• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

It’s not easy having your own father for a teacher, but that’s only one of twelve-year-old Nikki’s problems. Her beloved dog has died, leaving a gaping hole in her life, which is thrown into further turmoil by the arrival of her long-lost eccentric grandmother from Australia. Life is pretty tense around Nikki’s house, but Nikki relaxes by taking long rides on her horse and visiting a nearby secluded pond inhabited by a rare species of turtle. Things do begin to get brighter when she receives an unwanted, runt puppy as a birthday present. She names the ugly little Border Collie Lucky and he flourishes under her care. As she and her grandmother begin working together, first of all at preparing a garden and then at training Lucky for the local agility trials, they eventually become friends and the grandmother begins telling Nikki about her crusades for the environment in Australia. When Nikki finds out that developers are planning to fill in her special pond to build a housing estate, wiping out the turtles’ habitat, she decides to take a dangerous stand on the animals’ behalf. But can she really take on a big developer and win? Hubcaps and Puppies is not only a story about a girl, her dog and her horse, but also about the protection of the environment and the lessons that the older generation may have to teach the younger if they are willing to listen. Nelson writes in a fast-moving and energetic style, but her characters and situations are always realistic and believable.

Rosemary Nelson was born in the small town of Dinsmore, Saskatchewan, where her parents owned and operated a grain farm. Living in the wide open spaces with neighbourhood children few and far between, her imagination became her best friend. She did not have access to many books, but she developed an early love of reading and with the help of a subscription to a children’s book club and her family’s own collection of classics, the magic of books became central to her childhood. Although creative writing was not encouraged in schools at that time as it is today, she always knew that she wanted to write. After finishing school, she moved to British Columbia, married, finished her teaching degree and raised a family, putting her desire to write temporarily on hold. She currently lives with her husband in the beautiful Okanagan Valley where they raise alpacas. She was a classroom teacher for twenty years and worked part-time as a teacher-librarian. Creative writing has always been her favourite teaching subject. Since the publication of her first children’s novel, Dragon in the Clouds (Napoleon, 1994), Rosemary has gained a reputation as a charismatic and lively presenter. She has appeared at many schools, bookstores and Vancouver’s Word on the Street. She has also been the featured author at two Young Author’s Conferences and enjoys giving writing workshops to young students as well as teaching night school writing courses at the local college. She was chosen to tour to Nunavut for Children’s Book Week in November of 2002 under the auspices of the Canadinan Children’s Book Centre. One of Rosemary’s main goals as a writer is to provide children with quality literature that will turn them on to the magic of words. In her writing, she tries to think of silly situations that will make children laugh, but also situations that will allow them to hope. She has written four novels, including The Golden Grasshopper, Galena’s Gift and Hubcaps and Puppies.

Rosemary Nelson's profile page