Abby Malone (Hardcover, Turtleback School & Library ed.)

Shelley Peterson, author of Dancer, brings you her eagerly-awaited second novel, Abby Malone. Abby is a young teenager striving to make things work out right. Animals - a coyote, twin baby raccoons, a speedy bay mare named Moonlight Sonata - are things she can handle, but the human world is a more confusing and dangerous place.

Abby Malone sits at her desk in a sweltering classroom in June and daydreams about the beautiful mare across the road. Before we know it, she's out the window, borrowing' the mare and rounding up the neighbour's escaped cows, adding another black mark to her record of bad behaviour at school.

Things are not easy at home: an alcoholic mother and an incarcerated father add to her ever-present fear of eviction, yet Abby doggedly tries to make the best of every situation. All my problems are with humans, ' she tells her raccoons.

But not all humans are bad; Pete and Laura Pierson, the elderly farm couple who live beside the school, give her assistance, encouragement and support while Abby tackles a mystery, falls in love, and competes in a perilous steeplechase. This is a fast-paced story that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey of heartache and personal triumph.