Truths I Learned from Sam by Kristin Butcher
Summary: After her mother gets married for the fifth time, seventeen year-old Dani thinks she will be spending the six weeks her mother is on her honeymoon by herself. But her mother springs a surprise on her: instead Dani will be spending the time with Sam, the uncle she never knew about. Although she could be angry about her mother keeping secrets from her, Dani opts for excitement over getting to know a new family member. Sam and Dani are two peas in a pod, enjoying an easy camaraderie right from the start. While on her vacation with Sam, Dani learns to ride a horse and starts a...
Read MoreBlood Red Road by Moira Young
Summary: Mid-winter twins Lugh and Saba live with their sister Emmi and their father on a lonely homestead plagued with drought. While the twins’ bond is fierce, their father is awash in grief and their sister fends for herself. Everything changes one day when the Tonton appear, kidnapping Lugh and killing their father. Left alone with Emmi, Saba sets out immediately to rescue Lugh, determined to leave her sister with a family friend along the way. But nothing seems to go as planned, and Saba’s journey to get Lugh back takes her from cage fighting in Hopetown, to battling deadly...
Read MoreFree as a Bird by Gina McMurchy-Barber
Summary: Born in 1957 with Downs Syndrome, Ruby Jean Sharp is put in an institution called the Woodlands School at the age of eight when her Gramma dies and can no longer care for her. The stigma against Ruby Jean’s condition is great, and those in the institution are often abused. But hope comes when Ruby Jean starts taking lessons on daily life activities with a helper named Grace, demonstrating that though others call her a retard she is capable of running her own life with some support. Finally she emerges from the Woodlands School to live with a friendly, caring older couple...
Read MoreSeraphina by Rachel Hartman
Summary: In a world where dragons are real and an uneasy truce exists between them and humans, Seraphina is a young woman with a secret. The offspring of a human and a dragon, Seraphina is a musical prodigy whose situation allows her considerable insight into both worlds. But a half human/half dragon isn’t even supposed to be possible, and there is such stigma over the idea of humans and dragons mating that Seraphina must not tell anyone about the dragon scales on her body or the mysterious psychic connection she has with others like her. As the anniversary of the dragon/human treaty...
Read MoreThe Bone Collector’s Son by Paul Yee
Summary: Forced to accompany his father on one of his bone collecting assignments, Bing is fearful of the ghosts that may haunt them while his Ba is skeptical they exist. When the body they dig up doesn’t have a skull though and Ba’s health begins to deteriorate, Bing knows the bones are haunting them. Determined to help his father out since he is unable to work and to get away from collecting bones himself, Bing takes a job as a houseboy in a wealthy Vancouver household. Living in 1907 Bing faces the mounting prejudice against Asian people, but his cultural knowledge of ghosts...
Read MoreAbout Amy
Amy Mathers has been passionate about reading from a very young age, and hopes others will share her enthusiasm for funding a teen book award. Read more Follow Amy
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