• Age: 9 to 13
• Grade: 4 to 8
• Reading age: 9 to 13

Winner of the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award, and a Horn Book Fanfare Selection

Old Mickey is one hundred and twelve years old. He can't remember what he ate for lunch today, but he can remember every detail of what happened one hundred years ago, when he and his mother ran away from his violent father to take refuge in the hills north of Ottawa.

Brilliantly combining humor and tragedy, the award-winning Uncle Ronald is one of Brian Doyle's most emotionally powerful novels.

Brian Doyle is a four-time winner of the Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year for Children Award. His American honors include being selected for the Horn Book's Fanfare List, the ABA "Pick of the Lists" and the New York Public Library's Best Books for the Teen Age. He has also won the NSK Neustadt Prize, the Phoenix Honor Award, and he has been named a finalist for the Hans Christian Anderson Award. He lives in Chelsea, Quebec.

Brian Doyle's profile page

• Short-listed, Hans Christian Andersen Awards
• Long-listed, OLA Red Maple Award
• Winner, Fanfare Selection from the Horn Book
• Winner, Mr. Christie's Book Award
• Winner, CLA Book of the Year for Children Award
• Winner, ABA "Pick of the Lists"

A not-to-be-missed read - for the evocation of setting, for the genuine feel of the lively local stories, and for the sheer joy of Doyle's prose.

Horn Book

...a courageous novel that leads you through the darkness and out into the light; a novel that makes you laugh and cry, as only Doyle, Brian can.

Books in Canada

This is vintage Doyle: the author at his best, and the reader fully satisfied.

Montreal Gazette

Uncle Ronald is tragicomedy set to an Irish jig.

Quill & Quire

...the freshness of the writing, the richness of the cast, and the resilience of the comedy will draw the author's fans.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

[Doyle] is at the top of his form in Uncle Ronald, with all his trademark skills well hones and in tight control.

Resource Links

I can't think of a better book for a child who needs a sense of comfort and hope for the future.

Canadian Children's Literature - CBRA

Doyle has a wonderful grasp of time and place. His unique storytelling voice weaves sound, sight...into an unusual whole.

School Library Journal

...this is a tender, sad and wonderful book.

Globe and Mail