Darkwing

Darkwing

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

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.
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Inkling

Inkling

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

Ethan’s dad is a comic artist whose greatest creation, the mutant superhero Kren, brought him fame and glory. But after his dad’s string of successful books, a tragedy strikes the family and now his dad is completely stuck. If only artistic talent were hereditary. Ethan is stuck on a graphic-novel project of his own at school and won’t own up to the fact that he can’t draw. When one night an ink-blot creation emerges from his father’s sketchbook, the family’s whole world begins to change. Featuring artwork by the beloved, award-winning illustrator Sydney Smith, Inkling is a timeless story that speaks to the creator in us all.
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Starclimber

Starclimber

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

"Mr. Cruse, how high would you like to fly?" A smile soared across my face. "As high as I possibly can." Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos. Before they even set foot aboard the ship, catastrophe strikes: Kate announces she is engaged—and not to Matt. Despite this bombshell, Matt and Kate embark on their journey into space, but soon the ship is surrounded by strange and unsettling life-forms, and the crew is forced to combat devastating mechanical failure. For Matt, Kate, and the entire crew of the Starclimber, what began as an exciting race to the stars has now turned into a battle to save their lives. Award-winning and bestselling author Kenneth Oppel brings us back to a rich world of flight and fantasy in this breathtaking new sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker.
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Bloom

Bloom

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

The first book in a can't-put-it-down, can't-read-it-fast-enough action-thriller trilogy that's part Hatchet, part Alien!The invasion begins—but not as you'd expect. It begins with rain. Rain that carries seeds. Seeds that sprout—overnight, everywhere. These new plants take over crop fields, twine up houses, and burrow below streets. They bloom—and release toxic pollens. They bloom—and form Venus flytrap-like pods that swallow animals and people. They bloom—everywhere, unstoppable. Or are they? Three kids on a remote island seem immune to the toxic plants. Anaya, Petra, Seth. They each have strange allergies—and yet not to these plants. What's their secret? Can they somehow be the key to beating back this invasion? They'd better figure it out fast, because it's starting to rain again....
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Silverwing

Silverwing

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

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. During a fierce storm, he loses the others and soon faces the most incredible journey of his young life. Desperately searching for a way to rejoin his flock, Shade meets a remarkable cast of characters: Marina, a Brightwing bat with a strange metal band on her leg; Zephyr, a mystical albino bat with a strange gift; and Goth, a gigantic carnivorous vampire bat. But which ones are friends and which ones are enemies? In this epic story of adventure and suspense, Shade is going to need all the help he can find -- if he hopes to ever see his family again. One of Canada's best books for young readers was written by a pretty young writer himself. Kenneth Oppel, who had his first book published when he was 18, really hit his stride a dozen years later with Silverwing, the first volume in a thrilling adventure trilogy set in the nocturnal world of bats that immediately captured the attention of middle readers and award juries alike.
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Devil's Cure

Devil's Cure

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

Convicted murderer David Haines sits on death row. Meanwhile, researcher Dr. Laura Donaldson discovers that Haines's blood may hold the cure to cancer. When she unwittingly helps Haines escape, she and FBI agent Kevin Sheldrake embark on a terrifying manhunt. It is imperative that Haines be brought back alive--but he'd sooner kill himself than offer his blood to medical science.
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Ghostlight

Ghostlight

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

One teen's summer job scaring tourists with ghost stories takes a terrifying turn when he accidentally summons the spirit of a dead girl—and she has demands. . . . The award-winning author of Airborn delivers a roller-coaster ride of a story about the wakeful and wicked dead.Rebecca Strand was just sixteen when she and her father fell to their deaths from the top of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse in 1839. Just how they fell—or were they pushed?—remains a mystery. And their ghosts haunt the lighthouse to this day. . . . Gabe tells this story every day when he gives the ghost tour on Toronto Island. He tries to make it scary enough to satisfy the tourists, but he doesn’t actually believe in ghosts—until he finds himself face to face with Rebecca Strand. The true story of her death is far more terrifying than any ghost tale Gabe has told. Rebecca reveals that her father was a member of...
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A Bad Case of Ghosts

A Bad Case of Ghosts

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

Giles Barnes and his family have just moved into a very strange house. Creeks, rustles, and fluttering sounds fill his bedroom. His mother says there are no such things as ghosts, but Giles decides to investigate. With help from new friends Tina and Kevin Quark and their ghostometer, the team solves the mystery, and gets rid of the ghosts for good!
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Hatch

Hatch

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

Book Two in the Bestselling Bloom TrilogyFirst 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?Kenneth Oppel expertly escalates the threats and ratchets up the tension in this can't-read-it-fast-enough adventure with an alien twist. Readers will be gasping for the next book as soon as...
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Thrive

Thrive

Kenneth Oppel

Children's Books / Young Adult / Thriller

The. Aliens. Are. Here. The heart-pounding conclusion to The Overthrow trilogy that began with Bloom and Hatch.The alien invasion of Earth is imminent. But maybe not all the aliens are united. A rebel faction has reached out to Anaya, saying there's a way to stop the larger invastion—a way for humand and hybrids and cryptogens to work together. Can they be trusted? Or is this a trap?It's not even clear if Anaya, Petra, and Seth are united—some of the hybrids think they'd be better off if the aliens won...With everything on the line, these three teens will have to decide who they are at their core—alien or human, enemy or friend.
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