• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7

It's spring break, and 14-year-old Hannah Anderson is glad to be spending it with the "Coast-Is-Clear" program - a group committed to cleaning Pacific Rim National Park's beaches of debris leftover from the tragic Japanese tsunami of 2011. Soon after Hannah arrives on the west coast, Jack, her raven sidekick, finds a small object washed up in the surf: a strange glass ball marked with a glowing Japanese character. Immediately, unusual things start to happen, beginning with the arrival of the mysterious "Kimiko," a Japanese girl with a secret past. Kimiko, it turns out, is a kitsune fox whose magic depends on the glass ball she lost in the tsunami. As Kimiko works alongside Hannah and the other members of her crew, she becomes increasingly unhappy with her life as an immortal kistsune and longs to join a family of humans. Can Hannah and her trickster raven help to make it happen?

Carol Anne Shaw has always loved to write stories and draw. As a child, she was forever being reprimanded for drawing in her textbooks and creating cartoons of her least favourite teachers. Hannah & the Spindle Whorl, her first novel, grew out of her fascination with the history of British Columbia, and especially its First Nations people. She spends a fair bit of time enjoying the natural beauty of Vancouver Island where she makes her home along with her husband, two sons and two dogs. When she isn't writing, she can be found painting at her easel, walking in the woods, and finding excuses not to wear shoes.

Carol Anne Shaw's profile page

"Fans of the earlier books will appreciate spending more time with the smart, spunky Hannah who becomes a stronger heroine with every installment. . . Recommended." - CM Magazine
"Everything Hannah feels and does is embedded in. . .caring and concern and she is a totally believable character. She wants to be good and do good but is still human with her distress, frustration, suspicion, worry and anger. But by tying in elements of Japanese folklore, specifically the kitsune and Okami, Carol Anne Shaw makes Hannah and the Wild Woods into a bigger story of finding oneself and one's family and accepting mistakes as learning steps." - CanLit for Little Canadians
"Hannah is an appealing character that the reader can empathize with, and keeps you involved in her story as she comes to terms with the various facets of life as her story unfolds. E for excellent." - Resource Links