Books published by publisher Coteau Books

When Finn’s parents head off to some scientific mission on the other side of the world, leaving him with his grandparents on their Manitoba farm for a whole year, Finn is furious. He struggles to deal with his gran, his cantankerous great-grandfather and the less-than-friendly kids at school. But the gentle, lazy Red River flowing nearby gives Finn and his only friend, the mysterious Angus, their only peace. Finn learns that the Red River flows “backward”―from south to north―and this increases the possibility of it flooding again, as it has many times before. And so it does again, in 1997. Tension builds in the community when it becomes clear that they are going to have to prepare for “the big one.” As the floodwaters approach, the villagers quickly build a dike to try to save their community. But can they possibly succeed in the face of this flood? Will Finn get to fish for channel cats with his great-grandfather? Finn is dealing with problems, issues rise to a head and more than emotions overtake him when the Red River floods his grandparents’ home.

June 1912: Ella is surprised by her birthday gift from her mother, a Brownie camera and the advice to seek pictures of things that "don't belong." This is how Ella first notices Billy, a boy at her school who seems out of place. They become good friends, although Ella is sure Billy is keeping something from her. Ella soon realizes there are others to whom the "don't belong" tag applies. They include herself! Helping out at a tea for the women's rights group to which her mother belongs, Ella finds out about her place in society—or the lack of it. But there is someone else who is even more out of place, a stranger who pretends to be something he isn't, and he's up to no good. When Ella's mother's purse is raided, suspicion falls wrongly on Billy. Just as Ella is learning more about herself, her mother and her mysterious friend, the tornado (known then as a cyclone) arrives, bringing devastation to the city. It's the substandard housing of the poor that's worst-hit. But the storm also reveals a few hidden secrets. Can Ella, armed only with her camera and its evidence, help her friend? Based on the story of a real 1912 tornado.

Designated an Our Choice title by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. Fourteen-year-old Andrea would like to forget all about her trip back in time to the Prohibition days of the 1920s in Moose Jaw in Tunnels of Time. But then she agrees to take her younger brother Tony to their grandparents in Moose Jaw. Andrea and Tony arrive only to find that their grandparents are missing! Then Tony learns about his sister's previous tunnel adventure, and decides to have one of his own. But he leaves his medication behind, and Andrea has no choice but to pursue him into the tunnels of the past. Upon her return to the olden days, Andrea finds that her assistance is needed to expose a local theft ring and a corrupt police force. Will Andrea get Tony his medicine on time? Can Tony and Andrea learn to conquer their fears of growing up and being responsible? Can they expose the real crooks before they become trapped in the past? In Tunnels of Terror, Mary Bishop has created another thrilling page-turner, a must-read sequel to the wildly popular Tunnels of Time.

Ten-year-old Justice feels like the "man of the house" for his twin sister Charity and their mom. But when his classmate Trey bullies him, he doesn't know what to do. A visit to his beloved grandfather helps give Justice some ideas about bullying and how he might deal with it. When Trey bullies him and also attacks Charity, Justice can't understand why. He's afraid to tell anyone-his mother, his teacher, or the school principal-for fear of making things worse. Then on a family visit to their home reserve, Justice helps his mushum (grandfather) fix his snowmobile and finds the courage to talk about Trey. Through Mushum's stories and actions, he begins to understand why people bully and some possible ways to deal with them. There's no one simple, sure-fire solution in this honest and compassionate story, but Justice no longer feels quite so alone at school or on the street. Lori Saigeon is an elementary school teacher, living and working in Regina, Saskatchewan. Fight for Justice is her first work of fiction.

A daring, impulsive boy, Jack lives to sail, have adventures and get in trouble. When the Noronic docks at Ward Island, he and his friends gather to admire it, but you need an invitation from one of the passengers to come on board. Jack spots Henry, a quiet, lonely boy from Boston with not much knack for making friends, and talks him into inviting Jack and his group to tour the ship. The Noronic is everything Jack has dreamed of, a grand Great Lakes cruise ship, equipped with the latest features, its top three decks full of fashionable passengers. Jack vows that one day he will captain this ship. And in the course of the tour, Jack and Henry become friends. Jack can't sleep that night and looks out towards the pier. To his horror, he sees that the ship is on fire and without thinking he tears down to the harbour and takes out the island's only motorboat, hoping to help the passengers. People crowd the deck because the only way off the ship, three decks below, is already engulfed. Jack sees Henry on deck and calls to him as Henry's dad helps him jump in the water. Jack is able to pull Henry and many others from the water although Henry's dad is lost. Another rescue boat joins him and between them they save 51 people, although 118 perish. Jack is a hero of sorts, but many people blame him for taking the boat out on his own instead of calling someone older to help.

Kinny is thrilled when she gets a summer job as an assistant to the director of a play at the Stratford Theatre Festival, but things go wrong almost from the start. The director is strange, the actors hostile, and one woman is killed in a freak accident during the very first rehearsal. Could it be that the play, Macbeth, really has a curse on it? Asked to find a mirror for use as a prop, Kinny finds an ancient one in a junk shop. The mirror has mysterious powers over both Kinny and her actor friend Lucas. Mesmerized, Kinny sees visions in it of a horrible old hag, while Lucas believes he sees the real King Macbeth of ancient Scotland, noble and great despite Shakespeare's later depiction of him. The two friends can't stay away from the mirror, however hard they try. Troubles mount on troubles as two mysterious women join the cursed production, women who seem to wield great power over Kinny especially. It becomes Lucas's task to protect Kinny from the two women and the third in the mirror, while Kinny tries desperately to keep Lucas away from the mirrored face he sees. In this carefully researched thriller steeped in the history of the real Macbeth, Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the modern-day productions of Shakespeare's play, it is a race against time before ancient hatreds can destroy both Lucas and Kinny when the two faces in the mirror confront each other at last.

Erik never wanted to leave his grandfather's farm, and the memory of his dead father, in Norway. But in Canada his family can have their own farm, so Erik, his mother, and his older sister Elsa journey to the Canadian west with Rolf, their mother's new husband, Rolf. Rolf is a hard man to talk to and even harder to get to know. And he's keeping a secret from his new family. Erik does a man's work, helping Rolf break land and build a sod house. Rolf's brother and his son Olaf live in the nearby town. Olaf looks a lot like Rolf, but for some reason won't talk to him, and seems to resent Erik as well. The boys start to get along through their shared efforts to save Tapper, an injured horse. Tapper gets well enough to be entered in a local horserace and turns out to be a real winner. "Tapper" is the Norwegian word for "brave," and Erik really must be "tapper" to face all the challenges of his new life and be a winner himself.

Who is this oddly dressed girl? Where did she come from? What is she doing on the rock outcrop, Emily's favourite spot on her late grandmother's farm? Come to think of it, where is the farm? Emily, a twelve-year-old girl from the city, has come to say goodbye to the family homestead following her grandmother's funeral. Magically, miraculously, she finds herself transported back to a bygone era when pioneers first settled the Canadian prairies. How did she get here―and how will she get back home? The Secret of Sentinel Rock is a rich, descriptive story of hope and inspirarion as Emily finds the confidence to get on with her future. Letting go of the past does not mean having to forget it. Judith Silverthorne is a multiple-award winning Regina-based writer. She is the author of multiple novels for young readers with Coteau books.

Fourteen-year-old Sam Stellar and her cousin Paige have decided to spend the summer working at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Paige, a computer whiz, works in the IT department (and has one eye on the adorable assistant helping out in the museum), while Sam, an aspiring detective, is convinced there's a theft about to happen. Sure enough, a piece from a dinosaur fossil goes missing. Determined to solve the crime, Sam drags Paige along as her unwilling accomplice. As Sam closes in on the truth, things get ugly, and she finds herself trapped inside the museum, with no way out.

In this new thriller in the exciting "Tunnels of Moose Jaw" series from best-selling writer Mary Harelkin Bishop, Andrea Talbot takes an unwilling third trip to the spooky tunnels under Moose Jaw and uncovers the exploitation of Chinese immigrant workers.Andrea has no desire to go back into the tunnels. But then her friends Kami and Eddie Wong accidentally find themselves there, and she has no choice but to go back in time to rescue them - with the help of her ten-year-old brother Tony. Andrea finds a shocking new problem in the tunnels. Indentured Chinese workers toil in miserable conditions, for pitifully small wages. Smuggled into Canada by unscrupulous operators, they have no choice but to keep working - to save money to pay the infamous Head Tax the Canadian government imposes on Chinese immigrants.Andrea is outraged at their treatment. Many people are profiting from this ruthless eploitation, none more than the nasty crook in charge of it all, Mean-Eyed Max. In this harsh world. Kami is sent to work in a laundry, Eddie to unload produce in a grocery store. Andrea has to save her friends, but what about the other workers? With the help of her friends and the mysterious Mr. Wong, she and Tony help catch the bad guys and rescue the workers too.

Maddy's ring appears to be an ordinary stone ring, but soon, as the family travels through the mountains of BC, a menacing man, Gronvald, tries to steal it, and an elegant woman, Aleena, offers to help them keep it from him. Aleena takes Josh and Maddy through a veil of magic, to a wondrous world that coexists with the human world. But Aleena can't be trusted―she covets the ring for herself. The kids then meet the otter-people, who insist the ring must be taken to the giant of Castle Mountain for safekeeping, so it can no longer damage the veil between the worlds. Somehow Josh and Maddy must return the ring to the giant. And then try to find their way home.