Covered Bridge

You Can Pick Me Up at Peggy's Cove

Uncle Ronald

Hey, Dad!

Spud in Winter

The Low Life: 5 Great Tales from up and down the River

Up to Low

Forever Birchwood

Suspended from school for cussing at a mean teacher, John Spud' Sweetgrass at least still has his job selling french fries from a curbside chip wagon. But he notices that something stinks literally. Its the smell of rancid cooking oil at a polluted Ottawa beach. His suspicions aroused, Spud follows Dumper Stubbs, a creepy delivery man who services local restaurants and chip wagons. Spud gets angry when he sees Dumper living up to his name, dumping oil into a storm drain and causing terrible pollution in the river. When Spud blows the whistle, he loses his job. Enlisting the help of his buddy Dink the Thinker, and Connie Pan whom he calls his girlfriend though she isnt exactly that Spud thinks he has a chance of regaining his job and stopping the Dumpers harmful activities. In the background of this offbeat farce are serious issues that Spud must also deal with, including his fathers death, his mothers withdrawal into grief, and his own awkward transition through adolescence. Brian Doyle expertly interweaves comedy and important contemporary concerns of young people in this vivid story with a message.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Covered Bridge

Brian Doyle, 1990

You Can Pick Me Up at Peggy's Cove

Brian Doyle, 1979

Uncle Ronald

Brian Doyle, 1996

Hey, Dad!

Brian Doyle, 1978

Spud in Winter

Brian Doyle, 2011

The Low Life: 5 Great Tales from up and down the River

Brian Doyle, 1999

Up to Low

Brian Doyle, 1989

Forever Birchwood

Danielle Daniel, 2022