• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9

Just dumped by his girlfriend, Jace Antonakos has recorded a proclamation in a notebook his English teacher made him take on his winter vacation to the Mayan Riviera: I’m going to Mexico to get laid. The fact that he’s only days away from turning 18 and still a virgin has Jace spooked, and he figures that Playa del Carmen’s golden beaches draped with equally golden girls should increase his odds of success. On the other hand, the fact that he’s travelling with his mother, his aunt and his nine-year-old autistic brother just about kills that bet. Then he meets Kate, who he thinks might be just the person to help him with his “problem.” If only he knew what to say to her. Nothing new there -- no one in his family has been talking much after what happened to his older brother, Stefan. Until now, the no-talking thing has been working for Jace, who has kept a secret from everyone -- including himself -- for nearly a year. Opening up to someone may be way more than he can handle.

DON AKER’S most recent novel is The Fifth Rule, a finalist for the White Pine Award. His acclaimed backlist also includes The Space Between, winner of the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Honour Book Award and also shortlisted for the White Pine Award; One On One, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Lilla Stirling Award and nominated for the Hackmatack Award and the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award; and The First Stone, winner of the Ann Connor Brimer Award and the White Pine Award. A former high school teacher, Don lives by the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

WEB: donaker.com

Don Aker's profile page

The Space Between