Fiction : Jacob's Landing

Book : Jacob's Landing
Author : Daphne Greer
Webistes : daphnegreer.com
www.nimbus.ca

Coping with the recent death of his father, twelve-year-old Jacob Mosher is sent to spend the summer with his aging, estranged (and strange!) grandparents in rural Newport Landing, Nova Scotia. Reluctantly, he trades the security of his foster mum in “Upper Canada” for a blind grandfather, Frank, who dresses like a sea captain and conducts flag-raising ceremonies, and a quirky grandmother, Pearl, who sometimes forgets her dentures and has Jacob running in circles. Jacob has two short months to figure out how to deal with his ailing grandfather, the surging Avon River tides, and the family secret that’s haunting his newfound grandparents. He didn’t expect so much danger and mystery to be lurking in tiny Newport Landing.

Fiction :Wollstonecraft Detective Agency: The Case of the Missing Moonstone

Book :Wollstonecraft Detective Agency: The Case of the Missing Moonstone
Authors : Jordan Stratford, Kelly Murphy
Website : N/A

History, mystery, and science collide in a new series for middle-grade readers, perfect for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society and Lemony Snicket! 

Jordan Stratford imagines an alternate 1826, where Ada Lovelace (the world’s first computer programmer) and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) meet as girls and form a secret detective agency!

Lady Ada Byron, age eleven, is a genius. Isolated, awkward and a bit rude—but a genius. Mary Godwin, age fourteen, is a romantic. Adventurous, astute, and kind, Mary is to become Ada’s first true friend. And together, the girls conspire to form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency—a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals. Their first case involves a stolen heirloom, a false confession, and an array of fishy suspects. But it’s no match for the deductive powers and bold hearts of Ada and Mary.
 
Mystery fans will love this tween girl riff on Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. History buffs will be delighted to see all the real figures who play a role in this story and appreciate the extensive backmatter that helps separate truth from fiction. Parents and educators hoping to promote the STEM fields for girls will be thrilled to have a series where two girls use math, science, and creative analytical thinking to solve crimes. But most especially--emerging readers will love this series filled with humor, action, intrigue and wonderful artwork from Kelly Murphy. 

Fiction : The Incredible Space Raiders from Space

Book : The Incredible Space Raiders from Space
Author : Wesley King
Website : N/A

Lord of the Flies meets Star Trek in this outer space story of adventure, mystery, and fantastical fun from the author of The Vindico and The Feros.

When Jonah wakes up on the Fantastic Flying Squirrel, he’s a bit confused. One second he is in his family’s living room doing his homework, and the next he’s sitting on a very cold floor on a very cold ship with a very strange-looking girl staring at him. Her name is Willona the Awesome, and she’s here to welcome him to The Incredible Space Raiders.

Now that Jonah is on board, the Incredible Space Raiders can set off on an important mission: to venture into the Dark Zone and save the universe from the Entirely Evil Things. But when Space Raiders start to disappear, Jonah realizes that if he’s going to make it to the Dark Zone alive, he’s going to have to step up and figure out what’s going on.
Join the Space Raiders aboard the Fantastic Flying Squirrel for an unforgettable journey where imagination and truth collide somewhere deep in space!

Fiction : Swallow

Book : Swallow
Author : Charis Cotter
Website : www.chariscotter.ca

In 1960s Toronto, two girls retreat to their attics to escape the loneliness and isolation of their lives. Polly lives in a house bursting at the seams with people, while Rose is often left alone by her busy parents. Polly is a down-to-earth dreamer with a wild imagination and an obsession with ghosts; Rose is a quiet, ethereal waif with a sharp tongue. Despite their differences, both girls spend their days feeling invisible and seek solace in books and the cozy confines of their respective attics. But soon they discover they aren't alone--they're actually neighbors, sharing a wall. They develop an unlikely friendship, and Polly is ecstatic to learn that Rose can actually see and talk to ghosts. Maybe she will finally see one too! But is there more to Rose than it seems? Why does no one ever talk to her? And why does she look so... ghostly? When the girls find a tombstone with Rose's name on it in the cemetery and encounter an angry spirit in her house who seems intent on hurting Polly, they have to unravel the mystery of Rose and her strange family... before it's too late.

Fiction : Masterminds

Book : Masterminds
Author : Gordon Korman
Website : gordonkorman.com

Eli Frieden lives in the most perfect town in the world: Serenity, New Mexico. In this idyllic place, every lawn is perfectly manicured and everyone has a pool and a treehouse. Honesty and integrity are valued above all else in Serenity. The thirty kids who live there never lie-they know it's a short leap from lying to the awful problems of other less fortunate places.

Eli has never left Serenity. Why would he want to? Then one day he cycles to the city limits, and something so crazy and unexpected happens, it changes everything. Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and soon it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. The clues mount to reveal a shocking secret that connects their ideal, crime-free community to some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known. The kids realize they can trust no one-least of all their own parents. So they hatch a plan for what could be the greatest breakout in history. But will they survive? And if they do, where will they go from there?

Fiction : Rain Shadow

Book : Rain Shadow
Author : Valerie Sherrard
Website :valeriesherrard.blogspot.ca/

Bethany knows that she is special. She doesn't learn things as easily as her classmates do and that sometimes makes them mean to her. They call her names - including the really "bad" name. Even her mom and her sister Mira say unkind things at times. But Bethany has friends like her neighbor Mrs. Goldsborough as well as happy times with Dad when he gets home from work. And now, Mira has promised to protect her from the bullies when the new school year begins.

Then tragedy strikes, tearing Bethany's world apart in ways she could never have imagined, and she starts to wonder if there will ever be a place that feels like home again.

Award-winning author Valerie Sherrard revisits the world of The Glory Wind in her new historical novel.

Fiction : Rocket Blues

Book : Rocket Blues
Author : David Skuy
Website :davidskuy.com

When Rocket gets cut from his AAA bantam hockey team, he needs to re-evaluate his priorities.

Bryan Rockwood (aka "Rocket") is faced with the unthinkable: being cut from the Huskies — the AAA hockey team he has played on for three years. With no other teams interested in him, Bryan reluctantly joins a AA team, the Blues, at his best friend Maddy's insistence.

Things only get worse when Rocket sees that the Blues don't take hockey seriously. Facing the Huskies in the round robin will give Rocket the chance to prove his skills, but in order to keep his hockey dreams (and his friends) Rocket will have to realize that while hockey is his passion, it is not his entire life.

Fiction : Speechless

Book: Speechless
Author : Jennifer Mook-Sang
Website : http://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/speechless

I forced my feet to the stage and turned around. This was going to be the scariest thing I’d ever done in my whole life. I looked down into the expanse of gleaming eyes and willed myself to focus on the next step ahead. I just had to make it through the next five minutes, word by word. Then it would be over.

Jelly Miles would rather be playing video games with his best friend P.B. than preparing for a speech competition. In fact, he’d rather be doing just about anything else. So he’s as surprised as anyone that he’s taking this year’s competition seriously. At first, it’s for the awesome prize. But when the competition turns ugly, Jelly realizes it’s his chance to finally get the last word with the class know-it-all. With his reputation, self-respect and the friendship he values most on the line, can Jelly find the courage to get up in front of the whole school and show his true self?

Laugh-out-loud funny, Speechless is about standing up to bullying, knowing who your friends are and finding your own unique voice.

Fiction: Lost In The Backyard

Book :Lost In The Backyard
Author : Alison Hughes
Website :orcabook.com

Flynn hates the outdoors. Always has. He barely pays attention in his Outdoor Ed class. He has no interest in doing a book report on Lost in the Barrens. He doesn't understand why anybody would want to go hiking or camping. But when he gets lost in the wilderness behind his parents' friends' house, it's surprising what he remembers insulate your clothes with leaves, eat snow to stay hydrated, build a shelter, eat lichen and how hopelessly inept he is at survival techniques.

Fiction : Between Shadows

Book:  Between Shadows
Author : Kathleen Cook Waldron
Website :kathleencookwaldron.com

12-year-old Ari inherits his grandfather’s unspoiled lakeside land and cabin. But his aunt and father want to sell it all to luxury hotel developers.

It’s bittersweet: Ari’s beloved grandfather has died, but he’s left Ari an amazing gift – the inheritance of his log cabin and all the land he owned. Tucked into a small lakeside community, the cabin and its land are unusual, full of secrets to discover…and very, very marketable. With the family’s money troubles, the only sensible option from his dad and aunt’s point of view is to sell it at a prime price to a luxury resort developer.

As the grown-ups proceed with the paperwork, Ari sets about discovering everything his new property has to offer. Hidden beaches, forest trails, locked doors – and even an extraordinary (and exasperating) new friend who introduces him to a world into which he sees himself just…fitting. Not only is it the perfect place to live, it’s a connection with his grandfather that is too precious to lose. But the deadline to sign away the property is approaching. How can Ari speak up for his hopes, for his grandfather, and for the land itself? 

Non Fiction: When the Worst Happens

Book: When the Worst Happens: Extraordinary stories of survival
Author: Tanya Lloyd KYI
Link: coming soon...

People overcome impossible odds where others surrendered and failed.

What would you do if you were stranded or trapped in a situation where you had to fight for your life? When the Worst Happens is a collection of intense, true stories set in distant corners of the earth.
In extreme situations such as these, people can pull together, show almost super-human skill, and survive. But sometimes they face madness, greed or mutiny. These action-packed accounts reveal the critical decisions that determined the fate of each victim.

In an attempt to answer the question why people react the way they do in extreme circumstances, When the Worst Happens also looks at modern psychological studies, interesting historical details and settings, as well as seemingly unrelated events, to discover what draws the line between success and tragedy.

Non Fiction: Trash Talk

Book: Trash talk: moving toward a zero waste world
Author: Michelle Mulder
Link: coming soon...

Waste not, want not.
Humans have always generated garbage, whether it’s a chewed-on bone or a broken cell phone. Our landfills are overflowing, but with some creative thinking, stuff we once threw away can become a collection of valuable resources just waiting to be harvested. Trash Talk digs deep into the history of garbage, from Minoan trash pits to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and uncovers some of the many innovative ways people all over the world are dealing with waste.

Non Fiction: Glow in the Dark Creatures

Book: Glow in the Dark Creatures
Author: Natalie Hyde
Link: coming soon...

Glow-in-the-dark creatures possess one of the most amazing abilities in our world. Using only chemicals in their bodies, they can create bioluminescence, or "living light." The lights they produce come in an astonishing variety of colours and patterns. Glow-in-the-dark creatures use their light displays to hide from enemies, to cry for help, to warn of danger or to find a mate. It is a beautiful silent language. 
From fireflies and glowworms to flashlight fish and velvet belly lantern sharks, the diversity and number of creatures who are bioluminescent have surprised scientists. They have found bioluminescent creatures who flit across the night sky, creep along the shadowy ground, float in moonless oceans and swim in the deepest, darkest parts of the sea. 

• Find out which land and sea creatures make light. 
• Discover why bioluminescence is so important in nature. 
• Examine the chemical process that occurs to make creatures glow. 
• Learn why different creatures create different colours. 
• Discover how scientists are harnessing the powers of bioluminescence for human uses. 
• Make glow-in-the-dark slime, create a firefly-squid necklace and learn how to catch fireflies.

Non Fiction: Haunted Canada

Book: Haunted Canada: Terrifying True Stories
Author: Joel A. Sutherland

Link: coming soon...

This chilling collection of ghost stories from Canada's past stalks the land from coast to coast. A perfectly terrifying way for young readers to absorb a little of our country's amazing history and geography

Non Fiction: Saving Turtles

Book: Saving Turtles

Author: Sue Carstairs

Link: coming soon...

A behind-the-scenes look at a hospital for severely injured turtles.

Turtles have been around for 220 million years -- longer than dinosaurs. But now their time might be running out. Of the roughly 300 species worldwide, more than half are threatened with extinction. Freshwater, marine and land turtles are all affected. And their biggest threat is us!

As the human race grows and expands on the planet, turtles are losing their homes, suffering the effects of pollution, the pet and food trade, killed by cars as they try to cross roads, and snared in fishing nets or by fish hooks meant to catch other species. Fortunately, a community of scientists, environmentalists and volunteers around the world are helping to protect and save turtles.

The author, Sue Carstairs, is a veterinarian at a turtle rescue and rehabilitation center. She reveals how she repairs shattered shells, broken jaws, and injured skulls, and nurses severely injured turtles back to health for release into the wild. Carstairs also explains how turtle eggs are harvested from injured mothers, incubated, raised in tanks and released into the wild. Organizations around the world performing similar work with land and sea turtles are also profiled.

What can readers do to help the worldwide effort to save and protect turtles? Two examples from the many offered in the book: participate in World Turtle Day, on May 23rd every year, sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue, and lobby for "turtle crossing" signs in nesting areas.

Non Fiction: Colossal Canada: 100 Epic Facts and Feats

Book: Colossal Canada: 100 Epic Facts and Feats
Author: Elizabeth MacLeod, Frieda Wishinsky
Link: coming soon...

100 things to make us stand up and belt out “O Canada!”

From Chris Hadfield to Cirque du Soleil, peacekeeping to poutine, and mukluks, tuques, grizzlies, and chinooks, this fast-moving and eye-opening book will give young Canadians plenty to cheer about.
Colossal Canada is a wide-ranging round-up of the people, places, animals and events that make us uniquely Canadian. It includes chapters on unforgettable moments in our history, exceptional inventions, monsters and myths, and all of our biggest, best, highest, and most extreme accomplishments.

Kids and adults alike will love learning all about their home and native land — and sharing these fascinating facts with family and friends!

Non Fiction: Boredom Busters: 50+ awesome activities and more

Book: Boredom Busters: 50+ awesome activities, recipes, experiments, and more
Author: Caroline Fernandez
Link: coming soon...

Let''s get crafty! You will never be bored again with the brilliant things to make and do in Boredom Busters. The book is divided into five themed chapters: Art, Craft, Science, Food, and Travel. Art Activities shows you how to create pretty pictures using homemade paint, recycled crayons, and even coffee filter paper and shaving cream! In Craft Activities, reuse milk cartons for your own bowling game, turn a baby food jar into a snow globe, and make cinnamon clay decorations. You will love the cool experiments in the Science section--from growing your own crystals to setting off plastic bottle tornados and creating "lava" in a cup. Cook up a storm with the great recipes in Food Activities: cool ice cream cone cupcakes, delicious chocolate mug cake, and colorful pizza faces. Finally, discover ways to keep yourself busy on journeys and holidays in Travel Activities, such as making a T-shirt pillow, wooden spoon puppets, and homemade travel journal.

Non Fiction: Brush Full of Colour

Book: Brush full of colour: the world of Ted Harrison

Author: Margriet Gibson

Link: coming soon...

Ted Harrison’s brightly coloured and wildly imaginative paintings set in the Yukon have become synonymous with the North. His instantly-recognizable images of the land of the midnight sun hang in galleries and private collections around the world. But how did a boy who grew up in a drab mining town in northeast England become one of Canada’s most beloved and decorated artists? A Brush Full of Colour is the story of a boy whose passion for learning would save him from a life in the coalmines. The books by the American writer Jack London and Canadian poet Robert Service fired his imagination with scenes of the wilderness and the Klondike Gold Rush. He wanted to become an artist and he went on to art school. A stint in the British Intelligence Service gave him the chance to travel. But Ted never stopped dreaming of the North, and when he saw an advertisement for teachers in Northern Alberta, he jumped at the chance. Margriet Ruurs and Katherine Gibson trace the life of Ted Harrison and the influences that would lead to his unique style as an artist. Filled with full-colour examples of his vivid art and with a foreword written by Ted Harrison, A Brush Full of Colour will provide inspiration for a new generation of budding artists.

Non Fiction: Baseballogy

Book: Baseballogy
Author: Kevin Sylvester

Link: coming soon...

The most unusual baseball facts you’ll ever find!
 
Referred to as “America’s National Pastime,” and “The Greatest Sport on Earth,” baseball has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of people.
 
Behind the game lies a wealth of science, folklore, mathematics, psychology—and a very colourful past. Whether they are die-hard fans or casual spectators, readers will be captivated by this collection of fascinating, little-known facts. For example did you know that the yarn in a single baseball is long enough to reach from the street to the top of the Empire State Building or that in the old days playoff tickets were sold for people to stand in the outfield: fans might move to help the home team but not budge an inch for opposing players.

Nonfiction: 10 Rivers that Shaped the World

Book: 10 Rivers that shaped the world
Author: Marlee Peters
Art: Kim Rosen
Link: coming soon...


Navigate the fascinating twists and turns of rivers that have molded our history.
Rivers can be extraordinarily powerful, and not just because of their fast-flowing currents. They can make civilizations rise or crumble, divide cultures or link them together, and even provide crucial clues to where we came from.
Dive into these 10 surprising stories about the power of rivers through the ages, including:
• How the “lucky accident” of the Nile’s unique flooding patterns allowed the culture of Ancient Egypt to flourish in one of the hottest, driest places on earth;
• How medieval robber barons seized—then lost—control of the Rhine;
• Why the Amazon helped scientists discover how species evolve;
• How Livingstone's ill-fated exploration of the Zambezi changed Africa forever...

Welcome to our McMurrich Silverbirch Reading Club Blog!

The purpose of the Silverbirch Club Blog is to engage students in reflection and dialogue of the books they are reading during the next few months.  This blog forum not only provides students a voice but encourages peers to provide constructive/descriptive feedback, making further connections to their reading experiences and asking questions along the way. Students write about what they are reading and include reading strategies such as inferencing, making connections, summarizing and/or evaluating the text. 


Enjoy :o)