Allegra hopes that being at a performing-arts high school will change her life and make her a better dancer. But high school is still high school, complete with cliques, competition and cruelty. And home isn’t much better. Forced to take a class in music theory, Allegra takes refuge in writing music with her young teacher who nurtures and appreciates her talent. But when her feelings for him become more intense and he seems to reciprocate, Allegra sets in motion a chain of events that could destroy everything and everyone she loves.
Orca Book Publishers 2014
Awards and Recognitions
Nominated: Yalsa’s Best Fiction for Young Adults 2014 List
Reviews
“You can’t hear the music, but you can feel it in this fresh, engrossing story.” Quill and Quire
“Hrdlitschka is known for having her pulse on hot-button issues for teens, and her latest novel, which exams a teacher-student attraction, is no exception. Hrdlitschka does an excellent job of illustrating the subtle, gradual and easily understandable shift in their relationship.” Canadian Children’s Book News
“Hrdlitschka allows Allegra to tell her own story, and her fine ear for teen emotion is well displayed in scenes that reveal Allegra’s social anxiety and panic attacks, her sorrow and disbelief over her parents’ crumbling marriage, and her resistance to unfamiliar feelings of love as handsome, young Mr. Rocchelli begins to fill the emptiness in her life….Teens with a passion for the arts will see themselves in Allegra, whose intensity and flaws make her perfectly relatable.”
“The musical creations – whether through a rock-band jam session, playing a classical harp, or composing with a digital program – are described with loving detail but a light touch, appealing to both veteran musicians and neophytes, who will relish this opportunity to better appreciate the power of music. Allegra’s artistic pursuits – and intense commitment – will resonate particularly with equally passionate teens, while her social anxiety and strained home life might be familiar, albeit painfully so, to a broader audience.” School Library Journal
“As with all the other characters you have created, I thought you really captured the feelings, struggles, thoughts and actions of the adolescent girl. I could feel her gradual experience of her new sexual feelings…You really know how to portray anxiety and depression and the devastating effects they can have. Another great contribution to teen literature and for adults too!” Dr. Nonie Lyon
“In her absorbing exploration of contemporary teen life… Hrdlitschka realistically depicts teenage emotional turmoil as Allegra’s growing obsession with Mr. Rocchelli combines with despair at her parents’ separation and the ups and downs of her new friendships.”Publisher’s Weekly
“Shelley Hrdlitschka could have made Mr. Rocchelli the “bad guy” by having him lead Allegra on but she charitably creates no good guys and bad guys, just characters who are human, trying to do the best they can. Their way of doing things, including their reactions and interpretations, may be right or they may be wrong, but they don’t seem to have any hidden agendas. Allegra herself recognizes that she “should” be lively, or that she would at least benefit from being more extroverted, but it’s not always possible to be what others want of us, no matter how beneficial. But, like her parents, her friends, Mr. Rocchelli and others, Allegra takes what she’s been given and works with it. Sometimes it’s flat but sometimes it’s a superb orchestral piece with layers of harmonies and melodies that inspire and elevate.” See entire review at http://canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.ca/2013/05/allegra.html
Brenna’s beloved adoptive mother is dead and her birth mother wants nothing to do with her. Grief-stricken, Brenna tries to care for her father and younger sister while reaching out to her biological aunt. The last thing she expects is to fall in love, but Ryan is the one person who knows what Brenna needs in order to move beyond her grief into a place of peace.
It’s ‘bead season’ at Slippery Rock High. This year the bead-snatching grad game called Gotcha has been banned as an official school activity because the teachers have decided to put an end to what they consider a dangerous tradition. The game goes underground, and more grads than ever are participating.
In the isolated rural community of Unity, the people of The Movement live a simple life guided by a set of religious principles and laws that are unique to them. Polygamy is the norm, strict obedience is expected, and it is customary for young girls to be assigned to much older husbands.
Unable to attend school while she battles cancer, fifteen-year-old Kaleigh Wyse tries to complete her classes online by correspondence. Developing a science project on astrology, Kaleigh enlists other online learners as study participants. What starts as a collaborative project slowly becomes unwieldy and then flawed when it is apparent that all her online friends are hiding vital clues about their identities.
Dancing Naked takes us with 16-year-old Kia on her journey through pregnancy and tough decisions. The novel begins, daringly, with a birth and ends, fittingly, with a rebirth. In between, we accompany Kia through emotional twists and turns as she finds the courage to follow her own path and, in doing so, changes the lives of an elderly woman and a youth worker at her church group.
Separated at birth and only reunited through circumstance and a savage crime, fifteen-year-old twins Alex and Tanner are slowly getting to know each other and becoming accustomed to the idea of being brothers, albeit brothers with barely controllable psychic abilities. While spending their summer vacation together they find that their past has resurfaced and they are in danger – again! The boys concoct a daring plan to save themselves and bring down the threatening criminal gang at the same time.
Madison is having a tough time at Band Camp. Trying desperately to become one of the group or, failing that, to go home from camp as soon as possible, Madison is spending a lot of time on the outside looking in. Everything she does seems to put even the most simple attempts at friendship on shaky ground.
Far inland, Tanner is concerned and frightened by a recurring dream of the sea, increasingly severe headaches and the rage that is beginning to control him. On a hockey trip to the coast, he believes he will have a chance to solve the mystery of the dream and hopefully find some measure of peace.
