Short-listed for the Chocolate Lily Book Award, 2005 It's summer 1950, and for 11-year-old French Canadian Sophie LaGrange, Camp Latona on British Columbia's Gambier Island promises to be pure bliss. But then Sophie has to buddy up with a strange, unfriendly Jewish refugee girl named Ginette and things go sour. Soon Sophie learns that Ginette has her own secrets and anxieties, worries that explain the girl's seemly bizarre behaviour.

Sophie's Friend in Need: A Sophie Alias Star Girl adventure

Children's Books

Charles, Norma

History

Dundurn Press

From a skinny little kid growing up in St Boniface, Manitoba, Harry Jerome rose to become "the fastest man in the world," a title he held for an incredible eight years in the 1960s. He competed at the University of Oregon and represented Canada in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Summer Olympics. During his career, he set seven world records. Harry Jerome achieved all of this in spite of the prejudice he and his family consistently had to fight against because of their African-Canadian heritage. 
 In this engaging and inspiring novel, acclaimed children's writer Norma Charles has woven together Harry's fascinating life story from information gathered through research, interviews with his family, friends and coach and from her own memories of watching his races at University of British Columbia when she was a student there.

Runner: Harry Jerome, World's Fastest Man

Teen & Young Adult

Historical Fiction

Red Deer Press

A charming and insightful story of getting along with your hair, by bestselling author Norma Charles. 
Ruby's hair is making her miserable. The boy next door won't stop teasing her about it. What can she do? Her mom won't let her cut it off. Finally a wise suggestion by her best friend shows her a magical, and wonderful solution.

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Literature & Fiction

Coteau Books

Nell has been in foster homes all her life—most of them have been horrible. She finally gets moved to a home she likes, and the ministry threatens to close it down unless an expensive renovation is made to the house. Nell and the two boys in the home, Billy and Tom, decide to raise the funds themselves. How do kids get large amounts of money quickly? By robbing banks, of course. Their first few heists are successful, but when they almost get caught on their sixth robbery, the friends start to fight about whether they should continue. The bank jobs that were meant to keep their family together just might tear it apart.

Bank Job

Heneghan, James

Mysteries & Detectives

Orca Book Publishers

Twelve-year-old Megan is thrilled when her estranged father proposes a secret weekend reunion but she begins to have second thoughts about disappearing without a trace after he takes her and her sister to a remote Canadian island.

The Accomplice

Raincoast Book Dist Ltd

Jacob Armstrong is 12 years old and he's on a honeymoon. The honeymoon is his mother's. Also on the honeymoon is his mother's new husband, Fred Finkle, and Fred's annoying kids, Barney Finkle, 10, and Sam Finkle, 8, along with Jacob's own rebellious 15-year-old sister, Minerva. They're on their way to Mexico. It's a Mexico honeymoon for six.So begins Norma Charles' funny and wise novel for kids-especially boys-aged 10 to 13. The newly "blended" family is crammed into an old station wagon heading south for a month's trip from Vancouver to Mexico. Each of the four children has different coping strategies: Barney Finkle tells non-stop cow jokes, preparing for a career as a stand-up comedian; Sam Finkle invents his own world with his toy action figures; Minerva is plugged into her CD player, lost behind a barrier of music. And Jacob ... Jacob cradles his soccer ball in his lap and dreams about being a star soccer player. But when the family finally reaches Mexico, they stay in a tourist trap with not a single soccer game anywhere ... How will Jacob cope? Eventually, the new family manages to not only survive the trip but develop bonds that pull them closer.This engaging novel is filled with humour, even as it documents a difficult time in a boy's life. One of the unique features of the story is that the family is multicultural-even multi-racial. Gradually the reader becomes aware that Jacob, his sister and his mom are black (originally from the Caribbean), while the Finkles are white and Jewish. Norma doesn't dwell on these issues, but treats them matter-of-factly, from the 12-year-old boy's perspective. A funny, sweet, engaging story from a writer with a proven track record.

All the Way to Mexico

Travel

Canada

Raincoast Books

Fiction. Young Adult. In this compelling tale, two very different stories intersect with surprising results. There's the story of two African children, Kalu and his cousin, Aisha, who escape from their village after it's destroyed by rebel soldiers. The kids flee to the coast where they find work on a fishing boat bound for Britain. They think they're safe, until the nervous fisherman leaves them with little food or water on Last Chance Island off the coast of Ireland. Elsewhere, Spike, a Canadian teen, finds out that her father has died, and she is being sent to live with a distant relative, a woman who tends the lighthouse on Last Chance Island. Spike can't wait to escape and join a troupe of musicians she's met in Dublin. But one day, she discovers the two Africans in desperate need of help. Will she change her plans to try to save these children?

Last Chance Island

Action & Adventure

Ronsdale Press

Tree Musketeers

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Books by Charles, Norma