. When her ex-husband finds out, he insists that the girls come live with him in another city. Desperate to keep her daughters with her in their home community, Sadie is forced to rethink her dream of living in a full-sized house.
Gina Gallo is a mob goddaughter who doesn't want to be one. She's left her loopy family behind to elope with Pete to Vegas, except that eloping may be a mortal sin in an Italian family. Between that and some weird deliveries and suitors, Gina's nerves are frayed. Vegas is full of great acts, but one impersonation is real: Gina has a crime-committing double whose activities are making Gina front-page news.
Howard is a lonely, geeky tenth grader dealing with a father who's had some kind of breakdown, a flaky, overprotective mother and frightening waking dreams. Then he meets Cate, a strange girl who convinces him that he is an Adept, which means he can communicate through dreams with other dimensions and, under certain circumstances, travel between them.
Del's great-aunt, Kitty, has retired from a life of crime and embarked on a new venture, the B-Team. Although Del works at an animal shelter by day, by night she, her great-aunt and their cohorts, Dino and Ritz, use their criminal skills to right wrongs. In this fun book, the modern-day Robin Hoods set out to return a necklace to its rightful owner but along the way discover they've been duped by an imposter who also wants to get her hands on the necklace. The problem is, criminals can't go to the police, even if they are on the side of the good. Del comes up with a new plan, and the B-Team saves the day.
Cookie is about to lose her job at the local bakery. She dreams of owning her own bakery but doesn't think she has the skills or money to do it. Most of all, she doesn't have the self-confidence. When she takes a course at the local college, she finds she has much more going for her than she imagined. With the help of her community, she figures out how to make sure no one has to go without her famous doily cookies for long!
Michael has been getting into trouble lately. As a consequence, his mom is making him look after his grandfather for the summer. The thing is, Gramps isn’t your average senior citizen: he’s a retired burglar with a lifetime of criminal knowledge. When a thief breaks into Gramps' apartment and steals a necklace with great sentimental value, the unlikely pair team up, combining old-school planning and modern tech to track down the necklace—and try to steal it back.
Charlie Hope was not expecting to spend his summer trying to solve a murder. Helping his mother run the family hotel doesn’t usually offer much excitement. The only other people around are Penny Price, a spoiled child actor and star of the hit TV series Little Miss Murder being shot in town, and Mr. Ignato, an elderly resident at the hotel. When Mr. Ignato dies from a fall down the stairs, Charlie suspects foul play.
Abortion is one of the most common of all medical procedures. But it is still stigmatized, and all too often people do not feel they can talk about their experiences. Making abortion illegal or hard to access doesn't make it any less common; it just makes it dangerous. This is the history of the debate.
Small-town police chief Maxine "Max" Benson is just settling into her new life when her ex appears on the scene. Apparently, he and his new young lover just happen to be visiting her area on holiday. That's all about to change when Max's ex-husband is accused of killing his young lover right in Max's own backyard. It seems that only Max's superior detection abilities can save him from an almost certain conviction. This is the third book in the Maxine Benson mystery series.
It's almost summer in small town Port Ainslie. Or is it? Temperatures are so far below normal that Police Chief Maxine Benson and her team are wearing sweaters. But is it cold enough to freeze the body of the man found in a ditch on the outskirts of town one morning? Maxine starts to investigate, but she is elbowed aside by the mostly-male provincial police force so she takes charge on her own.
Tyler and Mason dream of escaping to the big city and getting started on their lives. One night, Mason convinces Tyler to help him steal a car and they are soon having the adventure of a lifetime. Until they run out of gas. Stranded on the side of the highway, Mason blames Tyler, Tyler blames Mason and their argument turns physical. Their fight is broken up by a scruffy-looking guy who offers them a ride to the city. Eventually the teens realize their rescuer is none other than Sean Dakota, a heavy-metal musician who suddenly disappeared from the spotlight the previous year. Tyler is intrigued by this music legend, but Mason wants to take advantage of him. Listening to Sean and the lessons he’s learned from his own life choices, Tyler starts to realize how dangerous and damaging his friendship with Mason is. But will he find the courage to branch out on his own?
Jaylin is studying for a stressful English exam when she receives a message from her best friend, Fatima. The thing is, Fatima died a year ago in a terrible traffic accident. At first, Jaylin thinks someone is playing a horrible prank, but as the texts become more detailed, containing secrets that just the two of them shared, Jaylin realizes she’s either going mad or Fatima is actually reaching out to her from beyond the grave. Then Fatima shares one last secret and asks Jaylin to set the record straight around the circumstances of her death. Jaylin is torn. Is she strong enough to relive losing her best friend all over again? This high-interest Orca Anchor title is written specifically for teens reading below a grade 2.0 level.
Seventeen-year-old Penny is struggling to balance caring for Jude, her sister with mental health challenges, working part-time to help her mother with money issues and facing her final year of high school. She does not need any distractions. But then she meets Jack. The two of them click immediately. But as quickly as things heat up, they then cool down, and Penny isn’t sure why. Does she have room for her feelings for Jack alongside her worries that her sister is crashing into suicidal depression again?
After his twin sister, Minnie, dies in an accident, Emmitt's world goes sideways. He’s lost his best friend and it feels like the family is falling apart without her. But Minnie was an organ donor and Emmitt soon receives an anonymous thank you letter from one of the transplant recipients. Inspiration strikes, and he decides to try and put his sister back together, in spirit. He’s going to track down each organ recipient and film them to show his parents the results of Minnie’s selfless act and help them move on. But when each recipient falls short of his expectations and the star of his film, the girl who received his sister’s heart, refuses to meet him, Emmitt has to turn to extreme measures to find her. What he doesn’t know is that his "heart sister" is hiding an agonizing secret, one that could push Emmitt to the breaking point.
Featuring real-life stories of people who have found hope and meaning in the midst of life’s struggles, Heads Up: Changing Minds on Mental Health is the go-to guide for teenagers who want to know about mental health, mental illness, trauma and recovery. This book shines a light on the troubled history of thinking about and treating mental illness and tells the stories of courageous pioneers in the field of psychiatry who fought for more compassionate, respectful and effective treatments. It provides a helpful guide to the major mental health diagnoses along with ideas and resources to support those who are suffering. The book also explores how mental health is more than just “in our heads” and includes the voices of Indigenous people who share a more holistic way of thinking about wellness, balancing mind, body, heart and spirit. Highlighting innovative approaches such as trauma-informed activities like yoga and hip-hop, police mental health teams, and peer support for youth,
Three years ago Rob’s brother, Adam, was sent to jail for his part in the death of a girl who overdosed at a rave. But now that he has been released, Rob hopes that things can go back to the way they used to be. He soon realizes this is impossible. His brother has changed, the times have changed, and Rob has changed. Adam tells his mom and brother that he is planning to apply to a college in Toronto. He has already discovered how difficult it can be for someone with a criminal record to land a job and thinks he needs to get some education under his belt. He invites Rob to go on a road trip to the city to check out the college. However, Rob suspects that Adam hasn’t asked him along just for company. Adam still believes that there’s an easy way to get to where he wants to be. And if Rob can’t find a way to save Adam from himself, he just might go down with him.
After accepting a ride home, sixteen-year-old Emma Kennedy is raped by a boy from school. But handsome, popular Ross Schroeder tells everyone the sex was consensual, and Emma is immediately branded as a slut. Even Emma's best friend, Jen, doesn't believe Emma's version of events. In fact, she is angry with Emma because she feels betrayed. After all, she liked Ross first. But when Ross starts showing interest in Jen, Emma knows she will have to find a way to get Jen to believe that she really is in grave danger. Before it's too late.
Seventeen-year-old Jemma's older brother took her in when she needed to get away from her abusive ex-boyfriend, Razor. All Jemma wants now is to be a good mom to her baby daughter, Violet. But one night she needs to go out, just for a few minutes, to get diapers and ice cream. On her way back, she witnesses the drive-by shooting of a kid, Kwame, who lives in the same building. The driver is Razor. Jemma is terrified. If she tells anyone what she saw, they'll know she left her baby alone and she might lose custody. But if she doesn't, Kwame's killer will go free. Razor convinces Jemma to make a deal to save her life, but Jemma isn't sure she can live with the consequences.
Josh is a gamer. After his parents' divorce and his move from Chicago to a small town where he doesn't know anybody, he copes by staying up way too late playing Killswitch online. Then he discovers a "mod" version of the game that is an exact reproduction of his new town. Strange things start to happen in the game, and they are somehow connected with events in the real world.
Fifteen-year-old Maxwell Stone has been surviving and thriving in the tough part of East Vancouver by being smart and fast. But when a drug deal goes wrong, Max suddenly finds himself on the run from both the bad guys and the cops. Desperate to escape, Max impulsively decides to hop on a moving freight train. His first attempt to climb aboard fails, but at the last second a hand reaches down and pulls him in. Joseph has been riding the rails for years, and his tales inspire Max to take a journey to the last place he ever expected to go.
