Kid Soldier by Jennifer Maruno
Summary: Richard Fuller is a fifteen year-old with a taste for adventure and an ambitious spirit. Also loyal and trustworthy, Richard works at various jobs making friends everywhere he goes until the local baker suggests he train to be a signaller at a summer training camp for soldiers. Certain this is the key to achieving his dreams of seeing the world, Richard enlists when World War II starts, using his library card for identification though he is too young. But the rigours of war are not what he imagined, and though it puts him in touch with long-lost relatives in England, Richard...
Read MoreRunning the Bases by Paul Kropp
Summary: Seventeen year-old Alan has one thing on his mind: getting laid. Under the tutelage of his best friend and self-proclaimed ladies’ man, Jeremy, Alan approaches Maggie to invite her to a school dance, only to be turned down because he comes off as desperate. But once Maggie has had time to cool down, she offers Alan her services to help him find someone to date and achieve his goals of ‘running the bases’ and ‘hitting a home run.’ Several hilarious episodes ensue, until Alan finds a college woman named Rochelle that he begins to fall in love with,...
Read MoreDying to Go Viral by Sylvia McNicoll
Summary: When participating in a dangerous skateboarding stunt without a helmet ends her life, fourteen year-old Jade begs her mother in the afterlife for one more week so she can ensure her father and brother will be okay without her. She returns to her family to relive the week before her death, making a list of things she needs to accomplish to improve her father and brother’s lives. As the week progresses, Jade mends her father and brother’s relationship, living life to the fullest with some unexpected and wonderful surprises in the meantime. As the day of her death...
Read MoreA Foreign Field by Gillian Chan
Summary: Growing up during World War II in Hagersville, Ontario, fourteen year-old Ellen finds herself thrust into a homemaker role as her mother invests herself in volunteer work to aid the war effort. When her younger brother is brought home by a pilot-in-training named Stephen from England, Ellen’s family embraces him as he seems to fill the gap left by Ellen’s older brothers being away at war. Over time, Ellen and Stephen’s friendship develops into something more, and though the end of Stephen’s training brings physical separation as he sent to be a bomber in...
Read MoreWhat Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson
Summary: Growing up with a younger sister dealing with cerebral palsy, David is used to being independent and coming second in his parents’ attentions. In love with the girl across the street, David’s attraction only grows when Heather shows she is comfortable being around Ivy and his parents. But a trip to the family cottage changes everything when David’s dad takes Ivy for a swim and she has a seizure and dies. When questions are raised about whether Ivy’s death was accidental or intentional and David’s father comes out with a startling confession, David...
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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