Baggageby Wendy PhillipsPublished by Coteau BooksReviewed by Ben Charles$14.95 ISBN 9781550509700 Baggage, written by Wendy Phillips and published by Coteau Books is a fantastic teen read that covers dark themes with the seriousness that fits the subject matter and a narrative device that is relevant to young readers. The story is set in British Columbia and begins at the Vancouver airport as a young, unidentified foreign boy is found near International Arrivals by a Canadian high school teacher named Ms. Nelson and one of her students, Brittany. The boy has no family or friends in sight, no identification and appears to be malnourished. To make matters worse, he does not speak any languages that anyone in the airport understands. Understandably concerned, the teacher takes the boy to the customs office only to find that their only solution is to deport the boy as he is unidentified and claim that he may not even be protected by child protection laws. They take the boy, Thabo, into their homes to protest the deportation and to protect him at all costs. It is now up to Ms. Nelson, Brittany, her sister Leah, and their friend Kevin to inspire their school and their community…

Fishtailing by Wendy Phillips Published by Coteau Books Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $14.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-411-8 Fishtailing, the new genre-hybridized book for teens by Richmond, BC writer Wendy Phillips, is 196 pages long but takes precious little time to read. A drama that reads like a novel written in poems, the book’s über-quick pacing, innovative structure, disparate adolescent characters and bold themes combine to create a literary experience highly-suited for teenagers. The story braids the inner hopes, fears and traumas of four central characters: edgy Natalie, who’s been transferred to her new school due to “some difficulty with peer relationships” at her former school; Tricia, who feels invisible within a blended family, struggles with her Japanese\Canadian ethnicity, and is drawn toward friendship with Natalie; Miguel, who’s fled the violence of Central America with his uncle and cousin, reads Neruda, and is haunted by images of his mother’s murder; and Kyle – the most interesting of the four seniors – who works in his father’s garage, writes the best poetry, and plays his guitar with grease-stained fingers. We also hear from Mrs. Farr, an overwhelmed English teacher who encourages the students to write poetry but challenges them over the merest hint…