Books with author Penny Draper

Twelve-year-old cousins Alice and Sophie are a study in contrasts. Alice is tall and athletic with brunette hair, she lives in Montreal with just her dad, and she's a figure skater with a lot of talent and a bit of an attitude. Sophie is short and blonde and she lives on a dairy farm just south of the city, with her mom and dad and her spooky little brother Sebastian, and she loves nothing so much as looking after their herd of cows. Their differences kept the cousins from getting along in the past but now, ever since Alice's mom passed away, they have been best friends. Then, in January, it starts to rain and it just won't stop. Of course, it turns to ice as it hits the ground, and causes big trouble. First, the roads are closed, then the power lines start coming down and the electricity is gone. Alice struggles to stay warm alone in the dark, because her dad works for Quebec Hydro and is working around the clock. Meanwhile Sophie is with her family fighting to look after their dairy cows without the benefit of power to run the water pumps, the milking machines or anything else. Two different girls have to find the strength within themselves to survive their drastic situations. Penny Draper takes readers into the lives and hearts of two very real characters at the same time as she takes them into a very real disaster from the recent past.

Murphy wants to grow up fast and be a fisherman. It's what men do in his small Newfoundland community. Then one cold day in 1929, a tsunami strikes the Burin Peninsula, destroying most of the out port and killing many people. Suddenly the twelve-year-old is doing a man' work, saving lives and caring for the people he loves.His dad died the day Murphy was born. Since no out port family can survive without a man to fish, his mom had to find a job in St. John' and Murphy stayed behind to be raised by his uncle and aunt. But Murphy has a grand plan. Soon he'll become a fisherman, build a house and bring his mom home to live with him.Then a day and night of terror begins with a small earthquake. An old-timer says there'll be a tidal wave coming, but people don't believe it. Murphy goes outside later to check and hears an odd sucking noise. All the water is gone from the harbour! It shoots back in a sixty-foot wave that fills the harbour and claws its way up the hill. He has only moments to save his aunt and cousins from the roaring water.

At 4:00 a.m., April 29, 1903, Nathalie lies awake in the booming coal town of Frank, at the base of Turtle Mountain, listening for the whistle of a train - the Spokane Flyer, bringing her American cousin Helena for a visit.Instead, Nathalie hears rocks tumbling down the mountain onto the town and the railway track. She and her mother are safe, but what about others? As she helps search for survivors, desperate questions fill her mind. How many have died? Will the men inside the mine be safe? Will the train be stopped in time?That morning, the northeast face of Turtle Mountain dropped one hundred million tons of limestone on the town. Seventy-six people died, but twenty-three were rescued from under the rocks, seventeen escaped from the mine, and the Flyer was stopped in time.This is a beautifully written novel, with engaging characters and authentic historical detail. It's a story of discovery, as Nathalie - Nattie to her friends - finds her own strengths and skills and the courage to use them.

High above the crashing waves on the rugged west coast of Canada stands the lighthouse Nell calls home. It’s a tiny world, just the ocean in front and the rainforest in back, but she loves every inch. So when Nell’s father wants to send her away to school in Victoria, she refuses to go. Nell decides to become so helpful to her father that he can’t send her away. Her big chance comes when the government runs a telegraph line though the forest, connecting the isolated lighthouses. Nell studies the Morse code manual, teaching herself how to be a telegraph operator. And her study pays off the night she sends an S.O.S. for a stricken ship, aground on the rocks. She feels like a hero, until the telegraph tells her that the rescue went terribly wrong. What is the use of talking to other people if they can’t help? Nell is through with rescues. But early one morning after a terrible storm, she sees yet another ship run aground in the Graveyard of the Pacific. Nell has to get help, but the storm has taken the telegraph lines down.All alone at the lighthouse, is there nothing she can do? This title is based on two famous west coast shipwrecks. In January 1906, The Valencia, carrying over 100 passengers and 65 crew, missed the turn into Juan de Fuca Strait and ran aground on the west coast of Vancouver Island. A mere eleven months later the Coloma followed. It was a deadly year for the Graveyard of the Pacific, one that spurred the government to build the West Coast Lifesaving Trail as a rescue route for shipwrecked mariners.

Finn is furious when his parents head off on another scientific mission to the other side of the world, and he has to stay with his grandmother on her farm in southern Manitoba. Not only are the kids at school far less than welcoming, he also has to deal with his cantankerous great-grandfather who doesn’t seem to want him around. The Red River flowing by their property is the only thingthat provides him peace –and a weird friend, the mysterious Angus.

Ella is surprised by her birthday gift from her father: a Brownie camera and the advice to seek pictures of things that ‘don’t belong’. This is how Ella first notices Billy, a boy at her school. They become good friends, although Ella is sure Billy is keeping something from her.Ella soon realizes there are others to whom the ‘don’t belong’ tag applies. They include herself! Helping out at her mother’s IODE group, Ella finds out about women’s rights – or the lack of them. When Ella’s mother’s purse is raided, suspicion falls on Billy. Then, just as Ella is learning more about both her mother and her mysterious friend, the cyclone arrives, and it’s the substandard housing of the poor that’s worst-hit. How can Ella, armed only with her camera, help her friend?Praise for Ice Storm: “Draper covers the terror and impact of the storm. She also weaves in a subtle environmental message about overreliance on electricity…an unusual story of survival.” – Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Graveyard of the Sea: “the author makes the setting of her Newfoundland tale as satisfying as the smell of seafood chowder”; “readers are…sensually and emotionally embedded in 12-year-old Murphy’s life in the outport” – Canadian Children’s Book News

Two young teens, Jack Gordon and Henry Addison, meet when the Great Lakes cruise ship, the Noronic, docks at Ward Island, part of the “Toronto islands,” in Lake Ontario in the summer of 1949, just before the ship catches fire – with Henry on board. Fourteen-year-old Jack is a daring, impulsive boy, who lives to sail, have adventures and get into trouble. When the Noronic docks at Ward Island, he and his friends gather to admire it. But you need an invitation from one of the passengers to board the ship. So when Jack meets Henry, a lonely 13-year-old passenger from Boston, he talks Henry into inviting Jack’s group on a tour of the ship. In the course of the tour, Jack and Henry become friends.But that night, when Jack wakes up and looks out at Pier Nine and the Noronic, he sees, to his horror, that the ship is on fire and sinking. He races down to the harbour and takes out the island’s only motorboat, hoping to help passengers. People are stuck on the upper deck because the only way off the ship, three decks below, is already engulfed in flames. Jack spots Henry and calls to him just as Henry’s dad helps him jump into the water. Jack is able to rescue Henry and many others, although Henry’s dad is lost. Jack is a hero to many, but not everyone agrees.Peril at Pier Nine is based on a true story. On September 14, 1949, the cruise ship Noronic, caught fire with 524 passengers and 171 crew members on board. Between 118 and 139 people died. The cause of the fire was never determined.

Robin’s got everything it takes to be a principal dancer: the body, the feet, the strength and the passion. But his devil-may-care attitude plays havoc with discipline at the Premier Dance School. One more prank may be one too many. That’s why everyone is shocked when he’s the only student dancer picked to understudy with the company, even though the choice makes sense—Robin is cast as Puck, the annoying trickster fairy in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Shock turns to horror when the principal dancer is injured and Robin has to perform instead. The other dancers don’t think he can pull it off, and even Robin wonders if it’s too much too soon. Will his big break kill his career before it even starts?

Thirteen-year-old Nathalie Vaughan struggles to save friends and neighbours on the night of Canada's Frank Slide disaster. At 4:00 am, April 29, 1903, Nathalie lies awake in the booming coal town of Frank, at the base of Turtle Mountain, listening for the whistle of a train--the Spokane Flyer, bringing her American cousin Helena for a visit. Instead, Nathalie hears rocks tumbling down the mountain onto the town and the railway track. She and her mother are safe, but what about others? As she helps search for survivors, desperate questions fill her mind. How many have died? Will the men inside the mine be safe? Will the train be stopped in time? That morning, the northeast face of Turtle Mountain dropped one hundred million tons of limestone on the town. Seventy-six people died, but twenty-three were rescued from under the rocks, seventeen escaped from the mine, and the Flyer was stopped in time. This is a beautifully written novel, with engaging characters and authentic historical detail. It's a story of discovery, as Nathalie - Nattie to her friends - finds her own strengths and skills and the courage to use them.

Murphy wants to grow up fast and be a fisherman. It's what men do in his small Newfoundland community. Then one cold day in 1929, a tsunami strikes the Burin Peninsula, destroying most of the out port and killing many people. Suddenly the twelve-year-old is doing a man's work, saving lives and caring for the people he loves. His dad died the day Murphy was born. Since no out port family can survive without a man to fish, his mom had to find a job in St. John's and Murphy stayed behind to be raised by his uncle and aunt. But Murphy has a grand plan. Soon he'll become a fisherman, build a house and bring his mom home to live with him. Then a day and night of terror begins with a small earthquake. An old-timer says there'll be a tidal wave coming, but people don't believe it. Murphy goes outside later to check and hears an odd sucking noise. All the water is gone from the harbour! It shoots back in a sixty-foot wave that fills the harbour and claws its way up the hill. He has only moments to save his aunt and cousins from the roaring water.

Robin’s got everything it takes to be a principal dancer: the body, the feet, the strength and the passion. But his devil-may-care attitude plays havoc with discipline at the Premier Dance School. One more prank may be one too many. That’s why everyone is shocked when he’s the only student dancer picked to understudy with the company, even though the choice makes sense―Robin is cast as Puck, the annoying trickster fairy in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Shock turns to horror when the principal dancer is injured and Robin has to perform instead. The other dancers don’t think he can pull it off, and even Robin wonders if it’s too much too soon. Will his big break kill his career before it even starts?

High above the crashing waves on the rugged west coast of Canada stands the lighthouse Nell calls home. It's a tiny world, just the ocean in front and the rainforest in back, but she loves every inch. So when Nell's father wants to send her away to school in Victoria, she refuses to go. Nell decides to become so helpful to her father that he can't send her away. Her big chance comes when the government runs a telegraph line though the forest, connecting the isolated lighthouses. Nell studies the Morse code manual, teaching herself how to be a telegraph operator. And her study pays off the night she sendsan S.O.S. for a stricken ship, aground on the rocks. She feels like a hero, until the telegraph tells her that the rescue went terribly wrong. What is the use of talking to other people if they can't help?Nell is through with rescues. But early one morning after a terrible storm, she sees yet another ship run aground in the Graveyard of the Pacific. Nell has to get help, but the storm has taken the telegraph lines down.All alone at the lighthouse, is there nothing she can do?This title is based on two famous west coast shipwrecks. In January 1906, The Valencia, carrying over 100 passengers and 65 crew, missed the turn into Juan de Fuca Strait and ran aground on the west coast of Vancouver Island. A mere eleven months later the Coloma followed. It was a deadly year for the Graveyard of the Pacific, one that spurred the government to build the West Coast Lifesaving Trail as a rescue route for shipwrecked mariners.