No fixed address

No fixed address 

by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund 

Language: English 

London : Andersen Press, 2020. ©2018. 

276 pages ; 20 cm. 

ISBN: 9781783448326 ; 1783448326 

Summary: Felix Knutsson is nearly thirteen, lives with his mother and pet gerbil Horatio, and is brilliant at memorizing facts and trivia. But Felix and his mom Astrid have a secret: they are living in a van. Astrid promises it's only for a while until she finds a new job, and begs Felix not to breathe a word about it. So when Felix starts at a new school, he does his very best to hide the fact that most of his clothes are in storage, he only showers weekly at the community center, and that he doesn't have enough to eat. When his friends Dylan and Winnie ask to visit, Felix always has an excuse. But Felix has a plan to turn his and Astrid's lives around. All he needs is a little luck and a lot of brainpower. 

Available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1524768375/

Deux petits ours au milieu de la tornade

Deux petits ours au milieu de la tornade 
by Francine Allard 
Language: French 
Hull, Québec : Vents d'Ouest, 1999. 
167 p. ; 19 cm. 
ISBN: 2921603993 ; 9782921603997 
Summary: Une mère monoparentale hérite d'un manoir à Rockstown. Elle décide de s'y installer avec son fils de 18 ans, Bertrand, qui est handicapé mental. Peu après leur arrivée, le garçon fait la connaissance de Bijou, une jeune voisine de son âge qui éprouve une déficience similaire à la sienne. Le père, un scientifique, fait des expériences secrètes dans la région. Il est aidé par un extraterrestre. Paul Simard, qui est veuf, rencontre donc Sylvia Chenette, la mère de Bertrand. Ils ont tôt fait d'éprouver l'un pour l'autre un sentiment identique à celui de leurs enfants. Lors d'essais de la fameuse machine à neutraliser les tornades, Bertrand et Bijou sont exposés à des ondes macrocinétiques. Sylvia a tôt fait de remarquer, de jour en jour, des progrès chez son fils et sa copine. Le docteur Appelbaüm constate les améliorations et Paul Simard en découvre l'origine. L'extraterrestre le prévient des dangers des expositions: le résultat est réversible et les scéances répétées limitent la vie à 5-6 ans. Le choix est douloureux. L'intervention d'un autre témoin vient compliquer le dilemme et, face aux exploitations possibles de son invention, Paul saborde l'appareil. Ils vivront ensemble, tous les quatre, le temps qu'ils auront à vivre. -- Un récit complexe dont la trame capricieuse, fait de plusieurs points, est tissée avec adresse sur un fond de science-fiction: insémination artificielle, famille monoparentale, déficients mentaux, responsabilité parentale, amour, choix de vie et de mort ... et à cela pourquoi pas un extraterrestre! Les sujets se juxtaposent sans heurt, ni répit. Les personnages sont attachants et bien campés. Un roman original, surprenant par sa densité et ses rebondissements. 
Available: http://www.renaud-bray.com/Livres_Produit.aspx?id=15233&def=Deux+petits+ours+au+milieu+de+la+tornade%2CALLARD%2C+FRANCINE%2C9782921603997

Ida-Jane et Olivier : secrets de famille

Ida-Jane et Olivier : secrets de famille 
by Francine Labrie 
illus. by David Goldstyn 
Language: French 
Montréal, Québec : Bayard Canada, [2014] ©2014 
72 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm. 
ISBN: 9782895795728 ; 289579572X 
Summary: Quand Ida-Jane arrive dans sa nouvelle classe, Olivier la trouve plutôt excentrique, surtout lorsqu’elle annonce qu’elle a deux papas. Lui, a deux mamans et s’est toujours bien gardé de le dire. Un travail d’équipe sur la reproduction des mammifères va obliger Oliver et Ida-Jane à travailler ensemble. Olivier va profiter de cet exposé pour provoquer le dialogue aves ses mères au sujet de sa conception. Il va aussi découvrir qu’il partage beaucoup de points communs avec Ida-Jane. 
Available: http://www.bayardlivres.ca/Product.aspx?ids=7611215

Specimen : stories

Specimen : stories 
by Irina Kovalyova 
Language: English 
Toronto, ON : House of Anansi Press, 2015. 
295 pages ; 21 cm. 
ISBN: 9781770898172 1770898174 
Summary: Inspired by a wide range influences — including early-twentieth century Russian avant-gardists, British science fiction and dystopian novels, as well as contemporary Canadian and American novelists — Specimen is a highly original collection of stories that explore the place where physical reality collides with our spiritual and emotional lives. In “Mamochka,” nominated for the 2012 Journey Prize, an archivist at the Institute for Physics in Minsk, must come to terms with her daughter’s marriage to a Chinese man in Vancouver. In “Peptide P,” scientists study a disease of the heart that seems to affect children after they eat hotdogs. In “Side Effects,” a woman’s personality is altered by botox injections. In “Specimen” a teenage girl discovers that she was conceived using a sperm donor. In “The Big One,” a woman and her daughter find themselves trapped in the rubble of an underground parking garage after an earthquake. In “The Blood Keeper,” a novella, a young academic travels to North Korea to work on her dissertation and embarks on a dangerous affair. 
Available: http://www.amazon.com/Specimen-Irina-Kovalyova/dp/1770898174

Ici Julie Joyal : une sorte de petit roman en quarante et un tableaux

Ici Julie Joyal : une sorte de petit roman en quarante et un tableaux
by Jean-Pierre April
Language: French
Montréal : XYZ éditeur, 2009.
162 p. ; 21 cm. 
ISBN: 9782892615463; 2892615461
Summary: Julie Joyal, née par insémination artificielle, est à la recherche de son père biologique.

Finding Cassidy

Finding Cassidy
by Laura Langston
Language: English
Toronto : HarperTrophyCanada, ©2006.
237 p. ; 22 cm. 
ISBN: 0002553163; 9780002553162
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Cassidy's world is turned upside-down when she learns that her father has been diagnosed with a fatal disease. She is further devastated to learn that he isn't her biological father.
Reviews: Canadian Children's Book Review
http://lauralangston.com/

Call me Mimi: The World's Ugliest Beauty Queen

Call Me Mimi: The World's Ugliest Beauty Queen
by Francis Chalifour
Language: English
Toronto : Tundra Books, ©2008.
178 p. ; 20 cm.
ISBN: 0887768237; 9780887768231

Reading level: Young Adult

Protagonist: girl, 17

LOC Summary: Seventeen-year-old Mimi, overweight, heads to Toronto to find her sperm donor father after things go awry at her prom. 
My review: Overweight, seventeen-year-old Mimi has always known that her mother conceived her via anonymous sperm donation and Mimi has spent her entire life looking for this phantom father who she has never met in this young adult novel from Canada.  Her favorite pastimes are Céline Dion, history, and a game she often plays with herself when she is walking down the street: looking at men and wondering: "Is that man with the briefcase my father? What about the one with the folded La Presse? Or the one looking at his reflection and picking his teeth, God forbid?" Mimi likes to stare at every man she passes, "men in jogging shorts, men in ragged jeans, men in chinos ... Could any of them be my father? ... When I'm on the subway, or when I walk down the street, and I see a man, there's always this thought that maybe it's him." 


Finally, after years of the anguish of not knowing who she really is, she decides to take a trip to Toronto after high school graduation, to the sperm bank her mother used in order to have her. The problem is, her mother refuses to let her go on her own, even though she is about to start college in the fall. "I don't understand. Why is finding him so important to you?" her mother asks. But Mimi does not have an immediate answer, only that she believes it will help her to find herself in her "quest for the truth" and to "put myself in order."  But Mimi does make it to Toronto and Mimi does know what she is looking for, as she confides in a friend she later meets there, "I need to know where I come from. It would be nice to know about his genetic background, like if he has cancer, or heart disease, or Alzheimer's in his family. It's always useful to know." But, she confesses to herself, "that's not what I was looking for. I wanted to find my roots. If I knew him, perhaps I would know myself better. I also wanted the love of a father." And, "to let him know that I exist." As her quest continues, Mimi becomes even more clear to herself what she is looking for when she finally makes her way to the sperm bank and is asked why she came. "My primary goal is to learn more about his family history, looks, talents, and interests. I would also like to have some sort of medical history and an idea of how many pregnancies were conceived from this donor." And also if she has any brothers and sisters. Mimi is however crushed to learn what many sperm donor children often learn, that the information on her donor dad is kept "strictly confidential." "The sperm donors are guaranteed that their names will not be released." The sperm bank does however release some public bits of information about him, that he is: "Caucasian. Red hair. Blue eyes. 5 foot 9. 140 lbs. Blood group, O positive," and that his interests include history. Mimi is ecstatic with this information.

Reviews: School Library Journal

http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/ten_questions_with_francis_chalifour