The Way It Is
It may be the ‘60s - the era of equal rights and free love - but two teens find that change is slow in coming to their small town
To Ellen Manery, a brilliant, introverted, socially isolated fifteen-year-old, there is nothing good about the summer of 1967, especially when her parents decide to move to a small town in the interior of British Columbia. None of the big ideas of the decade – the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, women’s rights – have had much of an effect on this small community.
Ellen has always been more interested in studying than a social life, but that begins to change when she meets Tony Paul, an eighteen-year-old who is a Shuswap Indian and lives on the nearby reserve. It is Tony’s friendship that gives Ellen the strength to endure the loneliness, discrimination, and sexism she faces during her last year in high school. But as their friendship turns into something deeper, they must decide if they can break free of the small minds around them and forge their own future.
Published by Second Story PressThe Way It Is was nominated for the White Pine Award by the Ontario Library Association (Festival of Trees, 2012)
The Way It Is on Amazon.com
Pictures from the Ontario Library Association’s 2012 Festival of Trees celebration
Reviews for The Way It Is:
Elevate Difference
Okanagan College Library - Deakin Memorial Collection of Children's Literature Newsletter
University of Manitoba - CM: Canadian Review of Materials
- "Donalda Reid is gutsy to take on heavy racial undertones in her first novel... The Way It Is isn't just another book about racial discrimination. Donalda Reid makes it relatable; she doesn't just point out facts, she makes the reader live them."
Okanagan College Library - Deakin Memorial Collection of Children's Literature Newsletter
- "Donalda Reid brings the town to life as a young woman from a city would see it, especially one who has moved from much more academic possibility."
University of Manitoba - CM: Canadian Review of Materials
- "Reid lets events speak for themselves... [and] shows Tony and Ellen's friendship as one of equals who respect each other. The open ending shows them stronger than when they met, able to face the changing times and pursue their dreams."