1991 MYRCA Nominees
WINNER 1st MYRCA
The Zucchini Warriors by Gordon Korman
Macdonald Hall #5
Roommates Bruno and Boots find obstacles in their way as they attempt to lead the Macdonald Hall Zucchini Warriors to a victorious football season and earn the reward of a new recreation center.
OTHER NOMINEES
Dare by Marilyn Halvorson
Stoddart
Darren, almost 16, is a big, tough, street-wise kid, always in trouble at school and around the town of Crossing, Alberta. His 12-year-old brother, Tyler, is just the opposite: quiet, studious, at the head of his class. When their grandmother dies, Dare and Ty are faced with the prospect of going to a foster home – until Laura McConnell, a part-time teacher, invites them to her ranch. If it weren’t for Ty, Dare would be long gone… a desire that intensifies into white-hot rage as he clashes with Laura and faces the pain of his past.
Easy Avenue by Brian Doyle
Groundwood Books, 1988 ISBN 10: 0888993382 / ISBN 13: 9780888993380
Hubbs O’Driscoll, the resourceful hero of Easy Street is torn between loyalty to his poor but fun friends and family, and the shallow rich kids at his school and all the pleasures their money can buy.
Harriet’s Daughter by Marlene Nourbese Philip
Women’s Press Literary (April 1 1990) ISBN-10: 0889611343
Set in Toronto, two girls, Margaret — a second generation West Indian immigrant — and Sulma — fresh up from a joyous life with her grandmother in Tobago to a tense and unhappy relationship with her mother and stepfather — become friends. Margaret is determined to be someone, to be cool, with style and class and have a blacker skin. More than anything she wants to help her best friend, Zulma, escape from Canada and fly back to Tobago to live with her grandmother. She compiles a list: “Things I want changed in my life” and set about achieving her objectives. But at fourteen, coming to terms with growing up, relationships, and responsibilities is not quite so straightforward, and the parental threat of “Good West Indian Discipline” is never far removed.
Hiccup Champion of the World by Ken Roberts
Groundwood Books
Maynard Chan has had the hiccups for three months, and it’s starting to look as if nothing he does will stop them, until he’s faced with the prospect of appearing live before millions of viewers on the country’s most famous late-night TV talk show!
Margaret on Her Way by Bernice Thurman Hunter
Scholastic 1988 ISBN 10:059071953X / 0-590-71953-X ISBN 13: 9780590719537
Fifteen-year-old Margaret Rose Emerson lives in southern Ontario during the 1920s and early 1930s. She lives on a farm with her aunt and uncle, but during the week, boards in a nearby town in order to attend continuation school.
Moonkid and Liberty by Paul Kropp
Stoddart imprint of Fitzhenry and Whiteside.
Libby McNaughton, 16, longs to be normal, but with an aging hippie for a father and a gifted brother, Ian (nicknamed “Moonkid”), who’s convinced he’s an alien, trying to fit in with the crowd at a new high school is difficult at best. Libby describes her efforts to belong while Ian, the brunt of bullies at school, shares his plans for revenge that make him face his humanity.
Mushmouth and the Marvel by Ted Staunton
Kids Can Press (1988) ISBN-10: 0921103603
A whisper in class started it all – one whisper about a Valentine and 9-year-old Cyril is almost engaged. But Cyril doesn’t have time for mushy stuff, he’s trying to get a spot on the TV-quiz-show team.
Mystery in the Frozen Lands by Martyn Godfrey
James Lorimer, 1988. ISBN 1-55028137-2 ISBN 1-55028-144-5.Adventures in Canadian History series.
On July 2, 1857, 14-year-old Peter Griffin and twenty-five other men climbed aboard the refitted yacht, FOX, and set sail for the frozen lands of the Arctic sea. Their mission? To find out, once and for all, what had really happened to Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men, who had mysteriously disappeared without a trace twelve years earlier.
A Question of Courage by Irene Morck
Western Producer Prairie Books 1988 ISBN 0888332572 / 0888332578
It takes some hard lessons and a lot of determination for Keri to learn the meaning of true courage.
Rachel’s Revolution by Dorothy Perkyns
Lancelot Press Ltd, Dec 1, 1988
It is February 1776, and George Washington’s revolutionary troops are laying siege to the town of Boston, where Loyalist citizens, protected by a sadly depleted British army, wait in desperate fear for their lives. When Boston is finally evacuated, Rachel is befriended on board her transport ship to Halifax by high-spirited Joshua Wakefield, and together they discover the reason behind a mysterious man’s wily and astonishing activities.
Red by Jan Truss
Groundwood Books 1988 ISBN 10: 0888991355 / ISBN 13: 9780888991355
A young boy from a Nebraska ranch travels to Calgary to visit the mother he has not seen since he was a baby.
Round the Bend by Mitzi Dale
Groundwood (Oct. 1 1987) ISBN-10: 0888990693
Everyone thinks Deidre is crazy – but what’s so wrong with daydreaming all the time or screaming when you need to? But when Deidre accidentally sets fire to her bed even she has to admit that something is wrong.
Sunny by Mary-Ellen Lang Collura
Irwin Publishing, Toronto, 1988 ISBN 10: 0772517010 / ISBN 13: 9780772517012
Sunrunner, known as Sunny, is a washed-up racehorse, whose fate is changed when Sophie and Mike (who has a special gift) take his care and recovery under their wing.
Under the eagle’s claw by William Pasnak
House of Anansi (Sept. 1, 1990) ISBN-10: 0888990782
This sequel to In the City of the King tells the story of Elena who has to take the place of Ariel, her friend and guardian, at the Festival of Light in the sacred city of Ver. Dark forces threaten the ceremony, and Elena has to discover how she is to protect the city and its mystical rites in this richly composed fantasy.