Missing Mike

When Cara and her family are evacuated from their town because of a raging wildfire, her dog Mike gets left behind. Cara will do anything to find Mike–even if it means going back to the fire zone alone.

A timely middle-grade story about the devastation of wildfires and the resilience of the human spirit. MISSING MIKE (Pajama Press, 2018*) is a middle-grade novel in verse, available now in hardcover, paperback, e-book, and kobo audio.

*Second edition published 2024 by Pajama Press. Missing Mike is also available in French as Où es-tu? (translated by Andrée Poulin, published by la courte échelle, 2020).

Awards and Honours:

  • 2019 NCTE Notable Verse Novels selection
  • 2019 USBBY Outstanding International Books selection
  • 2018 OLA Best Bets selection
  • 2018 Resource Links “The Year’s Best” selection
  • 2018 Fall Best Books for Kids & Teens starred selection
  • 2018 OLA Forest of Reading Kid Committee Summer Reading List selection
  • 2019-2020 Surrey Schools Book of the Year nominee
  • selected for 11 state/provincial reading lists:
    • 2022 Chocolate Lily Award (BC) – winner
    • 2022 Lectio Book Award (Texas)
    • 2021 Kentucky Bluegrass Award
    • 2021 Iowa Teen Award
    • 2021 Iowa Middle School
    • 2021 SYRCA Diamond Willow Award
    • 2020 Rocky Mountain Book Award
    • 2020 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award (Sundogs)
    • 2020 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award
    • 2020 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award (Vermont Golden Dome Book Award)
    • 2019 Forest of Reading Silver Birch Fiction Award – honour book

Reviews:

“Tense, heartwarming, and masterful.”—Kirkus

“A fast-paced, compelling, and timely read.”—Booklist

“… a dramatic and youthful eyewitness perspective on wildfires, evacuation operations, the kindness and generosity of strangers, and the traumatic uncertainty of loss. A timely addition to middle grade collections.”—School Library Journal

“Missing Mike is a life-affirming, soul-soaring journey of love, loss, family, hope and the true definition of home. A standout book in the collection of any middle-grade reader…”—Canadian Children’s Book News

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