2008 - 2009 College Book Lullabies for Little Criminals Author: Heather O'Neill LULLABIES FOR LITTLE CRIMINALS is the heartbreaking and wholly original debut novel by This American Life contributor Heather O'Neill, about a young girl fighting to preserve her bruised innocence on the feral streets of a big city. Baby, all of thirteen years old, is lost in the gangly, coltish moment between childhood and the strange pulls and temptations of the adult world. Available at the MacEwan City Centre Bookstore, South Campus Bookstore and Centre for the Arts Bookstore.

Past College Books

	2007 - 2008 College Book Sweetness in the Belly Author: Camilla Gibb Lilly, the main character of Camilla Gibb's stunning novel, has anything but a stable childhood. The daughter of English/Irish hippies, she was born in Yugoslavia, breast-fed in the Ukraine, weaned in Corsica, freed from nappies in Sicily and walking by the time [they] got to the Algarve. The family's nomadic adventure ends in Tangier when Lilly's parents are killed in a drug deal gone awry. Orphaned at eight, Lilly is left in the care of a Sufi sheikh, who shows her the way of Islam.

	2006 - 2007 College Book Oryx and Crake Author: Margaret Atwood Margaret Atwood’s novel is so utterly compelling, so prescient, so relevant, so terrifyingly-all-too-likely-to-be-true, that readers may find their view of the world forever changed after reading it. This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers. For readers of Oryx and Crake, nothing will ever look the same again.

	2005 - 2006 College Book Black Bird Author: Michel Basilieres In this wholly original novel alive with misfortune and magic, Michel Basiličres uncovers a Montreal not seen in any other English-Canadian work: a forgotten blue-collar neighbourhood in between the two solitudes. Gothic, outrageous, yet tender and wise, Black Bird is as liberating as the dreams of its wayward characters, and as gripping as the insurgencies that split its heart.

	2004 - 2005 College Book Deafening Author: Frances Itani In Deafening, Canadian writer Frances Itani's American debut novel, she tells two parallel stories: a man's story of war and a woman's story of waiting for him and of what it is to be deaf. Grania O'Neill is left with no hearing after having scarlet fever when she is five. She is taught at home until she is nine and then sent to the Ontario Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, where lifelong friendships are forged, her career as a nurse is chosen, and she meets Jim Lloyd, a hearing man, with whom she falls in love.

	2003 - 2004 College Book Life of Pi Author: Yann Martel The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

	2002 - 2003 College Book Monkey Beach Author: Eden Robinson Set on the rugged northwestern coast of British Columbia, Monkey Beach is the coming-of-age story of a young Haisla girl who, is searching for her lost brother, learns about herself, her family, and her complex cultural world. The novel was nominated for both the giller prize and the Governor General's Award in 2000.

	2001 - 2002 College Book Mercy Among the Children Author: David Adams Richards Winner of the 2000 Giller Prize, Mercy Among the Children is strongly rooted in the Miramichi Valley of late 20th century New Brunswick, yet in the conflict of the characters, we see Richards' fiercely moral vision at work.

	2000 - 2001 College Book Chorus of Mushrooms Author: Hiromi Goto Hiromi Goto's award-winning novel traces the stories of three generations of Japanese Canadian women living on a mushroom farm in Southern Alberta.

	1999 - 2000 College Book The Englishman's Boy Author: Guy Vanderhaeghe Two Narrative streams merge in this novel the Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873 and the phenomenon of the early Hollywood in the 1920s. Thoroughly researched, the novel is rich with historical texture and beautifully crafted prose.

	1998 - 1999 College Book Icefields Author: Thomas Wharton In 1898, a British doctor visiting the Rocky Mountains near Jasper falls into a crevasse. The story that Wharton lyrically unfolds is mysterious and intriguing.

	1997 - 1998 College Book Medicine River Author: Thomas King The story of one man's discovery of family and community, Thomas King's debut novel is by turns funny and poignant.