2016 VOYA Top Shelf Fiction Selection CCBC’s Best Books for Kids &amp; Teens (Fall 2016) ― Starred Selection Hope leaves her small town for a fresh start, but her plans are derailed by an online romance and the appearance of her brother. Hope lives in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. With a drug addict for a brother, she focuses on the only thing that keeps her sane, writing poetry. To escape, she jumps at the chance to attend Ravenhurst Academy as a boarding student. She’ll even put up with the clique-ish Ravens if it means making a fresh start. At first, Ravenhurst is better than Hope could have dreamed. She has a boyfriend and a cool roommate, and she might finally have found a place she can fit in. But can she trust her online boyfriend? And what can she do after her brother shows up at the school gates, desperate for help, and the Ravens turn on her? Trapped and unsure, Hope realizes that if she wants to save her brother, she has to save herself first.

Finding Hope

Teen & Young Adult

Nelson, Colleen

Literature & Fiction

Dundurn Press

A Winnipeg Free Press Bestseller! • In the Margins Book Award, Top Ten Selection • CCBC’s Best Books for Kids &amp; Teens (Fall 2017) Selection Close as brothers, Jakub’s and Lincoln’s lives diverge when Jakub gets a private school scholarship and Lincoln is lured into a gang. Fifteen-year-old Jakub Kaminsky is the son of Polish immigrants, a good Catholic boy, and a graffiti artist. While his father sleeps, Jakub and his best friend, Lincoln, sneak out with spray paint to make their mark as Morf and Skar. When Jakub gets a scholarship to an elite private school, he knows it’s his chance for a better life. But it means leaving Lincoln and the neighbourhood he calls home. While Jakub’s future is looking bright, Lincoln’s gets shady as he is lured into his brother’s gang. Jakub watches helplessly as Lincoln gets pulled deeper into the violent world of the Red Bloodz. The Red Bloodz find out Jakub knows more than he should about a murder and want him silenced ― for good. Lincoln has to either save his friend, or embrace life as one of the Red Bloodz.

Blood Brothers

Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award — Winner, Young Adult • High Plains Book Award — Winner, Young Adult • Red Maple Fiction Award — Shortlisted Sadia wishes life in high school was as straightforward as a game of basketball. Fifteen-year-old Sadia Ahmadi is passionate about one thing: basketball. Her best friend Mariam, on the other hand, wants to get noticed by the popular crowd and has started de-jabbing, removing her hijab, at school every morning. Sadia’s mom had warned her that navigating high school could be tricky. As much as she hates to admit it, her mom was right. When tryouts for an elite basketball team are announced, Sadia jumps at the opportunity. Her talent speaks for itself. Her head scarf, on the other hand, is a problem; especially when a discriminatory rule means she has to choose between removing her hijab and not playing. Mariam, Sadia’s parents, and her teammates all have different opinions about what she should do. But it is Sadia who has to find the courage to stand up for herself and fight for what is right — on and off the court.

Sadia

Children's Books

High Plains Book Award -- Finalist, Young Adult * MYRCA Northern Lights Award -- Shortlisted * SYRCA Snow Willow Award -- Shortlisted An aspiring teenage DJ must learn how to navigate life when people find out that she's the daughter of a famous singer. Fifteen-year-old Delilah "Dizzy" Doucette lives with her dad and brother above their vintage record store, The Vinyl Trap. She's learning how to spin records from her brother's best friend, and she's getting pretty good. But behind her bohemian life, Dizzy and her family have a secret: her mom is the megafamous singer Georgia Waters. When this secret is revealed to the world, Dizzy's life spins out of control. She must decide what is most important to her -- the family she has or the family she wants.

Spin

A fantastical novel from award-winning author Colleen Nelson, about a hundred-year-old side show and a girl with no past.Frankie doesn't trust easily. Not others and not even herself. Found in an alley when she was a child, she has no memory of who she is or why she was left there. Recurring dreams about a hundred-year-old carnival side show, a performer known as Alligator Girl, and a man named Monsieur Duval have an eerie familiarity to them.Frankie gets drawn deeper into Alligator Girl's world and the secrets that keep the performers bound together. But a startling encounter with Monsieur Duval when she's awake makes Frankie wonder what's real and what's in her head.As Frankie's and Alligator Girl's stories unfold, Frankie's life takes a sharp turn. Are the dreams her way of working through her trauma or is there a more sinister plan at work? And if there is, does she have the strength to fight it?

The Life and Deaths of Frankie D.

Making a Splash: How Humans Consume, Control and Care for Water (Orca Timeline, 9)

Science, Nature & How It Works

Orca Book Publishers

Jess and Sara Jean couldn’t be more different. He’s a loner with a criminal record, a Métis raised on the reserve, the son of a residential-school survivor. She’s from nearby Edelburg, a conservative small town. Abandoned by her mother, Sara Jean cares for her obese grandmother and writes to escape. When Jess is found guilty of arson, he’s ordered to complete 250 hours of community service, starting with Sara Jean’s neglected garage. Sorting through boxes left by her grandfather, they discover that the secrets keeping their communities apart are the very things that will bring them together.

250 Hours

Coteau Books

An adventurous West Highland Terrier follows his nose a little too far from home and becomes desperate for a helping hand. But when he’s taken in by a young boy volunteering at a retirement home, it just might be Harvey who does the helping. A dog’s world is a world of scents, of adventure. When a runaway West Highland Terrier named Harvey wanders out of his old life guided only by his nose and his heart, lives begin to converge. Austin, a young volunteer at Brayside retirement home, quickly finds that the audacious Harvey inspires Mr. Pickering, a bitter resident coping with memory loss, to tell stories of his childhood. Moved by the elderly man’s Dust Bowl recollections of grinding poverty and the perseverance of his friends and family, Austin begins to trade his preconceived notions for empathy. But is it enough to give him the resolve to track down Harvey’s original owner? Supported by striking illustrations from acclaimed artist Tara Anderson, award-winning author Colleen Nelson immerses readers in a rich and unflinchingly human tale of struggle and hope―all inspired by one curious dog.

Harvey Comes Home (The Harvey Stories, 1)

Animals

Pajama Press

The West Highland Terrier that brought Harvey Comes Home to life returns with his tail wagging and his nose sharp, ready for a new adventure Harvey the West Highland Terrier is back with his beloved Maggie. He is also back at Brayside retirement home, where he and Maggie now volunteer along with their friend Austin. There Maggie is drawn to a new resident, Mrs. Fradette, who tells stories of learning to fix cars as a twelve-year-old during the flood of 1950. Mrs. Fradette, with her bold fashion and love of poker, doesn't fit in among the beige-cardigan-wearing, bridge-playing ladies of Brayside, but she doesn't seem to care. Maybe that's why Maggie likes her so much. Since seventh grade began, Maggie hasn't been fitting in well with her friends, either. Harvey has a problem of his own. He can smell an intruder in his yard, and he needs to find it. He is so intent on the nighttime fiend that he almost doesn't notice how worried Austin is about his grandfather, who has been Brayside's custodian for longer than Harvey has been alive. It seems like the retirement home is planning to give the job to a younger man, an injustice that Austin can't let pass unchallenged. In intertwining perspectives, Colleen Nelson tells four stories of individuals standing firm for what they know is right: Josephine Fradette, insisting on her right to become a mechanic; Maggie, certain that her friends' expectations shouldn't define who she becomes; Austin, indignantly campaigning against ageism; and Harvey, who has found his home at last and is determined to protect it.

Harvey Holds His Own (The Harvey Stories, 2)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nelson, Colleen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Nelson, Colleen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nelson, Colleen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Finding Hope

Blood Brothers

Sadia

Sadia

Spin

The Life and Deaths of Frankie D.

Making a Splash: How Humans Consume, Control and Care for Water (Orca Timeline, 9)

250 Hours

Harvey Comes Home (The Harvey Stories, 1)

Harvey Holds His Own (The Harvey Stories, 2)