Last Pick shows how determination can help overcome obstacles — even bullying. Growing up with a developmental condition that left her clumsy in both movement and speech, Jazz was teased and never had the chance to play team sports. Now rid of her symptoms, Jazz is ready to play basketball at her Vancouver junior high, but the reappearance of an old bully makes her question herself and tempts her to let down the team that is counting on her. With a focus on ability and team loyalty,Last Pick emphasizes teamwork and countering bullying with fairness and forgiveness.

When an Indigenous group demands the local schools name be changed, rifts are formed within the community and the legacies of who we honour from history are challenged. This mystery/adventure set in a small BC lumber town is a fictional account of an event that is similar to many across the country – a sudden conflict over a school name and the historic figure it recognizes. Educator and childrens’ novelist David Starr builds a compelling fictional narrative using elements drawn from the history of resource exploitation at the expense of First Nations’ communities. In this book, the son of the owners of the town’s lumber mill goes to a school named after his grandfather. When his grandfather’s statue is splashed with paint as a protest, his best friend from the nearby reserve supports the protest. To defend his grandfather’s reputation, he digs into town history to learn more about his family. What he learns about the experience of the nearby First Nation community leads to a whole new understanding of his family’s legacy – and the town’s troubling past.