• Age: 11 to 15
• Grade: 6 to 10

A Journey from England in 1860 takes 14-year-old Katherine Harris and her family to a new life near Hope, B.C. The eldest daughter, Susan, dies just as the family reaches its new homestead. Before she dies, Susan presses a gold nugget into her sister’s hand given to her by the grateful parents of a sick child. Katherine is determined to live up to the virtue that earned her sister the nugget, but her brother can’t deal with the family’s tragedy and heads north to the Cariboo in search of gold. Intrepid Katherine heads after him, helped by her new friend William, who accompanies her as far as his family’s winter village near Lytton. William teaches her his people’s values, insists that she keep the Golden Rose and shows her how to let Susan go. The Golden Rose is ideal for novel studies and social studies programs with a B.C. history focus.

Dayle Campbell Gaetz grew up in Victoria and attended the University of Victoria. She has always loved books, both reading and writing them. Her writing career began on Salt Spring Island where she wrote her first 16 novels. For several years she wrote a column for the local weekly newspaper and published the occasional article in children's magazines. Dayle now lives in Campbell River, British Columbia where, in addition to her own writing, she teaches a correspondence course on Writing for Children and Teenagers. She has published 21 books for readers from ages seven to 17. Never knowing what idea will strike next, Dayle writes books that range from science fiction to history and from biography to mystery. Thanks to a strong interest in British Columbian history, she wrote two historical novels that take place in B.C.'s early days. On the heels of those books came Mystery from History and Barkerville Gold, both with historical connections. She had meant to end there, but the three young characters refused quit at Barkerville. They have since travelled on to Alberta, (Alberta Alibi) and recently into Saskatchewan (Something Suspicious in Saskatchewan). Manitoba is calling to them next and it seems wherever they go the children trip over mystery and tumble into danger. Dayle's other books from Orca include Sea Dog (Orca Echoes), the story of two lonely people, a seven year old boy and an old man who are brought together by their love of one dog. At the other end of childhood is No Problem (Orca Soundings), where a 17 year old boy stands on the brink of drug abuse. In between is an Orca Currents, Spoiled Rotten, about an outdoors-loving 14 year old girl who needs to deal with a new stepsister who really is spoiled rotten. For more information about Dayle, visit http://web.mac.com/gdgaetz.

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