Books with author Susin Nielsen-Fernlund

Violet is not impressed with her TV director dad: he’s decided to abandon his family in Vancouver to start over with a new younger wife in LA. To Violet, it’s like he’s traded his old life for a better one – complete with new and improved children. To make matters worse, her mom has taken up with a dorky new man called Dudley Wiener. Violet decides to take control. She needs a new stepfather who is perfect, charming and will show Dad what he’s missing: she needs George Clooney, Hollywood superstar.

Twelve-year-old Ambrose is a glass-half-full kind of guy. A self-described “friendless nerd,” he moves from place to place every couple of years with his overprotective mother, Irene. When some bullies at his new school almost kill him by slipping a peanut into his sandwich — even though they know he has a deathly allergy — Ambrose is philosophical. Irene, however, is not and decides that Ambrose will be home-schooled.Alone in the evenings when Irene goes to work, Ambrose pesters Cosmo, the twenty-five-year-old son of the Greek landlords who live upstairs. Cosmo has just been released from jail for breaking and entering to support a drug habit. Quite by accident, Ambrose discovers that they share a love of Scrabble and coerces Cosmo into taking him to the West Side Scrabble Club, where Cosmo falls for Amanda, the club director. Posing as Ambrose’s Big Brother to impress her, Cosmo is motivated to take Ambrose to the weekly meetings and to give him lessons in self-defense. Cosmo, Amanda, and Ambrose soon form an unlikely alliance and, for the first time in his life, Ambrose blossoms. The characters at the Scrabble Club come to embrace Ambrose for who he is and for their shared love of words. There’s only one problem: Irene has no idea what Ambrose is up to.In this brilliantly observed novel, author Susin Nielsen transports the reader to the world of competitive Scrabble as seen from the honest yet funny viewpoint of a boy who’s searching for acceptance and for a place to call home.

Violet's TV-director dad has traded a job in Vancouver for one in Los Angeles, their run-down house for a sleek ranch-style home complete with a pool, and, worst of all, Violet's mother for a trophy wife, a blonde actress named Jennica. Violet's younger sister reacts by bed-wetting, and her mother ping-pongs from one loser to another, searching for love. As for Violet, she gets angry in ways that are by turns infuriating, shocking, and hilarious.When her mother takes up with the unfortunately named Dudley Wiener, Violet and her friend Phoebe decide that they need to take control. If Violet's mom can't pick a decent man herself, they will help her snag George Clooney. In Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, Susin Nielsen has created a truly original protagonist in Violet and a brilliant new novel that will delight readers into rooting for her, even when she's at her worst.

Melanie Brody is takes grade seven very seriously. She's read about junior high in all the teen magazines, and she's ready for all the romace and excitement Degrassi can offer.Things don't turn out to be quite so glamorous as Melanie expects: it's hard to feel popular when you're scrawny and your hair won't go right, when it seems like everyone else has nicer clothes and the older students think you're a dumb kid. Life just isn't turning out like a romance novel at all.Based on the groundbreaking Degrassi Junior High television series, this book offers a sensitive and engaging look at the challenges of teenage life.

Melanie Brody is takes grade seven very seriously. She's read about junior high in all the teen magazines, and she's ready for all the romace and excitement Degrassi can offer.Things don't turn out to be quite so glamorous as Melanie expects: it's hard to feel popular when you're scrawny and your hair won't go right, when it seems like everyone else has nicer clothes and the older students think you're a dumb kid. Life just isn't turning out like a romance novel at all.Based on the groundbreaking Degrassi Junior High television series, this book offers a sensitive and engaging look at the challenges of teenage life.

Everyone likes Wheels at Degrassi--he plays in a rock band with his buddies Joey and Snake and thinks about being a musician full-time, like his birth father.But Wheels' life slams to a halt when his parents are killed in a car accident. He fights with his best friend, hangs around downtown with rough street kids, and gets into serious trouble with the law. Still his friends refuse to desert him, and Wheels learns he can count on the people around him when he really needs them.Based on the groundbreaking Degrassi Junior High television series, this book offers a sensitive and engaging look at the challenges of teenage life.

It's seven-year-old Lillian's first day at a new school, and she's got butterflies in her tummy. When she learns she has to bring something for Show and Tell at the end of the week, her butterflies turn into grasshoppers. Lillian and her mother have just moved away from Lillian's abusive father and into a family shelter, leaving behind all of their possessions. Every day that Lillian anxiously watches her classmates bring toys in to share, the creatures in her stomach change and grown, until finally, she realizes that imagination can make anything magical, even an ordinary string of beads.

For fans of Wendelin van Draanen and Cynthia Lord, a touching and funny middle-grade story about family, friendship, and growing up when you're one step away from homelessness.Twelve-and-three-quarter-year-old Felix Knutsson has a knack for trivia. His favorite game show is Who What Where When; he even named his gerbil after the host. Felix's mom, Astrid, is loving but can't seem to hold on to a job. So when they get evicted from their latest shabby apartment, they have to move into a van. Astrid swears him to secrecy; he can't tell anyone about their living arrangement, not even Dylan and Winnie, his best friends at his new school. If he does, she warns him, he'll be taken away from her and put in foster care.As their circumstances go from bad to worse, Felix gets a chance to audition for a junior edition of Who What Where When, and he's determined to earn a spot on the show. Winning the cash prize could make everything okay again. But things don't turn out the way he expects. . . .Susin Nielsen deftly combines humor, heartbreak, and hope in this moving story about people who slip through the cracks in society, and about the power of friendship and community to make all the difference.

Meet Stewart. He’s geeky, gifted and sees things a bit differently to most people. His mum has died and he misses her all the more now he and Dad have moved in with Ashley and her mum.Meet Ashley. She’s popular, cool and sees things very differently to her new family. Her dad has come out and moved out – but not far enough. And now she has to live with a freakazoid step-brother.Stewart can’t quite fit in at his new school, and Ashley can’t quite get used to her totally awkward home, which is now filled with some rather questionable decor. And things are about to get a whole lot more mixed up when these two very different people attract the attention of school hunk Jared. . .