Sorrow’s Knot by Erin Bow
Summary: Born to the pinch’s binder, Willow, Otter is even more powerful than her mother when it comes to binding the dead with knots. But when Willow rejects Otter as her successor, events conspire to place Otter in a position where she must become binder anyway. Her friends Kestral and Cricket have different roles in the pinch, but their combined knowledge helps the three unravel why the White Hands are haunting their people, and how it all began. Cricket’s openness as second storyteller gets him banished from the pinch though, and Kestral and Otter go after him hoping they are...
Read MoreSigns of Martha by Sarah Raymond
Summary: Living in Putnam, Ontario, sixteen year-old Martha is caught between a potentially premature marriage and wanting to pursue her dreams of being an artist. For the summer, Martha is harvesting a cucumber crop with her friend Bernie, but when a woman named Velvet rolls into town painting unique signs for her customers, Martha is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Under Velvet’s influence, Martha finds her voice, revealing hidden truths around town that have previously gone unsaid through her own signs. Velvet invites an art critic to town to view Martha’s work and Martha...
Read MoreGetting a Life by Jocelyn Shipley
Summary: When her best friend Tanya moves to Australia for a year and doesn’t write, Carly is understandably upset. Missing Tanya but also her best friend’s family, Carly is surprised when the letter she finally receives tells her to get a life of her own and to stop trying to bogart Tanya’s mother. New neighbours distract Carly from the hurt she feels, as she finds herself offering to babysit the children of a single and neglectful mother. The experience brings up memories of her own mother who was institutionalized and died in a car accident, and Carly slowly starts to...
Read MoreMoon at Nine by Deborah Ellis
Summary: Living in Iran in 1988, Farrin attends a girl’s school working to become educated to help lead a future Iran. An outsider with no friends, Farrin’s life takes a turn for the better when Sadira, a new student at school, befriends her. Their friendship improves their grades as they study together, and new feelings are stirred within both of them as they continue to share in each other’s lives. But Iran is not a country that accepts homosexuality, and before long Farrin and Sadira are labelled deviants and advised to change their behaviour. Convinced there is nothing...
Read MoreThe Hunger by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Summary: When puberty changes her body and comments about her weight begin to get to her, Paula endeavours to lose some weight over the summer. But what starts out as losing a few pounds turns into over-exercising, binge eating, vomiting and not eating at all, and Paula’s doctor recognizes she has become anorexic with bulimic tendencies. A school project has Paula researching her family’s roots, and she uncovers her grandmother’s connection to the Armenian genocide beginning in 1915. As her weight gets lower and lower, Paula has a heart attack one day while exercising 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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