The Private Journal of Day Applepenny, Prisoner

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Until a short while ago, Day Applepenny was a barefoot young girl living
with her mother in a hippie commune located on a remote island in
British Columbia. Now she is stuck in Toronto with her rich grandmother,
who lives in a mansion. Her grandmother plans to turn Day into a
“proper young lady,” whether she likes it or not.

Day does not like it. She especially hates her new school, a private
girls’ collegiate with ugly, uncomfortable uniforms and hundreds of
silly rules everyone except her seems to know. At school, Day feels
bullied and humiliated; at home, she feels lonely and bored. Slowly, Day
hatches a plan to beg, borrow, or steal whatever it takes to buy her
train fare back home. In the meantime, she puts on a meek face and
confines her anger to the entries in her private journal.

Hypocrisy, guilt, alcoholism, racism, pride, tyranny, selfishness, and
selflessness are just some of the themes covered in this ambitious first
novel. Its intriguing assortment of characters range from Graham, the
commune guru, who turns out to have a darker side, to Day’s stern
grandmother, who turns out to have a lighter side. Although there are
plenty of bleak moments in Day’s narrative, the story line is
propelled onward by numerous plot twists and Haughian’s broad sense of
humor. Recommended.