The Girl in the Backseat
By Norma Charles

In this fast-paced, on-the-road YA novel, Norma Charles once again manages to include provocative social issues in an adventure story that will appeal to children from age twelve and up. Charles takes on the issue of young girls being forced to marry older men in Bountiful-style communities where polygamy abounds. She also explores the issues involved in mixed-race families where colour is a factor. The novel opens with fifteen-year-old Jacob Armstrong disgruntled to find that his mother has decided that the whole family must accompany his sister, Minerva, to her new university on a road trip all the way from Vancouver to Winnipeg. The only saving grace is that he and Minerva get to drive in a peppy little Mini, away from the rest of the embarrassingly crazy family in the family van — which includes their step-father, Fred Finkle and his two sons, Barney, a stand up comedian-wanna-be, and Sam, an eleven-year-old dinosaur expert. Before they leave BC, Minerva and Jacob are shocked to discover a stowaway in the backseat of their Mini. It’s a girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes and desperate to escape from her home and get to Winnipeg. She begs the siblings not only to take her with them, but asks them to keep her presence in the backseat a secret. Where, they ask, has she come from? Why is she so desperate to escape? And just who is after her? And why? The Girl in the Backseat is a novel that takes you on an urgent journey across the prairies where Jacob uncovers some uncomfortable truths about himself and his attitude towards people who are different. It also explores how tolerance, understanding and a positive sense of self-worth can grow and develop from unexpected encounters.

"Norma Charles's new book is top-notch and right on form. The right blend of suspense, misadventure and humour makes The Girl in the Backseat a pure delight to read." — James Heneghan

Norma Charles is the author of over fifteen books for children, among which are The Accomplice (Raincoast), short-listed for the Sheila Egoff Award for Children’s Literature and All the Way to Mexico (Raincoast), which won the Chocolate Lily Award in 2005. She also wrote the Sophie series including Sophie Sea to Sea, which won the BC Year 2000 Award. Her books have been featured several times in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice awards. She was a teacher/librarian in Vancouver for many years and has travelled extensively, including many trips across the prairies to Manitoba where she was born.