Ashley Little

YA FICTION

Confessions of a Teenage Leper (Penguin Teen, 2018)                                                    Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids & Teens; OLA’s Forest of Reading Teen Committee Summer Reading List

“You thought it was bad having braces and acne and a stupid looking haircut? Try being a high school leper.” (14 & up)

Anatomy of a Girl Gang (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013) Winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; named a Top Ten Book for Youth in Custody; Finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award; Finalist for the In the Margins Book Award; Finalist for the ReLit Award; Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award

Narrated in six voices, Anatomy of a Girl Gang is the powerful story of the Black Roses. Mac, the self-appointed leader and mastermind; Mercy, the Punjabi princess with a skill for theft; Kayos, a high-school dropout who gave birth to a daughter at age thirteen; Sly Girl, who fled her reserve for a better life, only to find depravity and addiction; and Z, a sixteen-year-old anti-establishment graffiti artist. Told in stark, vivid, and fearless prose, Anatomy of a Girl Gang is a narrative punch to the throat, a screaming, spray-painted portrait of urban gang culture; a brutal, unflinching story of lost girls struggling for power, voice, and hope. (14 & up)

The New Normal (Orca Book Publishers, 2013)  Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize; Ontario Library Association Best Bets; Voted Top Ten Teen Reads by Medicine Hat School District

Sixteen year old misanthrope Tamar Robinson navigates through a series of tragic and absurd events. Her twin sisters recently died in a car crash and Tamar is losing her hair. Her mother has become obsessed with yoga; her father has turned to beer. While grappling with the devastation of her sudden hair loss, Tamar is fired from her first job, lands a role in the spring play, is suspended from school, and robbed at gunpoint. Somehow, she manages to survive it all, with the support of her best friend, Roy. (12 & up)

ADULT FICTION

Niagara Motel (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016) Finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award; Adapted for audiobook

Set in the early 1990s, Niagara Motel is narrated by Tucker Malone―the only child of a narcoleptic touring stripper―who believes his father is Sam Malone from Cheers. Tucker and his mother move from motel to motel until, one night, his mother is hit by a car after falling asleep in the street.Tucker is sent to live in a youth group home where he meets Meredith, a pregnant sixteen-year-old with hopes of her own; he convinces her to join him on a road trip to find his father, which takes them from Boston to L.A. On the journey, they encounter some of the most notorious criminals of the era, and arrive in Los Angeles as the Rodney King riots are erupting. Told in spare, straightforward prose, Niagara Motel is a biting chronicle during the rise of mass-media in the decade that defined the MTV Generation, and the bittersweet story of a young boy who must learn painful lessons on his way to becoming a man.