Books published by publisher Puffin Canada

A humorous coming-of-age middle-grade novel set in 1960s Florida. Battling obxious siblings, sunburns, and a corporate millionaire, Norman is determined to help an old comedian save his career.It's the winter of 1965. Norman Fishbein is enduring not only a cold winter but also the usual torments and annoyances from his two older brothers. When Norman wins a thousand dollars in the "Count-the-Doozy-Dots Contest" his parents let him choose how to spend it, strongly suggesting a new car is what the family needs. But Norman decides what his family really needs is their first vacation that doesn't mean camping in a tent--a trip to Miami Beach. A snowstorm almost wrecks their plans, but in the end Norman gets his first plane ride (with both brothers air-sick on either side of him). Miami strikes him as a paradise--warm weather, palm trees, beaches, and ocean. They stay in luxury at the Royal Palm Hotel, owned by the mysterious millionaire Herbert Spitzer. One day at the pool Norman spots an old man in a black suit, who his father tells him is a once-famous comedian named Mort Ziff. (Norman's father thought that Mort Ziff had died years ago.) Holding onto the remains of his career, Mort Ziff is performing every night in the hotel dining room. A chance meeting begins an unusual friendship between Norman and the old comedian. But after hearing that Mort Ziff has been fired, to be replaced by "The Centipedes," a pop group imitating the Beatles, Norman takes matters into his own hands, resolving to save Mort's job and in the process, coming to realize an innner strength he didn't know he had.

It’s been months since brothers Jack and George’s adventure in Camp 30, where they’d been sent to spy on the high-ranking German prisoners of war. Now they’re hoping that life will return to normal. But they’re proved terribly wrong when their mother is kidnapped by three thugs who seem to know all about the boys’ pasts. Before they know it they’re on a terrifying new adventure back to Camp X to unearth a buried stash of gold, without which they’ll never see their mother again.

It is the summer of 1940, and all of England fears an invasion by Hitler’s army. Norah lies in bed listening to the anxious voices of her parents downstairs. Then Norah is told that she and her brother, Gavin, are being sent to Canada. The voyage across the ocean is exciting, but at the end of it Norah is miserable. The rich woman who takes them in prefers Gavin to her, the children at school taunt her, and as the news from England becomes worse, she longs for home. As Norah begins to make friends, she discovers a surprising responsibility that helps her to accept her new country.

A humorous coming-of-age middle-grade novel set in 1960s Florida. Battling obxious siblings, sunburns, and a corporate millionaire, Norman is determined to help an old comedian save his career. It's the winter of 1965. Norman Fishbein is enduring not only a cold winter but also the usual torments and annoyances from his two older brothers. When Norman wins a thousand dollars in the "Count-the-Doozy-Dots Contest," his parents let him choose how to spend it, strongly suggesting a new car is what the family needs. But Norman decides what his family really needs is their first vacation that doesn't mean camping in a tent -- a trip to Miami Beach. A snowstorm almost wrecks their plans, but in the end Norman gets his first plane ride (with both brothers air-sick on either side of him). Miami strikes him as a paradise -- warm weather, palm trees, beaches, and ocean. They stay in luxury at the Royal Palm Hotel, owned by the mysterious millionaire Herbert Spitzer. One day at the pool, Norman spots an old man in a black suit, who his father tells him is a once-famous comedian named Mort Ziff. (Norman's father thought that Mort Ziff had died years ago.) Holding onto the remains of his career, Mort Ziff is performing every night in the hotel dining room. A chance meeting begins an unusual friendship between Norman and the old comedian. But after hearing that Mort Ziff has been fired, to be replaced by "The Centipedes," a pop group imitating the Beatles, Norman takes matters into his own hands, resolving to save Mort's job and, in the process, coming to realize an innner strength he didn't know he had.

What if you find out something awesome about your friend—and she doesn't want you to tell anyone, not even your parents? Madison Stokes leads a pretty average life: average mom and dad, average looks, average grades—well, maybe her little sister is MUCH brattier than average, but nothing out of the ordinary. All that changes when Alyssa Hawkins moves to town. When Madison takes Alyssa under her wing, the two girls quickly bond over chocolate-chip cookies and become best friends. Amazingly, Alyssa doesn’t even mind Madison’s bratty sister! But there are some things Alyssa won’t share. Why won't she talk about her family? And why is she so reluctant to have Madison over to her house? Alyssa has a secret that she doesn't want anyone to know. And when Madison finds out by accident, she would love to tell it. But if she does, she risks losing the best friend she's ever had...

At first Eliza is happy with her new life at boarding school, settling into the Yellow Dorm, making new friends, learning the rituals of school life and doing well in her classes. But a bond begins to develop between Eliza and Helen, a mischievous, unpopular girl who defies authority, plays practical jokes and doesn't seem to care what others think of her. It is Helen who starts the daring game among the first girls in the Yellow Dorm.

Kit Pearson’s long-awaited new novel tells the story of the five Bell children, each of them coping in various ways in the aftermath of their mother’s death. Set in the 1950s and seen through the perspective of the middle child, 11-year-old Corrie, Pearson’s story illustrates how a rich fantasy life both helps and hinders children trying to cope with loss, loneliness, and growing up.While elder sister Roz is growing up and out of the desire for fantasy games, eldest brother Sebastian, who fancies himself Sir Lancelot in their Round Table game, continues to need them as much as ever,

The thrilling sequel to Camp X, winner of the Silver Birch Award— Soon the boys are offered the after-school job of delivering the camp's mail, and Canadian agents ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for possible escape plans. For, as the boys are told, it is a matter of loyalty to their homeland that the German prisoners must try to escape, even if it costs them their lives—and the lives of two boys in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jack and George have barely recovered from their ordeal in Camp X when they are relocated to Bowmanville, Ontario , where their mother has been offered a clerking job in a prisoner of war camp holding the highest ranking German officers.

A middle-grade novel for fans of boarding school stories--with a dash of The Mysterious Benedict Society and a splash of Circus Mirandus! Sebastian Konstantinov comes from a long line of talented circus performers. Somehow, however, he has not inherited any of their acrobatic skill: he has no balance, he's afraid of heights, he can't even turn a somersault. But there's one thing he does know: his father's circus, which travels through Eastern Europe, is out of date and is fast running out of money. Seb has a solution, though: if he can somehow get into the Bonaventure Circus School in Montreal, Canada, he might be able to learn something valuable to help his father. Seb secretly writes to the Directrice (an old friend of his father's) and is accepted into the school. All he has to do is convince his father to send him away -- oh, and keep his lack of talent a secret from all his teachers and classmates. Fortunately for him, he befriends two other students, who also don't seem to quite fit in. Seb is not the only one with secrets, it turns out. The school is literally crumbling beneath the feet of its students, and the directrice may be counting on Seb's "talent" to save the day. Can he and his new friends figure out what's really going on in the school that bills itself as the World's Best Circus School?