Best Selling Books by Caroline Pignat

CLA Children's Book of the Year Award shortlist, 2009

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People 2009 finalist

Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards shortlist, 2010

Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009"Starred Choice

Pennsylvania School Library Association Top 40 Fiction, 2009

Red Maple Book Award nominee 2010

Rocky Mountain Book Award Shortlist, 2011

Kit Byrne's family is a strong one, but their strength and unity are being severely tested, as life becomes more and more desperate in 19th century rural Ireland. Lord Fraser is the wealthy landowner, from which the Byrne's and many other families rent their lands. When the potato blight hits, the farmers can no longer make their payments much less produce food for themselves, and the cruel system has no mercy as Lord Fraser wields an iron fist, driving families from their homes and burning their cottages.

Kit's dreams are now dashed as her family experiences a series of tragedies, and as she undergoes a daunting event that tears her away from her family. With her father dead, she must fight for survival and help her ailing mother and siblings escape Ireland for good.

This story is a glimpse into the tragic events of the Great Hunger, the famine that devastated Ireland, forcing thousands of impoverished families to seek better livelihoods outside of their homeland.

Snow Willow Award Nominee 2009

CLA Young Adult Canadian Book Award shortlist, 2009

Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009

Will Reid is a gawky kid who wears fake turtlenecks, is obsessed by his ant farm project, and is lousy at gym. In other words, he's the perfect target for Shane, the Grade 9 bully. Katie has been Will's friend in elementary school, but defending him in the high school environment comes at an unforeseen cost - she dreads the rumours that link them in a boyfriend/girlfriend way she's never considered. Devan has been part of Shane's bullyboy team until now, when he comes to realize that it's not so smart to mindlessly back up each nasty attack of Shane's. Together the three young teens are struggling to find their way out of one of the classic dilemmas of life: how not to be a bystander to bullying, how to stand up for your friends, and how to deal with consuming rage.

Young readers will find lots to think about as they turn the pages of this crisp and compelling story by newcomer Caroline Pignat. Each character takes a turn at telling the story -- through the spare blank verse of Will, wrapped up in the world of his single-parent father and his own eccentric preoccupations; through the clear-eyed accounts of Katie, wrestling with her own private demons; and in the sensitive narrative of the slowly awakening Devan, who comes to notice Katie as a spunky, attractive individual whom he'd like to know better but fears thinks he's a goof.

Note that Kids Help Phone's has included Egghead on their site as a book to help kids in their Get Information section under Bullying for Ages 13 and Up.