Matt Beam Works
Last December
(Penguin Canada, 2009)
A teenager, struggling with depression and contemplating suicide, tries to sort out his emotions in a letter to his unborn sister.
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Earth To Nathan Blue
Penguin Canada, 2007
Since his father left home, Nathan Blue has lived in a world of his own imagination. Inspired by an old TV show, he spends his time meeting Plutonians, hunting babylions and trying to deal with the humanoids at the Boredom Academy. But his home life becomes increasingly difficult when his worried mother demands an end to "this imagination business,"and his new friend, Sheron, starts to wonder if Nathan even really understands the difference between his fantasy world and real life. Complex, illusory, real and funny, this is the story of an earthbound but all-too-human Plutonian—Nathan Blue.
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Can You Spell Revolution?
HarperCollins Canada, 2006
Clouds McFadden is definitely different. With his shock of red hair, his disarming manner and an opening greeting of “Good day, fellow proletariats,” this transfer student to Laverton Junior High looks ready to shake the boredom from his adopted Grade 8 class. Which is fine with Chris, who, quite frankly, is tired of tyrannicalteachers, cool-girl cliques and boring work. When Clouds proposes to Chris and a select group of classmates that they can change their school world for the better with a little revolutionary zeal, everyone gets into the act. Inspired by historical figures, the group manages to humiliate a nitpicking teacher through the use of a secret tape recorder (known as Operation “Code: Nixon”), infiltrate the cool-girls’ club (“Code: Queen Elizabeth”) and stage a passive resistance to tedious note-taking (“Code: Gandhi”). But then Clouds goes too far in his desire for revenge on Principal Dorfman―and the revolution takes a frighteningly real turn.
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