Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Canadian middle-grade, YA author, who's always on the lookout for a new story. I have walked into trees while watching an event unfold on a street, sat in coffee shops shamelessly listening to other people's conversations, and talked to strangers to hear their stories. In 2000 I was walking in downtown London and saw a teenage boy sitting on a bench with a hat in front of him collecting money. He became my Dylan. In front of a church in London was a pregnant girl, also collecting money. She became my Amber. I contacted youth services and researched everything I could to find out information on homeless youth. It was quite a journey.


I wrote

Book cover of Theories of Relativity

What is my book about?

Thrown out of his house by his mother, sixteen-year-old Dylan is living on the streets, trying to find his place…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Street Kids: The Tragedy of Canada's Runaways

Barbara Haworth-Attard Why did I love this book?

Amazing non-fiction book featuring the real-life voices of homeless youth and the horrors they face from sexual exploitation to drug use, violence, and more.

I used this book for research for Theories. The stories from these kids broke my heart and made me determined to show the need for more resources for homeless youth. Leaves nothing to the imagination.

By Marlene Webber,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Street Kids as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In cities across North America, teenage runaways are struggling to stay alive. Some don't make it to adulthood. Some do, but their lives rarely rise above the despair that brought them to the streets in the first place. A few manage to beat the street, to get their lives back on track. In this disturbing account Marlene Webber draws on extensive interviews with these kids to explore the realities of street life, its attraction, and its consequences. Street kids like to project an image of themselves as free-wheeling rebels who relish life on the wild side. All brashness and bombast,…


Book cover of Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me

Barbara Haworth-Attard Why did I love this book?

A fictional story of Sara who is placed in foster home after foster home until she ends up with a farm family, The Huddlestons. I could feel Sara’s pain as she is rejected time after time, and feels she belongs nowhere and has no one to care for her. But I believe in hope and will not ever leave a book I have written without hope and this book did that for me. It is a touching novel of love and the meaning of family. 

By Julie Johnston,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

15 year-old Sara Moone has lived in many fos ter homes, having been abandoned by her parents at birth. Sh e protects herself from emotional attachments and her only c onfidant is her computer, through which we learn of her wish to turn 16. '


Book cover of Anne of Green Gables

Barbara Haworth-Attard Why did I love this book?

This book has been acclaimed worldwide. Written in 1908, an orphan girl, Anne is mistakenly sent to live with the Cuthberts in PEI. I have loved this story since I first read it when I was ten years old. It is still applicable today. What really touched me is how Anne did not let circumstances tear her down and once again, it is filled with hope. I really like that she brought the understanding of family to Matthew and Marilla.

By L.M. Montgomery,

Why should I read it?

26 authors picked Anne of Green Gables as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Anne of Green Gables is the classic children's book by L M Montgomery, the inspiration for the Netflix Original series Anne with an E. Watch it now!

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert are in for a big surprise. They are waiting for an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables - but a skinny, red-haired girl turns up instead. Feisty and full of spirit, Anne Shirley charms her way into the Cuthberts' affection with her vivid imagination and constant chatter. It's not long before Anne finds herself in trouble, but soon it becomes impossible for the Cuthberts to…


Book cover of Good for Nothing

Barbara Haworth-Attard Why did I love this book?

In 1959, orphaned, fifteen-year-old Nipishish, a Metis, is kicked out of a residential school and returned to his reserve in northern Quebec. But there is nothing there for him but trouble and hopelessness. He is sent to a nearby town, billeted with a white family to attend high school. That doesn’t work out well either. This is an inspiring story bringing to light native issues and once again, showing how resilience and courage can overcome prejudice and hopelessness.

By Michel Noel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Good for Nothing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The year is 1959, and fifteen-year-old Nipishish returns to his reserve in northern Quebec after being kicked out of residential school, where the principal tells him he can look forward, like all Native Americans, to a life of drunkenness, prison, and despair. But despite his new freedom, the reserve offers little to a young Metis man. Both his parents are dead, his father Shipu, a respected leader, dying mysteriously at a young age. When Nipishish is sent to a strange town to live with a white family and attend high school, he hopes for the new life the change promises.…


Book cover of Where the Crawdads Sing

Barbara Haworth-Attard Why did I love this book?

This book is beautifully written with exquisite language bringing to life a lush marshland near Barkley Cove, NC, where Kya lives alone. Abandoned by her family, and the town, who call her Marsh Girl, she lives alone in a shack. She attended school for one day, but received such abuse from the other students and teachers, she never went back. This is a brilliant story about being alone and surviving, and seeing the value in self. 

By Delia Owens,

Why should I read it?

49 authors picked Where the Crawdads Sing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 12 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
A NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be…


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of Theories of Relativity

What is my book about?

Thrown out of his house by his mother, sixteen-year-old Dylan is living on the streets, trying to find his place in a dark, painful and complicated world of drugs, violence, and sex trafficking. An unflinching look at homeless youth and their struggles.

Theories of Relativity was a 2003 finalist for the Governor-General’s Award, Canada.

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Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

By Mimi Zieman,

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Mimi Zieman Author Of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an OB/GYN, passionate about adventuring beyond what’s expected. This has led me to pivot multiple times in my career, now focusing on writing. I’ve written a play, The Post-Roe Monologues, to elevate women’s stories. I cherish the curiosity that drives outer and inner exploration, and I love memoirs that skillfully weave the two. The books on this list feature extraordinary women who took risks, left comfort and safety, and battled vulnerability to step into the unknown. These authors moved beyond the stories they’d believed about themselves–or that others told about them. They invite you to think about living fuller and bigger lives. 

Mimi's book list on women exploring the world and self

What is my book about?

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.


Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

By Mimi Zieman,

What is this book about?

The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…


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Interested in Canada, romantic love, and foster care?

Canada 447 books
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