Dodger Boy [Hardcover]

In 1970 Vancouver, thirteen-year-old Charlotte and her best friend, Dawn, are keen to avoid the pitfalls of adolescence. Couldnt they just skip teenhood altogether, along with its annoying behaviors  showing off just because you have a boyfriend, obsessing about marriage and a ring and matching dining-room furniture? Couldnt one just learn about life from Jane Austen and spend the days eating breakfast at noon, watching People in Conflict, and thrift-store shopping for cool castoffs to tie-dye for the upcoming outdoor hippie music festival?

But life becomes more complicated when the girls meet a Texan draft dodger who comes to live with Charlottes Quaker family. Tom Ed expands Charlottes horizons as they discuss everything from war to civil disobedience to womens liberation. Grappling with exhilarating and disturbing new ideas, faced with a censorship challenge to her beloved English teacher and trying to decode the charismatic draft dodger himself, Charlotte finds it harder and harder to stick to her unteen philosophy, and to see eye to eye with Dawn.

REVIEW COPIES:

• Publishers Weekly
• Booklist
• Kirkus Reviews

RENOWNED AUTHOR:

• Sarah Ellis is highly respected internationally as a reviewer, teacher and an expert on childrens literature. She is well connected and a popular speaker. She is a four-time nominee for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, childrens literatures richest prize.

HISTORICAL POSITIONING OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES:

• Set in Vancouver in 1970, Dodger Boy feeds a current nostalgia for the days of flower power, Woodstock, activism and muscle cars. The novel explores timely issues ranging from pacifism and feminism to tolerance and faith. Spoiler: About ml“/