Freelance writer and journalist Diane Dakers has written for many of Canada's major daily newspapers, magazines and weekly publications. She lives in Victoria, BC.

In Diane Dakers' first teen novel, Homecoming (Orca $9.95), Fiona's dad arrives home from prison after sixteen months and eight days away. Fiona joins her mother and family friends in awkwardly welcoming him home, in an uncomfortable reunion. Fiona and her mom suffered financially, emotionally and socially while her dad was in jail. Now, even the dog, Honey, isn't sure about him. Fiona had believed her father was in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Now that he's back, everyone is treating him like a criminal. Guilty or not, her dad has ruined everything. It's not until after she's lured into the darker side of life that Fiona discovers who her father really is.

In CHEK Republic: A Revolution in Local Television (Heritage House $19.95), Dakers chronicles the life and times of Vancouver Island's CHEK-TV. CHEK was the first television station in Canada with colour telecasting capabilities. Launched in 1956, the channel became the subject of a David and Goliath legal battle in 2009 when its corporate owner, CanWest Global, threatened to shut it down. Employees rallied behind the station and CHEK became the first and only employee-owned television station in North America.

In Diane Daker's Orca Currents mini-novel for ages 10-14, Bad Business (Orca $9.95), the protagonist Lindy knows she should not keep the $200 that was given to her by mistake, as an overpayment for chores, from a confused old lady, but she hesitates and makes the added mistake of telling a scheming and nasty schoolmate Shanna--who proceeds to make her pay for her deceit in a completely unexpected way. "Believe me, if I could turn back the clock and have a do-over..." First she has to confess to her teacher, possibly disqualifying her from a much-anticipated field trip; then it's her parents. But when she finally has to confess to dear old Mrs. Naulty about the money that was inside the envelope, her belated honesty pays off in a way she could not possibly have imagined.

BOOKS:

Vera Wang: A Passion for Bridal and Lifestyle Design (Crabtree Publishing 2010) $31.19 978-0778725350
Calvin Klein: Fashion Design Superstar (Crabtree Publishing 2010) $14.95 978-0778725435
Green Ways of Getting Around: Careers in Transportation (Crabtree Publishing 2011) $12.95 978-0778748670
Elie Wiesel: Holocaust Survivor and Messenger for Humanity (Crabtree Publishing Reprint 2012) 978-0778725558
The Beatles: Leading the British Invasion (Crabtree Publishing 2013) $14.08 978-0778710455
Albert Einstein: Forging the Path of Modern Physics (Crabtree Publishing 2014) $35.71 978-0778711889
Nelson Mandela: South Africa's Anti-Apartheid Revolutionary (Crabtree Publishing 2014) $13.90 978-0778712435
Homecoming (Orca 2014) $9.95 9781459808034
CHEK Republic: A Revolution in Local Television (Heritage House 2014) $19.95 978-1-927527-99-3
Bad Business (Orca 2015) $9.95 978-1-459809697
Strings Attached (Orca 2017) $9.95 978-1-4598-09703

[BCBW 2017]