A Mighty Big Imagining tells the story of ten-year-old Rachel, who in 1783 arrives in northern Nova Scotia with her mother, where they reunite with Rachel's stepfather after escaping slavery in South Carolina. Like many slaves during the American Revolution, Rachel's family aided the British war effort, in return for which they were promised their freedom as well as title to land in the British Colony. Their joy at gaining freedom in a safe new home is dashed when they arrive, for the land they are given is barren, the weather frightful. Worse still, Rachel's mother is pregnant. For a while, Rachel even believes they were better off as slaves - at least they were warm and didn't go hungry. Despite the adverse conditions of their new life, Rachel is determined not just to survive, but to make the most of her freedom. She wants to learn to read and write, and to help her family turn their squalid hovel into a home. With perseverance, pluck, and the help of a native girl named Marie-Andrée, she will help herself and her family to survive their first winter of freedom.

Rachel: A Mighty Big Imagining (Our Canadian Girl)

Kositsky, Lynne

Literature & Fiction

Penguin Canada

For Rachel, the best thing about freedom is the chance to learn to read and write. But her family's joy at finally being free is dashed as they face the challenges of life in a barren land and must fight against harsh winter conditions and intolerant neighbours. Worse still, Rachel's mother is pregnant. For a brief moment Rachel wonders if they were better off as slaves. But she is determined not only to survive, but to make the most of her new life.

Rachel (Our Canadian Girl)

Puffin Canada

In The Maybe House, Rachel's wish for a real house to call her own is granted, thanks to her stepfather Titan's hard work. And her determination to learn to read and write also begins to bear fruit. But these wonderful accomplishments are tenuous at best, for the atmosphere in Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, is an increasingly intolerant one, as de-listed white soldiers, unable to find work, begin to look with resentment upon their black neighbours.

Our Canadian Girl Rachel #2 the Maybe House

<p>When trapped or frightened, Esther sees windows -- and flying out of them -- as her only salvation. Young, Jewish and on the run from the Nazis, Esther is one of a group of children who manage to flee Germany for Belgium and then France at the beginning of World War II. Despite her perilous situation, she frets over her frumpy looks, is ridiculed by the popular girls and loves a boy who -- at the best of times -- treats her like a sister. As the war rages on and Esther bears witness to its horrors, her pain and isolation grow -- until only the highest windows bring the promise of release.</p>

Thought of High Windows, The

Children's Books

Kids Can Press

The Thought of High Windows

Commended for the 2011 Best Books for Kids and Teens  Robin Starveling, aka Noah Vaile, is scooped off the streets of seventeenth-century Bristol, England, and dragged onboard a ship bound for Virginia by the murderous William Thatcher, who needs a servant with no past and no future to aid him in a nefarious plot to steal gold. Starveling fits the bill perfectly since he lives nowhere and has no parents. Aboard the ship, Starveling makes friends with a young cabin boy, Peter Fence. Together the two boys suffer through a frightening hurricane and are shipwrecked on the mysterious Isle of Devils. They solve the ciphers embedded in emblems found in Thatchers sea chest, which has washed up with the wreck, then make their way through gloomy forests and tortuous labyrinths to a cave on the shore that houses a wizard-like old man. Beset by danger and villainy on every side, they finally discover the old mans identity and unearth a treasure that is much rarer and finer than gold.

Minerva's Voyage

Dundurn Press

Candles is the story of Anya, a young girl who lives with her parents, her brother and two dogs. She doesn't much like Chanukah and would rather celebrate Christmas as her friends do. Receiving an old Menorah from her grandmother for Chanukah only increases her dissatisfaction, as she would rather be given a CD player like her brother Steve. But lighting the first candle opens a different world for Anya, as she is transported back to Nazi Germany before World War II. During the lighting of the candles on successive nights, Anya relives the experiences of Estie, a young woman whom she comes to believe is her grandmother. As each successive candle is lit, another scene from the past unfolds. And as the novel progresses, Anya grows more convinced that she is reliving the life of her grandmother. She experiences a new understanding of her own faith. But Candles has a provocative twist in the tale.

Candles (Beloved Books)

Roussan Pub Inc

<p>When Perin Willoughby travels back in time to Elizabethan London, she becomes a boy actor and takes part in a scheme which Shakespeare and the Earl of Oxford, Edward De Vere, have hatched.</p>

A Question of Will (Out of This World)

Teen & Young Adult

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Books by Kositsky, Lynne