The Road to Chlifa by Michele Marineau
Summary: After a physical altercation with a high school classmate in Montreal, Karim examines what triggered him, going back to his life in war-torn Lebanon and his journey to get out of the country with his love interest’s little sister and brother. Karim hates living in Montreal, but as he sorts through his experiences, it turns out he is a young man in deep mourning for lost possibilities, lost people and a lost country. The offer of friendship from the classmate he defended brings him around, but Karim will always be affected by what has happened to him. Number of Pages: 142 Age...
Read MoreBoy O’Boy by Brian Doyle
Summary: Martin O’Boy lives in a distracted family. With a twin named Phil who has emotional and physical problems, a pregnant mother and a father who throws tantrums on a regular basis, the most reliable family member Martin has is his cat, Cheap. Paid to be in the boys choir at church, Martin and his friend Billy encounter a man named Mr. George who appears to be their friend but has more sinister intentions. After Martin has a traumatic encounter with Mr. George and his family is oblivious, Martin turns to others for help to stop the same thing from happening to his friend Billy....
Read MoreUp to Low by Brian Doyle
Summary: Young Tommy hasn’t been to his family cabin since his mother died two years before. Living now with his father and his Aunt Dottie, a woman with a serious germ-phobia, Young Tommy is looking forward to going back to the cabin, hoping he’ll run into Baby Bridget, the girl next door he cares for. Getting to the cabin means taking his life in his hands at times as he travels with his father and his father’s friend Frank, a notorious drunk who drives anyway. All along their journey the news is that Mean Hughie, Baby Bridget’s father, is dying of cancer, and when...
Read MoreAll Good Children by Catherine Austen
Summary: Upon returning to New Middleton after attending his Aunt Sylvia’s funeral, Max notices that children at his sister Ally’s school are beginning to change. Once playful, rambunctious and loud children have become docile and rule-abiding, all impulsivity and free-thinking removed. This behaviour is spreading up the school grades thanks to mandatory ‘vaccinations,’ and Max and his friend Dallas find themselves pretending to be zombies just to fit in after Max’s mother rescues them from getting the shot. Living in a society that focuses on using its...
Read MoreGood for Nothing by Michel Noel
Summary: Fifteen year-old Nipishish comes home to life on the reserve from residential school with a lot of anger. Unsure of his place and his future, he is directed by the Canadian government to attend high school in another town and live with a foster family, but while the abuse has ended, Nipishish continually comes up against blatant racism. Caught between the world of the white man and the world of the Natives as a Métis, Nipishish has to work twice as hard to figure out who he is and how he fits in. A mystery involving his father’s death helps him clarify his own identity, and...
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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