I came home from Banff with a long list of recommended books to read (some of them actual books in my bag, purchased from writers in Banff). Then I collected more titles from recent awards and recommendations from people I know. I’ve been (slowly) working my way through the lists, and while I’ve enjoyed many of them, a few have stood out.
These include Arthur Slade’s Tribes, a quirky and touching look at high school cliques (unusually for Art, it’s neither fantasy nor horror).
And Erin Bow’s Plain Kate, which recently won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. I had a little trouble getting into it, as I found the beginning pervasively dark and sad, but the story drew me back, and held me right to a late-night have-to-finish-before-I-go-to-sleep read. I’d particularly recommend this to the younger teen girls I meet looking for fantasy about girls (along with Tamora Pierce, my usual recommendation).
Maureen