Books with author Jody Kihara

Paul VanDerMere is looking forward to a summer of canoeing, swimming, and hanging out with his dad at their lakeside cabin in the woods. At first, the only thing getting in the way of his enjoyment is his stepbrother Jasper. But when Paul and Jasper are canoeing back from a small, uninhabited island on the lake, Paul glances back and sees a young girl staring back at him. He's not even sure if he saw her – was she real, or an apparition?He's soon drawn in to the unsettling mystery of a strange girl who randomly appears and disappears from the island. When he hears a local ghost story about a young girl just like her, he begins to wonder if he's dealing with a real person… or something entirely different.EXCERPTAs I pushed away from the island, I turned around to take one last look, and almost dropped the paddle.Sticking out from the thick foliage was a girl’s head and shoulders. She looked about eight or nine years old, with shoulder-length, brown hair pulled into braids at the sides of her head. Her eyes were dark and fierce, and they glared at me as she held her finger up to her lips. The message was clear: ‘Don’t tell.’And then she disappeared. My whole body jerked. I blinked a few times, letting the canoe drift around. “Hey, Paul?” Jasper asked. “Uh, I think we’re drifting...”My heart beating in staccato, I gave myself a shake and began to paddle again. Had I really just seen that? I looked back one more time. There was nothing there. But then, after a second or two, the face poked out once more, eyes still intense and glaring. This time, she pointed: you. Me, what?She disappeared again. Dumbly, I turned and paddled away, like I’d been ordered to leave and was obeying like a zombie. Well, a zombie with its heart going like a jackhammer. As I slid the paddle through the slippery water, the reason I gave myself for not going back to investigate was that then I’d have to explain it to Jasper, whereas the girl’s message had been clear: don’t tell. But really, I think the reason I paddled away so quickly was that I was completely spooked. The girl was creepy-looking, almost surreal. What had I just seen?

Every week or two, Terry wakes up in a different time. She’s been ‘switching’ ― that’s her word for time traveling ― for the past eight months, and she has no recollection of her life before then. She doesn’t know who she is, why she’s time traveling, how to get home, or even when home is. Then Terry meets some fellow travelers and finds out she’s not alone, and that there might be a way to get home. But the others have their own agendas, and Terry needs to be careful where she places her trust. She finds herself falling for one traveler, but a terrible secret bars his way home. Another traveler is growing desperate, and he doesn’t care who he uses in his attempt to get home… even if it puts them all in danger. Can Terry find a way home before he tries something dangerous? Or will he prevent her from getting home at all?

Parents… school… friends… bullies… fourteen years old is a tough age to be. Especially if your name is Gooby.Like most teenagers, Jay Gooby is convinced he has it worse than anyone else. His parents don’t fit the normal mold, and he has endured a lifetime of merciless teasing ― especially at the hands of his lifelong enemy, Mike Thornley. But Jay has to take on more than just school and hockey when two major events take place: his parents adopt a special needs child, and a freak accident occurs at the hockey rink. Life sure can get a lot more complicated… and at the same time, a lot simpler.EXCERPTLet’s face it, if you come into this world with a name like Gooby, you’re pretty much done for. I can’t believe that after decades (centuries, maybe!) of kids getting pummeled in playgrounds, the world hasn’t figured this one out by now. Hey, attention parents ― newsflash! This just in! Don’t land your kid with a stupid name!Jeez, you’d think they’d have done studies on it or something, proven what a nightmare effect it has on a kid’s formative years. Not that anyone really needs to do a study. I mean, take a look around you at school, and you have your answer. How easy a time is a kid going to have if his name is, I don’t know, Dilbert or something? Not exactly a name that screams “leadership!” But maybe if some brainiac were to write it up in a scientific journal, parents would actually take notice. I could write the whole thing myself, but even if I wrote in letters ten feet high, my parents still probably wouldn’t get it.“Hey Goober!” a voice calls out.Nickname number one. Takes a real genius to come up with that one. I don’t even turn around; I already know the genius in question is Mike Thornley. It’s the hey-world-look-at-me, I’m MIKE THORNLEY in his voice that gives it away. Oh, that and the fact he’s been calling me names for nine straight years now. I could probably pick his voice out of a screaming crowd of a thousand people. While wearing headphones.“Goobs!”Nickname number two.There’s Gooby, Goobs, Goober, Goobster, and then my personal favourite: Booger. That one doesn’t even make sense. Whack. Ow. Textbook. Head.I swing around, ready to nail Thornley with my backpack, but he’s already jumped out of the way. He’s always hitting me with books or tripping me up or slamming me against lockers.Nine years is a long time. I should know; I’m fourteen.“So Goob-Goob!” (Oh, did I forget to mention that one?) “You going to practice tomorrow?”I turn to look at him. He’s smiling. He’d actually look friendly if it weren’t for all the years of nicknames, jokes, punches, wedgies, and general roughhousing on his slate. “Yeah, I’m goin’.”“Great! ‘Cause my team really needs you, man.”This would sound nice if I weren’t on a different team.

Shaya Solen’s walk home from school takes her past an eerie pond, where one day she finds an old bracelet made of raven feathers. Soon, strange events begin to unfold: a shadowy figure glimpsed across the water, ominous nightmares haunting Shaya, and rumors of a witch who once drowned in the pond. With the discovery of a strange family connection to the witch, Shaya is drawn into a mystery that must be solved before the approaching Halloween, which is the thirteenth anniversary of the witch’s death – and Shaya’s birthday.EXCERPTShaya hurried along, hands jammed in her pockets, shoulder bag swinging against her side. As she passed a tangle of bushes to her left, something dark on the ground made her slow her steps. She stopped and crouched down.It was a circular object, and appeared to be made of feathers. Shaya reached out for it, and just before she touched it, her spine prickled. Quickly, she glanced around. No one else seemed to be in the park apart from her and Dev, and he was every bit as far back as before. No doubt he was trying for real, now, to annoy her. Telling herself the chill up her spine was only the result of the cold wind, she reached out and touched the small, black hoop.“Mine,” a voice whispered. Shaya sprang back. “Who’s there?”She looked around again. The voice had sounded like it came from behind her, but the path was deserted. “H― hello,” she said nervously.No answer came.Shaya bent down towards the hoop again. It appeared to be some kind of bracelet, and half of it was pressed into the ground, as if someone had stepped on it. The part sticking up had an oily sheen to it, the feathers glinting blue-black in the fading light. Taking a breath, Shaya reached out and snatched it up.“It’s mine.”This time she cried out in alarm.The bracelet went flying from her hand as she whirled around. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what looked like a cloaked figure with long, matted hair standing on the far side of the pond. But when she looked back, it was gone.

Parents... school... friends... bullies... fourteen years old is a tough age to be. Especially if your name is Gooby. Like most teenagers, Jay Gooby is convinced he has it worse than anyone else. His parents don’t fit the normal mold, and he has endured a lifetime of merciless teasing – especially at the hands of his lifelong enemy, Mike Thornley. But Jay has to take on more than just school and hockey when two major events take place: his parents adopt a special needs child, and a freak accident occurs at the hockey rink. Life sure can get a lot more complicated... and at the same time, a lot simpler.

Shaya Solen’s walk home from school takes her past an eerie pond, where one day she finds an old bracelet made of raven feathers. Soon, strange events begin to unfold: a shadowy figure glimpsed across the water, ominous nightmares haunting Shaya, and rumours of a witch who once drowned in the pond. With the discovery of a strange family connection to the witch, Shaya is drawn into a mystery that looks like it must be solved before the approaching Halloween… which is the thirteenth anniversary of the witch’s death.

Every week or two, Terry wakes up in a different time. She’s been ‘switching’ - that’s her word for time traveling - for the past eight months, and she has no recollection of her life before then. She doesn’t know who she is, why she’s time traveling, how to get home, or even when home is. Then Terry meets some fellow travelers and finds out she’s not alone… and that there might be a way to get home. But the others have their own agendas, and Terry needs to be careful where she places her trust. She finds herself falling for one traveler, but a terrible secret bars his way home. Another traveler is growing desperate, and he doesn’t care who he uses in his attempt to get home… even if it puts them all in danger. Can Terry find a way home before he tries something dangerous? Or will he prevent her from getting home at all?