Books with author Ann Walsh

In the first novel in the Barkerville Mystery series, protagonist Ted MacIntosh tries to unravel a suspicious murder with possible fatal consequences. lt’s summer in 1866 in the Cariboo gold fields, and a man has disappeared. Young Ted learns from the local barber, Moses, that his friend Charles, who was travelling to the gold fields, has failed to arrive. And a forbidding stranger named James Barry has arrived in town wearing a gold nugget pin that belonged to the missing man. What could have happened to him? Was James Barry responsible for his disappearance? Moses and Ted are suspicious – but they’re also afraid for their own safety. Slowly, with several adventures and close calls, they unravel the story of a cruel murder. But have they identified the right criminal? Shortlisted for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, based on true events, and set against the exciting backdrop of the Gold Rush era, Moses, Me, and Murder offers a captivating tale of betrayal, thievery, and redemption.

Rana’s on the team ― but is he still all alone? Short-listed for the 1996 Silver Birch Award As a Sikh living in small-town British Columbia, Rana knows he is different. In fact, he is the first Sikh in Dinway to try out for the hockey team. But Rana persists, making the team and meeting Les, who becomes fast friends with him. Still, the bullying from his teammates and community members continues. Then, just before the most important game of the season, an extraordinary event interrupts the lives of everyone in Dinway, and Rana risks everything.

Once again Callie is forced to take part in her mom's latest crusade. They head into ranch country to camp—bloodthirsty mosquitoes, stinky outhouses and all—at a protest to save a rural school. Callie's grandmother shows up with her biker buddies and the singing grannies. Callie hates camping and wants nothing to do with the protest. To make matters worse, Callie's only possible ally, her cousin Del, is mad at her. The last time Callie visited, she was thrown from Del's horse, Radish. Callie claimed the horse was vicious and now Del's parents are forcing her to sell Radish. Callie wants to help her cousin, but she's terrified of the horse. Del is just as tenacious as the rest of Callie's family, and Callie is forced to admit that she's not going to be allowed to go home until both the horse and the school are saved.

Moving with her mother from Vancouver to Wells, British Columbia, Elizabeth Connell longs for the excitement of the city and her father, brother, and friends left behind. While she is in the peaceful graveyard of nearby Barkerville she finds a small gold ring that has very special powers. By twisting the ring on her finger, Elizabeth is transported to the nineteenth century during the heyday of the gold rush. Caught between her present life with family and friends and a love in the past, Elizabeth learns more than history.

Ann Walsh has selected fourteen captivating stories written by accomplished authors from across Canada for this historical anthology. Each of the stories focuses on a "first-time" historical experience, with many of the stories featuring real historical people while others introduce fictional characters to depict the historical situations of earlier times. The volume also contains an appendix with substantial accounts of the historical context of each story. The contributors include Ann Walsh, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Beverley Brenna, Constance Horne, Margaret Thompson, Anne Metikosh, Carolyn Pogue, Margaret Florczak, Jean Rae Baxter, Catherine Goodwin, Victoria Miles, Susan Lee, Laura Morgan and Cathy Beveridge. A vibrant introduction to Canada’s history through the eyes of some of its youngest participants.

In By the Skin of His Teeth, 17-year-old Ted MacIntosh, whom author Ann Walsh showcased earlier in Moses, Me and Murder and The Doctor's Apprentice, befriends a young Chinese boy despite the intense prejudice seething in the frontier town. Ted suffers intimidation and violence at the hands of the cruel, arrogant Tremblay and his cronies, but with courage and conviction the young man stands up for what he believes and defends his Chinese friend.

Short-listed for the 1996 Silver Birch Award As a Sikh living in small-town British Columbia, Rana knows he is different; in fact, he is the first Sikh in Dinway to join the hockey team. But Rana persists, making the team, and meets Les, who becomes a new friends. But the jibes from his teammates and community members continue. Finally, just before the most important game of the season, an extraordinary event interrupts the lives of everyone in Dinway, and Rana explodes in anger, risking his membership.

Short-listed for the 1999 Sheila A. Egoff Award for Children’s Literature and Geoffrey Bilson Award Ann Walsh’s sequel to Moses, Me and Murder (Pacific Educational Press) continues the adventures of Ted, now 14. Still tormented by the ghost of murderer James barry, Ted apprentices to the eccentric doctor J.B. Wilkinson, whose dependency on opium for his patients and for his own demons reveals a past intertwined with the life and death of an enigmatic woman named sophia Cameron.

This popular children's novel is based on a real unsolved murder that took place in Barkerville, B.C. during the 1860's Gold Rush. The quick-paced an engrossing story brings to life and exciting era of British Columbia history as its hero, Ted, struggles with his doubts and fears when he tries to solve the mysterious murder of a young man on his way to the gold fields. When the story presents an actual trial conducted by a historical B.C. judge, young Ted must consider the issue of capital punishment.An appendix of historical notes gives a brief sketch of each real character, including Judge Begbie, who was known as the hanging judge. Now in its sixth printing, this book is widely used in elementary classrooms.