Abby Malone — Shelley Peterson

Her first novel, Dancer, continues to be a Canadian bestseller and now Shelley Peterson 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.