The Globe 100

The Best Books of 2023, as selected by The Globe and Mail.

Focus. Click. Wind. By Amanda West Lewis. There is a bulletin board covered. There is a drawing of photographer Catherine Leroy pinned to it, along with a black-and-white photograph of a group of young people sitting on a porch, a draft dodger flier; a pendant on a chain that says,

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There is a drawing of photographer Catherine Leroy pinned to it, along with a black-and-white photograph of a group of young people sitting on a porch, a draft dodger flier; a pendant on a chain that says, \"War is not healthy for children and other living things\"; and two anti-war pins.","id":24941393903675,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.647,"height":2550,"width":1650,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_d243c8d7-8024-470a-b414-0d7554a4736d.jpg?v=1733028285"},"aspect_ratio":0.647,"height":2550,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_d243c8d7-8024-470a-b414-0d7554a4736d.jpg?v=1733028285","width":1650}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if your country is involved in an unjust war, and you’ve lost trust in your own government?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of Billie Taylor, a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist. Billie is no stranger to risky situations, but when she attends a student protest at Columbia University with her college boyfriend, and the US is caught up in violent political upheaval, her mother decides to move the two of them to Canada. Furious at being dragged away from her beloved New York City to live in a backwater called Toronto, Billie doesn’t take her exile lightly. As her mother opens their home to draft evaders and deserters, Billie’s activism grows in new ways. She discovers an underground network of political protesters and like minds in a radical group based in Rochdale College, the world’s first “free” university. And the stakes rise when she is exposed to horrific images from Vietnam of the victims of Agent Orange – a chemical being secretly manufactured in a small town just north of Toronto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuddenly she has to ask herself some hard questions. How far will she go to be part of a revolution? Is violence ever justified? Or does standing back just make you part of the problem?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKey Text Features\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eauthor’s note\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003echapters\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edialogue\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eepigraph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efacts\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehistorical context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eliterary references\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esong lyrics\u003c\/p\u003e"} {"AlsoRecommendedISBN_0":"9781773060811","AlsoRecommendedISBN_1":"9781773067926","AlsoRecommendedISBN_2":"9781773068039","AudienceRangePrecision_1_0":"03","AudienceRangePrecision_1_1":"03","AudienceRangePrecision_1_2":"03","AudienceRangePrecision_2_0":"04","AudienceRangePrecision_2_1":"04","AudienceRangePrecision_2_2":"04","AudienceRangeQualifier_0":"17","AudienceRangeQualifier_1":"26","AudienceRangeQualifier_2":"11","AudienceRangeValue_1_0":"13","AudienceRangeValue_1_1":"8","AudienceRangeValue_1_2":"8","AudienceRangeValue_2_0":"12","AudienceRangeValue_2_1":"18","AudienceRangeValue_2_2":"12","BASICMainSubject":"YAF024170","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"YOUNG ADULT FICTION\/Historical\/United States\/20th Century","BiographicalNote":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAMANDA WEST LEWIS \u003c\/strong\u003eis the author of nine books for young readers, including two about Miranda Billie Taylor, \u003cem\u003eThese Are Not the Words\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eFocus. 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She is a writer, theater creator, calligrapher, teaching artist and founder of the Ottawa Children’s Theatre. Amanda has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Born in New York City, Amanda now lives in Brooke Valley, Ontario, with her husband, writer Tim Wynne-Jones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","Contributor_0":"Lewis, Amanda West (CA)","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if your country is involved in an unjust war, and you’ve lost trust in your own government?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of Billie Taylor, a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist. Billie is no stranger to risky situations, but when she attends a student protest at Columbia University with her college boyfriend, and the US is caught up in violent political upheaval, her mother decides to move the two of them to Canada. Furious at being dragged away from her beloved New York City to live in a backwater called Toronto, Billie doesn’t take her exile lightly. As her mother opens their home to draft evaders and deserters, Billie’s activism grows in new ways. She discovers an underground network of political protesters and like minds in a radical group based in Rochdale College, the world’s first “free” university. And the stakes rise when she is exposed to horrific images from Vietnam of the victims of Agent Orange – a chemical being secretly manufactured in a small town just north of Toronto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuddenly she has to ask herself some hard questions. How far will she go to be part of a revolution? Is violence ever justified? Or does standing back just make you part of the problem?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong \u003eKey Text Features\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eauthor’s note\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003echapters\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edialogue\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eepigraph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efacts\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehistorical context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eliterary references\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esong lyrics\u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781773069005","excerpt_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781773069005\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=excerpt\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","guide_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781773069005\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=guide\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","Height":"8.5","HeightCode":"in","Imprint":"Groundwood Books","KeyTextFeatures":"\u003cp\u003eauthor’s note;chapters;dialogue;epigraph;facts;historical context;literary references;song lyrics\u003c\/p\u003e","MetaKeywords":"student politics;taking responsibility;terrorism;war and conflict;New York City;Toronto;Elmira;draft dodgers;Rochdale College;photography and photojournalism;Greta Thunberg;Severn Cullis-Suzuki;Autumn Peltier","NumberOfPages":"224","OtherText_Accolades_0":"\u003cp\u003e“With dramatic scenes, fully-realized characters, and plenty of tension, Amanda West Lewis brings readers a story from that most consequential year, 1968. This novel recaptures the turbulence, confusion, horror, and tragedies so many of us experienced. Memorable and absorbing!” — \u003cstrong\u003eLeda Schubert, award-winning author of 'Monsieur Marceau: Actor Without Words'; 'Firsts and Lasts: The Changing Seasons'; and 'Listen: How Pete Seeger Got America Singing'\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_0_Auth":"Leda Schubert, award-winning author of 'Monsieur Marceau: Actor Without Words'; 'Firsts and Lasts: The Changing Seasons'; and 'Listen: How Pete Seeger Got America Singing'","OtherText_Accolades_1":"\u003cp\u003e“Vivid language immerses us in the world of 1968 New York City and Toronto through the eyes of Billie, a gifted photographer whose commitment to social justice and ending the Vietnam War leads her to physical and moral danger as she rebels against a mother who will do anything to keep her safe. This tight, gripping story perfectly captures a time, place, and young woman who will go to any lengths to right wrongs.” — \u003cstrong\u003eLyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning YA novel 'Torch'\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_1_Auth":"Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning YA novel 'Torch'","OtherText_Accolades_2":"\u003cp\u003e“I can’t get this book out of my head!” — \u003cstrong\u003eAnn Angel, author of YALSA Award-winning 'Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing'\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_2_Auth":"Ann Angel, author of YALSA Award-winning 'Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing'","OtherText_Accolades_3":"\u003cp\u003e“With a perfect touch and a seasoned hand, Amanda Lewis has crafted an artful coming-of-age story that pulses with youthful rage. Against a backdrop of bombs too far to hear yet so close to home, Lewis gives Billie Taylor a passionate voice, and a camera lens through which an aching, timeless truth is revealed: the casualties of war don't end on a battlefield.” — \u003cstrong\u003eEmil Sher, award-winning author of 'Young Man with Camera' and other works for the stage, screen, and page\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_3_Auth":"Emil Sher, award-winning author of 'Young Man with Camera' and other works for the stage, screen, and page","OtherText_Back_cover_copy_0":"\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eThis is a historical novel, but today’s young readers will be inspired to ask hard questions about the cost of political engagement, trust in governments and police, immigration and emigration, and the human cost of war. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmanda West Lewis is a dual US\/Canadian citizen. Her recent middle-grade novel, \u003cem\u003eThese Are Not the Words\u003c\/em\u003e, was a work of autobiographical fiction based on her early childhood growing up in New York City. \u003cem\u003eFocus, Click, Wind\u003c\/em\u003e is a work of fiction inspired by Amanda’s high school years in Toronto. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBetween 1968 and 1970 more than 50,000 American political refugees fled to Canada – an emigration that changed both Canada and the US. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe novel includes swearing, graphic sex, and descriptions of child victims of Agent Orange. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmanda holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Description_for_R_0":"\u003cp\u003eSlow motion becomes freeze frame. A man in a plaid shirt, blood streaming down his face, is on his knees holding a sobbing woman. Another man frowns as he tucks what’s left of a torn shirt into his pants.... \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA filing cabinet spills a river of paper. Cigarette butts and paper plates are mashed into the carpet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhotos from a war zone. Quietly she focuses, clicks and winds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExhaustion seeps through her pores. Three days in the trenches of democracy has used up her store of bravery. She wants to go home. She wants to put the skin of her old life back on and get into bed. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut first she needs to get down the heavy marble stairs. She needs to stand under the bright lights and colorful murals in the subway at 116th. She needs to sit quietly, invisibly, in the urine-drenched subway car until she can slide into the elevator at 181st and let it deliver her to the murky surface of Washington Heights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then she needs to sneak back into the apartment without getting caught.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Long_description_1":"\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eThis is a historical novel, but today’s young readers will be inspired to ask hard questions about the cost of political engagement, trust in governments and police, immigration and emigration, and the human cost of war. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmanda West Lewis is a dual US\/Canadian citizen. Her recent middle-grade novel, \u003cem\u003eThese Are Not the Words\u003c\/em\u003e, was a work of autobiographical fiction based on her early childhood growing up in New York City. \u003cem\u003eFocus, Click, Wind\u003c\/em\u003e is a work of fiction inspired by Amanda’s high school years in Toronto. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBetween 1968 and 1970 more than 50,000 American political refugees fled to Canada – an emigration that changed both Canada and the US. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe novel includes swearing, graphic sex, and descriptions of child victims of Agent Orange. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmanda holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Review_0":"\u003cp\u003e“Readers may benefit from Lewis' … explorations of the importance of protest and considerations of violence perpetrated in the name of a greater good.” — \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_0_Src":"Kirkus Reviews","OtherText_Review_1":"\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eFocus. Click. Wind. \u003c\/em\u003eby Amanda West Lewis leans into the sex, drugs, and rock and roll of the late 1960s, but these details are merely a portal into something more significant: a depiction of the social consciousness of youth who were simultaneously navigating personal tragedy and government-sponsored violence.” — \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHistorical Novels Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_1_Src":"Historical Novels Review","OtherText_Review_2":"\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eFocus. Click. Wind.\u003c\/em\u003e has more grit than many coming-of-age novels. ” — \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eQuill \u0026 Quire\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_2_Src":"Quill \u0026 Quire","OtherText_Review_3":"\u003cp\u003e“Readers find they must respect [Billie's] diligence, her heartfelt devotion to an important cause and her desire to question the roles set out for her by her mom, her friends and, indeed, her government.” — \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eCM: Canadian Review of Materials\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_3_Src":"CM: Canadian Review of Materials","OtherText_Review_4":"\u003cp\u003e“This book will engage readers while leaving them with lots to think about including how can one person make a difference during times of social unrest.” — \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eCanadian Children's Book News\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_4_Src":"Canadian Children's Book News","OtherText_Review_5":"\u003cp\u003e“A fascinating young adult book that raises important questions about how young people should react when they disagree with their country's actions. Is rebellion a legitimate option?” — \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWinnipeg Free Press\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_5_Src":"Winnipeg Free Press","OtherText_Review_6":"\u003cp\u003eThis book will engage readers while leaving them with lots to think about including how can one person make a difference during times of social unrest. \u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_6_Src":"Canadian Children’s Book News","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt’s 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","PrizeCodeText_0":"Commended","PrizeCodeText_1":"Short-listed","PrizeCode_0":"03","PrizeCode_1":"04","PrizeName_0":"Globe 100 Best Books","PrizeName_1":"Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People","PrizeYear_0":"2023","PrizeYear_1":"2024","ProductFormDescription":"epub","PublicationDate":"2023-08-01","Publisher":"Groundwood Books Ltd","ShortDescription":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt’s 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","Width":"5.5","WidthCode":"in"}

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Focus. Click. Wind.

It’s 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist.

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The Globe 100

Focus. Click. Wind.

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