Fall Releases
'Harvey Comes Home'
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, Colleen Nelson immerses readers in a rich and unflinchingly human tale of struggle and hope—all inspired by one curious dog.
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, Colleen Nelson immerses readers in a rich and unflinchingly human tale of struggle and hope—all inspired by one curious dog.
'Spin'
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 mega-famous 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.
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 mega-famous 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.
'Pulse Point'
Willow Award Nominee
OLA Forest of Reading 'Summer Reading List for Teens' Selection
CBC Books names Pulse Point is a Top Ten book to watch for this spring!
In Kaia’s world, setting foot Outside can be deadly. The safety of the City has kept humans alive as climate change destroys the world. But the City has found a way to survive sustainably: it is run by the energy generated by its Citizens. Th e energy that citizens create is calculated and displayed on their pulse point, a transmitter embedded in their finger.
Kaia is a Citizen, one of the few deemed genetically perfect enough to live under the protective dome of the City with her grandmother and father. But when Kaia discovers her mother is alive and living Outside, she escapes the safety of the City and learns the truth about the sinister world she left behind.
OLA Red Maple Nominee
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.
"This book comes at a time when it is most needed, offering a powerful and positive antidote to knee jerk racism and social media fuelled culture wars … but moreover, it is a compelling, tightly written, and keenly heartfelt story with a classic identity conflict in the midst of flawed humanity." -Canadian Materials
"Fifteen-year-old Sadia Ahmadi, a Muslim immigrant from Syria, learns that young voices can still be powerful in Nelson’s story about being loyal to one’s beliefs."
-Publishers Weekly
https://padlet.com/cnelson101/nsqoosl9kmwx
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.
"This book comes at a time when it is most needed, offering a powerful and positive antidote to knee jerk racism and social media fuelled culture wars … but moreover, it is a compelling, tightly written, and keenly heartfelt story with a classic identity conflict in the midst of flawed humanity." -Canadian Materials
"Fifteen-year-old Sadia Ahmadi, a Muslim immigrant from Syria, learns that young voices can still be powerful in Nelson’s story about being loyal to one’s beliefs."
-Publishers Weekly
https://padlet.com/cnelson101/nsqoosl9kmwx
Winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year for Young People (2018)
Finalist for the High Plains Young Adult Book Award (2018)
"This straightforward approach lends legitimacy to the novel’s final act, one that in lesser hands would come off as over-the-top pulp nonsense. A smartly plotted examination of the despair that keeps people in their places and the hope that pulls them out of it." -Kirkus Reviews
"The themes of the book may seem harsh, but they are realistic and timely, and Nelson is a thoughtful and understanding author who shows readers that her characters are multi-faceted and trying to do their best when faced with tough situations and even tougher life decisions." - 4 Stars, CM Reviews
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
Finalist for the High Plains Young Adult Book Award (2018)
"This straightforward approach lends legitimacy to the novel’s final act, one that in lesser hands would come off as over-the-top pulp nonsense. A smartly plotted examination of the despair that keeps people in their places and the hope that pulls them out of it." -Kirkus Reviews
"The themes of the book may seem harsh, but they are realistic and timely, and Nelson is a thoughtful and understanding author who shows readers that her characters are multi-faceted and trying to do their best when faced with tough situations and even tougher life decisions." - 4 Stars, CM Reviews
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
"Both heartbreaking and hopeful, this will be a popular choice among mature readers of realistic fiction, particularly fans of Ellen Hopkins’s “Crank” series."-Starred Review, Resource Links
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.
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.
- Selected as a Best Book for Teens by Canadian Children's Book Center, Fall 2016
- Starred Review School Library Journal
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OLA Forest of Reading 'Summer Reading List Selection (2018)
Jess and Sara Jean couldn’t be more different. He’s a loner with a criminal record; a Metis boy raised on the Goosefeather Reserve and the son of a residential school survivor. She’s from nearby Edelburg, a conservative prairie town. Abandoned by her mother as a baby, and caregiver to her morbidly obese grandmother, Sara Jean is desperate to escape the town she’s lived in her whole life and the future she sees mapped out in front of her. When Jess is found guilty of arson, he’s ordered to complete 250 hours of community service. His first job is cleaning out Sara Jean’s neglected garage. Sorting through boxes left by her grandfather, they discover dark secrets about Jess’s father and the residential school. As Sara Jean and Jess unravel the twisted legacy of the residential school, they realize it has scarred generations. Until peace is made with the past, no one can move forward.
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Before Luke came into his life, all Ben cared about was skateboarding, and whether his father would ever remember that he was alive. Then there was Luke, and it felt like he was being carried along on some sort of wave. But then Luke died, and everyone at school thinks it’s his fault. Maybe it is.
The Fall charts the lives of three boys as they deal with the death of their friend and brother. One turns to alcohol to escape his guilt. Another looks to a gang to replace what he’s lost. Ben needs to find a way to reconcile his role in Luke’s death and prove that he was not to blame. He must also learn that the man he will become is his to define. Available from Great Plains Books
- Shortlist Selection for the Ontario Library Association's 2014 White Pine Award
- Winner of 2014 McNally Robinson Book of the Year for Young People
- Selected as a Canadian Children's Book Centre '2013 Best Books for Teens'
Praise for 'The Fall' from Canadian Children's Book News, Autumn 2013
"In her second novel for young adults, Nelson masterfully explores the ways in which boys cope with tragedy and grief...The novel is perfectly paced, and the seriousness of the issues such as abuse, bullying and alcoholism are offset by lighter action
scenes describing Ben’s skateboarding tricks. Covering ground seldom seen in YA literature, this novel is one that will generate discussion and is a necessary addition to any high school classroom shelf."
https://padlet.com/cnelson101/tpztisn6hris
