This is my latest book from Beech Street Books. I am delighted to have had the chance to write about the Cayuga nation, as I am Cayuga on my biological mother’s Louise’s side. Her mother, Marjorie Hill, grew up at Six Nations. So did her grandfather, Henry Jacket Hill. My aunt, Bev Hazzard, is a registered member of Six Nations.
Fierce Voice came out in September 2025. I am so in love with this book! It is the sequel to Iz the Apocalypse, which was about a foster kid scamming multiple systems in order to be able to attend the music school of her dreams.
Here is the publisher’s blurb about Fierce Voice:
Words bawling…Melody howling…Fierce Voice rising
Iz has everything she's ever wanted: she’s found the foster home of her dreams and is attending the prestigious music school she moved heaven and earth to get into. But secrets from her past keep threatening to spill into the present, and Iz is sure that her newfound loved ones will abandon her if they learn of her terrible history.
Despite these fears, Iz does her best to settle into her new life. Hoping to give at-risk children the musical experiences she longed for when she was little, she joins with her classmates and Teo (the boy she sort of kissed and then ghosted all summer) to start a musical outreach program at the community centre she used to go to.
She isn’t quite prepared for the chaotic group of children she’s paired with. And she’s even less ready for Skye, an angry foster kid who challenges everything Iz holds dear, gets a little too close for comfort, and has her own terrible secret.
To help Skye, Iz must make a dreadful choice—a decision that could free them both from their demons or completely destroy everything Iz has fought so hard for. Is raising her voice worth the risk?
Fierce Voice is the sequel to the White Pine Award nominee Iz the Apocalypse.
Accolades:
-listed in Quill and Quire’s “2025 Fall Preview - Books for Young People - Young Adult and Nonfiction”
-listed CBC Books "22 Canadian books for tweens & teens to read this fall"
-listed in Bound2Learn.com - “Fall 2025 Hot Lists”
-listed in 49th Shelf - “Most Anticipated: Our 2025 Fall Fiction Preview”
-listed in Off the Page Blog, “Most Anticipated: Our Fall 2025 Books For Young Readers Preview.”
-listed in Spencer’s B. Miller’s article, “Why are Book Series So Good at Getting Kids Reading?” “Iz’s story is perfect for music lovers. It deserves attention for its compassionate characters and compelling conflict.”
-listed in the Richmond Hill Public Library “I Read Canadian!” list
-listed Vaughan Public Libraries “Bestseller List: Teen.”
-listed Contra Costa County Library, “Fall 2025 Reads for Younger Teens.”
-listed Markham Public Library “Teen November Staff Pick!”
-listed Canadian Children's Book Centre November Book List “Making Music”
This book, published in 2024, is from Beech Street Books.
Accolades:
-Long listed for the “First Nations Communities Read” Award
-a Best Books Selection, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Fall 2024 - Biography, Memoir and Speaking Out
Long Listed for the “First Nations Communities Read” Award, 2025
My third novel, IZ THE APOCALYPSE, was published on September 1, 2023 by Common Deer Press. It is now available anywhere you like to buy books!
White Pine Award 2024 Nominee
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Book selection
“Top Grade: Can Lit in the Classroom” selection
Apple Books Best YA Book of the Year
Canadian Children’s Book Centre Staff Selection, Holiday Gift Guide
Listed: CBC’s 25 YA books to read in Fall 2023
Listed: Quill and Quire’s Fall YA Books Preview
Listed: Toronto Public Library “Best Books, Young Adult”
My second novel, The Mask That Sang, was published in 2016 by Second Story Press. It was an Honour Book for the Code Burt Award, and a finalist for both the Hackmatack Award and Langley Book of the Year.
My first novel, Basket of Beethoven, was published in 2001 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside. It was a finalist for the Ontario Silver Birch Award, the MYRCA award and the CLA Book of the Year for Children award.