• Age: 9 to 11
• Grade: 4 to 6

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 was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but has lived in over twenty different communities. Her own experiences of making new friends and leaving familiar things behind inform many of her stories. Shirlee is an alumna of the Banff Centre's writing program and has published award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for adults and young people. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

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