Books published by publisher Coteau Books

In the climactic fifth book of The Shards of Excalibur series, Ariane, Wally, Flish and Rex Major are on a collision course, converging on the resting place of the final piece of the sword: the hilt, long ago removed from its original hiding place by the descendants of King Arthur. When Wally uncovers its surprising location, far closer to hand than they’d ever guessed, it seems all Ariane and Wally have to do is claim it and reforge the sword to defeat Merlin forever.Except...how, exactly, do you reforge a magical sword? Especially, how do you do it when the richest man in the world is on your trail and pouring all of his enormous resources into stopping you?When the pieces of the sword are at last reunited, the results aren’t at all what Ariane and Wally imagined. With Excalibur whole again, the long-closed door into Faerie swings open wide. Who — and what — emerges from it may destroy everything and everyone Wally and Ariane have fought so hard to save — and allow Rex Major to snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat.Fighting side by side, Ariane and Wally must draw on all their strength, courage, magic and love to save the world…and there’s no guarantee it will be enough.

Eleven-year-old Ray feels like a misfit at school and in her family. Things have been hard for her family since her father's accidental death in a logging accident, and Ray has been unable to express her grief. In school, the green eyes she inherited from her father are unusual for a child from an Ojibway background in a northern Ontario town and get her noticed in ways she doesn't enjoy. At home, Ray believes that her mother, grieving herself and busy with Ray's younger brother and sister, no longer needs her. Ray becomes so withdrawn that at times she hardly speaks.Then Ray gets the chance she's been longing for: to spend a summer in the bush with her beloved grandmother - fishing, camping, and living off the land. During this visit, guided by her grandmother's sure hands, compassionate wisdom, and unfailing sense of humour, Ray begins a marvellous journey. Her grandmother, Agnes, a skilled healer respected in her small community, is the mentor and teacher Ray needs. She sees Ray's need to find her own identity and voice and begins to help her learn traditional skills.At the end of this beautiful and empowering story, which begins in 1978, the withdrawn green-eyed girl has found her voice and is not afraid to use it.

More than anything, Sid wants to be a drummer in a band. When she gets the chance to try out for the best high school band in the area, she finds out that there is a lot more involved than just being a great drummer. How much will Sid give up to get what she wants?The Fourth Down needs a drummer, and Sid's the best in the school. But right from the start, the all-male band makes her struggle. One member outright votes against a girl in the group. And as for the lead singer, Rocklin, if Sid's going to make it in his band, she’s going to have to start dressing the part of a girl. Accustomed to being invisible, Sid quickly discovers the consequences of the makeover she undergoes at the hands of her cousin, who knows exactly how the girl-game is played. It's not only that playing kit in a skirt is impractical. As someone who was once taunted about her sexuality for being a drum-playing girl who likes shop class, Sid is now forced to deal with guys who think her new look makes her fair game. Frustrated with the two stereotypes forced on her and other girls –gay or slut – Sid turns even more to her music. The band can't deny she’s the best, but, as Sid soon discovers, sometimes being good still isn't good enough. Drummer Girl tackles the dangerous side of peer pressure and the politics of identity in high school, and ultimately, what it means to march to the beat of your own drum.

Willa is a thirteen-year-old orphan shipped to the new world in 1795. Resourceful and strong-willed, she survives many hardships before travelling on foot from Hudson's Bay to Fort Edmonton with native companions who show her a genuinely "new" world.Life doesn't look promising for Willa when her family is wiped out by the London plague. Her uncaring uncle ships her to York Factory on Hudson's Bay, scarcely expecting her to survive the trip. But she's stronger than he knows. Not only does she make it to the new world, but she also survives unscrupulous thieves by going to work for Master George, the fort commander, and by befriending Amelia, the aboriginal cook.Through her successful work and the support of Amelia, Willa begins to be something she has never dreamed of - a strong and independent person. After Willa refuses Master George's surprise offer of marriage, she decides she must leave again. As Amelia's relatives lead her across the northern wilderness to Fort Edmonton, they show her a land of great beauty and teach Willa how to live in accord with this natural world.

A wild looking-glass trip through time, from present-day Moose Jaw to the past of Prohibition and gangsters and the mysterious underground tunnels.Thirteen-year-old Andrea Talbot doesn't want to go to Moose Jaw for her cousin Vanessa's wedding. She's going to miss a really cool bike trip and she's not taking it very well.At a family dinner party in a local restaurant, Andrea agrees to look at what she thinks is just a phony tourist attraction - tunnels beneath the streets of Moose Jaw.Legend has it that in Prohibition days the tunnels sheltered crooks, maybe even the notorious Al Capone himself!Andrea scoff, until she has a small accident with a mirror at the tunnel entrance and wakes up in another time. Unable to return to the present, Andrea is caught up in a dangerous underground adventure.A teenage boy, Vance, finds her a job - working as a courier for the very criminals whose existence she dismissed - including their menacing leader, a man she knows only as Scarface. When she overhears information about a police raid, Andrea has to decide what to do. Should she help Scarface escape? Or should she help Vance, who is running for his life after a run-in with Scarface?And whatever she decides, will Andrea ever get back to the present?

In the final instalment of the Barr Colony series, Dorothy and the Bolton family are settling into life on the prairies after a treacherous journey – first across the Atlantic, and then across the open landscape as they made their way to their homestead in the Barr Colony. But now, winter is approaching. Her mam and dad are fighting, and her dad decides to travel to Edmonton to work for the winter. This leaves Dorothy, her mam, and her sister Lydia to fend for themselves on the harsh prairie, alongside Dorothy’s older brother Frank.As with many colonists who took land in the west, the Bolton family has no idea the brutal and harsh conditions that will befall them during a winter on the prairie. With Frank off in Battleford getting supplies, Dorothy, Lydia, and Mam attempt to fend for themselves. But no matter what they do, their sod house continues to get colder and colder, and they become desperate for warmth. They must find a way to save themselves, but how?Based on a true story, Anne Patton has created a compelling final chapter to the Bolton family saga.

It's 1908, and twelve-year-old Erik faces the challenges of adapting to pioneer life on the Canadian prairie and understanding what's really going on in his family..Erik never wanted to leave his grandfather's farm, and the memory of his dead father, in Norway. But in Canada he and his family can have their own farm, so Erik, his mother, and his sister Elsa journey by steamship and train to the Canadian west with Rolf, their mother's new husband. Erik thinks he is old enough to look after the family - his mother didn't need a new husband for that. To make matters worse, 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. The farm isn't what they expected - it's just wide open prairie. Erik does a man's work, helping Rolf break land and build a sod house. Rolf's brother lives in the nearby town, with his wife and their son, Olaf. Olaf looks a whole lot like Rolf, but for some reason won't talk to him, and seems to resent Erik as well. What's going on here? The boys finally start to get along, mostly through their shared efforts to save Tapper, an injured horse they keep from being shot by its owner. 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.

Twelve-year-old cousins Alice and Sophie are a study in contrasts. Alice is tall and athletic with brunette hair, she lives in Montreal with just her dad, and she's a figure skater with a lot of talent and a bit of an attitude. Sophie is short and blonde and she lives on a dairy farm just south of the city, with her mom and dad and her spooky little brother Sebastian, and she loves nothing so much as looking after their herd of cows. Their differences kept the cousins from getting along in the past but now, ever since Alice's mom passed away, they have been best friends. Then, in January, it starts to rain and it just won't stop. Of course, it turns to ice as it hits the ground, and causes big trouble. First, the roads are closed, then the power lines start coming down and the electricity is gone. Alice struggles to stay warm alone in the dark, because her dad works for Quebec Hydro and is working around the clock. Meanwhile Sophie is with her family fighting to look after their dairy cows without the benefit of power to run the water pumps, the milking machines or anything else. Two different girls have to find the strength within themselves to survive their drastic situations. Penny Draper takes readers into the lives and hearts of two very real characters at the same time as she takes them into a very real disaster from the recent past.

Eliza, now fourteen, has been studying magic and gaining a rep-utation for her power. She has much yet to learn – althoughshe understands things like the ancient magic by which thingsare made and unmade, she cannot yet effect it herself. She is strong-headed and independent as ever, chafing at the boundaries theMancers have set for her. Ravens continue to gather around Eliza andthe Citadel, and nobody is sure if they are Eliza’s guides or a tricksent by the evil Xia sorceress Nia. The Mancers create magic daily to keep Nia in her prison, but sheescapes, turning them all to stone except Eliza’s grandfather, Kyreth,the head Mancer. Why on earth would she do that? Nia also sum-mons Ancient Magic to create a horrid Kwellrahg, with which tothreaten Eliza’s mother.Eliza, her friends Nell and Charlie, the witch Swarn and the FaerieLord Jalo must somehow stop Nia from wreaking further destruction.The key to victory is Eliza’s mastery of the Ancient Magic herself.Can she make it work in time? Will they learn the true story of Elizaand Nia’s common heritage?Catherine Egan has fashioned another thrilling fantasy tale of magic,of good battling evil, of a young woman discovering her true natureand realizing her own powers.

Rescue in the Rockies follows Janey, who’s almost 15, as she’s forced to spend the holidays with her grandmother and her grandmother’s new beau, Charlie. Being in Banff, Alberta, isn’t the problem. But Charlie has invited his annoying,16-year-old grandson Max for the stay.When Janey tries to flee the infuriating Max, she finds herself whisked away from present-day Banff and into wide-open Rocky Mountain wilderness.This visit to 1883 is the first of four time-travel adventures. With an unwitting Max, Janey lands in a First World War internment camp, a "Banff Indian Days" celebration and the inaugural Banff Winter Festival. As Janey deals with present-day chaos, including the appearance of an old crush, she tries to figure out what’s causing her mysterious disappearances.What do the four visits have in common, and can Janey solve this mystery before the enemy she's made in the past captures her and Max for good?

Fourteen-year-old Sam Stellar and her cousin Paige have decided to spend the summer working at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, as part of the Summer Studies and Work Experience Program. While not the ideal scenario for a summer vacation, both girls try to make the best of it: Paige, a whiz with the computers in the IT department, has one eye on her work and the other on the adorable assistant helping out in the museum, while Sam, a wannabe detective (who has studied online), is convinced there’s a potential theft about to happen. Sure enough, Sam’s hunch proves correct, and a piece from a fossil goes missing. Determined to solve the crime and apprehend the culprit, Sam drags Paige along as her unwilling accomplice, convinced she can unravel the mystery, despite the fact that no one believes her hunches.As Sam closes in on the truth, things get ugly, as she finds herself kidnapped and threatened. Can Sam outwit her foe and save the museum?

Ailish O’Connor supports herself and her father with her fortunetelling skills. Their gypsy caravan travels from one place to another looking for the crowds in which to earn their living. In Ireland in 1865, the place to be is on the west coast, as people gather to launch the largest ship ever built, the Great Eastern. Its mission is to lay the first undersea telegraph cable right across the Atlantic Ocean, to Newfoundland. Ailish’s father thinks he has their future secured with a solid-gold horse that has come into his possession, but when the figure is stolen, 13-year-old Ailish pursues the thief and winds up trapped on the Great Eastern as it sails! She pretends to be a cabin boy to avoid the harsh treatment of a stowaway. On the journey, she gets help from another young boy, Davy, who seems to live below decks. She also makes friends with an Irish sailor and tries to track down the hiding place of their precious horse. The crew must battle the seas and the mishaps of their cable-laying mission, some of which appear to be sabotage. Through many adventures, Davy is her constant companion. But why won’t he ever come topside? Can Ailish use her wits, her determination and her friendships to survive the trip, let alone save the day? With her trademark storytelling skills, Jacqueline Guest has fashioned a nail-biter of an historical seafaring action adventure.