Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows libraries across Canada to indicate popular upcoming titles. Using LibraryData, the library data aggregation service, the forthcoming titles with the most orders become Loan Stars top picks!

The September 2025 Loan Stars Junior Canadian top 10 list features ten books that have at least one author, illustrator, translator, or editor (in the case of an edited collection of material) who is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada.

You can see each book and find out a bit more about them in the list below, or you can download our poster if you want to display it, say in your library or on social media. (Tag us: @LoanStarsCA!) You can also view these titles on CataList in this catalogue.

September 2025 Junior Canadian List

Loan Stars top pick:

The Poisoned King

by Katherine Rundell, Illus. by Ashley Mackenzie 🍁

9781774888995 | Fantasy

Description:

Christopher Forrester woke to find a dragon chewing on his face—and his heart leapt for joy! He’d been dreaming of going back to the Archipelago, the secret cluster of islands where all the creatures of myth still live, and here was his summons.

But there is a poison spreading in the Archipelago. Rooting it out will involve a daring rescue mission on the back of a sphinx, a stealthy entrance to a dragon’s lair, and a death-defying plan to save a prisoner held in the heart of a castle. At the center of this storm is Anneth: a small girl with a flock of birds at her side, a new-hatched chick in her pocket, and a ravenous hunger for justice.

Katherine Rundell’s second thrilling installment in the Impossible Creatures series involves castles, dragons, and revenge—the things of which great stories are made. The splendors within are brought to life with more than fifty illustrations, including a map and a bestiary of magical creatures.

A Fall Day for Bear

by Bonny Becker, Illus. by Kady MacDonald Denton 🍁

9781536229493 | Animals

Description:

One fall day Bear is getting ready to have a picnic with Mouse. But when it’s time to leave together, there is no tap, tap, tapping on Bear’s front door. Where is Mouse, small and gray and bright-eyed? Bear sets out to meet him on the path, only to find his friend sitting alone on a stump, looking sad, lamenting the changes of the season—leaves falling, flowers dying, birds migrating. “I don’t like it when things go away,” Mouse says quietly. How can the curmudgeonly Bear cheer up his usually cheery friend? With characteristic warmth, this perfectly paced story of friendship, difficult feelings, and a well-meaning role reversal meets the healing power of laughter in the masterful hands of Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton.

Witches of Brooklyn: Curse and Reverse

by Sophie Escabasse 🍁

9780593813447 | Comics & Graphic Novels

Description:

Being a teenager is hard — and twelve-year-old Effie's about to find that out for herself! When a witch targets the emotions of teenagers, Effie and fellow witch-in-training Garrance have to go undercover as teenagers themselves—luckily it's nothing magic can't do! But this witch might be more than Effie can handle and Effie finds herself in the middle of a duel! Will her friends and family help her through? Don't miss out on the latest Witches of Brooklyn graphic novel! This series continues to grow along with our favorite witch, Effie!

Touching Grass

by Kristy Jackson 🍁, Illus. by Rhael McGregor 🍁

9781443472234 | Humorous Stories

Description:

Tristen would do anything to avoid going outside. The bugs sting, the snakes are poisonous, the heat will kill you if the cold doesn’t, and bodies of water? Forget it. Tristen likes it best indoors, deep in his online world where it’s safe, with his online friends. Something he has a hard time with IRL.

But Tristen is in trouble at school again, and the principal is threatening to kick him out of this third school in two years. His mom believes the answer is to get Tristen off the games and in touch with nature and his Dene roots. This means Tristen has to spend a week to a culture camp in the wilderness. It’s his worst nightmare!

And at first it is a nightmare—no internet, no phone reception, no Bepsi!—and Tristen has no idea how to do any of the skills the other kids seem to do easily. But soon, with some surprising new friends and a few patient teachers, and a little help from technology, Tristen begins to think he might be able to hack this nature stuff after all.

Haunted Canada Volume 2

by Joel A. Sutherland 🍁, Illus. by Hannah Barrett, et al. 🍁

9781443196307 | Comics & Graphic Novels

Description:

Four more spine-tingling stories from award-winning author Joel A. Sutherland have been adapted into chilling graphic novellas. Illustrators Hannah Barrett, Mike Feehan, Maya McKibbin and Matt Salisbury each bring a different story to ghoulish life.

Perfect for those who love graphic novels and fans of the bestselling series, these four stories have it all: creepy Canadian settings, hair-raising history and super-scary storytelling. Illustrated in full colour, these blood-curdling tales are sure to keep any reader turning the pages ― and awake at night . . .

Canine Connection

by Christopher Gudgeon 🍁

9781459839496 | Animals

Description:

Dogs are experts in human body language and expressions, and over time the muscles around their eyes have even adapted so they can communicate more easily with humans. And why do you get that warm feeling when you gaze into your dog’s eyes? It's because of increased levels of oxytocin, the “love” hormone. It creates feelings of affection, trust and social bonding.

None of this is a coincidence. The bond humans have with dogs is the result of tens of thousands of years of co-evolution and a unique cross-species friendship that has changed the course of life on this planet. The proof of this long-lasting connection is everywhere. Dog bones were discovered at ancient human burial sites and prehistoric paw prints were found beside a child's footprints deep inside a cave in the French Alps. In Canine Connection, readers will travel around the globe and through time to put their finger (or paw) on the story behind history’s true BFFs.

The Trickster Shadow

by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley 🍁

9780316574518 | Indigenous

Description:

Zoon’s shadow is always in his way. It makes a mess of his room, disrupts his class at school, and trips him on the soccer field. Zoon doesn’t know what to do! Until he tells his grandmother about it, and she gives him his grandfather’s drum. Its rhythm is like a heartbeat. If only Zoon can listen to the drum’s song, and ultimately to his own heart, he may yet find a way to thrive alongside his shadow.

Pawis‑Steckley's striking, graphic art brings to vibrant life both the challenges of controlling our trickster impulses and the luminosity of ancestral and inner wisdom, paving the way for us all to listen to our hearts.

Brown Girl in the Snow

by Yolanda T. Marshall 🍁, Illus. by Marianne Ferrer 🍁

9781771649261 | Social Themes

Description:

When Amina moves from the Caribbean to a new snowy home, she misses growing her favorite foods. There are no coconut trees to climb, no gardens full of sweet potatoes and callaloo—only ice and snow. As Amina looks out her frosted window, she sings a traditional children’s song from back home, adding her own twist: “There’s a brown girl in the snow, tra la la la la, where none of her plants will grow.”

Determined to find a way to make her favorite plants grow in a new climate, she comes across a possible solution after discovering a library book about gardening and greenhouses. Perhaps there is a way to grow sweet potatoes, after all!

The Forbidden Room

by Nicki Pau Preto 🍁

9780593528549 | Fantasy

Description:

Lavinia "Vin" Lucas has finally found a home. At Last Hope School, she's made friends (including a magical fire sprite!) who love her for who she is, and gifted headmistress Ava Hope is guiding her in her newfound abilities as a Chameleon. But after the chaos and danger of last year, and the attack on the school, the eye of the Magical School Board is trained on Last Hope, and they are desperate to get Ava Hope and her unconventional methods removed from the school for good.

Meanwhile, beyond the magical wards of Last Hope, the Free Mages grow ever stronger, and their enigmatic new leader will do anything to get his hands on the increasingly powerful Vin. It's going to take every ounce of cunning Vin and her friends have to send the crooked school board packing while warding off the looming threat of the Free Mages.

With family secrets swirling, a mysterious new student with mind-reading powers entering the picture, and even a water sprite joining the crew, year two is more surprising and difficult than ever. And when the world of magic faces destruction, Vin must use her powers—no matter how dangerous—and do whatever she can to save her friends and Last Hope School once and for all.

One Can

by Lana Button 🍁 & Eric Walters 🍁, Illus. by Isabelle Malenfant 🍁

9781773067346 | Social Themes

Description:

A child is excited to donate a can of their favorite Zoodelicious to the school food drive. Their teacher has explained that the food will be given to people in need, along with mittens from the “mitten tree.”

In the classroom, there’s a carpet with one hundred squares, and the goal is to fill each square with a can of food. When the child places their can of Zoodelicious on square 100, everyone cheers, and the teacher puts a snowflake sticker on top to celebrate.

But a few days later, the child finds the same can of Zoodelicious among the groceries their mom has brought home. There’s a pair of red mitts, too. “Mom, are we the people in need?” the child asks.

The next morning, after having thought of all the people who will receive food from the school and wondering what else they might need, the child donates their too-small blue mittens to the mitten tree at school.

Created by an award-winning team, One Can tells a timely and touching story of a child who learns to give and receive—and wants only to give again in return.

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