School Statue Showdown
When an Indigenous group demands the local school's name be changed, rifts are formed within the community and the legacies of who we honour from history are challenged.
In a small BC town, a teen’s search for the truth behind his grandfather’s defaced statue leads to an emotional reckoning with Indigenous history, colonialism, and family legacy.
There's a dark underbelly to the Sunshine State. Lieutenant Nikki Quinn, an Orlando missing persons detective, once known as the Saint of Stolen Children, knows this better than most. Her own daughter vanished when she was five, a tragedy that destroyed Quinn's marriage and career.
When Brooke Campbell, a sixteen-year-old girl, goes missing alongside two other similarly aged girls, Quinn's old partner Captain Lucas Freeman suspects a serial killer and calling in a favor reaches out to Quinn. Reluctantly rejoining the force, Quinn teams up with Lieutenant Diana Jaeger, an up-and-coming officer in the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The two unwilling partners are given seventy-two hours to find Brooke. Along the way they encounter corruption, hidden secrets and deceit, the clock running out until their investigation leads them to a hidden bunker where Quinn will risk everything to find Brooke, and perhaps even, her own vanished child.
The Man Who Talked To Stars
At just seven years old, David Thompson leaves his mother and brother behind to attend London's Grey Coat School as a charity student. Sponsored by a governor who recognizes his gift for mathematics, Thompson’s brilliance soon sets him apart. But his destiny lies far beyond the classroom.
In 1784, the fourteen-year-old Thompson is chosen to apprentice with the Hudson’s Bay Company, Thompson sails across the Atlantic into a world harsher and more unforgiving than he ever imagined.
Guided by veteran fur traders and Indigenous allies, Thompson learns languages, cultures, and survival in the wilderness. He witnesses the devastation of war and smallpox, the rivalry between fur companies, and the corrosive power of alcohol.
His explorations carry him westward to Rockies, where a prophecy foretells he will one day cross the great mountains to the sea. But ambition comes at a cost. Injuries, betrayals, and the politics of the Hudson’s Bay force Thompson to make the most difficult choice of his life: loyalty to the company or his own destiny.
The Colour of Glass
A string of Murano trade beads is passed from generation to generation, from Captain Cook at Nootka Sound to a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry hearing in Northern British Columbia. Over three centuries the beads have borne witness to Canada's collective record of colonialism, unbridled racism and genocide -- and the rare acts of compassion and courage from settlers who saw injustice and risked everything to end it. Heavily inspired by real events and people, The Colour of Glass chronicles, through the eyes of settlers, the relationship between Indigenous people and the fur traders, politicians, judges, police, priests and school staff who profited from assimilating and erasing Indigenous people and their cultures. It lays bare the costs of colonialism and points us forward to an acceptance of both truth-- and, ultimately, reconciliation.
The Armour of God
God speaks to Louis IX of France, and the King listens. He receives a divine command to reclaim Jerusalem from the Ayyubid Empire. With unwavering faith, Louis assembles a Crusader army, targeting the Egyptian port of Damietta, the gateway to Cairo and the heart of Ayyubid power.
As the Crusaders and the Ayyubid forces prepare for the inevitable clash, a tapestry of treachery, forbidden love, and unwavering honor unfolds. Christian and Muslim, noble and commoner, slave and freeman alike will converge on the shores of the Mediterranean, their destinies intertwined in a battle that will shape the course of history for centuries to come.
Alamo
When twenty-seven American children are tragically killed in a cartel housecleaning gone wrong in McAllen, Texas, the nation is thrown into turmoil. In response, Miguel Lopez, the first Latino President of the United States, authorizes Operation Alamo, a covert plan devised by the NSA to strike back at the cartel and halt the flow of drugs and illegal migrants across the Rio Grande.
As Operation Alamo unfolds, the destinies of several key players become intertwined. Ana Reyes, a Honduran migrant fleeing violence, Javier Ruiz De Velasco, the reluctant new President of Mexico, Danielle Boyd, a determined DEA agent, Lacey Gilbert, a Texas National Guardswoman, Amanda Rizzo, a Hidalgo County deputy with a dangerous secret, Fernando ‘Mouse’ Alfaro, an ambitious hitman with the Santa Sangre cartel, and Fernando Torres, the feared leader of the Santa Sangre himself, all find themselves caught in a battle that spans the deserts of Mexico, the streets of Reynosa and McAllen, and the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. and Mexico City.
Teen activist Bella finds herself in the middle of a pipeline protest in northern British Columbia, where the choices she makes could shape the course of her future.
In Last Stand, teen environmental activist Bella decides to take part in a pipeline protest in northern BC. But once she arrives, Bella realizes the situation is more complicated than she imagined, as she crosses paths with long-time activists, militant university students, protesters from across the country, and local residents, all with their own experiences and perspectives. This includes Maggie, a local Indigenous senior and a veteran of environmental battles, who helps Bella understand the issues at stake.
When the courts rule in favour of the pipeline company, Bella and her fellow protesters clash with the police and arrests follow. Bella must make decisions about activism and her future.
Based on real-life events, Last Stand explores the issue of pipeline development, the role of social media in activism and the personal sacrifices required to follow your convictions.
Last Pick shows how determination can help overcome obstacles ― even bullying. Growing up with a developmental condition that left her clumsy in both movement and speech, Jazz was teased and never had the chance to play team sports. Now rid of her symptoms, Jazz is ready to play basketball at her Vancouver junior high, but the reappearance of an old bully makes her question herself and tempts her to let down the team that is counting on her.
Fourteen-year-old Madeline Snow is the star goalie and captain of her girls rep hockey team in Burnaby, British Columbia. So when her RCMP sergeant father moves the family to his new posting in Fort St. James, a remote town in northern BC, she feels like she is losing a lot.
In her new town Maddie is more unhappy than ever. Things begin to turn around when she discovers she has made the town's only Bantam team, a boys team called the Stars, but since they have a skilled goalie in Connor Spencer, Maddie wonders if she will ever get to play.
In Like Joyful Tears, readers see first-hand the trauma and havoc wreaked by civil war. Victoria Deng of southern Sudan is sixteen when her school is attacked by northern soldiers and everyone but herself and her sister Mary are massacred. The girls are soon rescued by southern rebel soldiers, who are escorting hundreds of children on the harrowing and dangerous cross-desert journey to a refugee camp.
This book chronicles how schools in Canada play a positive role in the day-to-day lives of refugee families. Written by a principal who has worked at of two of the most diverse schools in Canada, David Starr shares the deeply moving stories of his students, their parents and the staff and documents the central role of schools in the process of integrating refugee families into Canadian society.
Abbas is a Syrian refugee and a striker on a junior high soccer team of refugee and immigrant players. He is excited when his team is sponsored to play a big tournament, where he can reconnect with a friend from Syria. But a traffic accident triggers Abbas to experience anxiety and flashbacks to the violence in Syria. He finds ways to conquer his flashbacks and anxiety before the big tournament and also helps his whole team deal with the pressure of the competition.
When Dylan doesn't get off to a good start at his new school and gets in trouble for fighting, he has to join the soccer team with a group of immigrant and refugee students who play on a rough, gravel field. Mocked by his old team, Dylan becomes determined to bring his new team to the championship finals. Getting to know his teammates opens Dylans eyes about hardship, and shows him the value of a goal that wins in sudden-death play ― a golden goal.
This comprehensive guide offers real-life answers to real-life questions about British Columbia’s school system.
Insider’s Guide to K–12 Education in BC
Provides parents with the information they need to
Navigate the school system
Make informed decisions
Access available resources and support
Advocate for their child
Equips educators with the information they need to help parents make the right decisions for their child’s education.
This gripping novel for young readers begins in 1805, when fifteen-year-old Duncan Scott and his sister Libby lose their parents in a Glasgow cotton mill fire. Their tragedy is compounded when, through one reckless act of grief, the Scott children become fugitives as well as orphans, and must flee Scotland. Across the border in England, Duncan and Libby are betrayed by their travelling companion. In a desperate attempt to save Duncan from the gallows, Libby sacrifices her freedom for her brother's - a selfless act of courage on the Liverpool docks that sends her to prison and propels Duncan over the storm-swept waters of the Atlantic to Canada. After a year in Montreal, Duncan is enlisted to travel by canoe across the continent to New Caledonia, carrying secret orders for the trader, Simon Fraser. Before he can go home and find Libby, Duncan must join Fraser on a dangerous voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, a journey down what Fraser assumes is the Columbia River but which turns out to be what later will be called the Fraser. Along the way, Duncan faces death, danger and treason, and must somehow find the courage to save his companions, the expedition, and himself.
In this thrilling sequel to The Nor'Wester, Duncan Scott returns to England from Canada to search for his long-lost sister, Libby. Arriving on the Liverpool docks, Duncan learns that his sister's fate has captivated the entire country. He also learns a name: Elizabeth Fry, a prison reformer who helped Libby and who holds the key to her location. But before he can meet Fry and find his sister once and for all, Duncan is kidnapped by a Press Gang in a dockside inn. Forced to take the "King's Shilling," Duncan must serve in the Royal Navy where he once again becomes an unwilling player in the game of Empire. Now on board His Majesty's Ship Cerberus, Duncan meets old friends and makes dangerous enemies. Before Duncan's service ends, he will face deadly cannon fire on the Baltic, and will go on to fight an epic battle with Napoleon's fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, a battle that could very well seal his own destiny, that of his sister Libby, and of the British Empire itself.
In this young reader novel set at the beginning of the 19th century, Libby is placed in chains and transported to London’s notorious Newgate Prison after which, in a show trial, she is found guilty of helping her brother escape justice for attacking a Peer of the Realm after he beat her. Her punishment? Death by hanging. But while living in the horrific conditions of Newgate Prison, she is befriended by Elizabeth Fry, a woman who is famous for her work with prisoners. For reasons Libby doesn’t understand, she is spared the noose and is imprisoned in a rotting prison ship on the River Thames, where she waits to be transported to Australia. With the help of a new friend, Libby escapes the ship and makes her way to Elizabeth Fry. It is then Libby must make the hardest decision of her life. Does she escape from England or does she risk her life to testify in court about the horrific conditions that women endure in England’s prisons? Will Libby choose to flee to safety, or will she find the courage to seek justice for herself and the unfortunate victims locked in England’s grim prisons?