Margaret Laurence's The Olden Days Coat (1979) Illus. Muriel Wood Tundra Books, 1998 Every time I read this book I think "surely this time I won't cry", but I always do. And it's not because this is a sad story, but there is something so overwhelmingly touching about it, that
Camille Yarbrough's The Shimmershine Queens Putnam-Penguin 1989 When I've had one of those soulfully-exhausting days (or weeks), one of the things that I like to do is browse in the children's library. I have my favourite branches, but often this is a hasty act of desperation which involves stopping at
Anita Silvey's 500 Great Books for Teens Houghton Mifflin, 2006 M.T. Anderson's Burger Wuss (1999) 12-14 Joan Bauer's Rules of the Road (1998) 12-14 Joan Bauer's Squashed (1992) 12-14 * Ann Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001) 12-14 Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods (1998) 14-18 *
Mary E. Lyons’ The Poison Place (1997) Aladdin, 1999 I've now read more than half of the book recommended in Shireen Dodson's Books for Girls to Grow On and have good reason to read on (as useful as I find the list itself, it's her discussions that have influenced my choices). Nonetheless, this
Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy Tacy (1940) Illus. Lois Lenski Harper Collins, 1968 I first met Betsy, Tacy and Tib when I was nine or ten, but I didn't know them as well as I might have. I kept re-reading the third and fourth volumes of the series and never filled
