Most Popular Books by Martha Brooks

A collection of short stories which focus on the difficult journeys teens take on their way to adulthood.

After losing her husband, Brian, to cancer, Martha Brooks begins writing him daily love letters to help deal with her grief.

Make three fast and fun blanket designs for your bundle of joy in no time at all! All baby blankets are made using medium-weight yarn. Snow White Afghan is 35" square, Ruffled Rainbows is 40" square, and Little Boy Blue is 38" square.

A year after her mother''s death, sixteen-year-old Sidonie still spends sleepless nights playing cards with her cat, Bogie. During the day she lies around and reads under the nose of her nineteen-year-old sister, Roberta, who angrily scrubs floors that are already clean and cooks meals that are inedible. Their father, a doctor, comes home when he is too exhausted to remain at work. Only the jazz piano-playing of Roberta''s new boyfriend, Phil, brings some relief to the long hot summer. Then Kieran, an angry sixteen-year-old stranger, comes to their lakeside community. Sidonie discovers that he isn''t easy to ignore, and in the weeks that follow, her growing attraction to him is accompanied by more frequent, powerful memories of her mother.

On the prairies of Canada during World War II, a girl and her two young siblings begin a war of their own. Stricken with tuberculosis, they are admitted to a nearby sanatorium. Teenager Marie Claire is headstrong, angry, and full of stubborn pride. In a new strange land of TB exiles she must "chase the cure," seek privacy where there is none, and witness the slow wasting decline of others. But in this moving novel about fighting a way back to normal life, it is the thing that sets back Marie Claire the most—the demise of her little brother—that also connects her with the person who will be instrumental in helping her recover.

A confused seventeen-year-old girl, a single mother and her young son, two elderly women, and a sad and lonely man, with their own individual tragedies to bear, come together in a small Manitoba town and find a way to a better future.

Have you ever seen the rabbit-in-the-moon? Folktales from many cultures explain how the rabbit came to be there. When award-winning novelist Martha Brooks heard one such tale, she was inspired to write her own lovely story about a little rabbit who finds a special way to brighten the darkest month of the year. A little rabbit asks his mother how the shape of a rabbit came to be on the moon. She tells him the story of Great Mother Creator Rabbit, who came down to earth to see how her creatures lived. Finding herself cold and hungry, she built a fire, placing a stewpot on top. Another rabbit, seeing her predicament, took it upon himself to save her and jumped into the pot. But before he could perish, Great Mother Rabbit tossed him up into the moon. The little rabbit’s mother explains that this is why all the rabbits now gather to hear the choir sing “Winter Moon Song,” to bring light and a little magic at the darkest time of the year. The next night all the rabbits gather to hear the ancient song, and the little rabbit takes his place in the choir. But at the end of the performance, he feels a little disappointed. It had been beautiful, but did not seem all that special, and certainly not magic. In the wintry air outside the gathering place, the little rabbit looks up at the rabbit-in-the-moon and is suddenly inspired to sing the song once more, very tentatively at first, and then more courageously. Some of the other rabbits, even the old ones, join in; some are moved to tears. And in singing the song anew, they realize the joy in being one great rabbit family. Leticia Ruifernandez has graced the story with her tender illustrations. Includes an author’s note.

Forced out of his home by a disagreeable and bullying stepfather, sixteen-year-old Laker moves to another town and strikes up an unexpected friendship with a frail but determined old man.

Canadian Library Association YA Book of the Year In 1981, sixteen-year-old Sally McLean is in a car full of teenagers when it plunges through the ice to the bottom of Mistik Lake. Sally is the only survivor. Many years later, Sally''s teenaged daughter, Odella, is left wondering whether the accident is to blame for her mother''s life as a sad alcoholic who eventually abandons her family and flees to Iceland with another man. When Sally suddenly dies in an accident, Odella, her father and her two younger sisters are almost overwhelmed with grief and confusion, until three people provide help and healing in unexpected ways.

Fourteen short stories dealing with various aspects of love.

Fourteen short stories dealing with various aspects of love.

Life is full of surprises, and sometimes the good and the bad get all bunched up together. Alexandra''s beloved grandfather said this often. But nothing could have prepared her the death of her father a man she never knew and his legacy a cabin on prairie land near an ancient Native American burial ground. It is at the cabin that she meets Lonny, who seems more troubled than Alexandra. Lonny''s stepfather had once owned that very same cabin and land and always wanted it to go to Lonny. But Lonny, tormented by guilty memories and disturbing visions, refused to take it. Who would have thought it would it end up in the hands of a city girl like Alexandra? He tries not to like her, but is drawn to her nevertheless. As their story unfolds, Lonny and Alex are haunted and guided by spirits that draw them to the land and to each other in this moving and tender tale about two unforgettable teens.

Par un soir d''orage, une jeune fille à l''air paumé, Noreen, débarque dans une petite ville du Manitoba. Elle a dix-sept ans, elle vient de quitter son amoureux Wesley en lui volant son camion et son argent, et elle est enceinte. Elle se voit offrir un abri par Lynda, la propriétaire du petit café où elle est entrée. Son arrivée vient ébranler la vie terne mais paisible de quelques résidants de la communauté: Lynda et son fils Seth, âgé de cinq ans, Dolorès la sexagénaire dont la fille est morte l''été précédent, et Delbert, dont la vie a basculé à cause de la mort de son frère. Ces gens ordinaires tentent d''aider la jeune Noreen, malgré leurs blessures et leurs difficultés personnelles. -- Un beau récit réaliste tout en nuances, dans lequel on voit se tisser, entre des personnages d''une grande profondeur, des liens particuliers et fragiles. Chacun fait face à ses propres peurs et échecs mais est aussi capable de poser des gestes positifs pour affronter l''avenir. Le cadre social dans lequel est situé l''action est par ailleurs fort bien évoqué. [SDM].