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Tarragon Island (Sono Nis $6.95) & No Cafes in Narnia (Sono Nis $6.95)
In her six-volume Stablemates series, Nikki Tate depicts the equestrian adventures of a horse-mad, sixth-grader named Jessa who falls in love with a pony named Rebel.
But Tate is not a one-trick pony. The former Saltspring Islander has started a new West Coast series with Tarragon Island (Sono Nis $6.95) and No Cafes in Narnia (Sono Nis $6.95)-both set on a fictional Gulf Island.
In Tarragon Island we meet Heather Blake, a budding pre-teen writer. As a transplanted Torontonian she at first despairs of ever finding anything to write about on the Gulf Island to which her veterinarian mother and artist father have moved. Then she meets Alyssum, her home-schooled younger neighbour who has to wear hand-me-downs and help her family eke out a living selling homemade soap and baking at the island's Saturday market.
Heather thinks she has found the perfect subject for her naive novel about poverty and despair. Changing Alyssum's name to Rosie, she portrays a heroine who "tried to comfort the babies who are always crying now that their mother is dead."; But her melodramatic attempt at fiction comes to an abrupt halt when Heather discovers Alyssum is not at all under-privileged. In fact, she has her own stock portfolio, an heiress mother and her own bathroom in a spectacular, environmentally-conscious, energy-efficient, underground house.
Alyssum's wealthy parents have insisted that she be able to discern between wants and needs. With her new friendship and understanding, Heather finds her place in the island community and makes a small, but sincere, contribution to reducing poverty for third world children.
In No Cafes in Narnia Heather, now 13, discovers there is no such thing as a private life on Tarragon Island. Everyone knows, with the unexpected death of Heather's grandfather, that Heather's mother has slipped into a deep, unreachable depression. Granny arrives from Ontario to help out, only to become hospitalized herself. Heather's dad hides out in his studio and her little brother is convinced their mother is dying of cancer.
A new writing group, a motley crew of creepy girls and one conceited, aggravating boy, only makes Heather doubt her writing and feel more alone than ever. But Alyssum needs help discovering who left hundreds of valuable-and stolen-Russian stamps in her charity drop-box. When the donor-and thief-turns out to be Mr. Bell, school secretary and beleaguered father of the scariest of the writing club girls, Heather learns the benevolence of close-knit island life.
Readers are privy to Heather's journal, her writing, her collected quotes about writing and her letters to Maggie, her best friend back home in Toronto. In this new series, Jessa's passion for horses in Stablemates has been matched by Heather's passion for writing.
Tarragon 1-55039-103-8
Namia 1-55039-107-0
[Louise Donnelly / BCBW 2000]
But Tate is not a one-trick pony. The former Saltspring Islander has started a new West Coast series with Tarragon Island (Sono Nis $6.95) and No Cafes in Narnia (Sono Nis $6.95)-both set on a fictional Gulf Island.
In Tarragon Island we meet Heather Blake, a budding pre-teen writer. As a transplanted Torontonian she at first despairs of ever finding anything to write about on the Gulf Island to which her veterinarian mother and artist father have moved. Then she meets Alyssum, her home-schooled younger neighbour who has to wear hand-me-downs and help her family eke out a living selling homemade soap and baking at the island's Saturday market.
Heather thinks she has found the perfect subject for her naive novel about poverty and despair. Changing Alyssum's name to Rosie, she portrays a heroine who "tried to comfort the babies who are always crying now that their mother is dead."; But her melodramatic attempt at fiction comes to an abrupt halt when Heather discovers Alyssum is not at all under-privileged. In fact, she has her own stock portfolio, an heiress mother and her own bathroom in a spectacular, environmentally-conscious, energy-efficient, underground house.
Alyssum's wealthy parents have insisted that she be able to discern between wants and needs. With her new friendship and understanding, Heather finds her place in the island community and makes a small, but sincere, contribution to reducing poverty for third world children.
In No Cafes in Narnia Heather, now 13, discovers there is no such thing as a private life on Tarragon Island. Everyone knows, with the unexpected death of Heather's grandfather, that Heather's mother has slipped into a deep, unreachable depression. Granny arrives from Ontario to help out, only to become hospitalized herself. Heather's dad hides out in his studio and her little brother is convinced their mother is dying of cancer.
A new writing group, a motley crew of creepy girls and one conceited, aggravating boy, only makes Heather doubt her writing and feel more alone than ever. But Alyssum needs help discovering who left hundreds of valuable-and stolen-Russian stamps in her charity drop-box. When the donor-and thief-turns out to be Mr. Bell, school secretary and beleaguered father of the scariest of the writing club girls, Heather learns the benevolence of close-knit island life.
Readers are privy to Heather's journal, her writing, her collected quotes about writing and her letters to Maggie, her best friend back home in Toronto. In this new series, Jessa's passion for horses in Stablemates has been matched by Heather's passion for writing.
Tarragon 1-55039-103-8
Namia 1-55039-107-0
[Louise Donnelly / BCBW 2000]
Submitted on July 3, 2003 in By David.
