Jeremy Stone

2014 Governor General’s Literary Awards finalist

Jeremy Stone, the new young adult novel from acclaimed author Lesley Choyce, is told in free verse format. After moving from a residential school to a new school in a new community, Jeremy, a First Nations teenage boy is trying to find out where he fits in the world. He soon meets Caitlan, an intense girl who tells him about another boy – a boyfriend of hers – who has committed suicide. Jeremy isn’t sure whether he has much to offer Caitlan, given his own uncertainties, but he is solid and supportive towards his new friend. A lot of the support comes from Old Man, the spirit of Jeremy’s dead grandfather, with whom he has frequent illuminating conversations. In fact, Jeremy has frequent contact with the spirit world – his grandfather, Jenson, the suicide, as well as a childhood friend of Jeremy’s, Jimmy Falcon. Each of these spirits help Jeremy find his way through a quagmire of bullying and racial taunts toward a more stable future. In the end, Jeremy asserts himself by summoning his father who has gone to work in the oil patch but who his son wants to return home.