Stranger at Bay

"Contemporary young adult fiction has a sure winner in ... Don Aker. His first young adult novel, Of Things Not Seen, earned him a 1996 Ann Connor Brimer Award and a Canadian Authors Association Lilla Stirling Award for excellence in children's literature. His second, Stranger at Bay, is a worthy follow-up.... Aker has a deft hand with dialogue and characters.... More than a new-kid-on-the-block, coming-of-age tale, this is an impressive story."
The Daily News
"Aker writes with authority about the school milieu. As Robert Cormier did in The Chocolate War, Aker reveals that schools, ostensibly places of learning and enlightenment, can have a nasty darker side; some students, especially the academically bright, small, weak, or physically unattractive, find themselves victimized and/or excluded from the mainstream. Recommended."
Canadian Book Review Annual
"Among other first-class YA authors is Don Aker, whose first book, Of Things Not Seen, won the Ann Connor Brimer Award and the Lilla Stirling Award. Stranger at Bay is another feather in his cap.... [Aker] has an eye for the subtleties of everyday relationships between fellow students, or between parents and children. Stranger at Bay offers readers good entertainment, food for thought, and a promise of more good things to come from Don Aker."
Atlantic Books Today
"Don Aker brings to Stranger at Bay a tight, intelligent style, a keen ear for adolescent angst, and a cast of well-wrought characters.... He won several awards for his previous title, Of Things Not Seen. This one consolidates his reputation as a fine writer."
Quill & Quire
"Aker writes consistently good dialogue and scenes for [his teenaged characters]. He also creates adults whose words and actions are believable."
The Chronicle Herald
"Stranger at Bay made me laugh and made me cry, but most of all made me remember what it was like to be a teenager trying to fit in.... Randy's voice is the perfect combination of the self-deprecation and self-centredness common to teenagers. Because Aker gets the voice absolutely right, it is easy to identify with Randy; and because Aker uses a light hand and some humour, it doesn't become claustrophobic being in Randy's head. A light hand seems to be Aker's strength. He gives Randy some insight into his own behaviour and feelings, but not too much, so the novel never becomes preachy. Aker doesn't try to change the world with this novel, just allows the main characters to grow a little bit, resolve some of their current conflicts, and make peace with the past."
Resource Links
"Aker's hero, Randy, gives a particularly wry and self-deprecating view of teendom as well as life-with-parents in an often acerbic tone that is genuinely funny from first chapter to last."
Canadian Children's Literature

SYNOPSIS

A few short weeks ago, 14-year-old Randy Forsythe was happy living in Ontario and hanging out with his friends at Eaton Academy, a prestigious school for gifted students. That was before his father lost his job and had to move the family, which now includes Randy's less-than-brilliant new stepmother, to Nova Scotia. If living without the Internet in a dilapidated house on the Bay of Fundy wasn't bad enough already, Randy gets fingered as an easy mark by Jake and his gang of bullies because Randy has access to something they want. And they know how to make him get it.
Q&A

RECOGNITION

  • An American Library Association "Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers"
  • Nominated for the 1999 CNIB Torgi Award
  • Nominated for the Ontario Library Association 1998 Red Maple Award
  • Nominated for Atlantic Canada's 1998 Ann Connor Brimer Award
  • Nominated for Ontario's 1998 Blue Heron Award
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