Hero of Lesser Causes
by Julie Johnston
from Tundra Books
World War II has just been won, and everything seems possible to young Keely Connor. She sees herself as a hero on a white charger, able to conquer the world, even though in reality her charger is Lola, the placid horse that lives in the field behind her house.
One fateful summer day her brother Patrick is stricken with polio. Here is an enemy Keely cannot conquer. With all the will in the world, she cannot pass on to Patrick her zest or her energy or her own good health. Keely’s battle to save Patrick has become one of the classics of Canadian children’s literature and, in translations, around the world. This beautifully redesigned edition will capture the hearts of a whole new generation of readers.
The Only Outcast
by Julie Johnston
from Tundra Books
A moving story set in the twilight of childhood.
In the year 1904, Fred Dickinson teeters on the brink of manhood. He is spending the last summer of his childhood at his grandfather’s family cottage on Rideau Lake, the only place he feels truly alive. Shy and stuttering, Fred’s ambition is to make his living on the water, mapping the lake for hidden shoals. His father however, has other plans. Believing Fred to lack character, his father is arranging for him to work in the city to toughen him up.
Fred’s summer is one of love, adventure, and mystery. He falls in love and suffers heartache, discovers a long-buried secret about a rumoured murderer, and defies his father for the first time. Although he started the summer as an outcast, Fred eventually succeeds in finding his own place among his family and friends.
Using as a backdrop the actual 1904 diary of a young man, Julie Johnston invents a captivating tale of discovery, youthful passion, and intrigue, recapturing the atmosphere of a time less hectic, less sophisticated.
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
by Julie Johnston
from Puffin
Sara Moone, a bottled-up teenager who has been in foster homes for fourteen years, is starting to feel comfortable with a farm family just as her birth mother shows up. Reprint. SLJ. AB. K.
Susanna's Quill
by Julie Johnston
from Tundra Books
Shortlisted for the 2005 Young Adult Canadian Book Award
Susanna's Quill is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Susanna Moodie, writer and pioneer, by award-winning author Julie Johnston. The story takes us into Susanna’s genteel English childhood, through her humorous teenage attempts at writing, growing to her burgeoning independence, marriage to Dunbar Moodie, and their decision to emigrate from England. To the Moodies, Canada was the answer to their prayers. They would have the life they could no longer afford in Britain and they could raise their children to become wealthy landowners in their own right.
The adventures that thwart this dream become a story of lost illusions and a found sense of self-reliance and inner strength.
In Spite of Killer Bees
In Spite of Killer Bees is a novel about not giving in and not giving up. Aggie and her two sisters have had to move to the small village that had been their father’s childhood home. Their mother is long gone, and their father – who’d been in and out of prison – has died. Although the village holds little charm for the girls, they have hopes. It seems that their late grandfather has made them heiresses.
In the small, judgmental village, Aggie must fight to keep her diminishing family together. By refusing to abandon those she loves and comes to love, she risks more than her happiness.
A Very Fine Line
by Julie Johnston
from Tundra Books
Rosalind Kemp is the youngest in a family of sisters. She lives a comfortable life in a small town in Ontario. Ros is active, loving, and artistic. And, she has second sight.
It is a part of her nature with which she has trouble coming to terms: sometimes it is nothing more than a pleasant parlor trick, like knowing that King Edward will abdicate; sometimes it is a curse that makes her feel freakish; and sometimes it is just plain terrifying. Ros tries everything she can to suppress the gift, and subsequently herself, but nothing works. If she is going to live her life fully, she will have to come to terms with every part of her being, just as everyone must.
This brilliant novel is Julie Johnston at her very best: it is funny, frightening, and painfully insightful.
Love Ya Like a Sister: A Story of Friendship
from Tundra Books
Sixteen-year-old Katie had just begun a year in Paris with her family when she died suddenly. Her family was devastated, but they drew comfort from Katie’s extensive e-mail correspondence to her many friends. In page after page, her family read how Katie explored the nature of friendship, her belief in God, and her desire to understand what constitutes real love among friends.
Award-winning author Julie Johnston has brought together Katie’s correspondence. The result is both a testament to a girl who had so much to offer – and more important, perhaps – a blueprint for real sisterhood.
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