Firefly

Firefly lived in the park across from her mother's home. It was safer there. But after the bad night happens, and her baseball-bat-wielding mother is taken away, social services send Firefly to live with her Aunt Gayle. She hardly knows Gayle, but discovers that she owns a costume shop.

Yes, Firefly might be suffering from PTSD, but she can get used to taking baths, sleeping on a bed again, and wearing as many costumes as she can to school.

But where is "home"? What is "family"? Who is Firefly, for that matter...and which costume is the real one?

Middle-grade novel Firefly is about the titular character who is looking for a place to call home. Firefly lives in the park but one day she is forced by social services to live with her Aunt Gayle, who just happens to own a costume shop. While Firefly gets used to having a roof over her head, she suffers from PTSD and embarks on a journey to find her true identity.(From Cormorant Books)

Firefly wonthe 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature text.

Philippa Dowding is a Canadian children's author, a poet, musician and copywriter based in Toronto. Her bookMyles and the Monster Outsidewas a nominee for the 2017 Silver Birch Express Award and her chapter bookOculumwas a finalist for the2020 Silver Birch Fiction Award.

• 2021 Governor General's Literary Award winners write about connection
• The finalists for the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature text