A blend of fact and fiction, this novel highlights Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope's ability to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. A young, troubled boy accompanies his newspaper-columnist father to the marathon. Inspired by the Canadian hero's courage and determination, the young boy quickly befriends Fox. The boy's newfound friendship is then threatened by his father's exploitive article.
Endorsed by the Terry Fox Foundation, this drama enlightens readers to one of Canada's unforgettable heroes.

Clara and her family leave their home in Prague and the privileged life they enjoyed before the war broke out, simply because they are Jewish. They are taken to the city of Terezen, a concentration camp. The Nazi guards force the people to stand outside in the cold and rain. This is not a typical concentration camp. Some of the inmates are quite well known in their fields of art, poetry and music, and they decide to produce a children's opera called Brundibar to offer some hope to the children in the camp. Clara manages to make friends in spite of the horrible circumstances and even secures a lead role in the opera. The Red Cross sends a group of observers to inspect conditions at the camp and they see improved buildings and white picket fences as well as an opera for the children as planned by the Germans. This novel reveals the horrors and tragedy that the Czechoslovakian Jews endured during the war.

The setting is Whitby, Ontario in the summer 1943. Two brothers, 12-year-old George and 14-year-old Jack, are left on their own a lot while their father fights overseas and their mother works in a munitions plant. As the boys explore the town they have moved to, they play war games. One game brings them to what looks like a military base. They are escorted home and ordered to stay away, but curiosity brings them back to Camp X. The boys become involved in the work of the top-secret spy camp and soon learn that everyone is under suspicion, including themselves.
The story is fictitious, but a spy camp was established in Whitby in 1941 by the Canadian who headed British security during the war. This Canadian, Sir William Stephenson, appears in the novel in a minor role as Little Bill.

In the wake of a family tragedy, Minn Hotchkiss is sent to spend the summer with her sour grandmother in the seaside town of Boulder Basin, Nova Scotia. Almost as soon as she arrives, Minn discovers the skull of a human child on the beach. She becomes fixated in a mystery that reaches back more than a century, to the aftermath of the most tragic shipwreck in Maritime history before the Titanic.
Over the course of the summer, Minn will discover romance with a boy who turns out to be much more than he seems and will learn that the grandmother she resented is more curious, dedicated and surprising than she had ever guessed. By summer's end, Minn will solve a ghostly mystery and finally be able to give up the terrible secret she has kept locked in her heart.

Jack lives to sail, have adventures and get in trouble. When the "Noronic" docks at Ward Island, Jack and his friends gather to admire it, but an invitation is needed from one of the passengers to come on board. Jack spots Henry and talks him into inviting Jack and his group to tour the ship. The Noronic is everything Jack has dreamt about and vows one day he will captain this ship.
Jack cannot sleep that night and looks out towards the pier. Jack sees that the ship is on fire and without thinking, he runs to the harbour and takes out the island's only motorboat, hoping to help the passengers. Jack is able to pull Henry and many others from the water although Henry's dad is lost. Another rescue boat joins him and between them, they save 51 people. Jack is a hero of sorts, but many people blame him for taking the boat out on his own instead of calling someone older to help.

A sequel to The Hungry Year finds the O'Carr family living in Upper Canada for 10 years. The boys, Alex and Ryan, are looking for more adventure than just working for their father on the farm. Their father brings home a new wife and their older sister, Kate, marries and moves away. Alex gets involved with a group of pirates and his family presumes he has drowned until he walks into his own funeral. The boys are not prepared when the pirates return to the farm and want their help to recover their hidden gold.

Told in free verse, Libertad, Julio, and his mother eke out a living near the Guatemala City dump. Their father has left for the United States to find work. After their mother is killed in a freak accident, Libertad realizes they will not have any hope for the future if they stay in Guatemala. Working as street musicians, the boys travel to the Rio Grand River, where they must find a way to cross into the United States to find their father.
The text is based on a young boy named Mariano and his journey. Fullerton also uses the experiences of young people entering the United States to develop the text.