New Releases by Lesley Choyce

During Elliott’s last year of high school, his mother dies of ALS, a neurodegenerative disease that progressively robs motor skills. Now his whole family is adrift and floundering. Elliott’s only friend, the uber-intellectual and socially maladaptive Riley, tries to help but needs to set boundaries so she can deal with her own family stuff. Then, some technically impossible but inescapably real events start to change everything. Strange things happen in your darkest moments. No More Fridays is about a young person’s struggle to cope with alienation and grief through philosophy, science, nature, and relationship. It reminds readers: a mind open enough can accept that the death of a loved one is never the end of the story.

Nicolas is headstrong, wayward teen, flailing through school with no plans for a life. His now-departed father called him ''Hopeless'', and the nickname stuck. How can you make it through anything wearing a tag like that? It turns out, having a fearless older brother, Garrett, can help...until Garrett makes an unexpected friend and sort of disappears from the family. Nicholas finds a surprise in that friend of Garrett''s, and gets an unexpected assignment from a teacher that may yet save his high-school career. But add in near-death experiences, cross-country journeys and reunions that are far from joyful, and why would anyone hope to be hopeful?

John Alexander MacNeil is back with another astonishing adventure. The ninety-year-old still lives alone on the blessed isle of Cape Breton. He still sometimes makes tea for his wife, who died decades ago. He accepts his lonely life, ignoring the world changing around him. But one night, he feels his heart stop. After willing himself back to life with sheer stubbornness, John Alex finds Death himself sitting at his kitchen table, perplexed and intrigued by his victim’s recovery. What follows is a tale on the edge of reality, full of love, doubt and the inexplicable details of an extraordinary life. Keeping what wits he has about him, John Alex needs to muster all the wisdom and courage he has to protect those around him from the dangers of an ever-changing world and the grim reaper he has come to know. In his 103rd book, acclaimed author of The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil takes the reader through another beautiful adventure about time and love. Lesley Choyce tackles topics like dementia, elder sexuality and assisted dying with humour and grace.

Down Home for Christmas offers a rich tapestry of seasonal stories from some of Pottersfield Press''s most talented and beloved authors and is sure to touch both those who love Christmas and those who enjoy the entire winter season in our rugged Down East region.

Key Selling Points In The Rules Have Changed, a teenage boy is shocked to learn that a lot has changed in the three years he’s been away. The book is set in a modern not-as-dystopian-as-one-might-think North American high school and is the author''s commentary on the possible impact of the actions of the current US government. In this book themes of rebellion, governmental control and xenophobia are explored. The author has written many titles in the Orca Soundings line, including The Ledge, The Thing You''re Good At and Kryptonite. New, enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.

Trevor has known since he was ten years old that he has Huntington''s disease, but at sixteen he is informed that he has one year to live. One day while he''s trying to figure stuff out, an old man named Plank finds him standing at a cliff by the ocean. It''s the beginning of an odd but intriguing relationship. Both Trevor and Plank decide to live by Plank''s Law, which is "just live." This means Trevor has to act on the things on his bucket list, like hanging out with real penguins, star in a science fiction movie and actually talk to Sara—the girl at the hospital who smiles at him. With the aid of Plank and Sara, Trevor revises his bucket list to include more important things and takes charge of his illness and his life.

Sixteen-year-old Declan Lynch starts hearing the voice of a girl inside his head. It isn’t long until he starts falling in love and sets out on a quest that brings him to the shores of Ireland, and places where the “real” world seems like a thin veil stretched over someplace else, in the hopes of finding her.

John Alexander MacNeil is eighty years old. Sharp-tongued and quick-witted, he lives alone in rural Cape Breton, but he still cooks breakfast for his wife, who’s been dead for thirty years. He silently starts to question his own mind after stopping to pick up a hitchhiker — a hitchhiker who turns out to be his neighbour’s mailbox. Everything shifts, though, when Emily, a pregnant teenager, shows up at his house with no place else to go. Determined to help Emily as best as he can, John must also keep the wolves from his door and maintain some semblance of sanity. The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil is a compelling, witty and heartwarming novel by renowned Nova Scotia author Lesley Choyce.

Ethan is an anxiety-ridden loner who relies on medication to get through his day. During one of Ethan''s fairly frequent panic attacks, a girl from school named Gabriella comes to his rescue. Gabe, as she prefers to be known, is facing her own inner turmoil. She has always been a tomboy, but the more pressure she faces to act and dress "like a girl," the more she wonders just who she really is.When he learns that Gabe is being constantly harassed at school, Ethan discovers he is able to overcome his own fears in order to stand up for his new friend. Then Gabe finds a disturbing note in her locker, and the threats begin to escalate. Ethan confronts the person responsible, but things take an unexpected turn, and he suddenly finds himself being questioned by police, accused of assault. With a dose of courage and a surprising ally, the two friends come up with a plan to set things right and end up discovering who they really are along the way. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

In this whimsical free-verse novel, young Hunter quite literally propels himself out of this world and into the next after pushing his bike just a little too far. In fact, he flies right off a cliff only to awaken in a place called Heaven. Here he meets a compelling young friend named Trinity. From this point on, his mission is to love and protect her and all the while, find a way back to life on earth. Too bad for Hunter, because that''s when things get really complicated... In the end, through unexpected twists and turns that are both humorous and moving, we discover a little bit about the meaning of love, and something of Heaven and Earth.

In Nova Scotia Love Stories, Lesley Choyce has assembled some of the province''s most beloved authors who explore through fact and fiction the myriad ways in which a love story exists.

Sixteen-year-old Cody was born and raised “off the grid” deep in the wilderness by idealistic parents. When his father becomes seriously ill, the family is forced to move into the city so he can get treatment. Attending high school for the first time, Cody is an oddity and has a hard time adjusting. He finds unlikely allies in DeMarco, an inner-city kid, and Ernest, a philosophical homeless man, and he begins a tentative friendship with Alexis. u003cbru003e    When he comes to DeMarco’s defense in an altercation at school, Cody finds himself in trouble with the police. A second confrontation puts Cody in more trouble with the cops, and he is convinced he must escape to the family homestead or be arrested. But Cody is torn between fleeing the city or staying with his ailing father and facing whatever consequences come his way.u003cpu003e

Just when sixteen-year-old Cameron thinks he''s going to straighten out his troubled life, his parents break up and he ends up living on the street with his dog, Ozzie. Cameron meets a girl named Mackenzie, who has been sleeping in a pup tent in the park. With her help, he tries to survive on the street and continue with school, despite the new challenges in his life. Finding a safe place for them to crash at night is difficult, and panhandling for money isn''t as easy as it looks. Cameron learns that Mackenzie has her own emotional baggage to deal with, and life for a kid with a dog and no home gets even more challenging. After Mackenzie gets into some real trouble, Cameron realizes he needs to come up with a realistic solution if they are going to survive the turbulence. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Puntos clave de venta: Funciones nuevas y mejoradas (fuente adaptada para lectores con dislexia, papel de tamaño mayor de color crema) para mejorar la accesibilidad de lectura para lectores con dificultades.

When he is 16, Michael Grove is convicted of killing his girlfriend. Despite a confession from the actual murderer, Michael is still regarded as a criminal by most of the people he knows. His six months in jail before the real killer confesses have branded him as an ex-con, a danger to society. The next door neighbour, kids at school, even people he has never met look at him with disrespect and even contempt.

Taylor Colby grew up in the tiny Nova Scotia fishing village of Nickerson Harbour, but his guitar-playing skill led him to become a much sought-after studio musician in Los Angeles. Along with him went Laura, his childhood sweetheart and soulmate. In L.A., Laura becomes enamoured with the dark side of rock and roll life, leaving Taylor lost, distraught and deeply damaged. Taylor realizes he has to go back home to Nickerson Harbour, to confront Laura’s parents, to reunite with his father and to understand the truth of his own dysfunctional family. Back in Nova Scotia, Taylor learns that his mother, who had abandoned him as a child, wants to come home to reconcile with her own past. Taylor is haunted by his loss and grief but must also come to terms with some hidden truths about Laura. As he begins to make sense of his past, he befriends an American feminist professor who is trying to start life anew in Canada with her troubled twelve-year-old son. Cold Clear Morning is a novel about dreams realized and dreams shattered. It is about love and loss, hunting and healing, grief and forgiving. Taylor Colby speaks his story of what it takes to pick up the remains of a shattered life and find renewed purpose and hope. It is the story of going back to the home that you thought you could never return to. In his odyssey from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and back home, he attempts to find real meaning to his life of adventure and despair.

Zach and Ashley have been going out for a while, and things are going well—until Ashley finds out she is pregnant. She is angry and blames Zach. She wouldn''t be in this state if he hadn''t been so careless. Insistent at first on an abortion, she turns against Zach. Confused, Zach struggles with what he should do and what his responsibilities are. Coming to terms with the reactions of their families and friends, Zach realizes that this is a decision that he and Ashley must make together. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! Available in Spanish as Reacción.

Dorf is all about skateboarding and so far that''s worked out fine. But now that he''s in a new city, the terrain has changed. He''s no longer free to skateboard where he wishes, school is more difficult, and his passion for skateboarding garners him the nickname and reputation of a freak. With daring stunts he gains the grudging respect of local troublemakers, but he needs to tap into another kind of courage to effect real change. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible. Also available in French as Accro d''la planche.

After spending 6 months in prison wrongly convicted for the murder of his girlfriend, 16-year old Michael Grove is released, only to find that the stigma of imprisonment will not be easy to escape.

The Discipline of Ice is an experiment of thought and word bursting with enthusiasm, devotion and despair. Part rant, part ode, part mirage, the book covers a wide range of important subject matter, including merit badges, God, cigarettes, Tokyo, Jules Verne, Iceland, Vietnam, cranberries, Clam Bay, Doaktown, Nietzsche, Culloden, County Cork, Joshua Slocum, Euell Gibbons, chantarelles, truth, delusion, class reunions, the death of Peter Gzowski, the Yellowhead Highway, the sound of birds singing and an anthem to silence.

Ben is determined to learn to surf. In the rough North Atlantic waters near his home, only the tough can make it on the water. His first attempt is a disaster. Then he meets Ray, a surfing veteran from California. Ray promises to teach him to surf—and to face his inner demons. As Ben becomes more comfortable on his board he learns to face his fears and prove that he has what it takes to become a Wave Warrior. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

Sixteen-year-old Dylan Gibson has always felt different from his classmates and is shocked to discover he is a clone of his dead brother.

Novelist Lesley Choyce weaves together his real-life adventures living by the sea at Lawrencetown Beach on Nova Scotia''s Eastern Shore. He writes of his love for the rugged coast and tells tales of the ordinary and the extraordinary. His story includes accounts of what it''s like surfing in the Canadian North Atlantic through all four seasons including the frigid depths of winter. Also threading its way through this narrative is the story of Minnie''s piano. There is music here in word and spirit along with the lessons learned from the old and the young. Driving Minnie''s Piano is an eloquent personal memoir about the precious and fateful moments that change our lives. It is an exploration of what makes us tick and prompts us to be both heroes and fools in the daily enterprise of living.

Key Selling Points New, enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.

Short-listed for the 2005 CLA Young Adult Canadian Book Award Sixteen-year-old Simon has always been considered odd. Three years ago, a skateboarding accident caused some minor brain damage and made him a little stranger. His career-driven parents mostly leave him alone, and he spends much of his time living in his imagination. When Andrea, whom no one else can see, appears to Simon in class, he is fascinated by her and strikes up a friendship, even though he knows she may be pure hallucination - he''s had imaginary friends before. Andrea says she is there to "help" him, but before the story ends, Simon discovers that it is he who needs to help Andrea, not the other way around.

Lesley Choyce''s poetry is transcendental, joyful and at times ecstatic, though rooted securely in the world. The new poems in Revenge of the Optimist are charged with a kind of soulful music and are distinguished by wide tonal flavours and range. Lesley Choyce has said of his writing that "Poetry arises from events, real or imagined, that stir the intellect and emotions to re-create, through words, the full impact of life''s greatest challenges... the best poetry comes about from the compassion that develops in a writer, the compassion necessary to understand the pain and joy of others while at the same time being able to work with one''s own suffering as a source for emotional honesty in all that is written." Book jacket.

For Sylvie, Ragged Island - and the whales who swam around it - is the only world she has ever known. It is the place where she was born and raised, where she lived with her four late husbands, and where she plans to live out her remaining years. It is also the home to a community whose love for the island is immense. But when the Nova Scotia government decides to shut down the ferry service that is the lifeblood of Ragged Island, the residents see their world beginning to disappear. Sea of Tranquility is the lyrical and moving story of an island struggling to survive. Lesley Choyce’s seventh novel, it contains the elements for which the author is known: engaging characters, page-turning storyline, and uproarious humour. Choyce is in top form.

Greg is an avid sailor. On a solo trip off the rugged Newfoundland coast, he stumbles upon a family of desperate refugees stranded in a lifeboat. Fearing for their lives if they are deported to their homeland, the family convinces Greg to help them, and keep their existence secret. He promises not to call the authorities and takes the family home. When his plan begins to unravel, and the family flees into the teeth of an oncoming storm, Greg goes after them. A thrilling story that demonstrates the importance of community and the power of conviction, Refuge Cove is also an exciting adventure.