EASY

The Monster Who Lost His Mean By Tiffany Strelitz Haber

Everyone knows that the M in “monster” stands for MEAN. But what happens when a monster can’t be mean anymore? Is he still a monster at all? One young monster’s attempts to live up to his name go hilariously awry as he discovers – with a little help from his friends – that it’s not what you’re called but who you are that counts.

Dog Loves Drawing By Louise Yates

Dog loves books. But one day he gets a strange one in the mail – it’s blank! You can’t read a blank book, so what are you supposed to do with it? You draw in it – that’s what! Before long he’s drawing his way into a grand adventure, complete with new friends, fantastic discoveries, and a surprise storybook ending.

FUN FACTS

Biomimicry: Inventions Inspired by Nature By Dora Lee

Did you know that the idea for Velcro was observed in nature? We humans can learn a lot from watching how nature works. Perhaps we can learn how to make things without the use of fossil fuels, as nature has been doing for since the beginning of time.

Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged! By Jody N. Warner

Attending a movie in Nova Scotia in 1946 meant Viola Desmond could not sit where she wanted. She refused to accept that being black meant rules for her were different from those for white folk. It started a struggle to end racial discrimination in her community and no doubt later inspired Rosa Parks of Alabama to fight for racial equality in the U.S.

JUNIOR

Gods and Warriors By Michelle Paver

Young Hylas is hunted by powerful warriors who want him dead and have kidnapped his sister. He is forced to flee his home, but not before a mysterious stranger gives him a bronze dagger. Together with Pirra, the runaway daughter of a High Priestess, Hylas fights to discover why he's being hunted and find his sister before it’s too late.

A Mutiny in Time By James Dashner

History is broken, and three kids must travel back in time to set it right! When Dak and Sera stumble upon the secret of time travel – a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring – they're swept up in a secret war for the fate of the world. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!

YOUNG ADULT

Days of Blood and Starlight By Laini Taylor

Art student and monster’s apprentice Karou finally now knows who she is, or rather what she is. But with this knowledge comes the burden of a truth that she would do anything to undo. In this stunning sequel to the praised Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Karou must decide how far she will go to avenge her people.

All You Never Wanted By Adele Griffin

Alex has always been beautiful and popular, and now thanks to her super rich stepdad, she can afford anything that she wants. Her younger sister Thea, is not as pretty and certainly not as popular, but she is quite clever and a little treacherous. Find out how far Thea will go to get what she wants in this raw and unsettling tale of family loyalty.

ADULT

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America By Thomas King

The Idle No More protests by aboriginal activists may seem to come out of nowhere, but in reality grievances go back many years. Indeed, Thomas King notes in his new book that “when we look at Native-non-Native relations, there is no great difference between the past and the present.” King’s intriguing book is a primer on the place of native people today.

The Round House By Louise Erdrich

Winner of the U.S. National Book Award and Amazon’s Best Book of the Year, Erdrich’s novel is set on a North Dakota Ojibwe Indian reservation. A woman on the reservation is attacked and she is so traumatized that she is unable to reveal details of the attack. Her teen son sets out to get answers of his own, going first to the Round House, an Ojibwe place of worship.