Some people count their blessings, but dog walker Stephen Nobel counts mistakes. Dogwalker extraordinaire Stephen Nobel can get a little anxious, but his habit of counting the mistakes he and everyone else makes calms him. His need to analyze gets kicked into hyperdrive after two crazy events happen in one day at school: the bomb squad blows up a backpack and someone smashes a car into the building.To make things worse, that someone thinks Stephen can identify them. Stephen receives a threatening text. If he goes to the police, his favourite dogs, Ping and Pong will get hurt. The pressure mounts when his new best friend, Renée, begs for Stephen’s help. Her brother has been charged with the crimes and she wants to clear his name.Is it a mistake to give in to dognappers? How can he possibly save everybody? To find out, Stephen will have to count on all of his new friends.

They say he’s been stealing art … but is Attila being framed?Outdoor art is disappearing all over the neighbourhood! From elaborate Halloween decorations to the Stream of Dreams fish display across the fence at Stephen and Renée’s school, it seems no art is safe. Renée’s brother, Attila, has been cursing those model fish since he first had to make them as part of his community service. So everyone thinks Attila is behind it when they disappear. But, grumpy teen though he is, Attila can do no wrong in Renée’s eyes, so she enlists Stephen’s help to catch the real criminal.

Zanna is a rebellious pre-teen city girl with a fondness for tattoos and bad boys. But after her last rebellion - a strawberry tattoo on her ankle - her mother leaves for France without her. Zanna is forced to spend the summer with her twin brother, Martin, and their glaciologist father in the mountainous region of Last Chance Pass. There Zanna takes in an injured and abandoned puppy, which she and her brother rescue from underneath their new home. With only a few days in the Rockies, she realizes that no cell phone and a slow internet connection are the least of her problems. Tyler, the charming, blue-eyed park ranger, is convinced that her new dog, who she conveniently names Paris, is a wolf. But when her brother goes missing, what had begun as a boring and rustic inconvenience turns into a matter of life and death. With the help of Tyler and Paris, Zanna sets out to rescue her brother, and in the process, discovers what really matters the most.

A fatal collision — who's to blame? Two bodies, two souls switch in search of justice. When fifteen-year-old Hallie gets knocked flying by a Hurricane SUV, her life ends without her ever having kissed a boy. At an otherworldly carnival, she meets and argues with the eighty-two-year-old driver, Susan. Both return to life, only with one catch — they've swapped bodies.Now Hallie has wrinkled skin and achy joints while Susan deals with a forehead zit and a crush on a guy who's a player. Hallie faces a life in a long-term care residence. Susan gets picked up for shoplifting. As they struggle with technology, medications, and each other's fashion foibles, they start to understand and maybe even like each other. But can they work together to prove that a defect in the Hurricane caused the deadly crash? Or will their time run out?

When twelve-year-old William Alton and his father sail from England for new opportunities on the Empress of Ireland, they leave behind the graves of his mother and baby sister. Will only hopes they will leave death and disease behind them, too. But a shipmate's baby falls ill and is forced into quarantine on Grosse Ile, and when they finally arrive in Hamilton - their new home - they discover that Will's Uncle Charlie is in the hospital. Why must everyone around him get sick and die? A competition at Will's new school offers an answer . . . and a challenge. In 1912, cities around the world declare war on the fly, blaming it for the spread of the diseases - summer complaint, typhus, consumption and typhoid - that are wiping out families. To avenge his mother and his sister, Will throws himself into the local fly-killing contest. Along the way, he makes enemies and friends: Fred Aitken, the wealthy classmate who hates losing; Fred's admirer, Ginny Malone, who often must skip...

A Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2005Manitoba Young Reads' Choice Award Nominee 2005Red Maple Book Award nominee 2005Second of the BringingUp Beauty triology!Bringing Up Beauty won the 1996 Silver Birch Children's Choice Award and the 1997 Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award. In Bringing Up Beauty, Elizabeth had her heart broken over the lab puppy she raised for - and returned to - a guide dog program. In A Different Kind of Beauty, she's trying again. But this time, she vows, she won't fall in love. She'll have fun, sure, but she won't surrender to those big soulful eyes and goofy puppy love. Hmmm... is it Beauty II she's resisting, or Scott, the "former" boyfriend who just keeps hanging around?"

Five-year-old Pearl claims that a pirate stole the rare Blushing Diamond. But everyone's a pirate on Halloween. Dogwalker Stephen Noble has been recruited to walk his five-year-old reading buddy, Pearl Lebel, to and from school while her mother is away and her father is ill. He's sure that this will be easier than walking canine clients Ping and Pong — until Pearl locks herself in the house, runs away from home, and loses her family's rare pink diamond ring. When Pearl claims that a pirate took the ring, Stephen and Renée are on the case. But the more they discover, the more it feels like everyone is a suspect. With Pearl annoying them every step of the way, will they be able to solve the mystery before the ring's scheduled appearance at the Brilliant Diamond Show?

Noble Dog Walking takes care of pets, even if they slither. When a ball python they're looking after disappears, Stephen Noble and Renée Kobai join forces with their favourite clients, Jack Russell Ping and Greyhound Pong, to find that snake. The local animal shelter proves no help at all. The only thing they care about is their annual cat sale. It's starting to look like the ball python may have been stolen, when Stephen and Renée get word that more homes have been broken into, all of them clients of Noble Dog Walking. The case turns desperate as one by one, their clients leave. After losing Ping and Pong as clients, too, Stephen and Renée pin their last hope on gathering all the suspects at the animal shelter, and a real cat-astrophe ensues.

Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2007 Hamilton Literary Awards Program, 2007 - Mixed Media Award for Young Adult BookBeauty's back-with a bound! Liz and her best friend Alicia are determined: this year, no boys! It doesn't take long, though, before Liz falls off the wagon. She's irresistibly drawn to Kyle, and Kyle is drawn to Liz-dragged to her, actually, by Beauty Two, who is so glad to see her old friend that she starts to forget the finer points of her dog guide training. Kyle doesn't care. Every time he hears Liz's voice, he feels like he's flying.But the reasons for Kyle and Liz to stay away from each other just keep piling up. Kyle's got a teacher with a grudge who's loading him down with work. Liz's parents think she's too young, and sneaking around behind their backs certainly doesn't make her feel mature. As for Beauty, she needs correction, or she'll be taken away; and that, Kyle just can't stand to think about...

What would you do if you only had one week to live? A skateboarding accident claims 14-year-old Jade's life when she skitches (hitches herself to a car) in order to appear on youtube; she neglected to wear the helmet she promised her father she would always use. In a Japanese garden she meets her mother who died when Jade was eight. She begs for the chance to return to earth if only to improve relations between her brother and father and Mom negotiates a one week do-over for her. What can she achieve? A date for her father? A new job for her brother? Her first kiss? Jade can't tell anyone what is going on, which is bad enough, but after discovering a love for life that she's never known, will she be able to let go? Or will she try to cheat fate?

Inspired by the true story of a teen who was killed at a railway crossing, the author weaves the tale of fourteen-year-old Paige, who, taking a shortcut alongside the tracks to avoid the school bullies, is tragically hit by a train and transported to a surreal world where she encounters Kim, who died seven years before. Convinced she is only dreaming, Paige must discover a way to return to her former life. Poignant, gripping, and full of unexpected twists and turns, Best Friends through Eternity will resonate with readers who have struggled with cultural identity, a sense of belonging, and the real meaning of home.