Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Books

Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Books

My Life Off-Key

LifeOffkey

A hi-lo book for middle-schoolers working to improve literacy skills.

Selected for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Fall 2024 Best Books for Kids and Teens list in the category Teen Fiction (Hi-Lo). Also received a 2024 Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom commendation.

About the book:

Seventeen-year-old Jen is shocked to discover that the dad she grew up with is not her biological father.

Jen loves to sing. But the rest of her family can’t carry a tune. When a stranger named Mike gives her roses at her concert and reveals that he is her birth father, Jen's world flips upside down. Mike is a musician, just like Jen, and now she understands why she looks nothing like Steve, the only dad she’s ever known.

When Steve learns the truth Jen's mom has been hiding all these years, he moves out, and Jen can't help but feel responsible. Worse, she doesn’t know who she is anymore. It feels like her whole life has been a lie. Is Steve still her dad? What about Mike? When it feels like her family is falling apart, Jen doesn't know where she belongs.

To order:

Visit the Orca Book Publishers site.

Reviews

The Almost Widow

“With unique characters, shocking twists, and an emotional core, Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s latest is impossible to put down.”

— Robyn Harding, international bestselling author of The Party

 

The Almost Widow

The Almost Wife

"Compulsively readable... an engrossing study of the truth that we can never out-run our childhood."

— Gail Bowen, Author of the Joanne Kilbourn-Shreve mystery novels

The Almost Wife

The Spawning Grounds

"Anderson-Dargatz has set the bar dauntingly high for every new work; it’s a measure that The Spawning Grounds more than meets..."

―The Georgia Straight

The Spawning Grounds

Turtle Valley

“Exquisite. . . . Anderson-Dargatz creates a strong sense of the complexity of ordinary life.”

The Globe and Mail

Turtle Valley

A Rhinestone Button

"Gail Anderson-Dargatz writes lovely novels about unlovely people: unlovely people who grow beautiful under her compassionate, masterful, sly authorial gaze."

Quill and Quire


 

A Rhinestone Button

A Recipe for Bees

"In language remarkable for its suppleness and unforced simplicity, Anderson-Dargatz delivers both a quirky love story and a serene meditation on endurance and its rich rewards." 

 ― The Washington Post

A Recipe for Bees

The Cure for Death by Lightning

"Gail Anderson-Dargatz...makes her debut in full stride, confidently breaking the rules to create a fictional style we might call Pacific Northwest Gothic." 

 ― The Boston Globe

 

The Cure for Death by Lightning

Spotting Dottie

“A fabulous read that will leave its readers wondering: 'What would I do if I was placed in a similar situation?’ Highly Recommended.”

– CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Spotting Dottie

My Life Off-key

“Both a coming-of-age story and a road map for processing difficult emotions.”

– Kirkus Reviews

My Life Off-key

Bigfoot Crossing

“Pulse-pounding…A terrific addition to the high/low canon for readers seeking a thrill.”
– Booklist

Bigfoot Crossing

Iggy's World

“Iggy’s World is about family and also fitting in. It also looks at the meaning of true friendship and what a friend can look like. A good read. Highly Recommended."

– CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Iggy's World

The Ride Home

"Delightfully poignant...Will hook all middle school readers into [the] story with language they will understand and find amusing."

― The Ormsby Review

The Ride Home