Vancouver Island-based LS Stone's debut YA novel, What's in it for Me? (Rebel Mountain $13.95) is about teen friends, Nick and Trevor who couldn't be more different. Nick dreams of being a rock star and thinks only of getting a deal for his band, partying all summer and surfing at Tofino. Trevor is set to do volunteer work in Africa building a school. Nonetheless, Nick is convinced to go to an elephant refuge in Thailand. While Trevor is in Kenya learning from a local 12-year-old boy, Nick meets a Thai girl who wants to be a mahout even though local tradition won't allow it. Nick also encounters an animal rights activist, a drugged tiger and marauding elephants. Will the events change his self-centered outlook on life? And will the two teens stay friends?

LS Stone won the Bill Juby Award (2016) and Meadowlarks Award (2014) for outstanding writing. Her interests include animal rights and welfare, and social justice. She has a BA in creative writing from Vancouver Island University.

What's in it for Me? (Rebel Mountain 2020) $13.95 978-1-9992416-8-1

[BCBW 2020]