Budge Wilson Books in Order

Lorinda and James must stay with their childless aunt and uncle while their parents and baby sister travel to Texas. Facing six months away from home, they encounter new classmates, friendships, rivalries, and a mystery at school.

Lorinda and James Dauphinee return from Ontario to their Nova Scotia fishing village expecting familiar surroundings. Instead, strange lights appearing in the harbor have unsettled even the adults, presenting the siblings with a new mystery close to home.

Katie and Daniel struggle to understand why their once-loving father has become angry and withdrawn. His reactions threaten Katie's piano recital and Daniel's school play, leaving the children uncertain about what has changed and whether their family can recover.

Newly arrived in Halifax, Ramsay Hitherton Hobbs resents having to learn French and struggles to fit in. A friendship with lonely Quebec widow Madame Belzile offers both of them companionship, encouragement, and a chance to build confidence.

Lorinda and her brother James set out to buy their mother an especially meaningful Christmas present. Earning enough money requires imaginative schemes, but unexpected setbacks threaten their plans as they try to make the holiday memorable.

Fourteen-year-old Lorinda uses a new diary to record friendships, basketball, and confusing romantic attention. When her demanding grandfather comes to stay, she must also find ways to understand his loneliness while navigating the pressures of adolescence.

Eleven stories explore girls growing up in an imperfect world. Diaries, pen pals, first love, teachers, and family relationships become occasions for discoveries that complicate childhood expectations and illuminate the difficult business of understanding other people.

After her grandmother's death, Lorinda inherits diaries that reveal a life she barely knew. Reading about her grandmother at thirteen and as a young woman gives her a new connection to the past and to growing up.

Oliver appears calm as his family moves to a new town and his father leaves for the Gulf War. Beneath that confident exterior, he struggles with fear, an unfamiliar school, and expectations that prevent others from seeing his distress.

Ten stories examine family tensions, friendship, and the disappointments of growing up. A manipulative son unsettles his relatives, a newcomer divides friends, and a young woman discovers that an admired adult does not live up to her expectations.

These stories follow characters of different ages through love, loneliness, and unexpected encounters. A child’s birthday party exposes emotional tensions, an elderly woman considers romance, and an unpublished writer confides his frustrations to a diary.

Shy Cassandra lives in a seaside village without friends, finding companionship in a piece of driftwood shaped like a person. When it disappears, she sets out to recover the unusual friend she fears may come to harm.

Women at different stages of life confront loneliness, family expectations, and emotional distress. These stories connect the experiences of younger and older characters, revealing how familiar struggles persist even as their circumstances and ages change.

Recovering from chickenpox, Duff and Simon act out a television adventure in the playground. A neighbor mistakes their swordplay for a real emergency, setting off confusion as police, an ambulance, and alarmed adults descend on the scene.

The Wilson family treasures Deirdre, their ordinary-looking black cat who always waits for them at home. When she disappears, her absence leaves them wondering whether their beloved companion will return and facing the uncertainty of a long wait.

Fifteen-year-old Sharla resents moving from Ottawa to cold, remote Churchill, where polar bears dominate local life. Her attraction to an older photographer and a dangerous encounter with a bear complicate her anger and her developing friendship with Theo.

Duff's fantastic tales have made everyone skeptical, so only his friend Simon believes his report of a monkey in the barn. When a circus arrives missing its star performer, the adults must reconsider whether this story could be true.

Angelina loves animals until her unruly new kitten leaves her frightened of them. With support from her mother, her friend Josephine, and a gentle stray cat, she begins confronting a fear that has changed something she once enjoyed.

Angus longs to join his musical family's playing rather than simply hum along. Hearing a fiddle at a Cape Breton ceilidh helps him choose an instrument, but learning to make the sounds he imagines requires patience and practice.

Manfred's parents worry that their young monster is not frightening enough to meet expectations. Rather than accepting their definition of how a monster should behave, he challenges those assumptions in a story about difference and belonging.

Twelve stories explore family relationships through the eyes of children and teenagers. Sibling rivalry, illness, neglect, and alcoholism create painful divisions, while encounters with teachers, friends, and relatives offer moments of understanding and connection.

Young Harold feels out of place in his coastal Nova Scotia community until he befriends a great blue heron. Confusion involving the bird gives him a chance to reconsider himself and his relationship with the people around him.

After moving from Peterborough to Halifax, Stephanie Henderson misses her friends and worries about fitting in. Her parents give her a cat to ease the transition, but its habit of barking creates a new source of embarrassment.

In December 1941, Izzie Publicover and her family prepare for a rare Christmas gathering in their Nova Scotia village. Wartime restrictions already complicate the holiday, and a sudden storm threatens the plans she hopes to save.

Andrea Doucette feels gloomy while everyone else in her Nova Scotia fishing-village home anticipates Christmas Eve. As unexpected events unfold, she wonders whether the holiday might improve or become the disaster she has been dreading.

In wartime Nova Scotia, Izzie worries about her father serving in the navy while adjusting to Woodside. A summer return to Granite Cove with her friend Patricia promises relief, but news from the war threatens that respite.

When her father joins the navy in 1942, Izzie Publicover reluctantly leaves Granite Cove for Dartmouth. Befriending Patricia, a girl evacuated from London, introduces her to different wartime experiences as danger edges closer to Nova Scotia.

Young people find unexpected allies while facing fear, bullying, and broken family relationships. These stories follow the connections that help them understand themselves and others, from an unsent conversation with an absent father to support from a surprising friend.

In 1945, Izzie's family awaits her father's return as the war nears its end. Peace may also separate her from friends Patricia and Roberta, forcing the girls to face uncertain futures and the possibility of losing daily companionship.

This prequel follows Anne Shirley's childhood before she reaches Green Gables, from losing her parents to living with other families and entering an orphanage. Hardship and imagination shape the girl who will later arrive in Avonlea.

These poems reflect on the aftermath of Swissair Flight 111’s crash off Nova Scotia. Wilson explores grief, the burden carried by local responders, and the mutual kindness between communities and families struggling to live with the tragedy.