Forget-Me-Not

by Maxine Trottier

Illustrated by Nancy Keating

published by Tuckamore Books

Mr. Hiroshi's Garden

by Maxine Trottier

Illustrated by Paul Morin

published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside

"I will take care of your garden, Mr. Hiroshi," I offered. He smiled. "That would give me great comfort, Mary," he said. "The Koi are greedy, you know. Do not let them get fat." We watched the bus drive away. For Mary, too young to fully understand about war and far-off places, the promise was meant to last only until Mr. Hiroshi came back. But after a while it was clear that her friend wouldn't be coming home. Still, Mary faithfully kept her word all through that long summer. And when the new people came to live in Mr. Hiroshi's house, she knew exactly what to do. Once more, Maxine Trottier takes a small piece of a larger story, nurtures it with care, and grows a tale as elegant as a Japanese garden. Mr. Hiroshi's Garden is a simple story of innocence and friendship set against a backdrop of fear and suspicion. A story that must be told and told — but never repeated. Originally published as Flags. All awards and reviews refer to the earlier release.

	Flags is a powerful retelling of a dark incident in Canadian history - the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II. Maxine Trottier has taken a small piece of this much larger and more complex story and told it in a language and setting which young children can understand. — Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada
	The White Raven Award of the International Youth Library 2000
	A CCBC Our Choice Book
	Recipient of The Storytelling World Honor Title, 2000.
	Notable Book, Social Studies, Children's Books Council

Fitzhenry & Whiteside,
Web site: http://www.fitzhenry.ca/
E-mail: bookinfo@fitzhenry.ca

In this powerful novel for mature readers, Maxine Trottier transports the reader to the summer of 1956, and the small town of Erie View, a haven for teenagers. Summer jobs are plentiful, and there’s always action on the beach or the main drag. Life is cool. But Erie View is a town of shifting layers. They drift by turns, scarcely touching, then jarring painfully: fathers and grandfathers try to adjust to quiet lives after an eternity of action overseas, women struggle to remake marriages and return to their kitchens, and teenagers with far too much freedom live the secret lives of youth.

This is sixteen-year-old Gordon Westley's world. But it's about to change once tragedy strikes his family and forces Gordon to explore the darkest, as well as the sweetest, side of human emotions.

Part mystery, part love story, acclaimed author Maxine Trottier weaves a spellbinding portrait of small-town Ontario dealing with its loss of innocence and coming of age in a changed world.

©Tundra Books

To learn more about this book, go to Tundra Books by clicking HERE.

Nominated for the 2007 Arthur Ellis Award for best juvenile crime book, given by The Crime Writers of Canada

"…Trottier handles the serious with poignancy and lighter moments with flair. In a world of considerable beach-blanket fluff, this coming-of-age novel is rich, readable, and substantive. Hard to imagine it being any better written."— VOYA, Patti Sylvester Spencer. To read the entire review, click HERE.

"…a climax that will enthrall any reader to continue turning page after page." — Canadian Children's Book News

Short listed for the 2007 White Pine Award

…a finely tuned story of 1950s atmosphere and a young man's courage. — Midwest Book Review. To read the entire review, click HERE. The review is about half-way down the page.

The expert pacing makes this standout historical fiction… — School Library Journal.

… a nostalgic shutter-click of small town Ontario on Lake Erie, circa 1956. — CM Magazine. To read the entire review, click HERE.

With her hard look at how World Wars I and II shaped the adults around Gordon and his peers, and her willingness to push past the soda fountain facade of the 1950s, Trottier's memorable book will leave readers as much shaken as inspired. — Karyn Saemann, The Capital Times. To read the entire review, click HERE.

Gordon is particularly appealing, decent and vulnerable, and his confusion and suffering as he comes to make the right choice are the heart of this moving story. —Krista Hutley. Copyright © American Library Association

Trottier's saga of one teenager's dramatic summer is refreshingly honest, richly layered and extremely well written. It also combines laugh-out-loud humour with mythic tragedy. —Kit Pearson in The Globe and Mail.

Trottier's greatest strength here, in what is by far her best writing to date, is her sly, hilarious, only too-accurate portrait of adolescent male vanity. —Deirdre Baker in The Toronto Star.
To read the entire review, click HERE.

The princess rode with her mother in an open coach. A cool breeze raced along the banks of the River Thames and up the busy cobbled streets. It whirled around the coach and whipped the scarf from the Princess's neck.

"Mamma!" cried the princess as she grabbed for her scarf.

"Now, Victoria," said her mother with a laugh, "It is only a scarf." And she settled herself in the carriage, looking very regal. Victoria watched the scarf drift through the air and drop onto the river. It was gone.

Trottier's expansive imagination and talent at crafting a delightful story shines brightly in this picture book. — Reesa Cohen.
To read the entire review, click HERE.

…elegant, original, entertaining, and highly recommended for young readers. —Midwest Book Review.
To read the entire review, click HERE. The review is about half-way down the page.

Shortlisted for the 2006 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award.

Le 13 mai 1759

" We must leave this place," Chegual said when we walked alone by the river. He would take me from Québec and back to the Abenaki mission at St. Francis so that I would be safe. When I insisted that we were safe here, that the city is well fortified, he made a rude noise. He has heard stories of the British army, of its size and strength. He knew what the capitaine of the ship had said, that France had abandoned its people here. "I will not abandon you," he told me. "I am your brother."

What he says about France may be true. But how can I leave Mme Claire and Mère Esther after what they have done for me?

My brother's answer turned my blood to ice.

" Then you may be choosing death, sister. If that is so, I will die with you."

Short listed for the 2006 Geoffrey Bilson Award. To read more about this award and the entire short list, click HERE.