• Age: 10 to 12

Thirteen year old Home Girl Gwen Peters has already had more adventures than most people. Orphaned at 11 and trained to be a servant, she travelled by ship to a new life in Canada. Her spunk, sense of humour and the memory of seeing a grand lady of the theatre, Mohawk performer E. Pauline Johnson, have kept her going. It's a good thing, because there are more challenges ahead. The first one comes after watching two coffins, father and son, lowered into the cold Brantford ground. Soon, Gwen becomes "pilot of the plains" as she and her mistress take the train to a new life in Calgary, Northwest Territories. The year is 1898, and the city is new and growing. It attracts people with fresh visions and hope. But it also attracts those who want to make a quick buck. As Gwen meets people of the land, the Cree and Blackfoot, and a man who helped to build the railway that new Canadians are so proud of, she also meets people who are trying to take this land all for themselves. Good thing Gwen packed her courage in her trunk when she headed west!

Carolyn Pogue is the author of 14 books of fiction and non-fiction and also writes poetry and drama. Her writing appears in periodicals such as Canadian Living, Synchronicity, The United Church Observer and Peace Magazine. She is a freelance writer and workshop presenter for all ages. Pogue regularly offers workshops at YouthWrite, a Rocky Mountain camp for teen writers, at the University of Alberta Extension Department and the Alexandra Writers Centre in Calgary, and has served several times as Peace-Writer-in-Residence in Alberta schools. She has judged children's literature for competitions hosted by The Writers' Union of Canada and The Writers' Guild of Alberta. Pogue grew up on a small farm in the village of Vandorf, Ontario. She has also lived in Toronto, Montreal, Yellowknife and Edmonton. She loves travelling and has visited India, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, El Salvador, Cuba, Guatemala, England, Wales, Europe, USA and all but one territory in Canada. She lives in Calgary, Alberta. Visit her website at www.carolynpogue.ca

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