When heavy November rains threaten to flood the small town of Black River, New Brunswick, the community calls on the hydroelectric company to open the gates of its dam and drop the water level. But local management has been overruled by their parent company and ordered to keep it closed. It's got some people hinting it's time they took things into their own hands.Seventeen-year-old Stanton Frame is caught in between: his father is manager at the dam, but his girlfriend, Je...

ColorlandHe said slowly, “You know how sometimes something happens, and afterwards you think what you could have should have done, if only you had the nerve and the confidence to do it, but of course by the time you think that, it’s too late.” Isolde nodded.Wenden mumbled, “Only, like, all the time.”“Well it’s like having the nerve and the confidence to do it straight off, at the moment you need to do it,” said Ridge.Life changes quickly from carefree, innoc...

Robert Rayner's latest novel based in New Brunswick shows how the encroachment of age in a rural community's life exposes it to the perils of progress. White Rock Island, an isolated rural community, becomes a defiant island of souls intent on preserving itself when it is threatened by economic decisions of the provincial and federal government which tax it but threaten to withhold services that would sustain the community. When a bigger, stronger entity threatens a much smaller one, the o...

Fans of Canadian Idol, Camp Rock, and High School Musical will delight in reading this super funny story of eleven-year-old Libby Meek and her plans for superstardom!The only thing standing in Libby's way is her school's low provincial test results. With all extra-curricular activities put on hold so the students can retake the test, Libby and her friends set out to prove the value of staging a concert by applying real-life situations to classroom learnin...

In the middle of the night, five teens break into a small-town high school to protest the decision to close the school and move them to a big city school. Led by Bilan, whose experience with the Arab Spring fired a passion to peacefully fight against injustice, the Gang of Five occupy their old school. The local police chief and the town quietly cheer them on. When the school board calls in a security firm to break up their occupation using any means necessary, including force, the Five ha...

Fast-paced sports action novels that get kids reading.Shay and his pal Toby are among the players on the school soccer team who fall foul of the "fair play contract" introduced by the new school administration. After being banned from playing on behalf of the school for the rest of the season, the dismissed players form their own unofficial team -- and become one of the top teams in the league. But will they be allowed to play in the championship game? Based on a true inci...

The Seashore Boarding House, nestled in the woods on the rocky shore of Pocomoonshine Bay in the late ’twenties, is a haven for travellers on the lonely dirt road nearby, and for the villagers and workers of the woods communities, offering shelter, food, first aid, abortions, and the comforts of its girls.At the centre of the house and its operations is the enigmatic figure of Nurse, who tells her girls, “You are nurses, as well as chamber maids, cooks, waitresses, and prostitutes....

Toby's always had a weight issues, thanks in part to the free food his team gets from his friend Maddie's dad's restaurant and their soccer team's sponsor, Vinnie's. But Vinnie's sponsorship also provides the kids with team shirts, equipment, even cleats for some of the players. So when a city-wide ban is placed on sponsorship of teams by companies that promote unhealthy eating, many of the kids might not be able to play. Can the kids of Brunswick Valley come up with a way to keep their te...

This dark and gritty new story from New Brunswick author Robert Rayner examines the moral choices of one teen with a childhood filled with emotional neglect and social bullying, and how haunting real-life choices made when you're young can be when you're older.Life was never easy for Julian, aka Scab. After years of being tormented by his peers and ignored by his parents, he's about to show everyone that he has what it takes to make it. But he finds himself in a situation where he h...

The Brunswick Valley School soccer team are not just bad -- they're terrible. They haven't won a game all season and they bicker endlessly amongst themselves. They're such a disaster that their coach resigns in disgust. When, by an administrative anomaly, they qualify for the season playoffs, the only person they can find to act as coach is their former kindergarten teacher, Miss Little, who applies the "rules of kindergarten" to the game. To everyone's surprise, they start to win. In this...

Libby Meek is busy -- too busy. Between art class and youth group, skiing and piano lessons, Libby discovers that she no longer has time to just play. When her parents ignore Libby's demands for more free time, she decides to go on strike to prove her point. Along the way, both Libby and her parents discover the importance of balancing work and play.Fry Reading Level - 3.9

Fifteen-year-old Birmingham has a hot girlfriend who wants to "do it" anytime, anywhere. But to his (and his best friend's) surprise, it just leaves him feeling hollow, and he finds himself longing for something more. Then his school hires a substitute music teacher, and Birm feels an instant connection with her. They both share a deep love for music -- and she seems to have feelings for him too. They begin meeting outside of school hours until, one day, Birmingham's girlfriend catches him...