Books with author Karen Ball

A troubled Alberta teen spending a summer in Germany discovers the story of a teen with real problems -- pregnant and alone in the maelstrom of When Canadian teen Delora James finds herself banished to Germany for the summer, reading the professor's old journals seems like a good time- waster. Once Del begins to read the translated diary of Garda - a teenager in World War II, pregnant and desperate - she is engaged by Garda's compelling story. Through a series of rebellions, she begins to draw similarities between her own world and Garda's, and is able to see past her own hostility. Sixteen-year-old Delora has been shipped off to Hamburg, Germany to live with her controlling sister. Her 'behaviour' at home has caused considerable concern so she is under house arrest till she proves she can behave otherwise. Through her sister, she meets an English professor who asks her advice on a book she is working on. Del then encounters 16-year-old Garda, whose journals make up the professor's story. Del is transported back to Nazi Germany in the Fall of 1942, is riveted by Garda's story and draws parallels not only between the places they reside but in the oppression they both feel. Garda's rape by a member of the Hilter youth, the subsquent pregancy and enstrangement from her family resonate with the reader and with Del. We are presented with the horrors of the Nazi regime through the eyes of an innocent girl. It is a strong dose of life for Del and mirrors so many of her conflicts. As Garda breaks free of her oppression, Del finds strength and acceptance of her world and those who love her.

A fast-paced middle-grade offering from internationally acclaimed author Karen Bass Reluctantly touring Halifax with his family, twelve-year-old Laz Berenger accidentally stumbles through a time tunnel to a 1745 war zone. Caught by English sailors from the American colonies, his only hope for freedom is to spy for them in the French fortification at Louisbourg. But he finds himself torn in three directions when the commander at Louisbourg becomes closer to him than his own father. Angry over his family’s recent move and current enforced holiday in Halifax, twelve-year-old Laz Berenger rebels against a guided tour of the Citadel and sets out to explore on his own. In one dark tunnel, his St. Christopher medal burns suddenly hot. There’s a strange smell, and Laz blacks out. When he wakes up, everything happens at once. A sword is put to his throat. Men who look like extras from Pirates of the Caribbean hand him over to a ship’s captain who strips him and takes his medal. He is declared a French spy. Laz realizes, to his horror, that it is 1745 and he is trapped in time. These English colonists, still loyal to King George, are at war with the French. To earn his freedom, Laz must promise to spy on the French at the fortification of Louisbourg. But once in Louisbourg, Laz earns a job as runner to the kind Commander Morpain and learns to love both the man and the town. How will Laz find a way to betray the inhabitants of Louisbourg? How else can he hope to earn back his St. Christopher medal, which is surely his key to returning to his own time? The award-winning author of The Hill and Graffiti Knight has written an enthralling, swash-buckling time-slip adventure for middle-grade readers centered on a fascinating period in North American history.

Three Sneezes and no more, opens up the Trolls' Door. And with this, follow the tunnel to a whole 'nother world. Scottish author Karen Hall's most delightful and imaginative story about little Oliver Browning as he discovers that trolls are real and so is their world ... and the adventure of a lifetime!In the original British text. Plus - doodle spaces!

It's WWII. Erich, a young German prisoner of war who dislikes Nazism, and Max, the twelve-year-old son of German immigrants, become friends when Erich is sent to work at a Canadian logging camp near Max’s town. But with a saboteur haunting the logging camp and anti-German feeling running high in town, their friendship puts them both in danger. Seventeen-year-old Erich is a prisoner of war working at a northern Alberta logging camp. Twelve-year-old Max goes to school―reluctantly―in the nearby town. The two would be unlikely friends, except that neither has anyone else to turn to. At the height of World War II, nobody wants to befriend a German. It doesn’t matter that Erich was forced into the military by his father, or that Max was proudly born in Canada. They are both easy targets for the locals’ grief and anger against the Nazis. The other prisoners are no more welcoming, distrustful of Erich’s perfect English and his dislike for Nazism. Still, when a series of accidents shake the logging camp, they pressure Erich to question the Canadians and find the saboteur―even if his questions get him into trouble. Caught between angry prisoners and suspicious captors, Erich is afraid to take any action at all. It is only when Max’s schoolyard tormentors cross a dangerous line that Erich realizes that his real loyalties lie not with a regime or a country, but with his friend.

A hundred years from now, Earth's surviving inhabitants float across the drowned planet on roving island nations, making war over meagre resources. Meanwhile, on the Moon, a colony founded by scientists decades earlier thrives. The motto of the Lunar Bases is "Only here is mankind free"-but is it true? And what is the cost of that freedom? For the quiet but brilliant Phaet Theta, finding out the answer could jeopardize her career, her family, and even her life. A sci-fi series full of suspense and danger that draws from our past and reveals what could lie in our future.

Three Sneezes and no more, opens up the Orange Trolls' Door. And with this, follow the tunnel to a whole 'nother world. Scottish author Karen Hall's most delightful and imaginative story about young Oliver Browning as he discovers that trolls are real and so is their world ... and the adventure of a lifetime! In the original British text. Plus - doodle spaces!