Books with author Alan Cumyn

Hatchet meets Maybe a Fox in this “gripping, suspenseful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel about Edgar, a boy who has lost the ability to speak and can only bark, and his dog Benjamin as they travel through the freezing Yukon wilderness in order to stop Edgar’s mother from making a huge mistake.Eleven-year-old Edgar’s mom is making him move. Again. This time, they’re headed to a tiny town in the Yukon called Dawson, Alaska. For once, though, Edgar is excited. They’ll be housesitting, and with the house comes a dog: Benjamin. It’s love at first sight when Edgar first spies the massive Newfoundland, and soon Edgar starts liking lots of other things about Dawson. But just as soon, he starts noticing things. The kinds of things his mom did before; the kinds of things that caused them to move so much. The kinds of things that will surely, absolutely cause them to move again. Unless he can warn the people who are about to be hurt. Yet just when Edgar needs his voice most…it’s gone. Suddenly, he can’t communicate with anyone but Benjamin. So, with the dog by his side, Edgar embarks on a dangerous journey across the frozen Yukon River in search of answers—and a way to keep his mother from upturning their lives all over again. But the wilderness is not kind. Edgar and Benjamin find themselves in a situation right out of Edgar’s favorite Jack London story. With cracking ice, freezing water, bone-chilling temperatures, and looming, lurking wolves, Edgar must find a way to survive before he can stop his mother from wrecking everything.

Hatchet meets Maybe a Fox in this “gripping, suspenseful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel about Edgar, a boy who has lost the ability to speak and can only bark, and his dog Benjamin as they travel through the freezing Yukon wilderness in order to stop Edgar’s mother from making a huge mistake.Eleven-year-old Edgar’s mom is making him move. Again. This time, they’re headed to a tiny town in the Yukon called Dawson, Alaska. For once, though, Edgar is excited. They’ll be housesitting, and with the house comes a dog: Benjamin. It’s love at first sight when Edgar first spies the massive Newfoundland, and soon Edgar starts liking lots of other things about Dawson. But just as soon, he starts noticing things. The kinds of things his mom did before; the kinds of things that caused them to move so much. The kinds of things that will surely, absolutely cause them to move again. Unless he can warn the people who are about to be hurt. Yet just when Edgar needs his voice most…it’s gone. Suddenly, he can’t communicate with anyone but Benjamin. So, with the dog by his side, Edgar embarks on a dangerous journey across the frozen Yukon River in search of answers—and a way to keep his mother from upturning their lives all over again. But the wilderness is not kind. Edgar and Benjamin find themselves in a situation right out of Edgar’s favorite Jack London story. With cracking ice, freezing water, bone-chilling temperatures, and looming, lurking wolves, Edgar must find a way to survive before he can stop his mother from wrecking everything.

Prepare to be blown away—or rather, carried away on huge muscular wings—by this blissfully outlandish, bracingly smart, tour de force about a teen who has to come to terms with relinquishing control for the first time as she falls for the hot new…pterodactyl…at school. After all, everybody wants him!Shiels is very pleased with her perfectly controlled life (controlling others while she’s at it). She’s smart, powerful, the Student Body Chair, and she even has a loving boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? But everything changes when the first-ever interspecies transfer student, a pterodactyl named Pyke, enrolls at her school. There’s something about him—something primal—that causes the students to lose control whenever he’s around. Even Shiels, the seemingly perfect self-confident girl that she is, can’t keep her mind off of him, despite her doting boyfriend and despite the fact that Pyke immediately starts dating Jocelyn, the school’s fastest runner who Shiels has always discounted as a nobody. Pyke, hugely popular in a school whose motto is to embrace differences, is asked to join a band, and when his band plays at the Autumn Whirl dance, his preternatural shrieking music sends everyone into a literal frenzy. No one can remember what happened the next day, but Shiels learns that she danced far too long with Pyke, her nose has turned purple, and she may have done something with her boyfriend that she shouldn’t have. Who’s in control now? Hilarious and relatable, Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is about a teen who must come to terms with not being in control of all things at all times, break free of her mundane life, discover who her true self is, and, oh, find out that going primal isn’t always a bad thing.

Prepare to be blown away—or rather, carried away on huge muscular wings—by this blissfully outlandish, bracingly smart, tour de force about a teen who has to come to terms with relinquishing control for the first time as she falls for the hot new…pterodactyl…at school. After all, everybody wants him!Shiels is very pleased with her perfectly controlled life (controlling others while she’s at it). She’s smart, powerful, the Student Body Chair, and she even has a loving boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? But everything changes when the first-ever interspecies transfer student, a pterodactyl named Pyke, enrolls at her school. There’s something about him—something primal—that causes the students to lose control whenever he’s around. Even Shiels, the seemingly perfect self-confident girl that she is, can’t keep her mind off of him, despite her doting boyfriend and despite the fact that Pyke immediately starts dating Jocelyn, the school’s fastest runner who Shiels has always discounted as a nobody. Pyke, hugely popular in a school whose motto is to embrace differences, is asked to join a band, and when his band plays at the Autumn Whirl dance, his preternatural shrieking music sends everyone into a literal frenzy. No one can remember what happened the next day, but Shiels learns that she danced far too long with Pyke, her nose has turned purple, and she may have done something with her boyfriend that she shouldn’t have. Who’s in control now? Hilarious and relatable, Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is about a teen who must come to terms with not being in control of all things at all times, break free of her mundane life, discover who her true self is, and, oh, find out that going primal isn’t always a bad thing.

The Skye brothers — skinny, quiet, big-eared Owen and his smart older brother Andy — live in a rural village with their parents and weird Uncle Lorne, a shy bachelor who sleeps on a cot in the basement and takes out his teeth at night. On his way home from hockey practice one evening, Owen catches a glimpse of a girl named Sylvia. He falls hopelessly in love, and Valentine’s Day turns into one big disaster. Thank goodness for life at home, where there's a brother to talk to and plot adventures with. Yet the Skye boys somehow manage to turn every innocent plan into a full-scale ordeal. A search for a hammer turns into a brush with the deadly Bog Man, a midnight visit to the snow fort to meet with aliens becomes a near-death experience. This funny, magical novel celebrates the everyday joys and drama of being a kid and, especially, being a boy. Owen’s small-town childhood may be simple, but his days are rich indeed as he ponders the secret mysteries of death, life, and love.

Hatchet meets Maybe a Fox in this piercing novel about Edgar, a boy who has lost the ability to speak and can only bark, and his dog Benjamin as they travel through the freezing Yukon wilderness in order to stop Edgar’s mother from making a huge mistake.Eleven-year-old Edgar knows whenever his mother gets “the look” they won’t be staying wherever they are for much longer. Soon it will be another town, another school, and, for Mom, another man. This time they’re leaving Toronto—and Roger—behind for the wilds of northwestern Canada. For once, though, Edgar is excited. They’ll be housesitting, and with the house comes Benjamin, an old Newfoundland for Edgar to take care of. Soon after landing in Dawson, Edgar and his mom meet Caroline, a girl Edgar’s age, and her dad, Ceese. The moment his mom and Ceese meet, Edgar knows She’s going to make him the next Roger; the next man his mom will leave. It doesn’t matter that Ceese has a longtime girlfriend, or that Edgar and Caroline are becoming friends—his mom always gets what she wants. Edgar talks to Benjamin about his concerns, and to Edgar’s great surprise, Benjamin not only understands, but wordlessly answers. Just as surprising, Edgar loses his ability to speak to anyone but Benjamin; whenever he tries to talk to a human, his voice becomes a bark. But his mom and Ceese begin to take things too far, and Edgar needs his voice, his human voice, more than ever. Desperate to stop his mother from ruining other people’s lives and upturning their own once again, Edgar embarks on a dangerous journey across the frozen Yukon River with only Benjamin by his side. But the wilderness is not kind. Edgar and Benjamin find themselves in a situation right out of Edgar’s favorite Jack London story. With cracking ice, freezing water, bone-chilling temperatures, and looming, lurking wolves, Edgar must find a way to survive before he can stop his mother from wrecking everything.

Prepare to be blown away—or rather, carried away on huge muscular wings—by this blissfully outlandish, bracingly-smart, tour de force about a teen who has to come to terms with relinquishing control for the first time as she falls for the hot new…pterodactyl…at school. After all, everybody wants him!Shiels is very pleased with her perfectly controlled life (controlling others while she’s at it). She’s smart, powerful, the Student Body Chair, and she even has a loving boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? But everything changes when the first-ever interspecies transfer student, a pterodactyl named Pyke, enrolls at her school. There’s something about him—something primal—that causes the students to lose control whenever he’s around. Even Shiels, the seemingly perfect self-confident girl that she is, can’t keep her mind off of him, despite her doting boyfriend and despite the fact that Pyke immediately starts dating Jocelyn, the school’s fastest runner who Shiels has always discounted as a nobody. Pyke, hugely popular in a school whose motto is to embrace differences, is asked to join a band, and when his band plays at the Autumn Whirl dance, his preternatural shrieking music sends everyone into a literal frenzy. No one can remember what happened the next day, but Shiels learns that she danced far too long with Pyke, her nose has turned purple, and she may have done something with her boyfriend that she shouldn’t have. Who’s in control now? Hilarious and relatable (despite the dinosaur), Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is about a teen who must come to terms with not being in control of all things at all times, break free of her mundane life, discover who her true self is, and, oh, finding out that going primal isn’t always a bad thing.

Stan is an intense sixteen-year-old loner who desperately wants to make the junior varsity basketball team. And it seems that he may be about to do so, until he’s blindsided by the unexpected attentions of Janine Igwash. Suddenly Stan is no longer thinking about jump shots. Instead he is obsessed with Janine’s spiky hair, her milky white shoulders, and the mysterious little tattoo at the base of her neck, not to mention the heat of her breath, her dark eyes, wide hips and . . .Sometimes Stan’s imagination runs so wild he wonders whether he might be going crazy. That would be par for the course given his home life. His mother is dating the feckless Gary, and his little sister — designated gifted, but a holy terror — is acting out. Then Stan’s father arrives on the scene with Stan’s four-year-old half brother, and things become truly insane.

After Sylvia follows Owen Skye when his true love, Sylvia Tull, moves away. Heartbroken, Owen does his best to get over Sylvia by going from one adventure to another: he adopts a slobbering, bouncy, rock-obsessed hound named Sylvester, runs for class president, and joins his brothers in taking revenge against bossy cousin Eleanor. He even tries learning some new life skills, such as getting Horace to show him how to make the perfect fried egg, or asking Uncle Lorne to demonstrate his famous loon call. Gradually Owen's memory of Sylvia begins to fade. As the new school year unfolds, the magic of the Skye brothers' antic adventures is replaced with a different sort of magic — the magic of stillness that inspires clarity and insight. Owen is growing up, but happily for young readers, he never loses his most endearing qualities — his sweet vulnerability, his impulsive courage, and his gigantic imagination.

Nominated for the Ottawa Book Award Stan is an intense sixteen-year-old loner who desperately wants to make the junior varsity basketball team. And it seems that he may be about to do so, until he’s blindsided by the unexpected attentions of Janine Igwash. Suddenly Stan is no longer thinking about jump shots. Instead he is obsessed with Janine’s spiky hair, her milky white shoulders and the mysterious little tattoo at the base of her neck, not to mention the heat of her breath, her dark eyes, wide hips and . . . Then Stan’s father arrives on the scene with Stan’s four-year-old half brother, and things become truly insane. Tilt is a wonderfully droll and insightful story about a sensitive, intelligent and gently funny young man living through an impossibly absurd time of life. This book is a rare achievement -- a witty, sexy compulsively readable work of high literary quality.

Now in paperback, Dear Sylvia is a sequel to The Secret Life of Owen Skye (winner of the Mr. Christie’s Book Award) and After Sylvia. Much to his despair, Owen Skye watches his true love, Sylvia Tull, move away. But he still has the stationery set she gave him for his birthday, so at least he can keep telling her stories, even if it’s only by mail. So Owen begins to write down all the things that are going on: his little brother getting his head stuck in the banister, the disastrous camping trip with his horrible girl cousins, how his new baby cousin will only stop screaming in his arms. But despite his carefully crafted efforts, Owen can’t bring himself to mail the letters. While he knows he’s a born writer, getting the right words onto the page is another story altogether. Young readers can easily identify with Owen as he wrestles with spelling, his insecurity as a writer, and his deep desire to tell Sylvia what’s going on in his life — and in his heart. With this irresistible epistolary novel, Alan Cumyn has given his acclaimed series an original and engrossing twist.