Kirjahaku

Short-listed for the 2004 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award, for the 2005 Diamond Willow Award and for the 2005 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award On the shores of Bedford Basin in Halifax, 12-year-old Selina Palmer is growing up in the community of Africville in the 1960s. Struggling with what it means to be the only black student in her Grade 6 class, Selina takes comfort in the fact that every day she goes home to a loving and vibrant neighbourhood, where friends and family accept her as she is. But ugly rumours are starting to surface about the fate of Africville…

Bridget Quinlan is a spirited 13-year-old when the Irish potato famine of the 1840s shatters her life. Although her home is a hovel with few possessions, her family survives as long as her father can grow a good crop of potatoes on his small piece of land. Tragedy strikes when crops fail and typhus spreads, killing one of the boys in her school and then her brother, Rory. With soldiers evicting the ill and unemployed, the Quinlans are forced to accept the offer of a passage to Canada. Appalling conditions onboard contribute to many deaths so that by the time they reach Grosse Ile, Quebec, Bridget and her sister are alone in the world. The two are adopted by a kind farming family and gradually settle into their new life. After all the sadness and loss, a surprising turn of events brings them lasting joy.