Description
Winner of a 2024 PNBA Book Award
Winner of the 2023 IODE Violet Downey Book Award
Winner of the 2023 Jean Little First-Novel Award
Winner of the 2023 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People
Winner of the 2023 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award
★“Readers will be left with a rich image of Mia’s world and the family and people that surround her as well as a strong sense of how culture and class impact people’s experiences. A touching exploration of identity and culture.”—Kirkus Reviews
Mia knows her family is very different than her best friend's.
In the 1980s, the coastal fishing town of Prince Rupert is booming. There is plenty of sockeye salmon in the nearby ocean, which means the fishermen are happy and there is plenty of work at the cannery. Eleven-year-old Mia and her best friend, Lara, have known each other since kindergarten. Like most tweens, they like to hang out and compare notes on their crushes and dream about their futures. But even though they both live in the same cul-de-sac, Mia’s life is very different from her non-Indigenous, middle-class neighbor. Lara lives with her mom, her dad and her little brother in a big house, with two cars in the drive and a view of the ocean. Mia lives in a shabby wartime house that is full of relatives—her churchgoing grandmother, binge-drinking mother and a rotating number of aunts, uncles and cousins. Even though their differences never seemed to matter to the two friends, Mia begins to notice how adults treat her differently, just because she is Indigenous. Teachers, shopkeepers, even Lara’s parents—they all seem to have decided who Mia is without getting to know her first.
The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.
Author Bio
Kim Spencer is an award-winning, bestselling author. Her debut novel, Weird Rules to Follow, received a Kirkus starred review and was a 2023 Governor General's Literary Award finalist. The book won multiple awards, including a 2023 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, a 2023 Jean Little First-Novel Award and a 2024 Pacific Northwest Book Award. It was also on the IBBY 2024 Honour List and the USBBY Outstanding International Books List in 2023. Kim is from the Gitxaała Nation and lives in northwest BC.
Prizes
- Hackmatack Children's Choice Book AwardShort-listed 2024
- Young Readers' Choice Book Awards of British Columbia (YRCABC) Red Cedar Book AwardsNominated 2024
- Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young PeopleWinner 2023
- Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) Jean Little First-Novel AwardWinner 2023
- United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) Outstanding International Books List (OIB)Commended 2023
- BC and Yukon Book Prizes - Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature PrizeShort-listed 2023
- Bank Street College of Education Children's Book Committee Best Children's Books of the YearCommended 2023
- Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) TD Canadian Children’s Literature AwardWinner 2023
- Indigenous Voices Awards (IVA) - Published prose in EnglishShort-listed 2023
- FOLD Kids Winter Reading ListCommended 2022
- CCBC Best Books for Kids & TeensCommended 2023
- Top Grade: CanLit for the ClassroomCommended 2023
- Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Pacific Northwest Book AwardsJoint winner 2024
- International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honour ListCommended 2024
- BC Books for SchoolsCommended 2022
- Indigenous Books for SchoolsCommended 2022
- The Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks) - Young People’s Literature TextNominated 2023
- The National Chapter of Canada IODE Violet Downey Book AwardWinner 2023
- Chocolate Lily Book AwardsShort-listed 2023
Review Quotes
“A terrific addition to any school library. touches on themes of prejudice, racism, and the intergenerational family impacts of residential schools while being told in an approachable way for students. The characters in this book are realistic and complicated and leave the reader with lasting impressions of life in Prince Rupert in the 1980s.”
— Indigenous Books for SchoolsBiographical note
Kim Spencer is a graduate of the Writers Studio at Simon Fraser University, where she focused on creative nonfiction. Her first novel, Weird Rules to Follow won the Jean Little First-Novel Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, an IODE Violet Downey Book Award and a Pacific Northwest Book Award. It was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Kim is from the Ts’msyen Nation in northwest BC and currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
