• Age: 10 to 13
• Grade: 4 to 8
• Reading age: 7 to 10

Jennie loves training at Richmond Skate, her Calgary figure skating club, but her Olympic dreams always seem impossibly far away. When her coach suggests she's got real talent, however, Jennie's ready to do what it takes to make her dreams real--or so she thinks.

Soon she's trying again and again and again to land her double Axel, and sacrificing her social life for the rink. As the cost of skating success becomes higher and higher, Jennie starts to wonder if being a star is worth what she's losing along the way.

The Winning Edge is an exciting, fast-moving story about a young skater whose ambitions force her to examine what she values most in life.

Michele Martin Bossley was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Calgary, Alberta. Her sixth grade teacher encouraged her to write down the stories she enjoyed creating, but it wasn't until high school that Michele really began to consider writing as a career. She graduated from the University of Calgary in 1991, and began working seriously on writing children's books.

Michele is the author of eighteen novels for young people. Ten of her books have been chosen by the Canadian Children's Book Centre for the Our Choice list. Others have been nominated for the Manitoba and Alberta Reader's Choice Award, and she was runner-up for the 1997 Writer's Guild of Alberta R. Ross Annett Children's Literature award.

Many of Michele's books focus on different sports. As a former athlete, she was involved in synchronized swimming in her teens and competitive swimming in university. She has also coached young swimmers, in addition to coaching her twin sons' soccer and hockey teams, and draws on much of that experience for her books.

A frequent speaker at writing conferences and schools, Michele divides her time between writing and parenting her four sons. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Michele Martin Bossley's profile page

• Winner, Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Selection

"Bossley does a good job of communicating the gritty reality behind the moments of glamour on the ice. She also shows the pressures that those with exceptional talent must face from even well-intentioned parents and coaches. Jennie is a sympathetic character, so unspoiled by her gifts that she is able to see the flaws in her parents' view of her future. Winning is never as important to Jennie as perfecting her skills, and she faces the loneliness of her talent without self-pity. This is a fine book."

Quill & Quire