Teenage characters grapple with grief

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This article was published 15/02/2025 (582 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What does it take to become a man?

Seventeen-year old Ren Adams is feeling smug: he’s living with his older brother Levi, and Levi’s girlfriend Ellie, to avoid his overbearing mother. He has two part-time jobs and is saving up for a car. In Tom Birdseye’s There is no Map for This (Groundwood Books, 280 pages, paperback, $18) the future is looking bright.

Yet everything comes crashing down when Levi dies in an avalanche on a nearby ski slope. Can Ren keep his jobs? Must he sublet the apartment?

Ellie slips into his bed to help him heal his grief, and things seem to get further out of control when she disappears the next day, and Ren feels compelled to search for her.

Birdseye teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published 19 books for young readers. He lives in Corvallis, Ore. This novel is for ages 13 and up.

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Richard Van Camp was born in the Northwest Territories, and has returned to them in his latest midle-grade book about relations between the Dogrib and the Chipewyan people.

In Beast (Douglas & McIntyre, 312 pages, paperback, $25), Van Camp explores the forces which both help and hinder those who seek forgiveness and peace between these two groups.

Rife with both tradition and myth, Lawson, a Dogrib boy, is at first blocked by supernatural elements as his enemies, the Cranes, imprison their enemies by literally swallowing them whole. It takes all of Lawson’s courage, plus the help of a new player, Shari, who has connections to the spirit world, to confront the Dead One, or Spirit Stealer. In the Cranes he faces a nation of lizards, who challenge his every move.

Van Camp is a member of the Dogrib (Dene) Nation and in 2023 received the Order of the Northwest Territories, a fitting tribute for an author who grew up in Fort Smith. For ages 9-12.

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A combination of fantasy and adventure, The Door in Lake Mallion (ECW Press, 360 pages, paperback, $23) by Winnipeg author S.M. Beiko is written like a movie script, with 18 scenes as well as a coda.

The second book of Beiko’s Brindlewatch Quintet tells how Dunstan discovers a door at the bottom of this mythical lake in the centre of the world of Brindlewatch. While he fears he may drown before he can open the door, he finds it leads to unlimited adventures and to a new reality: the geodome of the Jet, strange lizard-like creatures.

Dunstan must deal not only with the Jet, but also with their leader, Prince Ven, who fascinates him with his outstanding outlook and bearing. And while Dunstan battles against overwhelming odds, he finds Prince Ven may be an unexpected ally.

Beiko is a writer and graphic novelist. Among other writing, she has produced The Lake and the Library and the webcomic Krampus is my Boyfriend. For ages 9-12.

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Delighted by its brightness, yet fearful of the height of the poles, in the 1800s 10-year-old Shmuel welcomes the introduction of electric lights to his remote village.

In The Light Keeper (Second Story Press, 32 pages, $22, trade paperback), written by Karen Levine and Sheila Baslaw and illustrated by Alice Priestley, Shmuel despairs of how he can help his family.

Shmuel comes from a poor family where every member must contribute. When someone must climb up and fix the electric lamp after a storm, he summons his courage and makes the climb, to the admiration of the whole village. For ages 4-9.

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Helen Norrie is a Winnipeg writer who has enjoyed her years as a reviewer of children’s books for the Free Press.