Book picks similar to
Melanie Bluelake's Dream by Betty Dorion
fiction
must-read-first-nations-books
young-adult
aboriginal
No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kuper Island Residential School
Sylvia Olsen - 2001
These unforgettable children are taken by government agents from Tsartlip Day School to live at Kuper Island Residential School. The five are isolated on the small island and life becomes regimented by the strict school routine. They experience the pain of homesickness and confusion while trying to adjust to a world completely different from their own. Their lives are no longer organized by fishing, hunting and family, but by bells, line-ups and chores. In spite of the harsh realities of the residential school, the children find adventure in escape, challenge in competition, and camaraderie with their fellow students. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, always engrossing, No Time to Say Goodbye is a story that readers of all ages won't soon forget.
Mac's Way
Reg Quist - 2012
Work on the Santa Fe Trail, and on a Mississippi River boat give him a start, but the years of Civil War leave him broke and footloose in South Texas. There he discovers more cattle running loose than he ever knew existed. Teaming up with two ex-Federal soldiers, he sets out to gather his wealth, one head at a time. While gathering and driving Longhorns, Mac and his friends meet an interesting collection of characters, including Margo. Mac and Margo and the crew learn about Longhorns, and life, from hard experience before they eventually head west. Outlaws and harrowing river crossings are just two of the challenges they face along their way.
Yoss
Odo Hirsch - 2001
They’re hungry. People disappear into them and are never heard from again.”From an idyllic village high in the mountains, a boy of 14 sets out to encounter the world. On the plain below, a town sweats with schemes and deceptions. Merchant, mistress, trickster, thief—many are drawn to this innocent newcomer. But all who seek to possess him will pay a price.Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards’ Shortlist for YA
I'm with the Band
Melanie Brown - 2016
Because of the accident, Mike's voice hadn't changed – he had a great set of pipes but he sounded like a girl. He shouldn't have volunteered to sing lead on the demo tape because now the band needed him... to be their new girl singer!
Becoming Robin: A Tale of Self Discovery
Zoe Taylor - 2017
A cross-country move away from everything Robert has known followed by a chance encounter trigger a different sort of existence. Can "Robin" adapt or will it all come tumbling down?
When the Finch Rises
Jack Riggs - 2003
It is a story full of truths and revelations, transcending its fictional bounds to become something so real and so finely wrought that it will simply astonish. Jack Riggs has created an emotional testament to the myriad shades of the human condition.It is the late 1960s in the small North Carolina mill town of Ellenton. Twelve-year-old Raybert Williams and his best friend Palmer Conroy live in cramped homes in a working-class neighborhood, but they use the vast outdoors as their personal playground. Yet hardships are never far away. Raybert’s father disappears for days at a time, only to come home broken and battered. Raybert’s mother is a loving woman who battles her own demons while struggling to keep it all together. Palmer’s family life offers no better refuge for the adventure-seeking boys.But Raybert and Palmer have each other. And in that glorious friendship, they are significantly blessed. They dream together of space flight and moonwalks. They construct a bike jump to rival Evel Knievel’s–and they’ll run it once they work up the courage. Knievel tempted fate and won, taking a leap over twenty buses on faith alone, soaring high and landing safely, even after many crashes and broken bones. Palmer and Raybert have their own plan that, once executed, will take them all the way to the ocean, landing them intact and together on the other side of freedom.Through the scrim of adolescence and poverty, Jack Riggs offers a glimpse of universal human foibles and singular moments of transcendence. Fiercely honest and beautifully narrated, When the Finch Rises flashes like the sharp rim of the eclipsed moon on the night when Raybert and Palmer’s fate is finally revealed.From the Hardcover edition.
Left Behind: The Kids Books 31-35 Boxed Set
Jerry B. Jenkins - 2004
Jenkins, Tim LaHaye, Chris Fabry
Time Bomb
Nigel Hinton - 2005
That is the summer they find an unexploded bomb buried in the hill where they ride their bikes. Faced with the choice of whether or not to reveal their discovery, the boys take a blood oath that will change their lives forever. Set against a crisply realized backdrop of post-war Britain, this explosive story of boyhood camaraderie follows the four friends as they confront the issues that have set their country, their community, and their lives ablaze.
Shadow of a Star
Elmer Kelton - 1984
In fact, he has a hard enough time keeping the peace between the drunks in the local saloon. But with tough Sheriff Mont Naylor to back him up he figures he can handle whatever comes his way.Jim-Bob's first real assignment is no piece of cake. He must escort a ruthless outlaw into the hands of justice. All seems well with the lawless killer firmly in Jim-Bob's custody. But nothing prepares him for an angry mob, determined to take the law into their own hands and provide their own brand justice: a hangman's noose.Shadow of a Star is a gripping tale by Elmer Kelton, voted one of the best Western Writers of all time by Westerns Writers of America, Inc.
Fires of Jubilee
Alison Hart - 2003
It's 1865 in the conquered South and things are not as they were before the war. Thirteen-year-old Abby Joyner still lives on the plantation where she was raised but she and her grandparents are free now and continue on for a small salary. One thing is the same as it has always been, though -- Abby does not know what became of her mother. Why won't anyone tell her? Abby is determined to find the truth behind her disappearance. But answers are few and she is about to discover that, like freedom, the truth is harder to come by than she could have imagined.
Firekeeper's Daughter Sneak Peek
Angeline Boulley - 2021
In Firekeeper's Daughter, debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange. As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation. Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.
Dragon Web Online: Inception
S.R. Witt - 2016
Play games, get rich. It seemed like the perfect way to make the cash my family needed to keep us off the streets. It seemed too good to be true.It was.I made a terrible mistake and stumbled into the truth behind the world’s most popular Virtual Reality game. Now I’m marked for death and the most powerful people in the world want to hang their crimes around my neck.They call me a thief. A murderer. The killer of worlds.The people who know the truth call me the Saint of Shadows.I didn’t set out to destroy the world, but somebody had to do it.Somebody had to set you free.
Dragon Web Online: Inception kicks off the Electric Shadows LitRPG Adventure series. Meet the Saint of Shadows as he begins his journey into a virtual reality that threatens to consume the world as we know it.
The Mystery of Craven Manor
Joy Wodhams - 2014
What is the mystery of Samantha's parents? Who is the sinister Mr Higgins? And the even more frightening Great Aunt Dorothy who lurks on the top floor? When Matt finds his life in danger he tries to escape, and there is only one route. And so begins the most terrifying experience of Matt's life. (Warning to readers: Do not try this at home.) Suitable for boys and girls aged 9 to 13.