A to Z Challenge - Favourite Books - Kit Pearson

aring Game by Kit Pearson.

The first Kit Pearson book I ever read was A Handful of Time, a time-travel story about a Canadian girl who slips back and forth between her family's present and past.

"When Patricia's parents decide to separate, she is sent to spend the summer with her cousins on an Alberta lake. Already shy and awkward, her misery is increased by her cousins' bullying. Finally, when they refuse to play with her, Patricia hides in the small cabin behind the cottage. There she discovers an old pocket watch under the floorboards. When she winds it up it takes her back thirty-five years in time, where she observes her mother at the same age she is. But then the watch is broken and Patricia has to face the present."

I read and reread this story, each time identifying with a different aspect of Patricia's summer. When I finally read The Daring Game, there was even more that I connected to, especially the high school, which reminded me of my own (though mine wasn't a boarding school).

"Eliza has always wanted to go to boarding school, so when her parents are transferred to Toronto for a year she's eager to attend Ashdown Academy in Vancouver. Even though she discovers that a real boarding school is not like the books she has read, Eliza enjoys the novelty of wearing a uniform and living in the Yellow Dorm with four other girls. When one of the girls, Helen, starts the "daring game", however, Eliza's life at boarding school becomes more complicated. Her growing friendship with Helen puts her in a position of conflicting loyalties."

I've since read everything else Pearson's written - but wait, what's this? A collection of ghost stories selected by Janet Lunn!

I never expected this A to Z Challenge to add to my To Read list!