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 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 MoreArctic Thunder by Robert Feagan
Summary: A prominent part of the St. Albert, Alberta champion Lacrosse team, Mike and his teammates are devastated when his RCMP dad Ben is transferred to Inuvit, Northwest Territories. Mike is even more upset when he finds out what his parents neglected to tell him – there is no Lacrosse team in Inuvit. The move turns out to be a positive change in Mike’s life though. He makes new friends, grows to love snowmobiling and is encouraged to learn more about his roots. His love of Lacrosse infects his new classmates, bonding them together when Mike’s dad sees them playing and...
Read MoreOld Man by David A. Poulsen
Summary: When Nate’s estranged father phones out of the blue, he changes Nate’s summer plans of turning his life around and winning over the attentions of his local crush. Instead Nate and his father whom he refers to as Old Man embark on a journey to Vietnam, revisiting the Old Man’s past as a soldier in the Vietnam War. Separated from his father for years, Nate gets a chance to know and see him as he truly is, someone deeply affected by the choices of the past. Not everything he learns about his father is pretty, but their travels together give Nate a different...
Read MoreTrial by Fire by Sheila Dalton
Summary: Seventeen year-old Nathan is half-Native, half-white, living with a foster family called the Whitmans because his mother has kicked him out. With his outsider status Nathan finds himself constantly struggling to be heard and believed, but a relationship with a classmate named Sally changes everything as she is also considered an outsider. When someone sets fire to Sally’s house and Nathan witnesses it, the police don’t believe he didn’t do it himself. No proof means they can’t arrest him though, but Nathan is motivated to find out who really did it so they...
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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