Sharla is terribly angry with everyone - her parents for moving to Churchill, Manitoba, the teachers in her new school, the tourists who flock the polar bears - even Collette and Theo who are better friend than she'll admit.

When it seems like nothing in this small, cold town could be of interest, in walks Jake, attractive, older and looking for someone to help on his photography shoot. Against her better judgement, and what would be her parents' wishes - if they knew - Sharla agrees to work for him. Suddenly she feels alive again until a magnificent, terrifying polar bear threatens their lives. In a matter of moments Sharla is faced with new and revealing realities.

Budge Wilson (b. 1927) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and lived in Kingston, Ontario, before moving back to North West Cove, Nova Scotia. A former commercial artist and photographer, she has written more than twenty books, many of them for children and young adults; her awards include the Ann Connor Brimer Award for children's literature. "Mr. Manuel Jenkins" is included in her story collecton The Leaving (Anansi, 1991).

Budge Wilson's profile page

Wilson transplants typical YA angst to a setting in which the threat of nearby polar bears adds a spine-tingling sense of tension.
- School Library Journal