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Calvin

Calvin

Martine Leavitt (Author) See More (2)
CELA Library
FICTION
General | Social Themes
General , Mental Illness
Groundwood Books Ltd
7 -
12 -
CELAAmazonIndigo
Digital Audiobook (English)
9781773061863
$34.99 CADAvailable
English
02/20/2018
Digital Audiobook (English) # 2
9781773061603
$24.99 CADAvailable
English
02/20/2018
Paperback
9781554987207
$14.95 CADAvailable
English
11/15/2015
Amazon Kindle [reflow]
9781554987221
$16.95 CADAvailable
English
11/06/2015
EPUB [reflow]
9781554987214
$16.95 CADAvailable
English
11/06/2015
Braille
Available from CELA
English
View full details

Description

Winner of the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for Young People's Literature — Text

In the town of Leamington, Ontario, a seventeen-year-old boy is suddenly stricken by a schizophrenic episode and wakes up in hospital. The boy’s name is Calvin, and he is plagued by hallucinations.

As the hallucinations persist, Calvin comes to believe that the answer lies in performing one grand and incredible gesture.

And so he decides to walk across Lake Erie. In January. The temperatures have been below freezing for weeks. The ice should hold…

The lake, it turns out, is more marvelous, and more treacherous, than Calvin had ever imagined — populated by abandoned cars (joy ride!), ice-fishing eccentrics, psychokiller snow beings, and a not-so-mythical sea witch named Jenny Greenteeth.

Not to mention the man-eating tiger that looms just out of his sight lines as he treks.

But the biggest surprise of all is that Calvin finds himself accompanied by Susie, the girl of his dreams. Or is it his dreams that have conjured up Susie?

Part romance, part adventure story, part quest novel, Martine Leavitt brings her inimitable gentle wit, humor and compassion to a story about a teenaged boy struggling to gain control of his own mind and destiny.

Martine Leavitt

Author Bio

MARTINE LEAVITT is the author of several award-winning books for young readers, including Calvin (winner of the Governor General’s Award), My Book of Life by Angel (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and winner of the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year) and Keturah and Lord Death (finalist for the National Book Award). She teaches in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Martine lives in High River, Alberta.

Prizes

  • OLA Top Ten Best BetsCommended 2016
  • CCBC Best Books for Children and TeensCommended 2016
  • IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with DisabilitiesCommended 2017
  • YALSA Best Fiction for Young AdultsCommended 2016
  • Governor General's Literary Award, Young People's Literature – TextWinner 2016
  • Shelf Awareness Best YA Books of the YearCommended 2015
  • White Pine AwardShort-listed 2017

Review Quotes

The first-person narrative eschews quotation marks and dialogue tags, further blurring the lines between real life and what’s in Calvin’s head. . . . Memorable.  — Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW
Funny, intellectual, and entertaining, it’s a sensitive yet irreverent adventure about a serious subject.  — Publishers Weekly
Equal parts coming-of-age tale, survival adventure, and love story, this outstanding novel also sensitively deals with an uncommon but very real teen issue, making it far more than the sum of its parts.  — Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW
This is a gentle and unique story about a boy struggling with schizophrenia; while Calvin is indeed having grandiose visions that include a beloved cartoon character, he is funny, charming, and smart.  — School Library Journal
A fresh, funny voice that never diminishes the seriousness of schizophrenia. . . . Leavitt delivers an imaginative exploration of mental illness, examining what’s real and what’s true in this magical world.  — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Leavitt's writing is virtually flawless . . . just the right amount of comic savvy and emotional intelligence.  — Quill & Quire, STARRED REVIEW