"I often find myself writing about the in-between place where First Nations and non-First Nations come together,"; says Sylvia Olsen, who married into the Tsartlip Nation 31 years ago. Olsen, who counsels teen parents from the Saanich First Nations, has tracked that middle ground between cultures in her young adult novel The Girl with a Baby (Sono Nis $9.95). Jane Williams lives with her Native family on a predominantly white cul-de-sac, where she's never felt welcome. To make matters worse, at age 14 she's pregnant. At first she tried to conceal her pregnancy. "I wore big sweatshirts and no one would suspect anything of me. I'm the good Williams. I'm the only good Williams. I get good grades, I volunteer at the animal shelter, I'm in the drama club at school."; Sylvia Olsen's first book, No Time to Say Goodbye was adopted by the B.C. Teachers' Federation and has been nominated for a Saskatchewan Young Readers' Snow Willow Award. She lives near Victoria, B.C., having raised four children on the Tsartlip Reserve. 1-55039-142-9

[BCBW Summer 2004]