• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12
• Reading age: 7 to 10

Sixteen-year-old Avvy straddles the line the line between the immigrant neighbourhood were she lives and works and the established neighbourhood where she attends high school, the line between right and wrong, and the line between telling secrets and keeping them. Set in Toronto's Chinatown, Thief Girl is a frank look at the challenges faced by one teen caught between two worlds. [Fry Reading Level - 3.9

I was born in East York in 1948, the daughter of a Canadian soldier and his Dutch war bride. I graduated from the University of Toronto and became a teacher of lots of things, but mostly of art and English. I guess I have taught thousands of Toronto's great kids over the years and they have taught me too.As a child I read widely. I liked all sorts of fairy tales and animal stories by authors like the Brothers Grimm and Thornton Burgess. Maida's Little Shop by Inez Haynes Irwin was also a favourite. I have two children, Katie and Mackenzie, who gave me ideas for stories while they were growing up. Kate had a little plastic guy and I wrote a set of books about this toy from two different perspectives. Sometimes I get ideas from things I do. I like to build sand sculptures on beaches and I wrote a picture book once about finding a dragon shape in the sand. Other ideas seem to fall into my lap when I'm busy with something else. If I don't commit those to paper right away, they vanish. I'd like to do some art for one of my books. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I draw or paint a bit of a scene from one of my stories. Maybe I'll be brave enough to submit these to a publisher one day. I still live in Toronto, in a little bungalow with lots of big maples and a skunk or two. Mackenzie is here with his dog, and my daughter Katie often comes to visit.

Ingrid Lee's profile page

• Winner, Best Books for Kids & Teens -- Canadian Children's Book Centre - Star Selection

One of the Canadian Children's Book Centre's "Great Reads for the Holidays 2011"

bookcentre.ca

Thief Girl (SideStreets)