Willow Creek Summer by Kathleen Wiebe is the story of 15-year-old Mennonite Tina Wiens. It's 1970-something and Tina is trying to find her place in the world. Her sister becomes pregnant and has a baby without getting married. This changes Tina' perspective and she begins to question all that she's been taught. Nature facilitates an unspoken healing process when Tina spends a summer on her aunt's farm.

George's Marvellous Medicine: Another marvellous book by Roald Dahl in which George mixes up a terrific dose of "serves-you-right" to his really horrible grandmother. Very funny.

Whalesinger. Welwyn Wilton Katz is a Canadian writer of many YA titles. Whalesinger is an environmental mystery and involves young love and living on a sailboat.

Janey's Girl, Men of Stone, Losing Forever, The Isabel Factor, and For Now are all titles by Gayle Friesen. These books are about family. They are touching, funny, timely, and very, very readable.

The Blue Castle is an extremely romantic novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It's about Valancy Stirling, a well-bred Toronto old maid who discovers (wrongly) that she has a fatal illness. Valancy begins to live her life, spends a season as a housekeeper in Muskoka and takes up with a ne'er-do-well nature writer who turns out to be a wealthy heir. We're talking happy, happy, happy ending here. Better than the best fairy tale. And all done in inimitable LM Montgomery style.

Jane of Lantern Hill is my other favourite LM Montgomery book. This one set in Toronto and Prince Edward Island. It's the story of Jane who lives in Toronto with her society belle mother and formidable grandmother. Jane discovers that she has a father who lives on PEI and is demanding a visit from his daughter. This is a coming of age story, a story of reconciliation and love and self empowerment. The two locales contrast beautifully, with PEI appearing as Lucy Maud's usual symbol for hope, nurture, and generally all things good.