$30.00 CAD (tax included) + $14.00 postage & shipping (Canada Post) 512 pp.
If you live in Ottawa, please contact me, we may be able to arrange a book pick up or drop off to save shipping.
NOW AVAILABLE AT:
THE BOOK NOOK in Perth, ON
OCTOPUS BOOKS in Ottawa, ON (2 locations)
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Please note, we're working to get this into other bookstores.
MISFIT by K.A. Neyedley
ISBN-978-1-77216-025-3
Jill Ann McCann remembers a lot from her childhood.
She recalls the simple pleasures of a rural Prairie upbringing in the 1970s, aided by the love of Aunt Mim and Auntie Tibs and her friendship with Jen.
However, Jill’s warring alcoholic parents Dick and Wendy and delinquent brother Butchie should have been enough to complicate one life.
As she grows to adolescence, adding to her broken family is Jill’s inability to fit in with her peers.
Jill vividly paints an awkward adolescence fraught with exclusion and ridicule as she describes her anguish at each humiliation.
Thankfully, however, childhood and adolescence do end.
With determination, Jill emerges unbroken from an imperfect upbringing.
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Reader comments:
"Wow wow wow... Started your book... Its amazing.... A flood of childhood memories for me!!!! So many things i have forgotten. Loving it!! ...Finished the book and gave it to my brother to read!”
Gloria D, Saskatchewan
"Just want you to know that your book brought back so many memories for me of life in a small prairie town. It's as if some of the characters you wrote about came from my hometown. The descriptions were so well written that I could really imagine them. " Audrey S, Ottawa, ON
“Was a trip down memory lane as hadn't thought of some of the sayings and some of the things like the white margarine that we added the colour to for a long time. Took me back to how I felt, especially in high school. Thank goodness those years are over!”
Laurel S, Saskatchewan
"Anyone who grew up in a small town on the Canadian prairies will identify with Kim Neyedley's new book, Misfit. In the book, she vividly recalls the sights, the sounds and the iconic images of small town life. Local shop keepers, rutted gravel roads, hockey playing boys, fall suppers, and nasty town gossips – just to mention a few things – come to life in this book.
In addition, anyone who has ever grown up will identify with at least some of the struggles of the book's main character – Jill Ann McCann. We have all experienced, at some point in our life, the feeling of not fitting in, being different or being “other” than what is deemed to be “cool”. Mean and bullying classmates are also something almost all of us have had to endure.
Jill's unhappy home life with abusive, alcoholic parents makes the experience of growing up in this narrow little town much more difficult. She draws strength from her good friend Jen, and her reliable Aunt Mim as well as her slightly eccentric but wise Aunt Tibs. "Nothing is so painful as it is in childhood and adolescence,"reflects Jill in the book. However, Jill's ability to overcome the obstacles and painful lessons of her earlier life, to exorcize her ghosts and to move on to become a happy adult who embraces self acceptance is an inspiration to the reader."
Janice A, Singapore
"The author helps us understand the sense of alienation felt by young people, growing up in small towns, who are trying to walk their own paths."
Joyce W, Sault Ste Marie, ON
"I felt like I was part of the family. Descriptions of people and their foibles, personalities, character traits were all very believable."
Cathy N, Winnipeg, MB
"This is the first time I've read about what it feels like to be bullied!"
Raymond C, Ottawa, ON
"Nailed it!! I really enjoyed the book. You were wonderful in your descriptions. I could picture the scenes so easily. Great job!
No child should have to endure the negativity inflicted upon theses friends. It also shows the resiliency of the human spirit. Kim puts into words the many emotions, thoughts and feelings that go through a young girl's mind (and probably boys too). Logical or not, that is what shapes their world. With the support of two loving aunts, she slowly emerges into the beautiful woman we see."
Denise H, North Battleford, SK
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"A heartbreakingly accurate portrayal of a sensitive soul navigating her way through the milieu of young adulthood. Anyone who experienced high school life in a small town during the seventies will feel at home between the covers of Misfit."
Shelley N, Saskatoon, SK
"Very good book. I really think schools or groups with teens should read your book. People can relate to the story; we learn that there is hope, with lots of work, to diminish all the scars!"
Christyne N, Orleans, ON
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"I have had the opportunity to finish reading “Misfit”. I enjoyed it. You certainly have mastered the English language. It was a pleasant and good read. I did find the matter in question more or less depressing. But I concur, it is a story that needed to be told.
However, I was uplifted by the last few chapters where Jilly finally chose to live her life without the influence of bullies and others who does not care for her. Life is really too short to bother with insignificant and narrow-minded people. "Félicitations"."
Sylvie R, Orleans, ON
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"I started re-reading your book. I had a hard time reading it at first as I was trying to put a face to the characters. It is very well written and I think it's an eye opener for the kids in your class for how mean they were to everyone who wasn't in their group. I am glad we moved away and started our lives where we could be ourselves. Well done! "
Debbie T, Saskatchewan
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