Love, Panda

Written by Elaine Su

Illustrated by Charlene Chua

Orchard Books (An imprint of Scholastic)

978-1-5461-7958-0

32 pp.

Ages 4–8

July 2026 

 

Who wouldn't love to cuddle a super-squishy stuffie of a panda? Apparently Baby Lou does, but Panda, who has always been Benny's, is having none of it.

 

After Panda gets left in the baby's room, Baby Lou is smitten. But Panda, distressed by the unfamiliar, from diapers aplenty and the baby sucking on its ear, begins a letter campaign to get his original boy, Benny, to retrieve him. 

Illustration by Charlene Chua from Love, Panda, written by Elaine Su

In letter after letter, delivered by Dump Truck, Panda describes what he has had to endure—the elephant mobile, a lift-the-flap book, annoying parents who are thrilled with the baby's simplest efforts—and begs Benny to come and get him. But, with each new letter, Panda begins to appreciate Baby Lou and even recognize things familiar to his time with Benny. By learning Baby Lou's routines and finding the familiar, Panda finds it's not so bad after all.

Illustration by Charlene Chua from Love, Panda, written by Elaine Su

Elaine Su's bio speaks of her own favourite stuffie which has since been passed down to her own children. There's always one toy, especially a stuffed one, that is fondly remembered as bringing comfort. (Mine was a pink and green stuffed snake named Horace.) But, what happens when a child outgrows it, and another child covets it? In Love, Panda, the stuffie has something to say about that. Without realizing it, Panda's perspective changes. He learns to recognize that different isn't bad and that perseverance can help one transition from the scary and unknown to something unexpected good.

Illustration by Charlene Chua from Love, Panda, written by Elaine Su

Without Charlene Chua's digital art, Panda would never be so adorable and heartwarming. She gives him the textures and expressions of the sweetest of stuffies. His shape and cushiony appearance will remind young readers of Squishmallows toys, but his facial expressions, from his eyes and brows to his mouth, give us the full range of feelings. He's distressed, he's surprised, he's resigned, and he's joyous.

 

I know Panda is a stuffie and his dilemma—being unceremoniously adopted by a new child—will not be a familiar one to most children, but Love, Panda is a lesson in persevering through that which might seem unimaginably challenging. Perhaps, for children, it will attending a new school, accepting a new baby, or welcoming a new teacher when one goes on maternity. For children, different can be overwhelming. But with time and with the clarity that can come with getting thoughts down on paper, they can triumph. Panda did, and he's not even mobile.

Dear Elsa

Written by Marco Fraticelli

Red Deer Press

978-0-889956865

240 pp.

Ages 8-12

May/July 2023

 

looking out the window

in his new school

the sad student (pg. 32)

 

As part of a school assignment, 10-year-olds Elsa of Boston and Leo newly of Toronto must write emails to each other as pen pals. Neither is initially keen, and Leo is especially so when he learns his pen pal is a girl. But, through revealing messages from September through the following August, the two go from strangers to something deeper.

At the outset, the differences between the two middle-graders are pronounced. Leo, who has newly moved from Montreal to Toronto for his parents' jobs as teachers, complains about everything, from not having any friends, his teacher, following rules, sending emails to Elsa of at least 250 words, and schoolwork writing poetry. Elsa, on the other hand, loves rules, has divorced parents, and, though Leo suggests she must be one of the popular kids based on the advice she gives him, calls herself an in-between kid who has a few good friends and is relatively quiet. But as she allows him to vent while still offering him a different perspective, Leo discovers some things about himself, like that he really likes writing poetry, especially haiku, which he often shares with her. Elsa is slower to reveal herself, probably because Leo is so busy complaining, but she too begins to divulge what her life is like, rather than just giving Leo the opportunity to share. Readers, and Leo, learn of her parents' relationship, her trip to Cancun, her aspirations, her prowess as an archer, and eventually her wheelchair. While Leo broadcasts about everything, Elsa holds back much about her own situation, and is delighted to be treated like she isn't someone with a disability.

Dear Elsa may be author Marco Fraticelli's first children's book but his decades of experience as a Grade 5 teacher as well as an award-winning poet have given him a strong foundation for an irresistible story of two children exploring their differences and finding common ground to be the friend the other needs at that time. Their writing relationship may continue past their Grade 5 year–that is not revealed at the book's conclusion–but it's almost irrelevant as the two derived safety, perspective, opportunity, and solicitude from their relationship.

In 2015, I prepared a post titled, Dearest readers...: A Letters in youngCanLit book list, which provided a list of books that featured characters writing letters or emails or texts as the vehicle for the plot. I will definitely be adding Dear Elsa to that list now to ensure that middle-grade readers (and perhaps their teachers) have an opportunity to visit with Leo and Elsa and witness how a friendship can develop from afar and with seemingly different individuals. All it takes is opening oneself up the opportunity, as Leo learns both in emails and at school, and perhaps some heartfelt poetry.

The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe

Written by Stephanie Simpson McLellan

Illustrated by Zoe Si

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-393-4

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2021 

 

Poor Timothy Shmoe.  He's a kid who never intends to do wrong or misbehave. In fact, according to the myriad of apologies he has to write, he always has a reason behind whatever incident has landed him in hot water again. Unfortunately, things just keep happening. (Funny, huh?)

From The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe by Stephanie Simpson McLellan, illus. by Zoe Si

Timothy Shmoe was not a bad kid...

But sometimes he did bad things.

From calling his father a bad name to expressing his dislike for a gift, playing hockey inside or touching other people's things, Timothy is a kid who just does things and doesn't think about the consequences. In other words, he's like many kids.

From The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe by Stephanie Simpson McLellan, illus. by Zoe Si

For each sorry event, Timothy is required to write a letter of apology. He often starts them with "I'm sorry that..." before going on to explain why what happened has happened. He was just trying to be honest or wanting to cool his mother down on a hot day or he woke up on the wrong side of the bed or Fluffy scratched him or...or...or. There's always something with Timothy that explains away his behaviour, or so he thinks.

From The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe by Stephanie Simpson McLellan, illus. by Zoe Si

But all those little episodes become a colossal comedy of errors when Timothy attends his sister's dance recital and he and his marbles end up creating an act of their own.

From The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe by Stephanie Simpson McLellan, illus. by Zoe Si

Parents and teachers know that impulse control in children may develop earlier (ages 3-4) but may take years to become entrenched, and Timothy is just learning to see that his actions have consequences. Like many parents, his are frazzled, trying to find the means to teach Timothy the behaviours that are less destructive or hurtful and the letter-writing may be a good start. Though he's obviously a reluctant apology writer, Timothy starts to accept that his actions are impacting others. In fact, his final letter suggests that his parents may wish he was never born because he wrecks everything. There is one more letter, this one from his dad, that expresses something very different.

I would only be sorry if you were not my son.

Stephanie Simpson McLellan, who has written a number of my favourites including The Christmas Wind (20017), takes both a light-hearted and serious tone in The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe. Yes, he does some silly things that older kids and adults usually recognize as potentially disastrous, but the frustrations that he and others feel are very real and even distressing. For a child to feel unwanted is sad. Thankfully Stephanie Simpson McLellan has given Timothy parents who are understanding and loving and, with their help, he's sure to grow into his self-control.

Vancouver cartoonist and illustrator Zoe Si uses ink and watercolour to play on that tenuous relationship of humour and consequence. She easily turns Timothy's initial delight in his play into frustration, embarrassment and even shame with his body language and facial expressions. We know how Timothy feels, as well as everyone in his orbit of activity. Except for the crazy dance recital where everything goes awry, Timothy is always the focus of Zoe Si's artwork, with significant white space being used to emphasize his limelight. 

 

There are laughs in The Sorry Life of Timothy Shmoe but also lessons about intention, consequences and forgiveness. Timothy Shmoe is anybody who makes mistakes and then has to face the consequences for those mistakes. That's all of us. Here's hoping none of our mistakes are ever too consequential for forgiveness.

AlphaBit: An ABC Quest in 8-bit

Written by Chronicle Books

Illustrated by Juan Carlos Solon

Chronicle Books

978-1-4521-7030-5

36 pp.

Ages 2-5

August 2019

Most concept books like those that teach the alphabet struggle to find a unique theme on which to hang that instruction.  But AlphaBit is like no other alphabet book, embedding the teaching of the letters and words that start with those letters in some classic video/arcade game scenarios. It's a trip down memory lane for many and, for young children, it will a new and fresh design motif that links with technology without the complications.

From AlphaBit, illus. by Juan Carlos Solon

For each of the twenty-letters, displayed in large yellow font, common words like apple, banana and castle are posted in a text box. Chronicle Books may have created the lists of words for each letter, but it is Toronto's Juan Carlos Solon, video and gaming artist as well as illustrator, who gives the context for the words. The illustrations, reminiscent of old video games, display indoor and outdoor settings to showcase the words and more. Up to six words may be listed but many more words are illustrated for children to discover. For example, for the letter B, the words bird, bed, banana, buttons and barrels are posted but in the illustration, children will also find books, bowl, bookcase, bell, and bear.

From AlphaBit, illus. by Juan Carlos Solon

The pixel art, so much like the old 8-bit devices, is currently very trendy. You can find online pixel art generators and apps that help anyone create pixelated art. But Juan Carlos Solon goes beyond just illustrating "things" and designs complex scenes in which those alphabet objects are inserted, all based on a quest. From the first double-spread for letters A and B which depicts where the protagonist lives, to stepping outside and discovering a treasure map, our hero embarks on a quest to locate a diamond. There are obstacles from robot enemies and rope walkways over swamps, to ghosts and invaders. And as our hero advances, reaching the diamond, the story finishes off with an X-cellent! Yay! Zoiks! Or does it? Is the quest ever really over?

From AlphaBit, illus. by Juan Carlos Solon

Since everything old–or should I say retro?–is new again, young kids will love sitting down with AlphaBit as much as the adults who will be reminded of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders from forty plus years ago. I don't know if young children will be familiar with these classic video games but if the Press Start font and Juan Carlos Solon's graphics don't get them curious about them, then hopefully they'll at least enjoy a quest of alphabet discovery.

Everyday ABC

Written and illustrated by Paul Covello

HarperCollins

978-1-44345-441-4

30 pp.

Ages 0-4

May 2018

Alphabet books like most concept books tend to be rather simplistic, for two reasons. First, the patterns that the text will follow are predetermined. It's always going to be A through Z. Secondly, they are concept books, those which try to teach a new concept to the very young. They must be simple enough for children to grasp the concept through multiple readings. If there is any confusion or duality of message, the book is not serving its purpose. If the children are not familiar with the words that are selected for each letter, it does not serve its purpose.  Everyday ABC serves its purpose very well and with boldly colourful illustrations that will boost learning.

From Everyday ABC by Paul Covello

For each letter of the alphabet, artist Paul Covello, whose books Canada ABC, Canada 123 and Toronto ABC have already provided familiar Canadian perspectives to concept learning, shares commonplace examples for children.  The list includes: apple, ball, cat, dog, egg, flower, guitar, hat, ice cream, juice, kite, leaf, milk, nest, orange, paint, quilt, rainbow, shoe, tree, umbrella, vegetable, window, xylophone, yarn and zoo. Most children would already be familiar with these words, hearing them regularly in western households: "Put your shoe on" or "Eat your vegetable" or "Let's go to the zoo today." Now they can see the letters that starts these words, see how each word is spelled and learn the order of the letters in the alphabet.  Everyday ABC speaks to the child with things recognizable to them, not to impress the adult reader.

While the text fulfils its mandate of teaching the alphabet, Paul Covello's artwork is probably what children will most appreciate. The art is alive with colour and shape, drawing children to recognize and identify objects in the details and further the learning. E may be for egg, but a child will also learn where the egg comes from as well as the difference between a hen and chicks and a rooster, all in a sunny egg-yolk yellow landscape.

From Everyday ABC by Paul Covello

Moreover, every child, albeit in a western world, is represented here. There is diversity in where children live, what colour their skin is, what clothing they wear. There are boys and girls and children whose gender is irrelevant. There are indoor scenes and outdoor scenes, and scenes of activity and quiet times too.

From Everyday ABC by Paul Covello

While the focus of Everyday ABC differs from his earlier works, Paul Covello continues to recognize how to blend his artwork to help young children grasp new concepts and he does so with an earnest awareness of children's needs and likings that all will appreciate.

••••••••••••••••••

The Alphabet Thief

Written by Bill Richardson

Illustrated by Roxanna Bikadoroff

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-877-8

40 pp.

Ages 5-9

March 2017

An alphabet thief is on the loose and she is creating mayhem with every letter she sneaks into her sack.  Bill Richardson, Canadian humourist and writer for all ages, tells a story of words ridiculously transformed with the loss of a letter, as depicted in the illustrations by Vancouver artist Roxanna Bikadoroff.

The Alphabet Thief stole all of the C’s,
And a cloud became loud in the sky.
My chair wasn’t there–it was turned into hair
And all of the spices were spies.

From The Alphabet Thief 

by Bill Richardson 

illus. by Roxanna Bikadoroff

Oh my.  As a little bespectacled girl and her dog Bill witness the thefts, beards become bears, horses become hoses and artists’ paints become pants.  But the young child who wears a beret or sometimes a deer-stalker is on the case and it’s up to her to make sure the thief is caught and the world of words is made sane again.

A new book from award-winning author and humourist Bill Richardson is always a joy to behold but the publication of The Alphabet Thief is even more notable because it’s for children.  Bill Richardson’s humour which has earned him four nominations for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour (he won in 1994 for Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast) has the right touch for evoking subtle humour while giving young readers light but powerful wordplay to contemplate.  I wish I were in a classroom again so that I might do a sophisticated alphabet game of illustrating words that have lost certain letters.  The kids would laugh themselves silly with crops transformed into cops, soaps developing into saps, and brothers becoming bothers (though that last one is hardly a stretch)! Moreover, Bill Richardson writes this early reader in an entertaining rhyming text conducive to an imaginative wordplay that teachers and students and all readers will appreciate.

Roxanna Bikadoroff must have laughed her way through the illustration process, creating wild scenarios like a café scene in which bowls become owls, the dog Bill becomes ill and a brat walking by on his cellphone turns into a rat.

From The Alphabet Thief 

by Bill Richardson 

illus. by Roxanna Bikadoroff

Her pen and ink drawings with only hints of colour have a light and rushed feel to them, perfect for a book that portrays the mad antics of a thief.  Still the art of of Roxanna Bikadoroff, who has won awards for her magazine illustrations, tells the story of The Alphabet Thief with the silliness Bill Richardson’s rhymes evoke.

Do get The Alphabet Thief for your classroom or child’s library, and not just because of its possible lessons in the alphabet since the thief does take the letters in order, except for the tricky QU combo which disappear together.  Get the book because you’ll have fun reading the rhymes and picking out the transforming words via the art and don’t we all need a little more fun in our lives? Thanks Bill Richardson and Roxanna Bikadoroff for bringing it.

From The Alphabet Thief 

by Bill Richardson 

illus. by Roxanna Bikadoroff

Gabby, Wonder Girl

Written by Joyce Grant

Illustrated by Jan Dolby

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-384-6

32 pp.

Ages 5-7

September 2016

Joyce Grant and Jan Dolby’s little Gabby, of earlier books Gabby (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013) and Gabby, Drama Queen (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013), is taking on the world again, this time to solve a mystery of a photograph through questioning.

When Gabby’s friend Roy becomes engulfed in a pile of question marks that he’s released from her magic book–the one that usually just releases a multitude of letters–the two characters become super sleuths, Wonder Girl and Super Roy, on the trail of the person in the black-and-white photograph Gabby discovers in her backyard.  Using letters from the book and the question marks, Gabby creates the wonder-ful “Who?” that helps them realize the girl in the photo is Mrs. Oldham, her neighbour.  But the two can’t find her and have to amalgamate a “w” (wafting in the wind), “h” (half-hidden in a hammock), “e” (in the electric car), “r” (resting on a race track), and another “e” (on Roy’s elbow) with one of the ubiquitous question marks to locate the older woman in the apple tree!  With some reorganization of letters and a slithery snake, the question of “how?” they can get her out of the tree and free her to make a proffered apple pie is solved!

From Gabby, Wonder Girl 

by Joyce Grant, illus. by Jan Dolby

Joyce Grant’s cutie pie shows off her inquisitiveness and invention with gusto and creativity.  Who knew learning to use questions could be so much fun?  With a simple story, Joyce Grant offers very young readers an introduction to letters of the alphabet while manipulating them into words that provide the basis for questions and simple words.  Those of us more proficient in reading know of the versatility of letters to create new words and worlds but, for the very young, Gabby, Wonder Girl will be a revelation in learning housed in an unassuming but entertaining format.  No need to learn about letters from a standard A-B-C book when you have Gabby.  And Jan Dolby makes sure that Gabby, Wonder Girl (as she did in the earlier Gabby books) is a fun read of bright colours and squiggly lines and quirky details like a garden gnome, hedgehogs, butterflies and yards of letters.  Gabby really is a red-haired wonder girl in both language and action, and Roy plays superbly as her masked sidekick.  

From Gabby, Wonder Girl 

by Joyce Grant, illus. by Jan Dolby

Chidlren will love Gabby Wonder Girl, as they have Gabby and Gabby, Drama Queen, but parents and teachers will enjoy helping them experience Gabby’s learning opportunities in the fun word activites and games as well as drawing lesson that Joyce Grant and Jan Dolby provide at the end of the book.  There’s even a Gabby teachers’ guide that can be accessed online at http://joycegrantauthor.com/free-teachers-guide-gabby.  Gabby, Wonder Girl is a big package of learning in a small but bright little marvel of a book.

The Finding Place

Written by Julie Hartley
Red Deer Press
978-0-889-95533-2
244 pp.
Ages 10-14
September 2015

Thirteen-year-old Kelly, the narrator of The Finding Place, knows only that she’d been found outside a village school in Yangshuo, China before she’d been taken to an orphanage from which her parents adopted her at a few months of age. Other than being Chinese by birth, Kelly knows little of her beginnings and herself.  But this was always okay with her, until her dad leaves.  Not knowing why he left, where he was, and if he was coming back, Kelly is left filling in the blanks of that story with various possibilities, all that make her mom the bad guy.  Moreover, Kelly is starting to feel lost, unaware of who she truly is.

My Canadian identity came from my parents but, with Dad gone, how much of that was left? (pg. 44)

Like a typical teen, Kelly lashes out at her mother, Auntie Lou and best friend Raziel whenever they question her about what she’s thinking or doing.  Not surprising that Mom wants to find a way to connect with Kelly, so she plans a March break trip to China, hoping that it will help Kelly clarify some things about her birth place and ultimately herself.

But Mom’s debilitating headaches often leave Kelly alone and exploring–without permission–outside the hotel.  At times, she feels Chinese, empowered by trying out her Mandarin and being understood, and participating in a Tai Chi activity in a park.  But then the confusion returns.

Back in the lobby of our hotel, I stood for a moment among the American business peple and the western tourists with their cameras slung around their necks, and I thought, where do I belong? Here, where everyone except the desk staff looks like my parents, but thinks and speaks the way I do? Or out there in the real China where everyone looks like me, even though I can’t understand a single word they say? (pg. 110)

Her mom’s annoyance and anger with Kelly reveals her plan to move them from Toronto to Brantford to live with her Auntie Lou, giving them a fresh start.  Kelly is devastated, believing that her father would never come home then, disregarding the countless emails she’s sent him without response.

Their arrival in Yangshuo, ever closer to her finding place i.e., the spot where she’d been abandoned, brings them in contact with other parents picking up their adopted children, including a Toronto woman Clare whom Kelly met at the Bejing hotel and was adopting a child from the very orphanage that Kelly had resided in before her own adoption.

But, just like life, things do not run smoothly. Clare’s baby, Phoenix, is ill and may be kept from adoption; Mom did not apply for permission to visit the orphanage; and Kelly, who’d been convinced that her mother had been keeping her dad away, learns the real reason for his absence.  A life-threatening situation finally helps Kelly realize what she has in the way of an identity and that what seems like an end might just be a beginning.

I have always believed that every child should be able to see themselves somewhere in the books, hence the push for diversity in literature.  The Finding Place opens up that door to children who became part of new families through international adoption, here specifically from China.  Kelly’s story and perhaps that of Clare and Phoenix may or may not be similar to those of other girls adopted from China but it provides a starting place for filling in the blanks of their adoption and heritage.  Julie Hartley’s rigourous research (an interview with Julie Hartley at the end of the book will attest to this) provides a more complete background for Kelly’s story, though The Finding Place is still much more than a story of a child’s adoption.  It’s her story, absolutely, but it’s of finding herself: her beginnings, her place as a daughter, friend and niece, and as a part of a broken family.  Her struggles with self-determination and self-acceptance are the greater story of The Finding Place, though China does become the finding place by definition in a far greater manner than mother and daughter probably could ever have imagined.

Taking a Chance on Love

Written by Mary Razzell
Ronsdale Press
978-1-55380-455-0
156 pp.
Ages 14+
February 2016

Taking a Chance on Love was still to become a jazz standard, having only been released a few years earlier in 1940, but it perfectly exemplies the summer of 1944 for seventeen-year-old Meg when boys and affairs of the heart seem to abound for her and everyone.

Though Meg is still quite innocent and naïve about her feelings towards boys, her best friend, Amy Miller, is anything but.  Amy is well aware of them, easily flirting with the wealthy Robert Pryce whose extramarital activities involve several married women, including Amy’s own mother, and setting her sights on any man who could give her a good life.  Meg notices a lot and sometimes knows enough to be wary but can’t always put the big picture together, unfortunately accused by Amy of being jealous  when she attempts to share those feelings.  With her own mother deeply entrenched in the staunch ideas of what being a woman entails i.e., not continuing one’s education but marrying instead, and her father and older brother Sam away at war, Meg has to navigate these treacherous waters as best she can.

From Doug Thompson, a soldier pen pal, to seventeen-year-old Glen Pryce, wealthy half-brother of Robert Pryce, and 22-year-old Bruce Hanson, the emotionally- and physically-scarred Navy son of her employer at Hanson’s Guest House, Meg has no shortage of young men who can help her learn how to handle how she feels.  Sadly, as with coming-of-age for all of us, Meg endures many sweet and bitter moments as she tries to uncover this.

It made me curious, excited, with strong, unexpected yearnings.  But I also felt uneasy, not really ready to know any more about this new world. (pg. 94)

Taking a Chance on Love may be rich in the landscape of 1940s British Columbia, with the war, TB, medical practices, the expectations for women, and the music and clothes, but it could be any teen girl’s story as she delves into first relationships with boys and tries to find herself while opening herself up to the possibilities of finding someone to love.  With some marriages falling apart and others forged because of war, Taking a Chance on Love takes place in a tenous and strengthening time.  It’s a time that is both sweet and enlightening, temporarilty transporting readers to an era when love wasn’t dependent on social media and digital technology but more on self-discovery and resolve.

Dearest readers...: A Letters in youngCanLit book list

(Updated August 2023)

December 7 marks Letter-Writing Day.  And, in each of the following titles, one significant letter or many letters or emails are the basis for the book's plot.  Letters, missives, epistles, memos, post-its, emails, texts and such are communications that figure prominently in each of these tomes, whether the  very essence of the book's format or the impetus by which the story is told.  So, whether you are a teacher wanting to introduce young students to writing letters, or you enjoy the snappiness of short texts, or just love the personal nature of letter communications, these books of youngCanLit have something for everyone.


PICTURE BOOKS

The Gardener
Written by Sarah Stewart
Illustrated by David Small
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
32 pp.
Ages 5–11
1997

The Stamp Collector
Written by Jennifer Lanthier
Illustrations by François Thisdale
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
32 pp.
Ages 8+
2012
Reviewed here

Wolf Wanted
Written by Ana Maria Machado
Illustrated by Laurent Cardon
Translated by Elisa Amado
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 8-9
2010

FICTION

Dear Elsa

Written by Marco Fraticelli
Red Deer Press
240 pp.
Ages 8-12

2023

Reviewed here

Dear Sylvia
Written by Alan Cumyn
Groundwood Books
181 pp.
Ages 8-12
2008

Dear Toni
Written by Cyndi Sand-Eveland
Tundra Books
112 pp.
Ages 8-12
2008

Finding Grace (A Gutsy Girl Book)
Written by Becky Citra
Second Story Press
195 pp.
Ages 9-12
2014

Finding Ruby Starling
Written by Karen Rivers
Alfred A. Levine Books/Scholastic
304 pp.
Ages 10-14
2014
Reviewed here

Fred and the Mysterious Letter
Written by Marie-Danielle Croteau
Illustrated by Bruno St-Aubin
Translated by Sarah Cummins
Formac
61 pp.
Ages 6-8
2005

A Hole in My Heart
Written by Rie Charles
Dundurn
155 pp.
Ages 11-12
2014

Jakeman
Written by Deborah Ellis
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
201 pp.
Ages 8-13
2007

Peggy’s Letters
Written by Jacqueline Halsey
Orca Book Publishers
116 pp.
Ages 6-11
2005

The Whole Truth
Written by Kit Pearson
HarperCollins Canada
261 pp.
Ages 9+
2011
Reviewed here




YOUNG ADULT

Apart
Written by R. P. MacIntyre & Wendy MacIntyre
Groundwood Books
176 pp.
Ages 13-16
2007

Calvin
Written by Martine Leavitt
Groundwood Books
192 pp.
Ages 12+
2015
Reviewed here

Creeps
Written by Darren Hynes
Razorbill/Penguin Canada
309 pp.
Age 13+
2013
Reviewed here

Dance of the Banished
Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Pajama Press
288 pp.
Ages 12+
2014
Reviewed here

Dear Bruce Springstreen
Written by Kevin Major
Doubleday
144 pp.
Ages 10-14
1987

Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom
Written by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books
240 pp.
Ages 11-14
2010

Dear Jo: The Story of Losing Leah
Written by Christina Kilbourne
Lobster Press
190 pp.
Ages 10-15
2007

The Farmerettes
Written by Gisela Tobien Sherman
Second Story Press
348 pp.
Ages 13-18
2015





A Foreign Field
Written by Gillian Chan
Kids Can Press
192 pp.
Ages 10-14
2002

The Girls They Left Behind
Written by Bernice Thurman Hunter
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
191 pp.
Ages 13-15
2005

I’ll be Watching
Written by Pamela Porter
Groundwood Books
280 pp.
Ages 12+
2011
Reviewed here

Last December
Written by Matt Beam
Puffin
161 pp.
Ages 12+
2009

Letters to Julia
Written by Barbara Ware Holmes
HarperCollins Canada
234 pp.
Ages 11-14
1997

Life on the Refrigerator Door: Notes Between a Mother and Daughter
Written by Alice Kuipers
HarperCollins Canada
240 pp.
Ages 12+
2007

Little Red Lies
Written by Julie Johnston
Tundra Books
352 pp.
Ages 10+
2013

An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries
Written by Nina Schindler
Annick Press
112 pp.
Ages 13+
2004

Rebel’s Tag
Written by K. L. Denman
Orca Book Publishers
128 pp.
Ages 10-14
2007

Slick
Written by Sara Cassidy
Orca Book Publishers
116 pp.
Ages 10-14
2010

The Way We Fall
Written by Megan Crewe
Hyperion Disney Group
308 pp.
Ages 12+
2011
Reviewed here

We Contain Multitudes

Written by Sarah Henstra
Penguin Teen
384 pp.
Ages 14+

2019 

Reviewed here

When Kacey Left
Written by Dawn Green
Red Deer Press
228 pp.
Ages 12+
April 2015
Reviewed here





NON-FICTION

Anastasia's Album
Written by Hugh Brewster
Madison Press Books
63 pp.
Ages 10+
1996

Camp Fossil Eyes: Digging for the Origins of Words
Written by Mark Abley
Annick Press
131 pp.
Ages 9-13
2009

Hold the Oxo!: A Teenage Soldier Writes Home
Written by Marion Fargey Brooker
Dundurn
141 pp.
Ages 12-15
2011