Gina McMurchy-Barber

Born with Down syndrome, Ruby Jean Sharp lives at a time when being a developmentally disabled person usually meant growing up behind locked doors. When Ruby Jeans loving grandmother dies, she is taken to the Provincial Lunatic Asylum. It is here that Ruby Jean learns to survive isolation, boredom, and every kind of abuse.

Free as a Bird

Jigsaw Puzzle King

A two-hundred-year-old sunken ship is discovered off the northern tip of Vancouver Island and budding archaeologist Peggy Henderson manages to secure a place on this archaeological expedition. The trip teachers her not only about history but about her own relationships.

A Peggy Henderson Adventure

Bone Deep

Short-listed for the 2009 Silver Birch Award, commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens Due to circumstances beyond her control, 12-year-old Peggy Henderson has to move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, British Columbia, to live with her aunt and uncle. Without a father and separated from her mother, who’s looking for work, Peggy feels her unhappiness increasing until the day she and her uncle start digging a pond in the backyard and she realizes the rock she’s been trying to pry from the ground is really a human skull. Peggy eventually learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, a woman named Eddy, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can – by reading the bones. As life with her aunt becomes more and more unbearable, Peggy looks to the old Salish man from the past for help and answers.

Reading the Bones

Short-listed for the 2010 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature, the 2010 Snow Willow Award and the 2011 CLA Young Adult Book Award Born with Down syndrome, Ruby Jean Sharp comes from a time when being a developmentally disabled person could mean growing up behind locked doors and barred windows and being called names like "retard" and "moron." When Ruby Jean’s caregiver and loving grandmother dies, her mother takes her to Woodlands School in New Westminster, British Columbia, and rarely visits. As Ruby Jean herself says: "Can’t say why they called it a school – a school’s a place you go for learnin an then after you get to go home. I never learnt much bout ledders and numbers, an I sure never got to go home." It’s here in an institution that opened in 1878 and was originally called the Provincial Lunatic Asylum that Ruby Jean learns to survive isolation, boredom, and every kind of abuse. Just when she can hardly remember if she’s ever been happy, she learns a lesson about patience and perseverance from an old crow.

Being yourself isn’t always easy. When you’re new in school, all you want is to fit in. When eleven-year-old Warren and his family move to a new city, his twin brother, who has Down syndrome, attracts too much attention for Warren’s liking. Bennie’s different and doesn’t care about it. But while Bennie may be oblivious to those who are curious or uneasy with him, Warren notices every smirk, comment, and sideways glance. Warren is weary of flip-flopping between trying to be just like everyone else and being the protective brother of a boy with special needs. Sometimes he thinks his life would be easier if he had no brother. But what he really needs is to stop worrying about what other people think.

The Jigsaw Puzzle King

A vandalized burial in a pioneer cemetery brings 12-year-old Peggy and her archaeologist friend Eddy to Golden, British Columbia, to excavate. When Eddy discovers the vertebrae at the base of the skull are crushed, they have their first clue. Hoping to learn more, Peggy learns that sometimes good people do bad things.

Broken Bones

This four-book bundle collects the adventures of twelve-year-old adventurer and bone expert Peggy Henderson. Includes: Reading the Bones – #1 Circumstances beyond her control make Peggy move to the quiet town of Crescent Beach, B.C. to live with her aunt and uncle. She learns that her home and the entire seaside town were built on top of a 5,000-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With the help of an elderly archaeologist, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way that few others can ... by reading the bones. Broken Bones – #2 A vandalized burial in an abandoned pioneer cemetery brings Peggy and her elderly archaeologist friend Eddy to Golden, British Columbia, to excavate. Since the wooden burial markers disintegrated long ago, Peggy and Eddy have no way of knowing the dead man’s identity. But when Eddy discovers the vertebrae at the base of the skull are crushed, a sure sign the cause of death was hanging, they have their first clue. Bone Deep – #3 When archaeologists discover a two-hundred-year-old shipwreck, Peggy decides she’ll do whatever it takes to take part in the expedition. But first she needs to convince her mom to let her go, and to pay for scuba diving lessons. To complicate matters even more, Peggy’s Great Aunt Beatrix comes to stay, and she’s bent on changing Peggy from a twelve-year-old adventure-seeking tomboy to a proper young lady. Help comes in the most unlikely of places when Peggy gets her hands on a copy of the captain’s log from the doomed ship, which holds the key to navigating stormy relationships. A Bone to Pick – #4 When Peggy finds her way into an archaeological dig on the coast of Newfoundland, she discovers a long-lost gravesite while wandering the grassy hills. But will her attitude keep her from participating in the excavation of a brave Viking girl?

Gina McMurchy-Barber

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