Pete's Gold.

When 13-year-old Pete is sent from his home in Victoria to spend the summer with his estranged grandmother on a heritage farm in the interior of British Columbia, he expects his visit to be boring. How could he have predicted that it would turn into an adventure that would challenge his strength, values, and courage, complete with a search for hidden gold, a lake monster, ghostly visions, and the discovery of a body? Armstrong has managed to weave these elements into a story that will entice readers aged 10 and up to join in the adventure.

Pete’s parents are working through a separation. His mother is off in Africa to teach over the summer, while his father, a musician, is on tour in Russia. Having decided it would be good for Pete to spend this time with his grandmother, his parents put him on a bus to her farm where she lives alone with Cousin, a clever dog who understands English. 

Resentful of his circumstances, Pete is initially rude and withdrawn. He makes foolhardy choices, such as venturing out on the lake without a lifejacket. He is humbled when he loses an oar, ends up in the lake, and realizes that his grandmother has witnessed the whole foolish event. Rather than giving him the lecture he anticipates she comments that she thought he might be in trouble but saw that he “handled it.” His grandmother surprises him in other ways. She allows ice cream for breakfast, offers to teach him to drive, and lets him stay alone at the farm. 

As the story unfolds, Pete develops a warm and loving bond with his unusual grandmother, gains friends in neighbours Jess and Bird, and learns the extent of his own strength and courage. 

Luanne Armstrong is the author of more than a dozen books, a freelance writer, editor, and publisher. She is also an adjunct professor of creative writing at the University of British Columbia. Her novel, Annie, received the Canadian Children’s Book Centre “Our Choice” Award. Jeannie and the Gentle Giants, was nominated for the Silver Birch Award. 

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