Monique Polak
Author
Series
Orca think volume 11
Lexile measure
1110L
Language
English
Formats
Description
Knowledge is meant to be shared. Science is for everyone, right? Unfortunately, that's not always true. Discovery, research and innovation are often kept top secret, and big businesses charge high prices for that information. Open science is trying to change that. Let's examine the history of scientific research and how ideas and information are shared and why. There have been incredible innovations made using open science, such as treatments for...
Author
Series
Orca think volume 13
Language
English
Formats
Description
"This illustrated nonfiction book for middle-grade readers explores the art and science of memory, and what it can tell us about ourselves and the world we live in."-- Provided by publisher.
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
For twelve-year-old Rosetta Wolfson, the war in Europe seems very far off from her home in Canada. Then Mr. Schwartzberg comes to tea and asks Rosetta's parents if they will take in a young war refugee. Isaac joins the family and becomes a ready-made brother to Rosetta and her two sisters. Isaac's arrival brings change. Her best friend's handsome brother doesn't seem as attractive after he reveals himself as anti-Semitic, and Rosetta begins to suspect...
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
Our favorite pretend princess, Angelica, aka Jelly, is back! A case of mistaken identity, a wild imagination and a love of storytelling leads Jelly to tell her friend Joon and the new kid she's just met, Leo, that she's a part-time lion trainer at the local animal rescue center. Her inventiveness has them completely convinced, but things get a bit more complicated when the resident lioness, Mwezi, escapes from her enclosure and the kids look to Jelly's...
7) Junkyard Dog
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Justin is fascinated with the aged guard dog at the corner store. He names it Smokey and sneaks the dog treats. Smokey belongs to a company that supplies working dogs to local businesses. Justin is thrilled to get a job working for Smokey's company, until he learns about the mistreatment of the animals. When Justin can't shake his suspicion that someone in the company is involved in a rash of thefts, he tries to quit. But Justin knows too much, and...
Author
Language
English
Description
Josh is less than thrilled that he has a new stepfather, and finds his personal habits-and his personality-irritating. When his mother leaves town, Josh is left to spend a week alone with Clay. Resenting his new living arrangements and his unorthodox home life, Josh finds himself drawn to the idea of a "regular" family and, on a whim, sneaks into a neighbor's house to see how others live. When another opportunity arises to be a fly on the wall, Josh...
Author
Language
English
Description
Pete's pranks have gotten him in plenty of trouble, but they might be the only way to bring justice to a seaside town.
Pete likes to play pranks. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it gets a laugh. When he impersonates his vice-principal on a radio call-in show, he goes too far and is suspended from school. Pete's parents send him to spend the summer working with his uncle, a whale-watching guide in a tourist town far from the city. When a whale...
10) Hate Mail
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Jordie's cousin Todd has moved back to Montreal and is attending Jordie's high school. Todd has autism and requires an aide. Todd has not been welcomed in the school. He's known as a freak, and even other parents seem to resent Todd's special needs. Jordie does everything he can to distance himself from his cousin, fearful of what his friends might think. When he learns that Todd's whole family is buckling under the pressure of a hateful letter, Jordie...
11) Finding Elmo
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
Fifteen-year-old Tim loves his job at his dad's pet store, partly because he gets to spend time with his best friend, a black cockatoo named Elmo. But things at work have been tense since the store moved to a larger, more expensive location. To make extra money his father rents out the store's exotic birds for parties and Tim is furious at this exploitation of his friend. When Elmo is stolen from one of the parties, the police are unconcerned about...
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
Angelica isn't a liar. She just loves making up stories. When she goes to sleepaway camp and is mistaken for a princess, she could easily clear up the misunderstanding...but pretending to be royalty is way more fun! When her best friend from home surprises her at camp, Angelica is forced to fess up. Luckily, she also has a talent for repairing things, and when disaster strikes on the girls' kayaking trip, Jelly has to repair more than just her newfound...
13) For the record
Author
Publisher
Owlkids Books
Pub. Date
[2022]
Lexile measure
620L
Physical Desc
252 pages ; 21 cm
Language
English
Description
"Twelve-year-old Justine's parents are recently divorced and she and her little sister, Bea, go back and forth between their parents' homes in Montreal. Because her mother (whose anxiety manifests itself as the need to control) believes that their father and beloved half-sister are a bad influence on Justine and Bea, she enlists Justine's aid in collecting evidence that would lead to sole custody being granted to her. Justine goes along with this...
Author
Language
English
Description
Noah Thorpe is spending the school term in George River, in Quebec's Far North, where his dad is an English teacher in the Inuit community. Noah's not too keen about living in the middle of nowhere, but getting away from Montreal has one big advantage: he gets a break from the bully at his old school.
But Noah learns that problems have a way of following you-no matter how far you travel. To the Inuit kids, Noah is a qallunaaq-a southerner, someone...
15) Straight Punch
Author
Language
English
Description
Tessa McPhail has a bad habit-tagging-that lands her at New Directions, an alternative school in Montreal's toughest neighborhood. The school is far from Tessa's home and full of troubled kids. To make matters worse, half of every school day is devoted to boxing. The other students think boxing is cool. Not Tessa, who cannot handle violence of any kind. But when a neighbor starts a petition to have New Directions closed down, Tessa discovers something...
16) Leggings Revolt
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Eric and his buddies have left behind their all boys school to attend high school with girls. Eager to find his place in this exciting new world, Eric joins the student life committee, unaware that he is expected to enforce the school's strict dress code. The dress code is particularly harsh on the girls he is keen to get to know. Eric finds this awkward, but it's nothing compared to the position he finds himself in when the whole school revolts.
17) Planet Grief
Author
Language
English
Description
What a crappy way to spend a weekend. The always-sarcastic Abby would rather be playing soccer, and the cagily quiet Christopher thinks a grief retreat is a waste of time. Neither of them wants to spend two days talking about their feelings. But despite their best efforts to stay aloof, Abby and Christopher are drawn into the lives of the other kids at the retreat. Maybe their stories will make them rethink how they are dealing with their own losses....
18) Bullies Rule
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Daniel Abel is surprised when, instead of being punished for "pantsing" another eighth-grader, he is invited to become an ambassador of Mountview High at the school's upcoming open house. What he doesn't realize is that he is part of a social experiment on bullying being conducted by the local university.
He is a little nervous to learn he will be working with Jeff Kover, a tenth-grader with a reputation for being the biggest bully in the school....
Author
Language
English
Description
During Passover, Jews are reminded of how, more than three thousand years ago, their ancestors emerged from slavery to become free men and women. Bestselling author Monique Polak explores her own Jewish roots as she tells the Passover story, which reminds us that the freedom to be who we are and practice our religion, whatever it may be, is a great gift. It also teaches us that if we summon our courage and look out for each other, we can endure and...
20) So Much It Hurts
Author
Language
English
Description
Iris is an aspiring actress, so when Mick, a well-known visiting Aussie director, takes an interest in her, she's flattered. He's fourteen years older, attractive, smart, charming and sexy-in other words, nothing like her hapless ex-boyfriend, Tommy. But when Iris and Mick start a secret relationship, she soon witnesses Mick's darker side, and his temper frightens her. Before long, she becomes the target of his rage, but she makes endless excuses...