Laura Langston – författare

Fifteen-year-old Lesia can hardly bear it. She and her family must leave their beloved Baba in their Ukrainian hometown in order to flee to Canada. Dreaming of fields of wheat, wealth and security, Lesia looks forward to a life in Canada, free from poverty and rumours of war. But the 160 acres of hardscrabble prairie look nothing like the wheat fields of her dreams. And even though there is no fighting in her new country, the First World War follows them there.

What’s worse: finding out your dad’s not your real dad or finding out your real dad’s an anonymous sperm donor? Sixteen-year-old Cassidy has just been told by her father that she was conceived “under exceptional circumstances.” Struggling to understand that her biological father is an anonymous sperm donor, Cassidy can’t believe it. Not only has her father just been diagnosed with a fatal disease, he’s not really her father. Suddenly Cassidy’s worries about how to hold on to her boyfriend while not having sex, and her geeky interest in birds no longer seems important. Worse, she gets drunk and blurts out the news of her conception at a party and must face some shocking consequences. Like the turkey baster thrown through her front window. Or the fact that she may never know who she really is. Finding Cassidy is a terrific young adult novel that tackles a provocative subject with honesty and humour.