King of the Dump

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Illustrated by Scot Ritchie

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-748-3

32 pp.

Ages 3–6

August 2025

 

In Tim Wynne-Jones's newest picture book, illustrated by Scot Ritchie, a father-son visit to the dump becomes a lesson in recycling and donation and looking beyond the self.

From King of the Dump, written by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Scot Ritchie

Teddy and his dad are heading to the dump with multiple loads of recycling and some extra stuff, like Teddy's old foot-to-floor ride-on doggie. Teddy isn't sure he wants to give up on this toy, even though he is far too big to ride on the little dog toy. But, once they get to the waste management center, there's lots to do and much to recycle. 

From King of the Dump, written by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Scot Ritchie

First they head to recycle their metal cans and such. When Teddy spots an errant plastic bottle in the bin, Gord, one of the operations staff, lets Teddy use his grabber tool to pick it out and place it in the correct bin. Next comes a visit to the mixed paper bin where Teddy finds himself chasing flying paper to return to the bin. He also gets to watch the contents of various bins get compacted so they don't take up so much space. Finally, they visit the "As Is" area where Teddy can donate his ride-on dog. He has a hard time parting with the yellow-saddled red dog but a gift of a crown from the coordinator and seeing the joy his old friend gives to a young child is enough to make Teddy change his mind.

 

I'm sure many children remember regular outings with a parent to run errands, which the adults might think of as routine and mundane, but children find the magic within. Whether it's a trip to the local dump—sorry, waste management center—or the hardware store or a local bakery, kids will remember something about how it made them feel. (Readers of my age will undoubtedly remember visits to the local Canadian Tire for car stuff or the hardware store to paw through bins of screws or nails.) While many would not see the fascination kids might experience at a dump, the time spent alone with a parent is already special, and the activity of sorting is not dissimilar from the first task learned. Though it has been awhile since author Tim Wynne-Jones has given us a picture book—he has been very busy with middle-grade and young adult fiction like Blink and Caution and The Starlight Claim—he hasn't lost the touch that earned him the Ruth Schwartz award in 1983 for Zoom at Sea. As with Zoom, Teddy finds adventure in the ordinary. Though many children are bombarded with tools for play nowadays, from iPads to video games and a variety of apps, most know how to create fun and adventures from very little. Chasing paper that has escaped the recycling bin or using a trash picker tool to extract a misplaced plastic bottle or watching the compactors or the dump trucks all entertain Teddy. He finds amusement where the adults only see labour or chores.

From King of the Dump, written by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Scot Ritchie

But Tim Wynne-Jones doesn't just show us the pleasure children can get in the mundane. He also demonstrates that kids can see beyond themselves. I'm sure there are many parents who would just have given in to Teddy and let him keep his old toy, giving in to his fear for losing a beloved toy. It's not unusual to hold on to that which holds wonderful memories. But Teddy's dad and even the lady in the "As Is" area know that moving on, perhaps with a new play crown or by seeing someone else enjoy the toy, can be a big step, albeit a seemingly unthinkable one.

Getting Vancouver's Scot Ritchie to illustrate King of the Dump works so well. Perhaps it's Scot Ritchie's use of pen that gives his lines and shapes movement that is both methodical and purposeful. Sometimes there's flurry of activity, as when Teddy chases paper, or just intense observation of all the goings-on. Scot Richie gives Teddy and his dad and the waste management center the appropriate energy of activity, of pleasure, of work, and of emotion. (Yes, there is emotion. Just look at Teddy's face as his dad carries the beloved toy away.)

From King of the Dump, written by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Scot Ritchie

Tim Wynne-Jones's dedication to "Felix, the original King of the Dump" suggests a very personal connection to this story, and I wonder if the bearded father could be Tim Wynne-Jones himself. Even if it isn't, King of the Dump remains a personal story of something special coming from the ordinary. It's a father and son spending time together with subtle lessons in unselfishness that suggest that doing good for the environment and others does not have to be a big deal.

The Starlight Claim: Q & A with author Tim Wynne-Jones

 The Starlight Claim

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-1-5362-0264-9

240 pp.

Ages 13+

September 2019

On September 10, 2019,  Tim Wynne-Jones's newest YA thriller, The Starlight Claim, was released and I reviewed it here on CanLit for LittleCanadians.

As the book will launch over the next few weeks here in Ontario including tonight in Toronto, I had the pleasure of interviewing author Tim Wynne-Jones about his book.

Enjoy the writing revelations Tim Wynne-Jones shares with us here about The Starlight Claim.

HK:  The Starlight Claim is an action-packed novel that includes characters from your earlier book The Maestro. However, rather than following The Maestro’s protagonist Burl, you chose to focus on Nate, Burl’s sixteen-year-old son. Why choose to make The Starlight Claim an intergenerational sequel?

TWJ:  A great question and one that made me laugh. For years readers have asked me what happened to Burl, since I leave it kind of hazy at the end of The Maestro. They also often want to know what happened to Burl’s evil dad. Mostly, they hope something awful! So what took me so long to write a sequel? Life – that’s what. Anyway, by the time I finally got around to writing this book, it had been twenty-four years – long enough for Burl to have a sixteen-year-old of his own. And I couldn’t resist letting Nate (named after the Maestro, himself, of course) brave his way up to Ghost Lake, alone. 


HK:  The Maestro was published in 1995. How difficult was it to write a sequel over 20 years after the original book? Were there some obstacles that you found impossible to overcome?

TWJ:  Some books are harder to write than others, taking two or three years. This book was the other kind. I was SO happy to return to the same magical setting as The Maestro, with the added dimension of making it late winter. This story not only addresses what happened to Burl and his dreadful father but also looks at a true story about my own “Ghost Lake” and the ramifications of a haunting tragedy. It was a dream to write, full of built-in conflict and very high stakes.


HK:  At its heart, The Starlight Claim is all about conflict: conflict within, as Nate struggles with his guilt over a friend’s death; conflict with others, as he eludes criminals and grapples with family dramas; and conflict with a landscape of epic beauty and unyielding hurdles.  Surprisingly, though Nate is dealing with all those tensions, he is an amazingly grounded young man. He is smart enough to accept fear but keeps his head and more than survives.  How did you conceive of him, especially knowing where his father came from?

TWJ:  Well, first of all, thank you for your kind words. Luckily, Nate is his father’s son and if you know Burl, you know what a resourceful soul he was, even as a kid. And Nate has all the savvy and inner strength of his father. And I do have to add, here, that he’s modeled on a good friend who has been kind enough to let me fictionalize his own story. Make no mistake, this is a work of fiction, but Nate’s grounded personality is very much a reflection of a real person. The person I’d most want to have handy if I was ship wrecked on a deserted island!  


HK:  While Nate is very much in the present, dealing with nefarious characters in a remote setting, struggling for his own survival, the past is everywhere.  It’s in the history of the camp, in his knowledge of his grandfather and in his memories of his friend Dodge.  What does The Starlight Claim tell us about the role of the past in the now and perhaps in the future?

TWJ:  The past is always with us. And I think never more so than when we lose someone that matters a great deal to us. Especially if you have to grapple with the fear of your own complicity, real or imagined, in the tragedy. It seems fitting, somehow, that as Nate travels up to the lake, burdened by a sorrow even heavier than the pack on his back, he should venture into the world of the past, so to speak, where his grandfather lurks. He says at one point, while he’s on the train heading up to the family camp that he’s travelling backward through his father’s history, stop by stop. So you’ve put your finger on an underlying theme.   


HK:  Japheth Starlight advised Burl in The Maestro that “You made the mess–you clean it up. That’s the way you become master of your own destiny” and it seems all the men in Burl’s family demonstrated that they learned this lesson to various degrees, even the repugnant Calvin Crow. How do you think Cal finally recognized this wisdom?

TWJ:  When readers talk to me about Calvin Crow they just about growl. That makes me so happy; the truth is -- I think any writer will tell you – writing the “bad guy” is so much more interesting than writing any other character. Cal is my “favourite” bad guy! That said, he’s human. Aren’t we all! So, I needed to find what made him tick. There is nothing so shallow as a bad guy who is just plain bad. We are all motivated by things that happen in our lives. There was something of this in a monologue of Cal’s in The Maestro and I wanted to expand upon it. I think that novels are often about redemption. I wanted to give him another chance.
    

HK:  As the story progresses, the reader realizes Dodge, the friend whose death Nate is  haunted by, is not the person Nate has held him up to be in his memory.  Moreover, Cal has his own issues with how he remembers things with his own son. What do their stories tell us about the capacity for memory to reflect something other than reality?

TWJ:  These are profound questions, Helen, thank you. One of the fondest wishes any writer can have is that the reader who cares to dig deep will find things to think about. I will defer to the wonderful English writer, Aidan Chambers, who has said this: “My personal conviction is that we are not changed by our experience, as common wisdom has it. What changes us are the stories we tell about our experience…” This is important: it’s not that we “make up stories” about our lives and therefore fictionalize them – another word for lying! It’s more to the point that we shape the experience into something tellable. We all do it. Have you ever had the experience of telling someone a family story within earshot of a sibling, who immediately jumps in and says, “That’s not the way it happened!”? That’s what I’m talking about; we see the world from our point of view. The delight of being a writer is imagining all kinds of points of view. 


HK:  The Maestro was a middle grade novel written for young readers ages 11 and older whereas The Starlight Claim is recommended for a slightly older audience, 13+. What in this new book prompted the publisher to propose that The Starlight Claim is more appropriate for a YA audience?

TWJ:  I’m not privy to that kind of decision-making, but I would guess it’s the addition of hardened and violent criminals to the mix. I think that any eleven-year-old who loves adventure stories will love this book – I sure would have when I was that age. And to be frank, they’ve probably seen a lot worse characters, in movies that get a PG rating. 


HK:  I could see continuing Burl and Nate’s stories, perhaps Burl’s after The Maestro but before The Starlight Claim, and both of their stories after The Starlight Claim. Would you consider this and why or why not?

TWJ:  Hmm, that’s a good question, as well. I’d have to say it’s unlikely, at this point. I don’t naturally steer toward sequels. That said, I’ve written two trilogies in my life: The “Zoom” picture books and my Rex Zero middle grade novels. They lent themselves really well to follow-ups. It took me twenty-five years to write a sequel to The Maestro. Maybe in another twenty-five years… But I never say never.

Many thanks to Tim Wynne-Jones
for again gracing CanLit for LittleCanadians with an interview
and providing insights into his newest novel and its writing.

Thank you also to publicist Winston Stilwell
for facilitating this endeavour.

••••••••••••••••••••

Best wishes to Tim Wynne-Jones on The Starlight Claim,
a story that I'm sure will capture all readers,
whether fans of thrillers or YA or great literature of any genre.


(And don't forget tonight's launch in Toronto and also in Kingston and Ottawa. Sadly Perth's was yesterday. Details here.)

The Starlight Claim

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick Press
978-1-5362-0264-9
240 pp.
Ages 13+
September 2019

Nathaniel Crow is a sixteen-year-old boy who is looking forward to a few days away at his family's remote cabin during March break. Though he and friends Dodge Hoebeek and Paul Jokinen had planned this trip a year ago, having been well-schooled by Nate's father Burl how to work and repair the snowmobile, to clear snow from the solar panels, what to do if they encounter any trouble, and more, the trip becomes a solo endeavour of survival and gumption for Nate, one that will bring him face-to-face with his past in more ways than one.

From the onset of The Starlight Claim, Nate is tormented by nightmares of his friend Dodge who is presumed dead after he with younger brother Trick and father Art Hoebeek had attempted to cross a lake in November to deliver a propane fridge to their neighbouring cabin. With Dodge missing and haunting his dreams with guilt about Nate not joining them and perhaps preventing their dangerous venture, and Paul getting grounded, it's only Nate who goes up to the Crow camp, hopeful of perhaps finding Dodge or just proving himself more gutsy than he feels.

But when Nate arrives at the camp, an arduous journey by the Budd Car train and snowshoe, he discovers a couple of scary dudes making themselves at home in the Crow cabin. He can't even head up to the abandoned shack of old miner Japheth Starlight–the only spot where cell connectivity is possible–because it's evident they're using it for the same purpose. Instead Nate holes up in the Hoebeek camp and, discovering Dodge's drone, attempts to send a message home via an airborne cell phone, while planning his escape to catch the Budd Car the following day.

By this time tomorrow night, he'd be sleeping in his own bed. All he had to do was hang tight. Nothing was going to go wrong. Nothing else. (pg. 75)

Sadly, Nate's plans are thwarted by a third man, arriving by snowmobile, who advises Nate not to go near the Crow cabin, and takes away his skis and snowshoes. Though the lout who hides behind his mask tries to help Nate out somewhat, he's holding back some secrets and seems to know more about Nate, the two men and even Dodge than he will admit. That is, until Nate reveals what he has learned through his own surveillance and observation. Then it's a cat-and-mouse game for Nate to evade some ruthless criminals and stay safe while putting to rest a few ghosts.

Though The Starlight Claim refers to characters from Tim Wynne-Jones's Governor General award-winning middle-grade novel The Maestro (1995), it can be considered both a stand-alone story and an intergenerational sequel. It may follow the story of the son of The Maestro's protagonist and draw on a history that has impacted, though not limited, its main characters, but The Starlight Claim is still Nate's story. With Burl–whose own survival is told in The Maestro–as Nate's virtual mentor, reminding the teen how to handle most indoor and outdoor difficulties, Nate plays a steady hand and head throughout The Starlight Claim. He is his father's son and a young man who deserves to persevere.

"You remember yourself, son," Burl had said... (pg. 129)

Though most of the story takes place over the course of just a few days, it is peppered with memories of Nate and Dodge's time at the lake and what is known to have happened to Dodge and his brother and father. In this way, Tim Wynne-Jones reminds us how much our past experiences create our present. But never, never, never is it suggested that our pasts determine how our lives will turn out. If that was the case, Burl would have been an abusive father, an inconsiderate husband, and worse, and Nate would have learned the same from his dad. Instead we meet an incredible young man who is clever and resourceful and compassionate and makes very good choices, unlike Dodge and Burl's father.

The thriller aspect of Tim Wynne-Jones's The Starlight Claim will hook young adult readers with its bad guys and good guys and those who walk the blurred line between the two, while others will be grabbed by the mystery embedded in a family drama. Regardless of why they pick it up, teens will be riveted by the psychological journey of Nate as he balances what he knows, what he's been told and what he learns as he confronts an unyielding northern Ontario winter landscape and those who seek to claim what is not rightfully theirs.

Look for my interview with author Tim Wynne-Jones next Monday (September 16, 2019) as he answers questions about The Starlight Claim, creating an intergenerational sequel, and the power of the past and memory.

The Starlight Claim: Book launches (Perth, Toronto, Ottawa and Kingston, ON)

It's not a sequel but it shares commonalities with

Tim Wynne-Jones's
Governor General award-winning novel

The Maestro

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
 Groundwood
231 pp.
Ages 11+
1995

and it is launching this fall.

Join author Tim Wynne-Jones

for multiple launches of his new #YA psychological thriller

The Starlight Claim

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-1-5362-0264-9

240 pp.

Ages 13+

September 2019

on

Sunday, September 15, 2019
1-3 p.m.

The Book Nook and Other Treasures
60 Gore Street East
Perth, ON

•••

Monday, September 16, 2019

 6 -8 p.m.

Ben McNally Books
366 Bay Street

Toronto, Ontario

•••

Thursday, September 19, 2019
7-9 p.m.

Books on Beechwood
35 Beechwood Avenue
Ottawa, ON

•••

Thursday, October 3, 2019 
7-9 p.m.

Novel Idea Bookstore
156 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario

Fast-paced, evocative, and intensely suspenseful, Tim Wynne-Jones’s latest psychological thriller finds a teenager setting his wits against the frigid wilderness and a menacing crew of escapees.

Four months after his best friend, Dodge, disappeared near their families’ camp in a boat accident, Nate is still haunted by nightmares. He’d been planning to make the treacherous trek to the remote campsite with a friend — his first time in winter without his survival-savvy father. But when his friend gets grounded, Nate secretly decides to brave the trip solo in a journey that’s half pilgrimage, half desperate hope he will find his missing friend when no one else could. What he doesn’t expect to find is the door to the cabin flung open and the camp occupied by strangers: three men he’s horrified to realize have escaped from a maximum-security prison. Snowed in by a blizzard and with no cell signal, Nate is confronted with troubling memories of Dodge and a stunning family secret, and realizes that his survival now depends on his wits as much as his wilderness skills. As things spiral out of control, Nate finds himself dealing with questions even bigger than who gets to leave the camp alive. 

Retrieved from https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/611957/the-starlight-claim-by-tim-wynne-jones/9781536202649 on July 15, 2019.

The Ruinous Sweep: Q & A with author Tim Wynne-Jones, plus giveaway

The Ruinous Sweep

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-0-7637-9745-7

400 pp.

Ages 14+

June 2018

Reviewed yesterday

Yesterday, I reviewed Tim Wynne-Jones's latest young adult thriller, The Ruinous Sweep.  Today, as part of a blog tour, I have the pleasure of posting a Q & A with the author about his book.

(Be sure to read to the end for details about a special giveaway.)

 

HK:  Much of The Ruinous Sweep reflects Dante’s Divine Comedy, from the title to Bee who mirrors Beatrice, keeper of divine knowledge, to the deadly sins including lust, anger and treachery, and the Inferno beasts of a lion and a leopard.  Was the initial premise for The Ruinous Sweep always based on Divine Comedy or was it secondary to the scary incident you mention in your Acknowledgements? 

TWJ: Wow! Somebody knows their Dante. The answer to your question is the latter of the two proposed. I didn’t think about Dante at all until I was a couple of chapters in. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the mysterious, moon-wet landscape Donovan found himself lost within, dazed and confused, was reminiscent of a very famous 14th Century epic poem. So, I started reading that classic again to see what my protagonist was likely to run into. For a brief moment I thought he’d follow Dante’s entire journey, but pretty soon it became obvious that twenty-first century Donovan had his own demons to vanquish and the two wanderers parted company. But it sure gave me a lift in the early going to fall back on that amazing story. Fiction, even when it seems unique and entirely new, usually builds, in one way or another, on what has gone before. There’s nothing new under the sun. Or under the moon, for that matter.


HK:  Do you believe readers need to have a background understanding of Divine Comedy to appreciate the fullness of the story of The Ruinous Sweep or do you hope The Ruinous Sweep will lead them to check out Dante’s epic work?

TWJ: Not at all. I think everybody knows a little something about that random, transitional world between worlds, where nothing quite makes sense but there is this pervasive, suspenseful feeling that at any moment anything might happen and everything will change for the better or worse! We’ve all experienced it, if only in our dreams.


HK:  For much of the book, the story is told in two voices: that of Donovan who is confused about what has happened and what is happening, and his girlfriend Bee as she deals with the aftermath of a horrifying night.  Usually when told in the voices of boyfriend and girlfriend, their perspectives come together in the end but not in The Ruinous Sweep.  Instead their perspectives become untangled when the mystery is solved.  Why did you keep the two separate for much of the book rather than blend them into a strong couple working together, even if separated by circumstances? (I don’t want to spoil the ending by giving away too much.)

TWJ: In the first draft, I wrote all of Donovan’s story first. It’s weird, because while I was locked into his story I couldn’t really see or imagine Bee. I only knew he was desperate to reach her and that, one way or another, she would be there for him. Then one of my sons sent me a video of the composer Ludovico Einaudi playing I Giorni (The Days) with the violinist Daniel Hope in a club in Stockholm. And there she was, Beatrice, all in shadows, just over the pianist’s shoulder.  (See the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54LgLNpW3KE) She looks kind of distracted as if she’s only half there or the sad and beautiful music is reminding her of something or someone. A journey all her own.


HK:  While many assume that the adage of actions having consequences usually refers to negative actions, like getting angry or dealing in criminal activity, some positive actions, like trying to not hurt someone’s feelings or to protect someone from potential harm, can also have dire consequences.  Is this something you believe needs to be recognized or was it merely an unintentional message in The Ruinous Sweep?

TWJ: This is such a great question. What I love about writing is that, for me, it’s always a learning experience. I never set out to write a book I know the ending of; I never write a book with an agenda; I set out to discover what effect will result from this or that cause. For example, Hamlet’s father’s ghost tells his son who murdered him. Go. It worked pretty well for Shakespeare. Once I start that ball rolling, all sorts of issues come up but I can only understand them in the context of my characters and what they are going through. Their motivation rules. I don’t want to put words in their mouths. Of course I do, but I try really, really hard not to make them mules for some message I might have to pass along. I set them loose in trying times and watch and learn. Sometimes I just have to shake my head at what they get up to, but then I turn the jets up higher, increase the stakes, and put them in even worse jeopardy. That’s how I come to learn what the story is really about. I often don’t know the theme of one of my novels until I read the reviews. Which might explain why I got such lousy marks in high school English.


HK:  There is a character in The Ruinous Sweep who has a unique ability to communicate with those at death’s door.  Do you believe in mediums and have you ever had a reading from one?

TWJ: I’m not sure what I think. I guess I’d have to waffle and say I definitely don’t not believe in mediums. Dante was led on his journey through Hell by the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. Donovan Turner gets himself a crusty farmer lady with a heart of gold named Jilly. There are just some trips you can’t make alone.


HK:  One thing I appreciate in your writing, whether middle grade or young adult, is that you give young readers much credibility.  You “talk up” to them, recognizing that their stories do not need to be simple for them to be understand.  How do you find the right balance of writing for youth without writing down to them?

TWJ: When I was a teenager I read adult books; there really wasn’t a genre that was labelled “young adult.” But in any case, I’ve always thought that if you’re reading a book that pulls you in, featuring characters you really care about, caught up in truly intriguing situations, you’ll figure out whatever you need to figure out in order to go along for the ride. I remember smiling when the Harry Potter books came out. There were all these experts who said adolescents couldn’t possibly read books that were that long. Hah! Rowling proved the “experts” wrong.  Kids who were so young they could barely even pick up The Order of the Phoenix read it in a weekend and remembered every significant detail. Honestly, I think young readers are often way better readers than adults, if they’re sufficiently engaged by the story. For one thing, their brains aren’t full of mortgages and back problems. I always tell my writing students not to ever underestimate a young reader. No spoon-feeding. No needless explaining. No sugar coating. Don’t dumb down the language. Feed a kid a delicious new word and let them figure out what it means from the context in which it’s used. All of us, adults and kids alike, skip over what we don’t quite grasp but if the journey is exciting enough, it doesn’t slow us down.


HK:  If there was one message which you’d like readers to take away from The Ruinous Sweep, what would it be?

TWJ: It may already be apparent that I don’t write messages into my books. But I know I learn things from writing them and I hope my reader learns stuff, too, although it might not be exactly what I learned. This journey began for me with a traumatic experience I needed to come to terms with. A violent experience that left me stunned and confused. As Sting says, “Nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could.” And I guess that song says at least one of the things I’d like my readers to understand: we must never forget how fragile we are. 

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

Many thanks
to author Tim Wynne-Jones
for responding to some probing questions with his honest answers
and
to book publicist Winston Stilwell
for arranging this Q & A.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •


BUT WAIT!


 WANT TO WIN AN AUDIO BOOK of THE RUINOUS SWEEP?

As part of the The Ruinous Sweep blog tour,  

Tim Wynne-Jones and his publicity team 

are offering an audio book of The Ruinous Sweep,
 read by the author himself.


Residents of Canada and the U.S. 

who would like to enter to win the audio book

just need to leave a comment below
(before noon (EST) on July 3, 2018) 

explaining why you'd like to listen to the audio book
of The Ruinous Sweep.
We'll do a random draw (using a random number generator)

and notify the winner via reply to their comment.

We look forward to reading your comments below.

The Ruinous Sweep

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-0-7637-9745-7

400 pp.

Ages 14+

June 2018

You're a traveler in a land that is part memory, part dream, and with all vestiges of the kind of pain that only the living can feel.  (pg. 127)

Donovan Turner, 17, is a reluctant traveler but one just the same. He is everywhere and nowhere.  He is running away from his sleazy dad Allen, with whom he's supposed to stay while mom Trish and boyfriend Scott are off camping in Algonquin Park. He is hitchhiking in the rain. He's hallucinating, he is disoriented and nothing seems real.  But it's far too real.

As the reader accompanies Donovan from one precarious situation to another, the teen's confusion is palpable. He worries that he has caused an accident that kills a man with a briefcase full of money, which Donovan takes. He finds his way to a farm where he hides the money and discovers his bruised and bloodied father drinking and playing cards with two rough-looking men. How could that be? Donovan can't figure out what he did, if he's guilty of anything for which he is accused and all he wants to do is find a way to connect with his girlfriend Beatrice.

Bee too is trying to figure out the story but she's starting at it from the side of Donovan's hospital bed. The story she hears from the police is that Donovan was a victim of a hit and run just outside his home, but they're also investigating the death of Donovan's dad. Bee doesn't believe that Donovan killed his dad but the few murmurings from Donovan, which she records in her journal, have her determined to protect him and learn the truth herself.

While Donovan is navigating new worlds, trying to understand his circumstances, wondering if he is dead or can make things right, Bee is looking for the answers the police will not pursue. Allen was a reprehensible person whose actions "had landed him in a country tattered around the edges and peopled by all manner of fallen comrades: addicts and losers and barstool prophets; the let-down, it-wasn't-my fault crowd" (pg. 93) and Donovan intended to stop seeing him. But would Donovan take his own baseball bat to his father?

Tim Wynne-Jones knows how to tell a great story.  He has won two Governor General's Awards for English-language Children's Literature (Some of the Kinder Planets, 1993, and The Maestro, 1995) and his last three novels have been short-listed for that same notable award. Though his middle-grade fiction is unsurpassed for its empathetic characters and depth of plotting, I believe his young adult suspense novels (check out my review of Blink & Caution), to which we can add The Ruinous Sweep, are unparallelled in the complexity of their mysteries and magnitude of their stories.  The Ruinous Sweep is a layered and woven story of so many dimensions that the reader can be forgiven the need to pause. While Bee's story line is essentially one of progression from learning of Donovan's accident and solving the mystery, with the occasional memory of their dating, Donovan's is complicated. His story is a tragic one that goes backwards and forwards and sideways. It's one of anger, shock, violence, running from and to, and connecting.  He's in limbo and looking for salvation. 

Readers may recognize references to Dante's Divine Comedy throughout The Ruinous Sweep from characters including Beatrice, the Pagans, and the Virgil-like Jilly, and other attributes such as the deadly sins of wrath and greed.  While these references to Dante's epic work provide additional scope to Tim Wynne-Jones's story, they are not everything. The Ruinous Sweep is, in its lyrical telling and intricate mystery, as daring as YA just as Dante's work is as epic poem.

✜✜✜✜✜✜✜✜✜✜

Check back tomorrow for my interview with author Tim Wynne-Jones and an opportunity to win a free audio book edition of The Ruinous Sweep, read by Tim Wynne-Jones. This giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents.

The Ruinous Sweep: Multiple Ontario book launches

Governor General Award winning author

Tim Wynne-Jones

is launching his newest young adult novel

The Ruinous Sweep

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-0-7637-9745-7

400 pp.

Ages 14+

June 2018

at multiple launches in Ontario over the next few weeks.

Do take in at least one
and get your own copy signed by the author himself.


When and where are the launches?
⤋

June 26, 2018

7-9 p.m.

25One Community
251 Bank St. 2nd floor

Ottawa, ON

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July 4, 2018

6-8 p.m.

Ben McNally Books

366 Bay St.

Toronto, ON

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July 7, 2018

1- 3 p.m.

The Book Nook & Other Treasures
60 Gore Street East

Perth, ON

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July 18, 2018

7 - 9 p.m.

Novel Idea

156 Princess Street

Kingston, ON

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
We'll be doing lots here at CanLit for LittleCanadians to promote The Ruinous Sweep including:

• My review on Tuesday, June 26, 2018

• A Q & A with Tim Wynne-Jones on Wednesday, June 27, 2018

AND (here's the best part)

• a giveaway for a free audio book of The Ruinous Sweep, read by Tim Wynne-Jones. Just leave a comment on the Q & A post between June 27 and July 3 (noon EST) and we'll do a random draw and notify the winner via the comment reply. (Sorry, the giveaway is limited to residents of Canada and the US only.)

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Short Stories Collections of youngCanLit: Book list

Not every reader or student is interested in reading full-length novels, and short stories offer the perfect alternative, with shorter reads that pack a punch in fewer pages.  Just as picture books are certainly not easier to write just because they are shorter (a caution to those wannabe writers who are convinced anyone can toss off a picture book!), short stories are definitely not lesser works of story-telling.  In fact, I defy anyone to write a short story, with adequate character development and plotting to sustain the attention and interest of readers of youngCanLit.  It can be a daunting challenge that not everyone can meet.  Thankfully, these 53 books of short stories and excerpts from novels demonstrate the strength of this type of writing in Canada, though I would like to see more published.  And I believe that these books, for all reading levels though many are for young adults, are valuable tools for teaching everything from history to writing to humour or just allowing readers to see themselves in their reading.

Check the recommended ages for which these short stories collections have been published, and I trust that all young readers and teachers will find something here to satiate their reading appetites.

101 Ways to Dance 
Written by Kathy Stinson
Second Story Press
150 pp.
Ages 12-15
2006
Fourteen stories about the joys and anxieties of sexual anticipation.

All Sleek and Skimming: Stories
Edited by Lisa Heggum
Orca Book Publishers
240 pp.
Ages 14+
2006
Stories by Gil Adamson, Diana Aspin, Gary Barwin, Martha Brooks, Ivan E. Coyote, Brian Doyle, Anne Fleming, Lee Henderson, James Henegan, Sheila Heti, Susan Kernohan, Carrie Mac, Derek McCormack, Janet McNaughton, Joe Ollmann, Michel Rabagliati, Stuart Ross, Arthur Slade, Susannah M. Smith, Ania Szado, Madeleine Thien and Tim Wynne-Jones

Apples and Angel Ladders: A Collection of Pioneer Christmas Stories
Written by Irene Morck
Illustrated by Muriel Wood
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
80 pp.
Ages 8-11
2001
Six stories emphasize Danish-Canadian pioneer traditions

Back of Beyond: Stories of the Supernatural
Written by Sarah Ellis
Simon & Schuster
144 pp.
Ages 11-15
1997
Twelve stories involving the supernatural.

Be Afraid!: Tales of Horror
Edited by Edo van Belkom
Tundra Books
184 pp.
Ages 11+
2000
Fifteen scary stories by authors including Robert J. Sawyer, Monica Hughes, Tim Wynne-Jones, Ed Greenwood, Nancy Kilpatrick, Joe R. Lansdale, Ed Gorman, Steve Rasnic Tem and Richard Laymon.

Becoming Fierce
Edited by Allister Thompson
Fierce Ink Press
205 pp.
Ages 13+
2014
Ten stories by Chris Benjamin, Ben Boudreau, Gerard Collins, Alison DeLory, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Patti Larsen, Cale Liom, Chad Pelley, Lee D. Thompson and Jo Treggiari tell of becoming fierce so as to release them from the holds of fears, bullies, confusion, family, drugs, and even country.
Reviewed here

Beginnings: Stories of Canada's Past
Edited by Ann Walsh
Ronsdale Press
227 pp.
Ages 12+
2001
Fourteen fictional historical vignettes by Ann Walsh, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Beverley Brenna, Constance Horne, Margaret Thompson, Anne Metikosh, Carolyn Pogue, Margaret Florczak, Jean Rae Baxter, Catherine Goodwin, Victoria Miles, Susan Lee, Laura Morgan and Cathy Beveridge.

The Blue Camaro 
Written by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
160 pp.
Ages 12-15
1994
Ten short stories dealing with youth and their problems and concerns.

The Blue Jean Collection 
Edited by Peter Carver
Thistledown Press
240 pp.
Ages 12-15
1992
Nineteen stories selected from a national writing contest.

The Book of Changes
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Puffin
160 pp.
Ages 8-12
1997
Seven stories about change.

Boys' Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers
Edited by Tim Wynne-Jones
Penguin Canada
320 pp.
Ages 9-14
2001
Twenty stories and excerpts from novels by authors including Sarah Ellis, Martha Brooks, Tim Wynne-Jones, Monica Hughes, Brian Doyle, Ken Roberts, Richard Scrimger, Jordan Wheeler, John Cuthand and William Bell.

A Christmas to Remember: Tales of Comfort and Joy (Dear Canada)
Edited by Sandra Bogart Johnston
Scholastic Canada
241 pp.
Ages 9-14
2009
Eleven stories of historical short fiction that revisit characters from the Dear Canada books including those of Carol Matas, Maxine Trottier, Julie Lawson, Sarah Ellis, Perry Nodelman, Jean Little, Karleen Bradford and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

City of the Dead
Written by Sharon Stewart
Red Deer Press
240 pp.
Ages 12+
2002
Dark stories to scare and terrify.

Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls
Edited by Deb Loughead and Jocelyn Shipley
Sumach Press
192 pp.
Ages 12+
2012
Fifteen stories of girls navigating puberty and adolescence by Kellee Ngan, Wendy A. Lewis, Claire Tacon, Ann Sutherland, Lisabeth Jackson, Jennifer Filipowicz, Karen Krossing, Robin Stevenson, Marce Merrell, Amanda Hartley, Ev Bishop, Patricia McCowan, Anne Ptasznik, Anna Warje and Valerie Hunter.

Close Ups: Best Stories for Teens
Edited by Peter Carver
Red Deer Press
223 pp.
Ages 14+
2000
Stories by Bonnie Blake, Rick Book, Martha Brooks, Anne Carter, Gillian Chan, Brian Doyle, Sarah Ellis, Bernice Friesen, Linda Holeman, Jillian Horton, Sheley A. Leedahl, Alsion Lohans, R.P. McIntyre, Kevin Major, Kathy Stinson, Budge Wilson and Tim Wynne-Jones.

The Complete Chronicles Of Avonlea 
Written by L. M. Montgomery
Wilder Publications
350 pp.
Ages 8-12
2010
Stories from The Chronicles of Avonlea and The Further Chronicles of Avonlea, all based in the town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island.

The Courtship 
Written by Budge Wilson
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
160 pp.
Ages 13-17
2003
Nine short stories about the trials and tribulations of life.

Dark Times 
Edited by Ann Walsh
Ronsdale Press
184 pp.
Ages 12+
2005
Twelve stories about young people’s experience of loss and grief with contributions by Sarah Ellis, Lee Maracle, Alison Lohans, Diana Aspin, Carolyn Pogue, Gina Rozon, Jessie Mae Keller, Libby Kennedy, Donna R. Gamache, Patricia McCowan, Betty Jane Hegerat and Carrie Mac.

Dead Man's Gold And Other Stories
Written by Paul Yee
Illustrated by Harvey Chan
Groundwood
104 pp.
Ages 11+
2003
Ten ghost stories of Chinese immigrants struggling to make new lives in North America.

Feeding at Nine
Written by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
187 pp.
Ages 14+
2006
Fourteen short stories about adolescence.

First Times
Edited by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books
191 pp.
Ages 11-15
2007
Fourteen stories by Martha Slaughter, Curtis Parkinson, Susan Juby, Alan Cumyn, Susan Adach, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger, Gillian Chan, Bill Habeeb, Nancy Hartry, Bill Richardson, Tim Wynne-Jones, Marthe Jocelyn and Sarah Ellis.

Fractures: Family Stories
Written by Budge Wilson
Penguin Canada
195 pp.
Ages 13-17
2002
Twelve stories about families and dealing with family issues.

Garbage Creek and Other Stories 
Written by W. D. Valgardson
Groundwood Books
132 pp.
Ages 8-12
1997
Eight short stories involve children coming to terms with a variety of problems.

Girls’ Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young readers
Edited by Sarah Ellis
Puffin
360 pp.
Ages 9-14
2002
Twenty stories and excerpts from novels by a variety of Canadian authors including Cora Taylor, Jan Hudson, Kit Pearson, Deborah Ellis, Joan Bodger, Jean Little, Teresa Toten, Joan Clark and Linda Holeman.

Glory Days and Other Stories 
Written by Gillian Chan
Kids Can Press
118 pp.
Ages 12-15
1996
Stories about high school.

God Loves Hair
Written by Vivek Shraya
Illustrated by Juliana Neufeld
Arsenal Pulp Press
110 pp.
Ages 14-17
2014
Twenty-one stories about sexuality, gender, racial politics, religion, and belonging.

Golden Girl and Other Stories 
Written by Gillian Chan
Kids Can Press
119 pp.
Ages 12-15
1994
More stories about high school.

Henry Chow and Other Stories
Edited by R. David Stephens
Tradewind Books
134 pp.
Ages 14-17
2009
Stories of Asian Canadian writers Annie Zhu, Kwai-Yun Li, Marty Chan, Evelyn Lau, Kellee Ngan, Tony Wong, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Paul Yee, Hanako Masutani, Kagan Goh, Taien Ng-Chan, Linda Mah and Kentaro Ide.

How We Were
Written by Teddy Jam
Illustrated by Ange Zhang
Groundwood Books
64 pp.
Ages 8-13
2008
Four illustrated stories of Canada in the past century.

Laws of Emotion 
Written by Alison Lohans
Thistledown Press
208 pp.
Ages 14+
1993
Eleven short stories that deal with young people’s emotions.

Leslie McFarlane’s Hockey Stories
Written by Leslie McFarlane
Edited by Brian McFarlane
Key Porter Books
138 pp.
Ages 10-12
2005
Four hockey stories from 1930s Canadian towns.

Lord of the Fries and Other Stories
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Groundwood books/Douglas and McIntyre Ltd.
208 pp.
Ages 10-14
1999
Seven stories perfect for middle grades.

Lunch with Lennon and Other Stories
Written by Deborah Ellis
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
169 pp.
Ages 12-17
2008
Ten stories dealing with drugs and addictions.

Metis Spirits
Written by Deborah L. Delaronde
Pemmican Publications
106 pp.
Ages 8-10
2006
Six short stories with time travel or ghost elements to them.

Notes Across the Aisle 
Edited by Peter Carver
Thistledown Press
188 pp.
Ages 12-15
1995
Seventeen stories from the 1994 cross Canada Young Adult Short Story Competition.

Opening Tricks 
Edited by Peter Carver
Thistledown Press
177 pp.
Ages 12+
1998
Thirteen humourous stories from Cheryl Archer, Karen Krossing, R.P. MacIntyre, Eric Nicol, Jacqueline Pearce, Diana C. Aspin, Sharon Stewart, Beverley Brenna, Shelley A. Leedahl, Barry Mathias, Janice Scott, Jennifer Taylor and Ed Yatscoff.

Paradise Cafe and Other Stories
Written by Martha Brooks
Thistledown Press
110 pp.
Ages 12+
1988
Fourteen stories about teens.

Rude Stories 
Written by Jan Andrews
Illustrated by Francis Blake
Tundra Books
88 pp.
Ages 6-9
2010
Eight irreverent stories from around the world.

A Season for Miracles: Twelve Tales of Christmas (Dear Canada)
Edited by Sandra Bogart Johnston
Scholastic Canada
256 pp.
Ages 8-13
2006
Twelve stories of historical fiction from Dear Canada authors by Jean Little, Kit Pearson, Michelle Trottier, Gillian Chan, Sarah Ellis, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Julie Lawson, Karleen Bradford, Janet Lunn, Carol Matas and Sharon Stewart.

Secrets
Edited by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra
184 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005
Twelve stories by Susan Adach, Anne Carter, Gillian Chan, Nancy Hartry, Marthe Jocelyn, Julie Johnston, Dayal Kaur Khalsa, Loris Lesynski, Anne Gray Sarndal, Martha Slaughter, Teresa Toten and Elizabeth Winthrop

Some of the Kinder Planets
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Groundwood Books
136 pp.
Ages 10-13
2000
Nine stories full of humour, surprise, fear and wonder.

Stories at the Door
Written by Jan Andrews
Illustrated  by Francis Blake
Tundra Books
80 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
Fun stories based on tales from around the world.

Take the Stairs
Written by Karen Krossing
Second Story Press
184 pp.
Ages 12+
2003
Fourteen stories of limitations experienced by inner-city teens who live at 64 Wilnut Street.  A teacher's guide is available http://karenkrossing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/take-the-stairs-teachers-guide.pdf

Takes: Stories for Young Adults
Edited by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
152 pp.
Ages 15 +
1996
Fourteen short stories present a character’s take on an unfamiliar or negative experience.

A Time for Giving: Ten Tales of Christmas (Dear Canada)
Edited by Sandra Bogart Johnston
Scholastic Canada
216 pp.
Ages 8-13
2015
Ten stories as epilogues to the Dear Canada books of Jean Little, Barbara Haworth- Attard, Sarah Ellis, Susan Aihoshi, Norah McClintock, Karleen Bradford, Janet McNaughton, Carol Matas and Ruby Slipperjack.

Toxic Love (originally Saying Goodbye, 1995)
Written by Linda Holeman
Tundra Books
184 pp.
Ages 10+
2003
Stories about love and the various ways it can express itself.

Traveling On Into the Light and Other Stories
Written by Martha Brooks
Scholastic
146 pp.
Ages 12+
1994
Eleven stories about teens facing adversity.

Up All Night
Edited by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
160 pp.
Ages 15+
2001
Fourteen stories from Thistledown’s young adult short story competition.

Weeds and Other Stories 
Written by Jacqueline Pearce
Thistledown Press
208 pp.
Ages 13-16
2003
Twelve stories about teens and their relationships with others.

What Happened This Summer
Written by Paul Yee
Tradewind Books
178 pp.
Ages 13+
2006
About the turbulent lives of Asian-Canadian youth.

What If...?: Amazing Stories
Edited by Monica Hughes
Tundra Books
208 pp.
Ages 10+
1998
Stories that answer and ask, “What if?” by Alison Baird, Edo van Belkom, Lesley Choyce, Joan Clark, Charles de Lint, Sarah Ellis, Marcel Gagné, Priscilla Galloway, James Alan Gardner, Monica Hughes, Jason Kapalka, Eileen Kernaghan, Alice Major, Robert Priest, Jean-Louis Trudel and Tim Wynne-Jones.

When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean
Written by Jan Andrews
Illustrated by Dušan Petričić
Groundwood Books
72 pp.
Ages 7-10
2011
Three stories based on Ti-Jean, Quebec’s traditional folktale hero (or perhaps anti-hero would better describe him).

When I Went to the Library: Writers Celebrate Books and Reading
Edited by Debora Pearson
Groundwood Books
128 pp.
Ages 8-12
2002
Nine stories about books and libraries and reading by authors Sarah Ellis, Budge Wilson, Ken Roberts, Celia Barker Lottridge, Jean Little, Ken Setterington, Paul Yee, Marc Talbert and Tim Wynne-Jones.