Testify by Valerie Sherrard

Testify is on the Red Maple list for this year. I have always loved Valerie Sherrard's books. It is so nice to read a Canadian author who sets her stories in the eastern part of Canada. Sherrard's characters always seem like real people, her female characters are not perfect, but they are very real. Testify is no different. The female characters in this story are pretty typical high school girls. They don't always do what their parents want them to do, but they are pretty good kids. The main character is Shana, she is a good kid who has a great group of girls she hangs around with. Her best friend is Carrie. When Carrie comes to her in trouble because she is afraid of her step father, Shana agrees to do something she knows is wrong for the greater good and Carrie is very grateful to her for helping her. But, just after this, Shana starts to realize that Carrie doesn't always tell the truth and suddenly Shana comes to understand that she may have been a pawn in Carrie's game to get rid of her stepfather. I really liked how in this story Shana has to grapple with not only her friends behaviour but also her own conscience. While this book deals with the issues of child abuse, it is handled in a very simple way that kids can understand. As I was reading this short book, I realized that this book would be great for girls who don't love to read. It dawned on me that while there are lots of books out there for reluctant boy readers (see any of the ORCA books), there aren't as many for girls. I believe this falls under that category. This book is easy to read, short, but has an exciting plot. I can think of many kids who would enjoy reading this book.