Richard Scarsbrook

Philip Skyler learned early in his life that his face would get him into trouble and there was nothing he could do about it. Born with an extreme facial deformity, he became the object of attention. Though medical scientists named his condition Van der Woude syndrome, his classmates, especially the bullies, just called him “Monkeyface”. Monkeyface Chronicles is his sweet story of revenge.

Philip’s aphorism-toting grandfather used to say, “Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect,” and Philip Skyler is about to embark on a life journey of payback that has everything to do with cause and effect. Philip’s journey ultimately takes him through the most unusual family circumstances, where no one was really who they seemed to be, whether it was his reclusive scientist father, or his Citizen Kane-like grandfather.

While riding his father’s motorcycle to Toronto to escape the dregs of Faireville, Philip has a life-changing experience that transforms him from the dupe he was as a kid into a conquering hero in his twenties. His unforgettable ride brings him to triumph over adversity and redeems him from the world of losers into which he was cast.

• Winner of the 2011 OLA Forest of Reading White Pine Award

 There is no distorting the unwavering pull of guys to rock ‘n’ roll bands, and when Dak Sifter builds his band, the Featherless Bipeds, he has every intention of enjoying every wild, raunchy, ear-splitting moment of the ride. But as readers know from Dak’s experiences in Cheeseburger Subversive, life is wrought with perils, and now his band with its lure for girls, the quirky demands of band members, and the mercurial shifting values of youth culture — well, he still loves Zoe Perry doesn't he? And he still wants to do well at university, and still believes in some code of ethics — well, doesn't he?

Ages 13+

• Shortlisted for the 2007 CLA Young Adult Book Award
• Nominated for the 2008-09 Stellar BC Teen Readers' Choice Award

 We have all been there: those sublime and ordinary moments in growing up that create the evolution of change, or as Cheeseburger Subversive’s Dak Sifter would call it, a “shifting of gears”. 

Scarsbrook’s novel captures the weird logic of self discovery that marks the explorations of boy becoming man, and in its noise and thrashing, explodes the maturity myth. Cheeseburger Subversive is the one compelling “must read” if you want to have some serious fun.

"A very funny and heartwarming debut." — Books in Canada

• Finalist for the 2004 Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Canadian Book Award and the Ontario Library Association's 2005 White Pine Award
• Finalist for the 2005 OLA White Pine Award
• Finalist for the 2006 BC Teen Readers Choice Stellar Award

Ages 13+