Novel and Text Sets in the CurrLab

(2 sets of 14 copies of Novel) "Get ready--a little ink blot is about to become your new best friend The Rylance family is stuck. Dad's got writer's block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school--even though he can't draw. Sarah's still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom so much more than they can say. Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance's sketchbook. Then one night the ink of his drawings runs together--and leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything. Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple of chapters of his math book--not good--and the story he's supposed to be illustrating for school--also not good. But Inkling's also started drawing the pictures to go with Ethan's story, which is amazing! It's just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too. For Sarah he's a puppy. And for Dad he's a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It's exactly what they all wanted. It's not until Inkling goes missing that this family is forced to face the larger questions of what they--and Inkling--truly need. With this book, Kenneth Oppel has given us a small masterpiece of middle-grade fiction. Inkling is funny and fizzy and exciting, and it brims with the kind of interesting ideas and dilemmas that kids will love to wrestle with. And Sydney Smith has created wonderfully inky illustrations to bring the story to vivid life."-- "Meet Ethan's new best friend. He's a gorilla. He's a mutant alien superhero He's a puppy. He's whatever he wants to be, because he's made entirely of ink. From the moment Inkling drags himself free from the pages of a sketchbook, he is on a mission: to teach Ethan how to draw, to help Ethan's artist dad get working again -- and to try to fix something inside Ethan's house and heart." (256 pages)

(5 copies Novel) "When twelve-year-old William Alton and his father sail from England for new opportunities on the Empress of Ireland, they leave behind the graves of his mother and baby sister. Will only hopes they will leave death and disease behind them, too. But a shipmate's baby falls ill and is forced into quarantine on Grosse Ile, and when they finally arrive in Hamilton - their new home - they discover that Will's Uncle Charlie is in the hospital. Why must everyone around him get sick and die? A competition at Will's new school offers an answer...and a challenge. In 1912, cities around the world declare war on the fly, blaming it for the spread of the diseases - summer complaint, typhus, consumption and typhoid - that are wiping out families. To avenge his mother and his sister, Will throws himself into the local fly-killing contest. Along the way, he makes enemies and friends: Fred Aitken, the wealthy classmate who hates losing; Fred's admirer, Ginny Malone, who often must skip school to look after sick siblings; and Rebecca, a doctor's daughter who hates poor sportsmanship worse than poverty and disease." (223 pages)

(28 copies- Graphic Novel) In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father's failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot's abandoned barn -- a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it's hard to trust what you see with your own eyes -- and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes. With phenomenal pacing, sensitivity, and a sure command of suspense, Matt Phelan ushers us into a world where desperation is transformed by unexpected courage.(201

(5 copies- Novel) "There's not much that upsets young Valli. Even though her days are spent picking coal and fighting with her cousins, life in the coal town of Jharia, India, is the only life she knows. The only sight that fills her with terror are the monsters who live on the other side of the train tracks -- the lepers. Valli and the other children throw stones at them. No matter how hard her life is, she tells herself, at least she will never be one of them. Then she discovers that she is not living with family after all, that her "aunt" was a stranger who was paid money to take Valli off her own family's hands. She decides to leave Jharia and so begins a series of adventures that takes her to Kolkata, the city of the gods. It's not so bad. Valli finds that she really doesn't need much to live. She can "borrow" the things she needs and then pass them on to people who need them more than she does. It helps that though her bare feet become raw wounds as she makes her way around the city, she somehow feels no pain. But when she happens to meet a doctor on the ghats by the river, Valli learns that she has leprosy. Despite being given a chance to receive medical care, she cannot bear the thought that she is one of those monsters she has always feared, and she flees, to an uncertain life on the street." (159 pages)

(28 copies, graphic novel). A collection of comic stories featuring nine-year-old Amelia, who has moved from Manhattan to a small town in the wake of her parent's divorce, and her fourth-grade friends, the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals, otherwise known as G.A.S.P. (168 pages)

(20 copies- graphic novel) Stinky is a monster who loves pickles and possums - but is terrified of people! When a new kid enters his swamp, this adorable little monster comes up with all sorts of crazy plans to scare him away. But Stinky quickly learns to conquer his fear, as he realizes that bats, rats, and toads aren't the only friends you can find in the swamp. This hilarious and heart-warming story by ferociously talented newcomer Eleanor Davis proves that even monsters can make new friends ... warts and all! (40 pages)

(6 copies. Novel) "Submarine Outlaw takes young adult readers on a unique journey when Alfred, a young boy who wants to be an explorer - not a fisherman, as his family demands - teams up with a junkyard genius to build a submarine that he sails around the Maritimes. The book takes the reader through the hands-on process of submarine construction into the world of real ocean navigation, replete with a high-seas chase, daring rescue and treasure hunting. Children will identify with Alfred's desire for an adventurous life and the sense of empowerment that comes with building his own submarine and operating it independently. They will also love the unusual crew - a rescued dog and a quirky seagull. The First Prize Winner of the Atlantic Writers Competition, Submarine Outlaw shows how any great goal in life takes a good deal of patience, determination and hard work. But also how hard work on one's dream becomes an act of joy." (251 pages)

(6 copies. Novel) "Sometimes even shamans get cranky. That was baby Wolverine’s misfortune—to be cursed by an out-of-sorts shaman frustrated by his own baby daughter’s incessant crying. Not only has shaman Paaliaq forbidden the future marriage of Wolverine to Breath, Paaliaq’s beautiful but teary baby girl, he has cursed Wolverine, banishing him when he becomes a young man. And even when a contrite Paaliaq later revokes the curse, the shaman’s even crankier magic animal will not. Now Wolverine finds himself stranded on a barren island, locked in a life-or-death struggle to return to his home, his family and a very special young girl. Michael Kusugak, consummate storyteller and bestselling author, conjures up an Inuit tale of adventure, perseverance and first-time love shot through with humanity and humour. This is a story perfect for its pre-teen and ’tween audience, where even the strong and the mighty have bad days, the bully gets his due and a dream can come true." (157 pages)

(7 copies) "SET IN AN IMAGINARY PAST where giant airships rule the skies, Airborn is the story of Matt Cruse, the 15-year-old cabin boy of the 900-foot luxury airship Aurora. Hundreds of feet over the Pacificus Ocean, Matt fearlessly performs a dramatic rescue to save an old man from his crippled hot-air balloon. Before he dies, the stranger tells Matt about the fantastic, impossible creatures he has seen flying through the clouds. Matt dismisses the story as the ravings of a dying man, but when a beautiful, bold girl arrives on the Aurora a year later, determined to prove the story true, Matt finds himself caught up in her quest. But can he and Kate solve the mystery before pirates, shipwreck and frightening predators end their voyage forever? (321 pages)

(6 copies. Novel) Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself. (152 pages)

(30 copies. Picture Book) Four brief "stories" about parents, trains, and cows, or is it really all one story? The author recommends careful inspection of words and pictures to both minimize and enhance confusion. (32 pages)