Adolescence
Dark Times
Edited by Ann Walsh
The result of a cross-Canada contest for the best short stories about young people's experience of loss and grief, Dark Times is a superb anthology about a topic that often remains hidden but is crucial in the development of a child's sense of identity.
I'll Be Home Soon
By Luanne Armstrong
In I’ll Be Home Soon, Luanne Armstrong takes the reader on a tension-filled ride as Regan, a young girl living in the inner city, searches for her mother who has mysteriously disappeared. Homeless but by no means hapless, Regan is on her own much of the time but also receives ... Read more
Joan's Summer
By Heather Gardam
“Maybe, if she worked really hard, Patti thought, maybe if she just had a chance to be alone for a while, she would feel better. Get her life back to where it used to be before… But… but that was a kind of running away, too, wasn’t it? How much running could a person ... Read more
Life on the Farm
By Heather Gardam
Ten-year-old Patti lives on a farm with her mom, dad and older brother Jamie. She loves the natural world she lives in, and she feels passionately that she is old enough now to be a working member of the farm team, taught the skills and given jobs that really matter. She is ... Read more
On Fire
By Dianne Linden
Part comedy, part mystery, part allegory, On Fire is narrated alternately by two characters: Matti Iverly, a fourteen-year-old girl with Tourette Syndrome. In Matti’s case, her tics are primarily vocal. As she confides early in the book, “At school they called me Tourette’s ... Read more
Queen of the Godforsaken
By Mix Hart
Lydia Buckingham is an ice queen. She wasn’t always that way, but after her parents uprooted the family to move to an isolated and rundown farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, she has been forced to adapt this personality in order to survive in rural Saskatchewan. Despite her ... Read more
The Mitochondrial Curiosities of Marcels 1 to 19
By Jocelyn Brown
Her hands lay inert and upturned on her lap – probably stunned, she thinks, by the hideousness of the skirt underneath them. Centre seam puckered, zipper mangled, it's handmade in a way that makes people say, 'Did you sew that yourself?' when they mean, 'How can you wear that ... Read more
The Rule of Thirds
By Chantel Guertin
Sixteen-year-old Pippa Greene never goes anywhere without her camera. She and her best friend/supermodel-in-training Dace long ago mapped out their life plan: Pippa will be the noted fashion photographer, and Dace the cover girl. But ever since last spring, things have changed ... Read more
Whatever
By Ann Walsh
Sixteen-year-old Darrah is in trouble. She lost her temper and, as a result, Mrs. Johnson, was hurt. Now her parents want her to go to something called a "Restorative Justice" circle that the RCMP suggested. Darrah has to face her parents, Mrs. Johnson, a policewoman, and a ... Read more