• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7

Finalist, Manitoba Young Readers’ Award

For twelve-year-old Sherri, moving is a way of life. Her family has lived in seven different places in as many years, three in the last year alone. But no place has ever been as strange as Gardin, Alberta, a ranching community right out of the Old West and struggling to accommodate new industries.

Sherri makes friends with Jamie, another newcomer, who suffers with the burden of his father’s alcoholism. Like Jamie, Sherri and her younger sister, Bonnie, must adapt to life in a small town divided between new and old residents and urban and rural lifestyles. While they miss many aspects of city life, the girls also come to appreciate the advantages of life in a small town. Suitable for readers aged nine to eleven.

Shirlee Smith Matheson is the author of numerous teen novels and nonfiction books, including The Gambler's Daughter, Maverick in the Sky, Flying the Frontiers, and Amazing Flights and Flyers. She lives in Calgary and leads writing workshops, presents readings, and travels widely to discover more exciting tales. Her website is www.ssmatheson.ca.

Shirlee Smith Matheson's profile page

"Matheson's theme has depth and the reader feels the poignance of the transient worker and his family." —Kathleen Tripp, Calgary Herald

"Each chapter deals with an episode in a year in the life of Sherri and her family in a booming village in southern Alberta. The problems of adjustment to the new school and making friends will be shared by many readers and appreciated by others." —Alma Webster,CM: A Reviewing Journal of Canadian Materials for Young People

"Going where the job is has become a lifestyle for many families in Canada, and this story shows how it affects some children." —The Independent, Elmira, Ontario

"The author pays close attention to detail, and her discerning eye reveals intriguing mysteries in a girl's everyday life." —Alberta Report

"[Matheson's] appreciation for the Canadian west is clear; she writes of the prairie landscape and of the people and their history with an insider's view. She also has captured well the rhythm and swing of a young girl's thoughts." —Deirdre Kessler,The Guardian, Charlottetown, PEI