Tales From the Farm by Jeff Lemire
Summary: Living with his Uncle Ken after his mother dies, 10 year-old Lester is just trying to stay afloat. The relationship between Lester and his uncle is strained as they can’t quite seem to connect through their grief, but a new friendship with Jimmy helps Lester see things in a new light. Jimmy himself is a former Maple Leafs’ player whose career was cut short when a injury caused brain damage. Like a kid himself, Jimmy is the perfect companion for Lester, and allows him to be the hero his mother always thought he was. Number of Pages: 104 Age Range: 13-15 Review: There is a...
Read MoreBig Big Sky by Kristyn Dunnion
Summary: Belonging to a pod made up of teen girls, Shona, Rustle, Solomon, Roku and Loo work together to carry out missions assigned to them by the ScanMans. But when two of their members start going through physiological changes and one of them goes missing, the ScanMans try to bring them all in for reprogramming. In their escape the pod is confronted with the wider world outside what they’ve been told, and the metamorphosis of Rustle and Roku changes them forever. Seeking answers and trying to survive, the separation of the pod causes each member to follow their own journey,...
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 MoreHaunted by Barbara Haworth-Attard
Summary: Dee (short for Defiance) lives with her midwife grandmother in small town Ontario just after World War I has ended. Gifted with a second sight that involves seeing ghosts, Dee becomes involved in a murder investigation when the bones of a good friend are discovered on Price’s Mountain. Evil is haunting the town as more girls die, but Dee is the only one who can see it. Working against the growing suspicion of the townspeople, Dee tries to unravel the mystery of who is committing the murders, but when an obviously innocent man is arrested, Dee must step up her efforts. In the...
Read MoreThe Book of Living and Dying by Natale Ghent
Summary: After her older brother John’s death from cancer, Sarah finds herself adrift in grief. Constant headaches led Sarah to self-medicate with alcohol and pills, but when her brother begins to haunt her, Sarah steps up her substance abuse. Trying to rid herself of her brother’s ghost, she confides in her friend Donna and tries different rituals from The Book of Living and Dying to help him move on to the afterlife. When it doesn’t work, Sarah finds herself descending into madness, having repetitive dreams that don’t make sense, hearing voices, and fixating on a...
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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