Fiona's life changed forever when her mother died in a South Pacific sailing accident. One year later, everyone tells her it is time to move on. To Fiona, moving on means leaving her mother behind-something she has vowed never to do. But Fiona's father has started dating again. His new girlfriend, Kathy, is a professional psychic who claims she can predict the future and communicate with the dead. Fiona is sure she is a fraud, although she secretly longs for her abilities to be genuine. With the reluctant support of her best friend Abby, Fiona sets out to put an end to her father's new relationship by trying to prove, with decidedly mixed results, that Kathy is a liar.

It's 1963, and Jack's family is still reeling from the SIDS death of his baby sister. Adrift in his own life, Jack is convinced that setting a world record will bring his father back to his senses and his mother back to life. But world events, including President Kennedy's assassination, threaten to overshadow any record Jack tries to beat—from sausage eating to face slapping. Nothing works, and Jack is about to give up when a new friend suggests a different approach that involves listening to, not breaking, records.

When Cameron rescues a baby abandoned in the woods, everyone says it is a miracle. A stroke of luck that he just happened to be there, riding his bike along that trail, and heard the baby's cry. But Cameron has a secret: It wasn't just luck. He was there because his twin sister Katie begged him to go. Did Katie know about the baby? Is she covering for someone? At first Cameron just wants some answers but once he knows the truth he has to decide what to do with it.

Wolf's mother is obsessed with saving the world's honeybees, so it's not too surprising when she announces that she's taking her Save the Bees show on the road—with the whole family. Wolf thinks it's a terrible plan, and not just because he'll have to wear a bee costume—in public. He likes his alternative school and hates the idea of missing weeks of classes. His teenage stepsister doesn't want to leave her boyfriend, and one of his little half sisters has stopped talking altogether, but Wolf's mom doesn't seem to notice. She's convinced that the world is doomed unless ordinary people take extraordinary action. It isn't until the kids take some drastic action of their own that she is forced to listen when Wolf tells her that dragging the family around the province in a beat-up Ford panel van may not be the best idea she ever had.

Cassidy Silver is not having a good year. Her engineer father is in the Middle East, her artist mother is too busy to listen to the painful details of her daughter’s grade seven life, her genius younger brother is being bullied, and her best friend Chiaki has abandoned her to hang out with the meanest girls in school. Then Cassidy meets Victoria, who is telekinetic—she can move objects with her mind. Cassidy, desperate to not be the only ordinary person in her family, thinks learning telekinesis could be the answer to all her problems. But is Victoria telling the truth? And is telekinesis really the solution?

When Ben's friend Jack moves away, Ben discovers sometimes good things can come from an unwanted change.

Dante thinks high school is an earthly version of hell. She hates her new home in the suburbs, her best friend has moved away, her homeroom teacher mocks her and her mother is making her attend a social skills group for teenage girls. When a stranger shows up at school and hands Dante a flyer that reads: Woof, woof. You are not a dog. Why are you going to obedience school?, Dante thinks she's found a soul mate. Someone who understands. Someone else who wants to make real changes in the world. But there are all kinds of ways of bringing about change...and some are more dangerous than others.

Sixteen-year-old Dylan has never met her father. She knows that her parents were just teenagers themselves when she was born, but her mother doesn't like to talk about the past, and her father, Mark, has never responded to Dylan's attempts to contact him. As far as Dylan is concerned, her family is made up of her mother, Amanda; her recently adopted younger sister, Karma; and maybe even her best friend, Toni. And then, out of the blue, a phone call: Mark will be in town for a few days and he wants to meet her. Amanda is clearly upset, but Dylan can't help being excited at the possibility of finally getting to know her father. But when she finds out why he has come – and what he wants from her – the answers fill her with still more questions. What makes someone family? And why has her mother been lying to her all these years?

Review"Lou is a fully rounded, attractive character. Zoe's emotional insensitivity toward her, while painful, becomes understandable as her believable back story emerges. Other characters are also nicely, authentically fleshed out, adding depth and a strong sense of reality. A quiet, moving exploration of what it means to be a mother-or a daughter-even when the relationship is unconventional." (Kirkus Reviews 20111201)"Stevenson has managed to craft a unique book: she has inserted adventure into a novel about family turmoil...Lou's desire to know the truth about her family will resonate with many young adults trying to understand their own family dynamics. The central conflict of this book is certainly an intriguing one that will captivate some young adults. Students who enjoy realistic fiction and books about family will be most interested in this book." (VOYA 20111118)"This novel exquisitely captures the angst adolescents experience when dealing with parental and peer conflicts...The plot twists and turns, and readers can empathize with Lou's predicament. Stevenson creates an engaging story which will appeal to female adolescents addressing identity issues and family turmoil." (Library Media Connection 20111201)"Lou's pain and alienation is palpable, and her desire to both protect and escape her father is understandable. This is a multilayered, emotionally draining—yet hopeful—novel that will allow many teens to recognize their own ambivalence towards their parents, as well as the need to escape velocity—the speed an object requires to break free from a gravitational pull—in their lives." (Booklist 20111230)"[An] enjoyable read. Stevenson skillfully and gingerly balances difficult concepts, such as abandonment, drug abuse and loss, through her use and development of dynamic and honest characters, thereby allowing readers to mull over the intricacies of their own personal relationships." (CM Magazine 20111201)[Starred Review] "A nuanced story that is both familiar and inspiring...Escape Velocity is a subtle meditation on both the ties that bind and that difficulties that divide." (Quill & Quire )"Beautifully written, easy to get into (and over too quickly, I thought!). While the book has its moments of genuine sadness and unwelcome surprise, it is also inspiring (without ever being melodramatic or sappy)...I would recommend this title for those who enjoy contemporary and/or slightly more sophisticated YA [novels]." (Fabbity Fab Book Reviews blog )"Stevenson excels at writing stories about complex family relationships and * Escape Velocity is no exception." (Resource Links* ) Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.I open the top drawer, my heart pounding. A row of file folders, alternating blue and gray, all neatly labeled. Clippings, Documents, Letters...I stop, about to pull out the * Letters file, but then I notice the next file: Lou. The skin on the back of my neck prickles, and I shiver. I raise my hand to life out the file and, just as my fingers touch it, I hear my mother's key in the lock.* (20120101)

What do you do when someone you care about wants you to follow him to a really dark place? Do you pull away? Do you help plan the trip? Or do you put your own life on the line in the hope that love will coax your friend away from the precipice? When Mel meets Jeremy, she thinks she has finally found someone who understands her, someone who will listen to her, someone who cares. But Jeremy has secrets that torment him, and Mel isn't sure she can save him from his demons. All she knows is that she has to save herself. Set in Florida, against a backdrop of anti-death-penalty activism, The World Without Us examines one girl's choices in a world where the stakes are very high and one misstep can hurt—or even kill—you.

When Cassie comes to Vancouver from Australia for an intensive summer program at a prestigious ballet school, she finds it hard to fit in. A clique of girls who have been at the school a long time don't want the newcomers to get any attention. At first Cassie tries to go along to get along, but when she realizes that some of the visiting summer students are being bullied and threatened, and that she herself is being sabotaged, she finally speaks out—and finds out how far some girls will go to succeed.

It's an ordinary nightmare of a family trip until Theo realizes that the beautiful girl beside the hotel pool is his childhood babysitter—and his first crush. Theo hasn't seen Ronnie for five years, but when she invites him to go with her—and her toddler son, Zach—on a road trip, he leaps at the opportunity to ditch his parents and head to Hollywood. They've only gone a few miles before Theo begins to regret his impulsive decision. Zach cries nonstop, and when they get pulled over by the police, Ronnie is clearly terrified. She says her ex-boyfriend is a cop and that he is looking for her. Theo wants to trust her, but he suspects she is hiding something. And when they reach Los Angeles and she disappears, leaving him to look after Zach, he needs to find out the truth—and decide where his loyalties lie.

Despite his father’s opposition, Simon “Spacey” Drake is determined to become a long-distance sailor, so he signs up for a week-long live-aboard sailing course. The trip gets off to a rough start, but the real trouble begins when Simon and Olivia, another student, get curious about a nearby cabin cruiser in an anchorage. They investigate and stumble upon an abalone poaching operation, but the poachers have far too much at stake to let a couple of kids get in their way. Simon has always believed that the only person you can count on is yourself, but when he and Olivia find their lives in danger, he knows they will have to work with the rest of the crew if they are to survive.

Derek thinks he might be falling in love. The problem is, he hasn't been entirely honest with his online boyfriend. Derek sent Ethan a photo taken before he got depressed and gained eighty pounds. Derek hasn't been honest with his employer either. When he lied about his age and experience to get a job with disabled adults, the last thing he expected was to meet a woman like Aaliyah. Smart, prickly and often difficult, Aaliyah challenges Derek's ideas about honesty and trust. Derek has to choose whether to risk telling the truth or to give up the most important relationship in his life.