Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

The first book in bestselling author Kenneth Oppel's explosive new trilogy It was just rain. But after the downpour, odd black plants begin to shoot up. Suddenly-- They. Are. Everywhere. They take over fields and twine around houses. They bloom and throw off toxic pollen--and feed. Strangely, three Salt Spring Island teens seem immune. Anaya, Petra and Seth. What's their connection? What's their secret? A week ago, they wouldn't have thought they had one. But they'd better figure it out fast--the invasion has already begun.

It was just rain. But after the downpour, odd black plants begin to shoot up. Suddenly-- They. Are. Everywhere. They take over fields and twine around houses. They bloom and throw off toxic pollen--and feed. Strangely, Anaya, Petra and Seth, three Salt Spring Island teens, seem immune. What's their connection? What's their secret? A week ago, they wouldn't have thought they had one. But they'd better figure it out fast--the invasion has already begun.

All aboard for a non-stop fantasy adventure on the Titanic of trains! "Will stares up, too. The locomotive steams, her hot breath curling from the smokestacks atop the three-storey boiler. He can feel the tremor of her expectant power through the station platform, through the very air. Massive and black, she’s like something forged with lightning and thunder." Will Everett wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but after his family’s fortunes change, he finds himself with a first-class ticket for The Boundless. The longest, most glamorous locomotive in the world, it stretches more than eleven kilometres long and pulls an astounding 987 cars: passenger cars, shooting galleries, gardens, an onboard swimming pool, cinema and much more. But its maiden voyage won’t be a smooth ride for Will. After witnessing a murder during a station stop, he barely makes it back onto the train (with a running leap!), then must work his way from the caboose forward to his father in first class—with the murderer and his cronies on his tail. Luckily, a clever and nimble friend is perfecting her act in The Boundless’s circus car, and there the real thrill ride begins. Sasquatches, bog-dwelling hags and illusions abound in this outsized middle-grade adventure.

Before there were bats like Shade, Marina or even Goth, there was a young chiropter—a small arboreal glider—named Dusk. . . . It is 65 million years ago, during a cataclysmic moment in the earth’s evolution, and Dusk, just months old, has no way of knowing he will play a pivotal role in creating a new world. What he does know is that he is different from the other newborn chiropters. Not content to use his large sails to glide down from the giant sequoia tree, Dusk discovers that if he flaps quickly enough, he can fly. But this strange gift that makes him feel like an outcast from the colony will also make him its saviour. After most of the colony is savagely massacred by the felids—the earth’s first mammalian carnivores—Dusk must lead his fellow chiropters to a new home, and a new life. Against a tableau of disappearing dinosaurs and the ascent of the mammal kingdom, Oppel has created an adventure fantasy that sets the stage for the birth of the bats, the story of the forebears of Shade, the beloved hero of the Silverwing series. As with all Silverwing books, it is impossible to simply read Oppel’s Darkwing; each of us enters a world of convincing characters, warring theologies, incredible natural history and a story that roars through head, heart and imagination. A tale that can be read as a stand- lone or as a prequel, Darkwing will be a welcome new classic for the millions of Kenneth Oppel fans.

Before there were bats like Shade, Marina or even Goth, there was a young chiropter—a small arboreal glider—named Dusk. Unlike other chiropters, who can only glide down from their colony’s home in a giant sequoia tree, Dusk can actually fly, a skill that makes him an outcast. But when Carnassial, a felid, and one of the world’s first mammalian carnivores, leads a savage massacre of the chiropters, Dusk’s strange ability transforms him into the colony’s saviour. CBA Children’s Author of the Year (2006) and winner of the Governor General’s Award, Kenneth Oppel, takes readers back 65 million years to a time of upheaval, as the last saurians fall and mammals rise. A thrilling story of dangers and dark secrets, heroes and terrifying villains, backed up by natural history made all the more incredible by its reality, Darkwing is a blockbuster adventure.

Romeo and Juliet meets Indiana Jones in this epic tale that combines the hunt for a dinosaur skeleton, a mysterious legend, bitter rivalries and a forbidden romance Somewhere in the Badlands, embedded deep in ancient rock and sand, lies the skeleton of a massive dinosaur, larger than anything the late nineteenth-century world has ever seen. Some legends call it the Black Beauty, with its bones as black as ebony, but to seventeen-year-old Samuel Bolt, it’s the “rex,” the king dinosaur that could put him and his struggling paleontologist father in the history books. But Samuel and his father aren’t the only ones after the rex. For Rachel Cartland this find could be her ticket to a different life, one where her love of science and adventure isn’t just relegated to books. And if she can’t prove herself on this expedition with her professor father, the only adventures she may have to look forward to are marriage or spinsterhood. As their paths cross and the rivalry between their fathers becomes more intense, Samuel and Rachel are pushed closer together. Their flourishing romance is one that will never be allowed. And with both eyeing the same prize, it’s a romance that seems destined for failure. Can they join forces to find their quarry, and with it a new life together, or will old enmities and prejudices keep them from both the rex and each other?

Gabe's summer job scaring tourists with ghost stories turns terrifyingly real when he accidentally summons the spirit of a dead girl--and must join forces with her to protect the world of the living. The story of the tragic death of sixteen-year-old Rebecca Strand and her lighthouse keeper father is just an elaborate tale Gabe tells tourists for his summer job on the Toronto Island. Or so he thought. When his ghost tours awaken Rebecca's spirit, Gabe is drawn into a world far darker than any ghost story he's ever heard. Rebecca reveals that she and her father were connected to The Order, a secret society devoted to protecting the world from "the wakeful and wicked dead"--malevolent spirits like Viker, the ghost responsible for their deaths. But now the Order has disappeared and Viker is growing even stronger, and he'll stop at nothing to wreak chaos and destruction on the living. Gabe and his friends--both living and dead--must find a way to stop Viker before they all become lost souls.

Gabe's summer job scaring tourists with ghost stories turns terrifyingly real when he accidentally summons the spirit of a dead girl—and must join forces with her to protect the world of the living.

Book Two in the Bestselling Bloom Trilogy First the rain brought seeds. Seeds that grew into alien plants that burrowed and strangled and fed. Seth, Anaya, and Petra are strangely immune to the plants' toxins and found a way to combat them. But just as they have their first success, the rain begins again. This rain brings eggs. That hatch into insects. Not small insects. Bird-sized mosquitos that carry disease. Borer worms that can eat through the foundation of a house. Boat-sized water striders that carry away their prey. But our heroes aren't able to help this time-they've been locked away in a government lab with other kids who are also immune. What is their secret? Could they be...part alien themselves? Whose side are they on?

First the rain brought seeds. Seeds that grew into alien plants that burrowed and strangled and fed. Seth, Anaya and Petra are strangely immune to the plants' toxins and have found a way to combat them. But just as they achieve their first success, the rain begins again. This rain brings eggs. Which hatch into insects. Not small insects. Bird-sized mosquitos that carry disease. Borer worms that can eat through the foundation of a house. Boat-sized water striders that carry away their prey. Our heroes aren't able to help this time--they've been locked away in a government lab with other kids who are also immune. What is their secret? Could they be . . . part alien themselves? Whose side are they on?

Giles, Tina and Kevin are hired by the rich and eccentric Miss Frost to uncover the mystery of her deep and overgrown swimming pool -- and discover not one, but two real live dinosaurs!

The Rylance family is stuck. Dad's got writer's block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school—even though he can't draw. Sarah's still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom. So much more than they can say. Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance's sketchbook. But one night the ink of his drawings runs together—and then leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything. Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple chapters of his math book—not good—and the story he's supposed to be illustrating for school—also not good. But Inkling's also started drawing the pictures to go with the story—which is amazing! It's just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too—for Sarah he's a puppy. And for Dad he's a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It's exactly what they all want. It's not until Inkling goes missing that this family has to face the larger questions of what they—and Inkling—truly need. Kenneth Oppel has given us a small masterpiece of middle-grade fiction. Inkling is funny and fizzy and exciting, and brimming with the kind of interesting ideas and dilemmas that kids will love to wrestle with. And Sydney Smith has created wonderfully inky illustrations to bring the story to vivid life. Get ready. A little ink blot is about to become your new favorite character!  

The Rylance family is stuck. Dad's got writer's block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school—even though he can't draw. Sarah's still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom. So much more than they can say. Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance's sketchbook. But one night the ink of his drawings runs together—and then leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything. Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple chapters of his math book—not good—and the story he's supposed to be illustrating for school—also not good. But Inkling's also started drawing the pictures to go with the story—which is amazing! It's just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too—for Sarah he's a puppy. And for Dad he's a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It's exactly what they all want. It's not until Inkling goes missing that this family has to face the larger questions of what they—and Inkling—truly need. Kenneth Oppel has given us a small masterpiece of middle-grade fiction. Inkling is funny and fizzy and exciting, and brimming with the kind of interesting ideas and dilemmas that kids will love to wrestle with. And Sydney Smith has created wonderfully inky illustrations to bring the story to vivid life. Get ready. A little ink blot is about to become your new favorite character!

A New York Times Editor's Choice and a Best Book of the Year in the Globe and Mail, Publishers Weekly, Horn Book, School Library Journal and The Wall Street Journal, called "a masterpiece" (Globe and Mail) and now in paperback She was very blurry, not at all human looking. There were huge dark eyes, and a kind of mane made of light, and when she spoke, I couldn't see a mouth moving, but I felt her words, like a breeze against my face, and I understood her completely. "We've come because of the baby," she said. "We've come to help." In this beautiful, menacing novel, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, an anxious boy becomes convinced that angels will save his sick baby brother. But these are creatures of a very different kind, and their plan for the baby has a twist. Layer by layer, the boy unravels the truth about his new friends as the time remaining to save his brother ticks down. With evocative and disquieting illustrations by Caldecott Medal- and Governor General's Award-winning artist Jon Klassen, The Nest is an unforgettable journey into one boy's deepest insecurities and darkest fears.

Shade, the runt Silverwing bat of his colony, is blown out over the sea while migrating south, and he must find his own way to the winter colony in order to survive.

The forest heaves and splits in a terrible quake, and Griffin, a newborn Silverwing bat, is sucked down a fissure deep into the earth. Shade, Griffin's father, soon realizes that his son has been drawn into the Underworld and embarks on the most dangerous of journeys to rescue him. Shade knows he must find Griffin quickly -- legend says that if the living stumble into the land of the dead, they have only a short time before death claims them, too. But something else is hunting Griffin -- a deadly foe Shade hoped he would never see again. Who will find Griffin first?

Shade is a young Silverwing bat, the runt of his colony. But he's determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum, millions of wingbeats to the south. When he becomes separated from the other bats during a fierce storm, he must undertake the most incredible journey of his young life.

Handsome new editions celebrate the 10th anniversary of the award-winning aerial adventure that started it all. Winner of the Governor General's Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and recipient of many other national and international honours, Airborn fired the imaginations of readers around the world when it was first published in 2004 and its popularity has never waned. Airborn was followed by the acclaimed sequels Skybreaker, winner of the Red Maple Award and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, and Starclimber, a Canadian Library Association Children's Book of the Year Award Honour Book. These stunning new editions with cover illustrations by Jim Tierney mark a new decade of soaring adventures for this trio of contemporary classics.

At long last, Matt Cruse is at the helm. Though it’s only a summer job piloting a humble aerocrane, he’s thrilled to be a small part of something big. With every load, he’s helping to build the Celestial Tower, Paris’s extraordinary gateway to outer space. But Matt’s idyllic summer is short-lived. He narrowly survives a deadly attack by the fanatical Babelites, who are opposed to humans reaching the heavens. Worse still, his nights spent stargazing with Kate de vries must end when she’s summoned back to Lionsgate City by her parents. It’s time she began to think about getting married. But then a chance of a lifetime boosts Matt’s hopes of being airborne once more. Canada wants to be the first nation to reach space, and the Minister of Air has asked Kate to join the initial expedition as an expert on aerial zoology. There’s a place for Matt, too—if he can pass the gruelling tests to become an astralnaut on board the incredible ship Starclimber. It’s a race to the very top, and Matt is determined to be a part of the adventure. But can he outlast his competition? And if he is chosen to join the crew, will they ever return to earth?

Handsome new editions celebrate the 10th anniversary of the award-winning aerial adventure that started it all. Winner of the Governor General's Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and recipient of many other national and international honours, Airborn fired the imaginations of readers around the world when it was first published in 2004 and its popularity has never waned. Airborn was followed by the acclaimed sequels Skybreaker, winner of the Red Maple Award and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, and Starclimber, a Canadian Library Association Children's Book of the Year Award Honour Book. These stunning new editions with cover illustrations by Jim Tierney mark a new decade of soaring adventures for this trio of contemporary classics.