Bark Twice for Murder (Orca Currents)

Written by John Lekich

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-4148-2

120 pp.

Ages 9-12

RL 3.0

August 2025 

 

There may be a murder and some nefarious actions in John Lekich's latest hi-lo novel but, rest assured, regardless of the title, no dogs are injured, abused, or killed in Bark Twice for Murder. And though it may not be important to many readers, for this reader, it's critical. Instead, Bark Twice for Murder has food, humour, a mystery to solve, and a talking dog. See? Lots to love and nothing to fear.

 

Fourteen-year-old Harry lives with his grandmother Elinor since his parents were killed in a plane crash a few years earlier. His dad was a chef with a food truck named "Pasta Express," and his mom loved to bake. No surprise that Harry finds comfort—maybe a bit too much comfort, says his therapist—in cooking for others. Fortunately, he has lots of people to talk to after Elinor, who took over the food truck business and expanded it, has set up one truck outside of Vancouver's New Day Shelter to provide breakfasts and lunches for the unhoused. A lonely Harry likes getting to know the people there and becomes friendly with Stanley and his dog Waffles. The duo are noteworthy in several respects. First, Stanley was once a chef and begins to teach Harry how to cook and improve service. Second, he has conversations with Waffles who is a dog that hates being a dog. And when Rudy "the Worm" Carelli, a regular at their small takeout restaurant, tells Harry that Stanley has stolen a portrait from Rudy's father, and that Stanley is in danger, Harry gets involved.

 

But when Stanley is murdered, and Harry hears a voice in his head saying, "Somebody murdered my best friend" (p. 29), Harry is compelled to partner with Waffles to find Stanley's murderer and solve the mystery of the missing portrait of Rudy's grandmother.

John Lekich who first provided this reader with great laughs and characters in The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls (Orca, 2012) does so again in Bark Twice for Murder. His young protagonists always seem to get mixed up in some criminal activity but it's generally due to circumstances beyond their control and with them really trying to do good. And with some supernatural elements involving Waffles, both in his origin story and his ability to communicate with Stanley and then Harry, John Lekich surprises readers as well as makes them laugh. Add in characters named Jimmy the Fork, Carmine "the Cobra" Carelli, Shaky Sam, Rudy "the Worm" and, of course, Waffles the dog, and you've got a cast of quirky or unnerving personalities that take Harry out of his comfort zone and make him feel like he belongs.  

 

Don't be surprised if you can't figure out the mystery of the missing portrait or who murdered Stanley. John Lekich doesn't make it an easy solve, but he does let Harry solve it. Bark Twice for Murder may be a hi-lo story written at a third grade reading level, but John Lekich ensures that the story is intricate enough for older middle-grade readers to become invested in Harry's story and in solving the mystery. They might even get wrapped up in learning to cook risotto, lasagna, or minestrone. That's because John Lekich has seasoned this book with so much richness of story that they'll be barking—with laughter—for another. 

Plague Thieves

Written by Caroline Fernandez

DCB Young Readers
978-1-77086-732-1
208 pp.
Ages 9–12
May 2024

 

It's 1665 and twelve-year-old Rose lives with her parents and sixteen-year-old brother Lem above their spice shop in London, England. Though Lem hates working in the shop, instead sneaking off to join his delinquent friends, Rose loves helping her father out, learning about spices for cooking, medicines, and cleaning. And then "the sickness crept into London." (p. 5) When Mother comes back from the market with flea bites and takes to her bed, Father closes the shop and sends the children to stay there. Via notes, he instructs Rose to collect ingredients for him so that he might create a medicinal oil to heal Mother. But his efforts are to no avail and Mother dies. Before Father also succumbs to the illness they should not name aloud, he gives Rose the recipe for an oil he believes will protect them. He tells them all the ingredients but one, though Rose knows what it is. They are instructed to place the oil on a handkerchief and set it over their noses and mouths as a mask. His last warning is to not to tell anyone about the oil and to do whatever they must to survive.

 Steal. Trade. Survive. (p. 18)

When they have left, Father burns the shop, and the two young people are truly homeless. With but a few coins and some silver spoons to trade, Rose and Lem each take one of the three bottles of oil she has made from Father's recipe and bury the third beneath a bridge where they also find shelter for themselves. And so begins their lives on the streets of London, finding any means to survive, including becoming thieves. That is, until Lem does not return one night. Now Rose is alone, evading anyone who recognizes her as the daughter of the spice merchant who was rumoured to know the cure for the Great Plague.

Rose builds a new life on the street with others who have lost jobs or homes because of the plague and are now struggling as she is to survive. Among these displaced persons are Elizabeth and her five-year-old daughter Clove; Amon, the son of a trader from Shanty Town; and two former farmhands Cinn and Cal. Rose doesn't know whom she can trust but she does know to avoid the black-clad man with the strange bird mask whom she calls the beast and who always seems to be around plague houses. 

From the mundane life of household chores, working with her father, and the drudgery of life in 1665 London, Rose's life becomes one of a dubious nature, never knowing whether there will be food, whether there will be shelter, who might be dangerous, and, worse of all, if they will be able to evade the plague itself. Accompanying Rose as she navigates arduous roads of grief and fear and desperation, young readers will get a very good idea about the historic hardships of an epidemic of which little was known, during which all actions were driven by fear. Caroline Fernandez tells Rose's story as an edge-of-your-seat read, keeping us wondering the whole time. We know there won't be a happy ending–it is the time of the Great Plague of London after all–but Caroline Fernandez invests us in Rose and other characters, most notably Amon, hopeful that they will survive and find some light out of the darkness. She definitely gives the atmosphere of anxiety and even despair, but she doesn't overdo it, never frightening the reader with the circumstances but instead helps us understand what life would have been like in 1665 London both before and during the Great Plague. With Plague Thieves, Caroline Fernandez has given us a spell-binding read that captivates but also enlightens about a time in which bleakness was almost inescapable.

My Story Starts Here: Voices of Young Offenders

Written by Deborah Ellis

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-121-4

224 pp.

Ages 13+

October 2019

Reviewed from advance reading copy

Deborah Ellis's opening words "There but for the grace of God go I" from John Bradford are prophetic ones that resonate throughout her latest young adult non-fiction book as young offenders, recent and not, and others unmask family histories, criminal offences and misdeeds, judgements and outcomes. They are stories that could be anyone's but these are their own voices, told as they lived or recall, and they deserve to be heard.

Over twenty young people, named only by their first name and age, were interviewed by Deborah Ellis, a process which she explains in her introduction. Their stories include domestic abuse, poverty, addictions, bullying, foster care, loss, mental health struggles and family dysfunction. Their stories are as diverse as the individuals profiled and we learn a lot about each person beyond the crimes that drove them into the criminal justice system. But there are the crimes, from theft to assault, vandalism and arson, and trafficking of drugs and weapons. Still Deborah Ellis gives these young people the opportunity to explain. To explain where they came from, what they were thinking, what they were feeling, and how justice may or may not have been served. Many are hopeful, trying to see beyond their pasts and their pains and their crimes, and make futures for themselves and their families for which they might be proud. They're not perfect, but then none of us are, and some minimize their responsibilities for choices made while others own their decisions and circumstances.

I don't know if I'll ever get rid of the pain I'm carrying. Maybe I can turn it into something not so heavy. (Lindy, 19)

But Deborah Ellis does more than just give voice to these young offenders. She offers background information about anger, foster care, abusive relationships, witnessing abuse, restorative justice and the importance of a high school diploma. In a question accompanying each young offender's story, she makes the reader think about how they might address the issues which these young people have experienced and makes suggestions about how to make things better in her "Taking Steps" sections. Still the best advice often comes from the young people themselves.

That little thing that's in the back of your head, that says, "Don't do this!"? Listen to it the first time. (Beth, 19)

In addition to the twenty plus young people she highlights, Deborah Ellis also gives voice to past offenders and those who work with young offenders–these are each identified as a "Voice of Experience"–and family members of offenders. Their perspectives, from the distance of time and the other side of the justice system and from the heartfelt viewpoint of family, give different frames of reference to the hardships with which these young people have been dealt or are dealing. 

Deborah Ellis has always sought justice in letting those whose voices are rarely heard speak freely. From Three Wishes (2004) and Off to War (2008) to Kids of Kabul (2011) as well as Looks Like Daylight (2013), Deborah Ellis has let us hear what Palestinian and Israeli children, children affected by AIDS, soldiers' children, Iraqi refugees, and Indigenous kids have to say. She holds true what Maya Angelou acknowledges so eloquently in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

With My Story Starts Here, Deborah Ellis has released the untold stories of young offenders and hopefully provided them with another step forward to healing.

Aunt Pearl

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-153-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

August 2019

Six-year-old Marta's mother has decided that her Aunt Pearl should come and live with them rather than living on the street or couch surfing. Not only does Pearl bring her shopping cart loaded with her "worldly goods" but a man in an old van brings more boxes and bags with the same miscellany. While Marta and Dan's mother tries to keep their home tidy and organized as she prefers it to be, Aunt Pearl fills her room, as well as the garage and basement, with her stuff, and the clash of sensibilities begins.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Marta is quite fascinated with Aunt Pearl who is respectful of her new surroundings and family though she still feels the need to be true to herself.  Soon Marta is emulating Aunt Pearl, from her eclectic clothing choices to joining her on her forays to scour the neighbourhood’s garbage for treasures, always asking questions of Pearl and how she lived. Marta loves the drama of Aunt Pearl and always finds opportunities to role-play something she hears or sees associated with Aunt Pearl which unpredictably the older woman thinks strange.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

But things are very different for Aunt Pearl now and over the summer and into the fall, she becomes more and more reserved, “staring into the ravine at the bottom of the yard where the trees grew tangled and green” and, with her mental health affected, she leaves.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Aunt Pearl is a tough story about family and love and appreciation and authenticity.  Author Monica Kulling makes it clear that Marta’s mother wants to do what’s best for her aunt but it might not actually be what’s right for Pearl. Many would think it generous and appropriate to give Pearl shelter in the family home but it’s obviously not what’s best in the long run for Pearl. Whatever the reason for Aunt Pearl choosing to return to the streets, and there are those who do, she was still able to make a connection with Marta, to learn that she had a place she could go, and that there were still choices within her control.

Monica Kulling's words never criticize either Aunt Pearl or Marta and Dan's mother for their living choices. She is an observer not a judge, seeing the circumstances as a clash of two worlds in which all try to accept their differences with open hearts. Irene Luxbacher's rich collage illustrations, a mixture of pencil, watercolour and acrylics finished with found papers and gouache, push that same idea. While Irene Luxbacher makes Aunt Pearl a sympathetic character with her soft eyes and quiet smile, Pearl's clothes are usually loud and her presence larger than life. In the words and the art, Aunt Pearl is both subtle and bold, trying to fit her world into someone else's and ultimately that just doesn't work.

Aunt Pearl is a bittersweet story about homelessness and the power of family to love and accept and let go. It teaches compassion and urges us all to better understand what it means to be homeless and to love those who are.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

The Christmas Wind

Written by Stephanie Simpson McLellan

Illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-534-9

32 pp.

All ages

November 2017

The Christmas Wind is special.  It is very, very special.  And I suspect that it will be the Christmas book for this year and many to follow because of its secular telling of the Christmas story without getting bogged down in the religion.

The wind shoved Jo sideways, stealing feeling from her fingers and toes.  It chased her with ghostly moans and creepy shrieks.  The day before Christmas and still no snow.  She should have been glad, but the skinny road seemed colder without it.

Jo and her mother Merry and baby brother Christopher have had to leave a bad situation.  There may not be snow but it is cold and windy and the bus station, their destination, is still a long way away.  The young girl has taken charge, carrying her baby brother and helping her mother who is obviously unwell and weak.  When she realizes they must find shelter immediately but she cannot shoulder the weight of both her mother and the baby, she takes Christopher and heads to the barn of Franklin Murdock, "an old man as unfriendly as the wind."  Cautiously, she approaches, wary of the man who'd turned crusty after the loss of his wife and child, but Jo is determined to be brave and help her family.

From The Christmas Wind 

by Stephanie Simpson McLellan 

illus. by Brooke Kerrigan

Laying Christopher in a manger amidst the cows and sheep, Jo goes to retrieve her mother.  But when the two return to the barn, the manger is empty.  With a fury and a shovel, Jo heads to the house to confront Mr. Murdock.  But as she berates him and he questions her about why they are in his barn, he offers shelter in his home, first carrying her mother from the cold of his outbuilding.

From The Christmas Wind

by Stephanie Simpson McLellan

 illus. by Brooke Kerrigan

As they stepped into the rising storm, the wind blew both ways at once and a path of light from a single star opened before them.  Jo and Murdock found themselves momentarily suspended between where they came from and where they were going, until an eager blast of air hurried them to the house.

Though he provides them shelter in his house, Murdock seems immobilized by grief, their presence a reminder of his own losses on a past Christmas Eve.  Jo will have none of it.  "You can't give up like that." She swept her arm around the room.  "Things won't get better on their own."

From The Christmas Wind

by Stephanie Simpson McLellan 

illus. by Brooke Kerrigan

How the story ends is secreted away in the glorious final pages of The Christmas Wind.  Suffice it to say that the Christmas wind brings snow and so much more.

Though Stephanie Simpson McLellan touches on the Christmas story with the homeless Josephine, Merry and Christopher, a barn and a manger and a man's name that encompasses the gifts of the magi, The Christmas Wind is not the story of the birth of Christ.  It is a story of compassion and grief and determination and acceptance. Though Brooke Kerrigan's outstanding illustrations suggest another time, perhaps the 1940s, The Christmas Wind is a story for our time.  There is too much misunderstanding and jumping to conclusions and fears about others when we feel vulnerable but it is compassion for others that bridges all that separates us.  Like the wind that carries the family to Mr. Murdock's farm and heralds a new world blanketed in snow, The Christmas Wind portends the need for a deeper meaning to the holidays that should supersede all else.  

From The Christmas Wind 

by Stephanie Simpson McLellan 

illus. by Brooke Kerrigan

The excerpts I've included above speak to the gift of Stephanie Simpson McLellan's words. They are rich and atmospheric, and deep in spirit.   Partnering her text with Brooke Kerrigan's impressive artwork is inspired.  The softness of the watercolour and pencil of Brooke Kerrigan's images conveys much about the characters' strengths and pains, the briskness of that wind, and the inner shelter of barn and house.  The Christmas Wind is a complete package of words and art about that which is right or should be for the holiday season and always.

I'd like to leave the last words to author Stephanie Simpson McLellan who writes about her book and the meaning of The Christmas Wind to her.

“Some of the classic Christmas stories such as Chris Van Allsburg’s Polar Express, Susan Wojciechowski’s Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, Jean Little’s Room for a Little One and Peter Collington’s A Small Miracle were as integral to our holiday traditions as stockings hung by the fire. I wanted to contribute to that tradition. If you read closely, you’ll see that many elements of the original Christmas story are in The Christmas Wind, but jumbled and thinly disguised, suggesting that we all have the capacity for new beginnings. My young heroine, Jo, is my favourite kind of protagonist – someone who becomes fearless through necessity, squaring off against adversity to create something bigger than herself. She and Murdock are, unexpectedly, exactly what each other needed, enabling each to access the true spirit of the season.”

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The Christmas Wind Project
Teachers, Stephanie Simpson McLellan has been promoting the Christmas Wind project for several years though the book only launches this fall. You can read all about it on her website at http://stephaniemclellan.com/teachers-corner-3/christmas-wind-story-project/. Stephanie Simpson McLellan describes it as a "unique literacy experiment" with "students from JK-Grade 6 listening to a story in a format akin to an old, serialized radio show."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Book launch
The Christmas Wind launches on Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 1 p.m. at Ella Minnow Children's Bookstore in Toronto.  I will post details soon.

Saving Grad

Written by Karen Spafford-Fitz

James Lorimer & Co., Ltd.

978-1-4594-1252-1

160 pp.

Ages 13+

RL 5.0

August 2017

Mandy is right about one thing.  I have no idea how to be fun.  I had it beat out of me a long time ago. (pg. 97)

It's been beat out of her by her alcoholic, cocaine-abusing step-dad, Duncan, who has made her life and that of her mother Sophie a misery for two years.  Her mother is reluctant to leave, accustomed to the fine home and life style of wealth, but Vienna sees beyond the facade of a good life, apprehensive what could eventually happen if they stay.  When Duncan has a fall that lands him in hospital, Vienna is determined to pack themselves up and flee.  They head to Edmonton where, with the help of an outreach worker, they get a basement apartment and begin to make a new life, slowly.

Though initially happy to drown her sorrows, Sophie gets a job at a Starbucks and insists that Vienna get registered for her final year of high school.  To make it more difficult for Duncan to find them, Vienna decides to go by Vienna Fleury, using the last name of her Métis grandmother, Mémère.  Sophie and her mother may not have spoken for years–since they'd argued about her marriage to Duncan–but Vienna misses Mémère and calls her occasionally to keep her from worrying, though she never reveals where they are.

At her new high school, Vienna tries to stay under the radar but a friendly classmate named Mandy draws her into the school's social scene, enlisting Vienna's help on the grad party committee. Although Vienna begins to enjoy school and her mother is establishing a support system and relishing her independence, regardless of how financially strapped they are, you know things have to go awry.  Saving grad may be the least of Vienna's worries.

As part of Lorimer's SideStreets series of hi-lo (high interest-low vocabulary) books, Saving Grad is a fast read in plotting and word count.  But don't mistake a hi-lo read for a lesser story.  Author Karen Spafford-Fitz capably creates an intense plot of relationships between family and friends which can be positive and negative, supportive or destructive, and she makes sure to take us along on that bus ride.  Like Vienna and Sophie ending up in Edmonton in the middle of winter, the destination may not be an easy one at first but it is a fulfilling one in the end.  Saving Grad is bigger than the indisputable distress of physical abuse.  It's a story of resilience and strength and making something good out of something bad.  Karen Spafford-Fitz makes Saving Grad into saving Vienna and Sophie and others too.

Saving Stevie

Written by Eve Richardson

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-540-0

228 pp.

Ages 14-17

November 2016

When her obnoxious older sister Tiff gives birth to Stevie, it's thirteen-year-old Minto who delivers him, so it’s not surprising that the girl feels bonded to the baby.  But when her sister disappears and her mother has an accident that sends her to hospital and rehab, the decision is made to put Stevie in foster care, and Minto refuses to let it happen.  In a planned escape, she packs up two and a half-month-old Stevie in a sling beneath her mother’s winter coat and, with a laundry bag laden with formula, diapers, food and her sketchbook, heads out across a ravine to Shacktown, a menagerie of shelters constructed from dumped garbage.

     I could, this moment, change my mind, go back inside, make it unreal.  And lose Stevie. 
     Or cut, and keep him. (pg. 15)

There Minto asks for shelter from Dawn, an Aboriginal young artist, who lives with her large dog Niijii in the make-shift neighbourhood.  Amidst the odd assortment of characters are the older Ginger and her nineteen-year-old son Matthew; the hyper Palma who speaks of her own baby, Janine, whom she’d given up to care; Palma’s “sister” Cass;  the handsome Damian to whom Minto is attracted; an older, one-armed dump diver Scrap; and a couple of jerks, Lex and Cody.  Everyone has their own way of surviving life on the edge, including prostitution, but Dawn sells her art and encourages Minto in her drawing, helping to sell some of her doodle designs as cards.

When Dawn has to leave to help her suicidal brother, leaving behind Niijii who has appointed himself Stevie’s canine guardian, Minto must ensure she can keep Stevie safe, fed, and clean, a tall order in such precarious circumstances.  When survival is the priority for all, it’s hard to know whom to trust, especially when desperation dictates much.  Too soon Minto learns she’ll have to save Stevie from far more than foster care.

Saving Stevie is a raw initiation into life in the tenuous urban neighbourhoods hidden in plain sight and those who make them their homes.  Minto may be distressed by her situation i.e., the possibility of losing Stevie and feel the need to react by running away with the baby, but she learns soon enough that there are worse places to be.  Eve Richardson pens a story of desperation and action that reveals that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the ravine.  In fact, it’s pretty darn scary, even if there are a few friends around to mitigate the apparent hopelessness. Eve Richardson is especially good at giving Minto voice, a voice that is both young and mature, vulnerable and strong, with her heart and head working together to save Stevie.  As a debut, Saving Stevie is an accomplished story, hopefully a portent of more YA from Eve Richardson whose own voice takes us into places we need to see but rarely do.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The book launch for Saving Stevie takes places tomorrow in Toronto. Details are posted here.

Spirit Level

by Sarah N. Harvey

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-0816-4

233 pp.

Ages 12-16

February 2016

Spirit Level has nothing to do with spirits of the ethereal kind but it has everything to do with spirit of the attitude, strength and will variety. And with all the issues Spirit Level confronts–family, homelessness, donor conception and transgender youth–it is a young adult novel with a lot of guts.

Harriet a.k.a. Harry is seventeen, and the daughter of Della, a college sociologist, and honorary granddaughter of Verna, the widow who runs Verna’s Salon and took Della in and off the street when she was Harry’s age.   Now the three are essentially family and they continue to give back to their community.  Verna, with Della and Harry’s help, offers shampoos and hair styling for her “Sunday ladies”, an assortment of homeless and poor women who could not afford the treatment. Della is doing research on homeless girls, giving them voice about their circumstances. And Harry is working three summers jobs: dog walking, working at the salon, and transcribing her mom’s interviews with the girls who live on the street or couch surf.

There is no father in Harry’s life because her birth was by donor sperm.  After reading an article about a man who fathered 500 children, Harry decides she will finally check out the Donor Sibling Registry to learn about any siblings she might have. Within days she hears from and meets the exuberant Lucy, a fifteen-year-old dancer who also lives in Seattle and introduces Harry to two other half-sibs, Adam in Portland and Ben in Australia.  Lucy is ecstatic to make this connection, and even more so when another sister, Meredith, 18, who relocated to Seattle from Missoula with her best friend Alex, contacts them, hopeful of getting them on side to search for the donor himself.  Lucy, the consummate oversharer and all-in-girl is quite taken with Meredith, though Harry, the level-headed one, is reluctant to pursue this avenue and even more so to trust Meredith.  However, she does become involved with Meredith’s BFF Alex, displeasing Meredith.

As the siblings and friends and family meet and interact, the possibility of meeting the donor who helped conceive the three teens (and their far-away brothers) looms.  But, with the sensible Harry hesitant to agree to it and Alex pursuing Harry–though because he likes her or to get her on Meredith’s side is the question–Harry feels the need to do her Harriet the Spy routine and go in search of some answers, learning far more than she expected about Meredith, Alex and even herself.

There’s a lot going on in Spirit Level and I’ve barely touched on the homeless girls whose stories provide a different wallpaper from the family situations of Harry, Lucy and Meredith.  Their stories are integral to the book and to Harry specifically who begins to see her “problems” and family differently, taking wisdom from their challenges and attitudes, and ultimately she is able to make good for herself and at least one other homeless teen while continuing to evolve her own family circle.  

As I’ve mentioned, Sarah N. Harvey embeds a lot in Spirit Level, from homeless youth to mental health and donor conception and transgendering, but the message is still clear:  when life becomes uncertain and even chaotic, it is what it is and you begin as you mean to go on, go on as you began (two of Verna’s multitude of sayings).

Jockey Girl: Book launch (Toronto)

Join 

Shelley Peterson

youngCanLit author of 

Dancer (Porcupine's Quill, 1996)

Abby Malone (Porcupine's Quill, 1999)

Stagestruck (Dancing Cat Books, 2010)

Mystery at Saddle Creek (Dancing Cat Books, 2010)

Sundancer  (Dancing Cat Books, 2011)

and

Dark Days at Saddle Creek (Dancing Cat Books, 2012)

in conjunction with

St. Michael's Foundation

and

publisher Dundurn Press

for the launch of her newest book

Jockey Girl

Dundurn Press

978-1459734340

320 pp.

Ages 10-16

Febryary 2016

on Tuesday, February 9, 2016

5:30-7:30 p.m.

Remarks at 6 p.m.

at

St. Michael's Hospital

Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute

209 Victoria St.

(NE corner of Victoria and Shuter)

Toronto, ON

RSVP by February 1st to rsvp@dundurn.com

The book blurb from Dundurn Press describes Jockey Girl as follows:

A teen girl’s quest to find her mother leads her to the big city, and gives her the courage to fulfill her dream of becoming a jockey. 

Evangeline “Evie” Gibb lives a seemingly charmed life on a thoroughbred racehorse farm. But in reality, Evie feels alone in the world, cheered only by the affection of a racehorse named No Justice. 

She’s always been told that her mother, Angela Parson, is dead. Then, on her sixteenth birthday, a card arrives from her great aunt Mary with the suggestion that Angela might still be alive — and Evie’s life is turned upside down. In hopes of winning enough money to leave her hateful father and find her mother, Evie enters the Caledon Horse Race. But something she overhears her father say changes everything, and Evie steals the racehorse in the night and runs away. With a stray dog named Magpie at her side and help from Aunt Mary, Evie unearths long-hidden family secrets, finds unexpected love, and takes the racing world by storm.

(Retrieved from https://www.dundurn.com/books/Jockey-Girl on January 26, 2016.) 

Proceeds from book sales will benefit 

St. Michael's Inner City Health Program

Go out and support new youngCanLit and a great cause too!

Outside In

by Sarah Ellis

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-367-4

208 pp.

Ages 10-13

For release May 2014

It's very reassuring to feel part of something–a family, a group of friends, a choir–and to be appreciated by the others.  Though thirteen-year-old Lynn is hardly part of a "typical" family, she has enjoyed the parental love of and stable home of her mother's boyfriend, Clive, for the past five years.  And with a mother like Shakti, Lynn's life hardly felt stable.  Shakti's self-absorption and twisted decision-making skills continue to wreak havoc in Lynn's life.  Take her recent affair with Brandon, the husband of a nurse at the extended care facility at which Shakti works.  Not only does Shakti put her relationship with Clive in jeopardy, she's oblivious to the real possibility of losing their home in Clive's townhouse and she's not willing to give Brandon up.  Then Lynn's mother quits her job because

"...it was a good opportunity because Shakti felt that it was time for a realignment of her energies and a reevaluation of her skills." (pg. 23)

Luckily, Lynn has got some exceptional friends in Celia and Kas and the three are looking forward to attending a choirfest in Portland, Oregon, giving Lynn a chance to extricate herself from an uncomfortable situation, at least temporarily.  But that doesn't happen either, because Shakti had forgotten to send away Lynn's passport application, as promised, too busy with her own dramas.

No Clive, no friends, no choir, and just her mother.  Lynn is ripe for finding something, anything, to keep her occupied while her friends are away.  She begins spending time with a girl named Blossom whose unusual nature intrigues Lynn.  Blossom admits that she is an Underlander and lives with her father Fossick and brothers, Tron (17) and Larch, in a cottage they've constructed and hidden beneath the reservoir.  The family is definitely different:  avoiding attention, using invisibility mugs, setting idea Traplines, and differentiating between steals and finds, and throwaways or keepsakes.  Lynn becomes "the visitor" at their home, promising that she will always keep it secret for them.

While Lynn is anticipating the collision of her old friends and new friends, the greatest threat to the familial goodwill she is enjoying with Blossom is Shakti.  And the resulting implosion is inevitable and devastating.

Sarah Ellis' writing has always juxtaposed the tenuous nature of family with its strength.  There's The Baby Project (Groundwood, 1986), Pick-Up Sticks (Groundwood, 1991) and Odd Man Out (Groundwood, 2006).  In Outside In, Sarah Ellis illustrates the fragility of our worlds and our families, both traditional and not, when secrets are kept, promises broken and new beliefs or ideas introduced.  Fossick has devised an alternative lifestyle for himself, Tron, Blossom and Larch, with their version of family functional as long as they all support and work towards its success.  While Lynn sees them as refreshing, their family is also in jeopardy when outsiders bring in new ideas or family members want to explore the outside world.

Bringing the outside in can be dangerous, as Fossick fears, and the disaster experienced because they trusted Lynn would bear witness to the validity of that view.  Lynn's own "family" knows that conundrum of letting someone from outside in with Shakti's involvement with Brandon.  But Sarah Ellis makes it clear that it's not that simple.  Whether it's Lynn appropriating some of Fossick and Blossom's views, or Larch venturing outside when he'd rather not, the outside and inside of anything are never clearly defined as good or bad.  Having witnessed this herself, Lynn could only hope that Shakti would embrace this learning herself.  But the imperfect family is a reality.  Sadly, I believe that Shakti has a lot more growing up to do if her selfish insideness is ever to be open to the goodness that Lynn and the world has to offer. 

A Tinfoil Sky

by Cyndi Sand-Eveland

Tundra Books

 978-1-77049-277-6

276 pp.

Ages 9-12

2012

"...everyone needs a little magic in their lives; it gives them hope." (pg. 201)

Melody Tully, twelve, needs a little magic in her life because hopefulness is definitely in shortage.  In the past four years, she and her mom Cecily have moved eleven times, and now Cecily has them running out on her drug dealer boyfriend Craig and dragging them to Cecily's mother's apartment.  But, even though Mel lived with her grandparents for the first four years of her life, Gladys doesn't welcome them into her apartment with its tinfoil-covered windows.  In fact, she yells at them through the door about Cecily's stealing, alcoholism and drug use.  So Cecily and Mel end up living out of their car, both singing on the street for money and visiting the soup kitchen.  When Cecily is arrested for shoplifting and sentenced to thirty days, Rose, a woman who works at the soup kitchen, helps find Mel and take her to stay at Gladys' until Cecily gets out.

Gladys is a bitter woman, rarely showing any kindness to Mel.  She even asks Mel to stay outside the apartment when she's not there, only giving Mel one key for her multi-locked door.  Mel just tries to stay out of Gladys' way, returning the key.  But Mel has no problems filling her days, spending hours at the public library and occasionally visiting with Ed Frohberger at his store to learn what she can of her late grandfather Tux.  But as she counts down the days until her mother's release from jail, Mel begins to establish her own life: visiting the library almost daily; making friends with the librarian Marilyn and Marilyn's son Paul; getting a part-time job at the library; talking to Mr. Frohberger; visiting the soup kitchen and Fearless, the kitten, who lives there; and enjoying the stability of her daily routines.  So, while Cecily enjoys change, Mel begins to appreciate the normalcy of her new situation, regardless of how temporary.

While Cecily seems to be the biggest impediment to their relationship with Gladys, without making any grandiose gestures, just trying to be inconspicuous and herself, Mel starts to see Gladys softening little by little.  The returned key, a white blouse abandoned at the dry cleaners, declining money Mel offers to repay what Cecily had stolen - Gladys begins to recall being a grandmother to her granddaughter, eventually removing the tinfoil from the windows and her heart to allow some light in.

Cyndi Sand-Eveland hardly makes the characters in The Tinfoil Sky likeable.  Mel is perhaps the most innocuous, keeping most of her thoughts to herself.  She works to please her mother and accept her weaknesses but Mel can see the consequences of Cecily's poor choices, regardless of how her mother tries to make things "fun".  As different as Cecily and Gladys are, they are truly mother and daughter, selfishly holding onto their bitterness and placing Mel in the middle.  It is only when Mel interacts with Gladys or Cecily one-on-one that their concerns for Mel are evident. Mel, Gladys, Cecily are real.  They are completely lacking in the family ties that create the saccharine families of TV sitcoms.  Instead Cyndi Sand-Eveland has created an authentic family with typically dysfunctional relationships that bind them together, willing or not.  And while I always am hopeful that most children have comfortable, loving families that help them become the best they can be, I know that there are those like Mel's in which children become amazing people in spite of their families, not because.

#CanLit Choices: "Maniac Magee" Alternatives

Maniac Magee

by Jerry Spinelli

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

978-0316807227

184 pp.

Ages 8-12

RL 5.2

1990

Typically read in Grade 5, Maniac Magee, winner of the 1990 Newbery Medal, tells the story of Jeffrey Lionel Magee.  Orphaned at the age of three and enduring misery with his aunt and uncle until he runs away, Jeffrey "settles" in the town of Two Mills, a town racially divided between the predominantly black East End and the white West End.  By virtue of his incredible athleticism and extraordinary feats of compassion and bravery, Jeffrey makes both friends and enemies, earning himself the moniker of "Maniac." Always looking for a place to call home, Jeffrey bounces from one temporary home to another, on both sides of town, trying to keep the part of him that is Jeffrey Magee. 

Two prevalent themes in Maniac Magee are:

• homelessness; and
• discrimination.

 

The following youngCanLit all include storylines involving homeless persons and discrimination, based on race or other attributes.  Each would serve well as updated and alternative novels to Maniac Magee.  For each, I have looked at the two themes emphasized in Maniac Magee in terms of the youngCanLit selections.

Heck, Superhero
by Martine Leavitt
Red Deer Press
144 pp.
Ages 9-13
2004

• Homelessness: Thirteen-year-old Heck finds himself alone on the street after he and his mom are evicted from their apartment and she takes off.

• Discrimination: Heck denies to himself that his mother has a mental illness, instead pretending that he is a superhero and that all is well.  Heck's subsequent friendship with Marion, a mentally-ill boy, makes him realize that he cannot and must not ignore the nature of his mother's illness.


I Am a Taxi
by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
205 pp.
Ages 10-13
2006

• Homelessness: Twelve-year-old Diego lives with his Mamá and 3-year-old sister Corina in the San Sebastian Jail for Women in Cochabamba, Bolivia after coca paste, used to make cocaine, was found under their seats on a public bus.  Diego runs away with the aim of making money for his family but ends up homeless and far away from them.
 
• Discrimination: The people of Bolivia who consider the leaves of the coca as having cultural and sacred importance are discriminated against by the authorities who criminalize all those involved with the coca plants. 

I'll Be Home Soon
by Luanne Armstrong
Ronsdale Press
200 pp.
Ages 10+
September, 2012

• Homelessness: When her mother goes missing, Regan finds herself scrounging for food and staying under the radar of the authorities.  She finds help amongst the homeless in a tent city and a street busker who looks out for her, sharing his squat and limited resources.

• Discrimination: Though apprehensive of the homeless, Regan finds herself leaning on them for help and seeing beyond their lack of houses.

Looking for X
by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
132 pp.
Ages 11-13
1999

• Homelessness: Eleven-year-old Khyber who lives with her mom and autistic twin brothers in Toronto's Regent Park befriends a homeless woman, X, who becomes her alibi.

• Discrimination: As Khyber lives in poverty with her mother, a former stripper, and her two autistic brothers, she has had to endure much taunting, but being accused of vandalism forces her to stand up for herself and look for a way to clear her name.

The Maestro
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Groundwood Books
223 pp.
Ages 10+
1995, 2004

• Homelessness:  After running away from his abusive father, Burl heads to the wilderness for relief and a home.  Ultimately though, he needs shelter and food and finds it with an eccentric maestro.  Even after the Maestro returns to the city, Burl looks for a way to keep himself from becoming homeless again.

• Discrimination:  Although the discrimination in The Maestro is not significant, seen only in the Maestro's reluctance to take Burl in, preferring his solitude, and Burl unable to trust anyone with his secrets, the perceived inadequacies of the characters' by others could be seen as discriminatory.  And I really wanted to include this award-winning book (Governor General's Award for Children's Literature; Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children Award) in this list!

The Royal Woods
by Matt Duggan
Key Porter Books
218 pp.
Ages 9-12
2007

• Homelessness: When Sydney, 12, and her brother Turk, 9, find the farm they've run away to gone and replaced by a housing development, the Royal Woods, they find innovative ways to meet their needs for shelter, food and such.

• Discrimination:  Although they find friendship and assistance from Shep McPharlain, an unusual homeless man, and Kumar, a kind illegal immigrant, not everyone sees the goodness in the group, including some locals and the Royal Woods Love, Friendship and Improvement committee!

Sketches
by Eric Walters
Puffin Canada
226 pp.
Ages 12-16
2007

• Homelessness: Fourteen-year-old Dana leaves an abusive home situation and ends up on the streets of Toronto, eventually teaming up with other homeless youths and finding some safety at Sketches, an art drop-in centre.

• Discrimination:  The street youth are often "seen" in terms of their homelessness, even by Dana at first, instead of their capabilities or intentions.


A Tinfoil Sky
by Cyndi Sand-Eveland
Tundra Books
216 pp.
Ages 11-14
2012

• Homelessness: Mel is only twelve but she has endured an entire life of bouncing from homelessness to minimal housing, and even the promise by her mother that they are finally going home proves uncertain when Mel's grandmother refuses to take them in and Mel's mother leaves.

• Discrimination:  Regardless of Mel's mature and caring nature with regards to their situation, her grandmother judges her daughter and granddaughter through her anger and disappointment, rather than what is in evidence.

Additional books that may be used, depending on your students' reading and interest levels, include:

Libertad
by Alma Fullerton
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
215 pp.
Ages 10+
2008

No Ordinary Day
by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
978-1-55498-108-3
159 pp.
Ages 9-12
2011




Secret Signs
by Jacqueline Guest
Orca Book Publishers
140 pp.
Ages 9-11
2006

Theories of Relativity
by Barbara Haworth-Attard
HarperCollins
199 pp.
Ages 14+
2003

I'll Be Home Soon

by Luanne Armstrong
Ronsdale Press
978-1-55380-180-1
200 pp.
Ages 10+
Available September, 2012

Gritty girls have become the new heroes of popular fiction and movies, ready to take on any foe, physically, strategically or emotionally.  Though their challenges may be contrived in the lines of speculative fiction filled with vampires, game-makers, werewolves, and other contenders, these protagonists compel the readers to cheer for them, regardless of the horrific circumstances, countless deaths and violent outcomes.  But, these heroes have nothing on thirteen-year-old Regan of Luanne Armstrong's I'll Be Home Soon.

Regan's less-than-comfortable life has become even grittier since the disappearance of her mother, Joanie Anderson, who goes out on an evening job to make a few extra dollars and does not return.  For the first few weeks, Regan uses the money her mother left for food and continues going to school and even her kung fu classes, though unable to pay.  But things get more desperate when she's scrounging for food out of garbage bins, when there's no money for laundry and when she spends most of her time watching for her mom, staying under the radar of her teachers, the local street youth worker and the police.  While she finds solace in the discipline of kung fu at the dojo and the caring of the kung fu master, Sifu, Regan's sole friend is Mike, a sixteen-year-old homeless busker, who encourages her to go to the police, still keeping her updated on anything that he hears on the street.

Though Mike seems a casual acquaintance, someone who Regan seeks out when she needs help, he becomes instrumental in helping track her mother, as well as keep Regan safe.  After visiting Clayton, the man whose poker party Regan's mom worked, Regan unwisely checks out the player, George Miller, with whom her mother has apparently gone off.  But, George Miller is less than gracious, alleging that Regan's mom stole money from him, and tries to grab Regan, even sending men to pursue her.   After brief stays at the tent city of Ramona and other homeless people, at a group home, and at the home of a grandmother she hadn't seen for years,  Regan is being threatened by George and his goons to reveal where her mother, who has apparently stolen millions, is hiding.

While there is no evidence of a romance between Regan and Mike, they seem to be forging a strong bond founded in their mutual admiration for the resilience and caring each demonstrates.  He shares his squat, sleeping bag and family history with her, even putting himself in danger, although he claims, "I'm good at staying uninvolved" (pg. 98) because becoming part of a "we" causes hurt.  Thankfully, Mike's repeated efforts to discover more about Regan's mother, plus the attentions of Sifu, Reg McDermid, a researcher on street youth, and a female cop, help resolve the mystery of Regan's mom's disappearance and reestablish Regan's and her mom's lives, even improving upon them.

Regan is not a character, because Luanne Armstrong has not written I'll Be Home Soon as a piece of fiction; it reads like a retelling of a few months in a young girl's life.  Regan is a young girl who, by nature of unprecedented circumstances, must make some hard choices that test her fortitude and survival skills, including knowing who to trust and not to trust.  Luanne Armstrong does an incredible job of leading the reader from subplot to subplot, looking for resolution, never setting up simple answers, whether it be the rescue of Regan's mom or a perfect happy ending for Mike and Regan.  For example, Luanne Armstrong could have wrapped up I'll Be Home Soon with all the homeless becoming homed, bad guys caught and jailed, and every less-than-sympathetic person redeeming themselves.  She does not.  What she does do is far more satisfying, demonstrating that coming home may be everyone's aspiration but where that home is or the nature of that home is not always so easily defined or even recognized.

The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls

Written by John Lekich

Orca Book Publishers

978-1554699780

280 pp.

Ages 11+

2012

Reviewed from ebook 

978-1554699803

If I had to be the victim of a crime, I'd hope to be burgled by a thief like fifteen-year-old Henry Thelonius Holloway. Even though he knows how to pick a lock and the other arts of thieving courtesy of his Uncle Andy and cronies, Henry would probably only borrow the car (and return it with gas), steal food only to prevent starvation, never steal anything of great sentimental value, and even tidy up my breakfast dishes. After all, how many thieves do you know who, rather than take a wad of bills from an envelope earmarked for a graduation gift, add a couple of bucks to increase the fund? Exactly. Henry is one of a kind. He's very principled, neat, and compassionate, even if he is a thief.

Unfortunately, Henry is also young and an orphan. After his mother died from cancer when he was nine years of age, he lived with his Uncle Andy and then Uncle Andy's friends when Uncle Andy went to prison. But when everyone who could care for him is also in prison or has taken off, Henry finds the means to live in a treehouse, supplementing his meagre existence with visits to his regular "benefactors" for food and such. It's only when Henry slips up in a ruse to reassure his uncle (who keeps tabs on him from prison) that he is alright that Henry is sent to Snowflake Falls' Second Chance program.

Placed in the care of the Wingates, Henry becomes part of a chaotic family of oddities.  Harrison Wingate is the very particular owner of Wingate's department store, desperate to keep the store from going under, courtesy of Biggie's Bargin Barn. His wife, Theodora, tirelessly and unobtrusively, works to keep the family happy and the surfaces of their home scrubbed from Oscar's markings. Oscar, not yet three, is known as a screamer and is delighted to share his voice with his new roommate (until the renovations on the guest room are completed). Finally, there is eleven-year-old Charlotte, a brilliant and big-hearted manic talker who is anxious to do good for others, including sharing her budding hair-cutting skills on Henry.

With his schedule of an early morning paper route (shamelessly conducted on Charlotte's small pink bike), work at Top Kow Burgers as the Grease Pig, volunteering (not) to read to Mr. Harley Howard, the near-blind and elderly richest man in town, and regular visits for counselling by Ms Penelope Pendergast, the Home Economics teacher, Henry should have no trouble keeping out of trouble. And, with so many people involved in his life now, including the friendly strangers of Snowflake Falls, Henry can't seem to find the means or heart to escape, yet.

Compelled by Henry's letters, Uncle Andy heads to Snowflake Falls when released from prison, and everything changes. Joining thieves Cookie Collito and Wally Whispers, Uncle Andy plans on one last job, with Henry's help: robbing the whole town. With so much of himself invested in his new town (and so many in Snowflake Falls invested in him), Henry finds himself looking for ways to avoid hurting those for whom he cares. By breaking his rule about forming attachments with people or places, he has put himself in an awkward position. Prison would have been so much easier.

John Lekich's characters in The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls are the treasures that readers look for in great fiction. They are unique and true to themselves, good or bad, and evolving.  Oscar may have been the downfall of the Second Chancers that came before Henry, but the little guy melts Henry's heart (or maybe he just shattered it with his excessive decibel output, snore or scream). Charlotte verges on being an annoyance but she is desperate to seem normal and be accepted, the humble goal of many of us. It's similar for George who believes acceptance will come through distinction. Theodora, Harrison, Harley and the others are more of the people with whom we share our lives, just quirkier and more of themselves. As for Henry, our seemingly self-assured teen, he has been a work in progress from the time before his mother became ill. He's astute enough to recognize what pleases others and what disappoints them, whether it is his mother, his uncle or the Wingates. Henry's compassion, though often masked, makes him heroic, enduring the loneliness of losing his mother and being untethered, while still able to see the emotional needs of others often before his own physical needs. Perhaps as his uncle proclaims, "Puzzles are a lot like life.  Once everything fits into place, there's nothing left to discover."  That's why Henry is still a work in progress.  While I had been hopeful for Henry to accept Snowflake Falls as his home, rather than his prison, John Lekich chose an alternate ending. Appropriately, even as The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls ends, I wonder how much of Henry is still to be discovered.