Odd Man Out

Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize and the TD CCBC Canadian Children's Literature Award Kip is spending the summer with his grandmother and his five eccentric girl cousins, including Emily, who thinks she's a dog. Gran's house is about to be demolished, so anything goes, whether it's drawing maps on the walls or sawing off the knob at the bottom of the banister for a smoother ride. When Kip bashes through an old closet, he discovers the binder his late father kept as a teenager. He's bewildered by what he finds: puzzling lists, hair samples, old newspaper clippings and business cards -- all accompanying a confidential report written by a mysterious young operative who is carrying out a secret plan to infect teenagers with a cell-altering virus. This wonderful novel has all the Sarah Ellis hallmarks -- quirky characters, insight and wit -- underpinned by resonant themes of family, memory and the creative imagination. Upcoming from Sarah Ellis in May 2014 Outside In: Eight years after the publication of Odd Man Out, Sarah Ellis returns to Groundwood Books with a highly anticipated new novel about family, friendship, materialism and beauty. When Kip goes to British Columbia to visit his grandmother, it is like going to another planet-- a planet inhabited by five alien girl cousins. Fortunately, Gran runs a loose ship, and her house is about to be demolished. So aside from sawing though load-bearing beam, anything goes. One day, Kip bashes out the entrance to a closet in the attc and finds an old black binder that once belonged to his father. As the summer unfolds, Kip misses his mother, but the noisy cousins provide welcome distraction-- seaside picnics, being buried alive at the beach, giving Gran a new hairstye (a procedure involving plenty of gel and a vacuum cleaner), and building his very own yurt. Yet he is constantly pulled back to the binder-- a confidential report written by a mysterious young operative who is carrying out a secret mission. Real or made up? Imagination or delusion? His father or himself, For Kip. the answers are both frightening and thriling. While visiting his grandmother, Kip discovers his late father's secret notebooks, lists, and a confidential report that reveals a dangerous secret plan, but disaster strikes when he decides to reveal this information to others