Books published by publisher Sonoma Press

It's not easy to have a private life on a small island. Thirteen-year-old Heather Blake can't stand the fact people on Tarragon Island know about her family's traumas practically before she does. The local youth writing group is supposed to help her meet people and improve her writing skills. Instead, Heather finds herself revealing way too much about both her writing life and her private thoughts to kids she can't believe are becoming her friends. Heather's new school, a budding romance, serious family illness, a strange crime, and even stranger island residents cause more trouble than she thinks she can handle. It will take all the strength and determination Heather can muster if she hopes to survive and carve out a place for herself in her new island home.

When Reid Widmark's jockey mother takes a fall, their barn and the horses they train become Reid's responsibility. He's fine with it: he was practically born on a horse, and he's always been his mother's right-hand man. He'll hold the fort until she returns, and then he'll be back on track toward his own future as a jockey. Or so he thinks. Bit by bit, his life starts changing. People he thought were friends start taking over. His leg up on Carmina, the best horse in his mother's barn and his chance at the big stakes, is taken away. And when his mother comes back, she drops a bombshell: she's getting out of the jockey business and wants Reid to get out too. Reid's steaming mad and ready to take off when his new friend Ella steps in. She helps him see reason ―then spots a big chance that may give Reid everything he's dreamed of. Can he prove to everyone―his mother, their friends and this unknown horse and her owners―that Reid Widmark's got what it takes to get in first under the wire?

Heather Blake is horrified when her grandmother gets involved with the Ladies of the Forest, a radical group of protesters willing to do just about anything to save a stand of old-growth trees from the loggers' chainsaws. When the Ladies make a calendar, semi-nude photos of Granny and her friends hang on just about every fridge on Tarragon Island. Things get even worse when protesters get arrested and tempers flare. Without question, there's a crisis in the Tarragon Woods, and the solutions are far from clear-cut. Inspired by actual conflicts played out on logging roads and protest camps in British Columbia, Trouble on Tarragon explores issues facing many communities today. Like many other citizens, Heather must grapple with some difficult questions. What are the avenues open to a citizen displeased with government policies? Can one ever break the law with a clear conscience? Is a protester a criminal? How can a journalist remain unbiased when personally involved with a story? With a touch of wry humour, Nikki Tate has created a believable story of a young writer trying to make sense of the world around her. Fans of this series, and readers new to Tate's work, won't be able to put Trouble on Tarragon down. "In this remarkable contemporary story, Nikki Tate scoops up the beating heart of the environmental struggle over BC public forests and presents it to her young readers with verve and audacity. In their efforts to save a rainforest, grandmothers pose naked, granddaughters freak out, little boys get arrested and the community becomes polarized over the clear cutting of public forests. A great read, one I would wish for every Canadian child." -Betty Krawczyk, author of Lock Me Up or Let Me Go

When four abused and neglected horses are seized by the Kenwood Animal Rescue Society, Jessa convinces Mrs. Bailey that Dark Creek Stables would be a perfect foster farm for one of them, but nobody is prepared for the challenges of Sienna's rehabilitation. Can Jessa and her friends save the young renegade mare from the slaughterhouse? Why is Mrs. Bailey behaving so strangely around Walter Walters? And what is Jessa going to do with Romeo, the lovable mutt who shows up at the little house on Desdemona Street and refuses to leave?

The continuing adventures of Jessa and her pony, Rebel, in book #3 of the StableMates Series. Jessa is completely stressed out! Her terrifying dreams about water jumps just won't stop. In fact, as the date of Jimmy McBride's eventing clinic draws closer, the nightmares keep getting worse. At school, she's responsible for helping the new girl from Japan settle in. Unfortunately for Jessa, her efforts to help just seem to make Midori unhappier. Jessa's best friend, Cheryl, is no help at all--she's too busy trying to land a juicy part in a play.

Jessa is in Grade 6 and eats, sleeps, and dreams horses. But lessons and ponies are expensive, so how will she ever manage to buy or lease a horse of her own? With a combination of work, luck, and good friends she finds a pony named Rebel...and then the adventures begin! On with the gumboots, up with the pitchfork and Jessa has to learn to work for Rebel's room and board while keeping up in school and coping with some strange behaviour from a few classmates.

Faye Marsh is out show jumping for Lawrence Devries, and twelve-year-old Kirsty's still working for Lucy at the ranch. She doesn't mind, really―she and her pony Lancelot would be nowhere without Lucy. So when Kirsty's asked to help with a cattle roundup, she agrees, even though she's nervous. This kind of riding is completely new to her. Can Lancelot handle it? Can Kirsty? It's just bad luck that her roundup partner is fourteen-year-old Jesse, who treats her like an idiot. Jesse has had every advantage Kirsty can imagine, including a family ranch with horseback riding every summer. Why does he have such an attitude problem? Doesn't he realize that Lancelot and Kirsty are new at this? Soon she's steaming mad―and Jesse has disappeared. When she finds him, it's too late: a forest fire is bearing down on them. Their lives in peril, Kirsty and Jesse have to cooperate―and trust the horse sense of the amazing Lancelot―to ride through the fire and out to safety.

In a moment of inattention, James loses an important hockey game, and Neil, the team captain, just won't let it go. Later they scuffle, and in the terrible moment that follows, James is hit by a train. When he comes to, he discovers he's lost the lower part of his leg. As James struggles to adapt to his new reality, a visit from the War Amps nets him a new friend, teenaged amputee Tariq, who plays soccer and challenges James to think beyond his disability. It takes a return to the ice and some help from a secret friend to get James back on the right track and into the game.

Heather Blake can't believe her bad luck when her family moves from Toronto to tiny Tarragon Island in British Columbia. What will she, a budding author, write about on this "rock in the middle of nowhere"? From her home-schooled neighbour, to the woman down the road who grows herbs for her aromatherapy practice, to the Dexter calf her mother brings home to promote the preservation of rare farm animal breeds, life on Tarragon Island couldn't be more different from the one Heather has left behind in Toronto. Heather's mother is far too busy getting established as the local veterinarian and her father too preoccupied with his new sailboat for either of them to pay much attention to her predicament. Alyssum, the girl dressed in rags next door, hardly seems like a promising friend, and Heather finds herself planning a brilliant escape―just like the Count of Monte Cristo. Set against the backdrop of British Columbia's scenic Gulf Islands, Tarragon Island explores the coves, beaches, and animal life of the area as well as the inner landscape of a young girl struggling to come to terms with the imperfections of her family and herself.

Fans of Nikki Tate's horse novels will be happy to see Jessa and the rest of the Dark Creek gang back for more horsey action in the seventh volume of the best-selling StableMates series. Jessa continues to struggle to control her new mount, Jasmine, even as she tries to keep a lid on her intense jealousy towards Molly, the young rider who has been taking lessons on Jessa's beloved pony, Rebel. The barn is not the only place where Jessa encounters strife. Soon after the start of the new school year, problems arise at Kenwood Middle school where Jessa finds herself embroiled in a battle of secrets and betrayal with Andrew, a strange new boy who seems determined to make her life miserable. This page-turner draws readers into this popular heroine's world as Jessa and Cheryl survive a nasty encounter with angry wasps, learn about the railway companies that once served the Saanich Peninsula, and return an historical artifact to its rightful owner nearly one hundred years after it went missing. In the end, an offer of friendship from an unexpected soulmate makes Jessa realize the importance of looking beyond appearances before judging someone's character.