Mary Ann Scott

This is the story of one woman's journey from amateur painter to botanical artist, told through the sketchbooks and paintings she produced for the Distance Learning Diploma Course run by the Society of Botanical Artists. Packed with advice and tips, this book will serve as a guide and inspiration to anyone wanting to embark on life as a botanical artist. This book is both a showcase of Mary Ann Scott's work and a record of her achievements, including first-hand accounts of the joys and challenges she faced as she progressed. It contains work from every assignment she undertook, from her first attempts at drawing a tulip to the triumphant paintings she made for her diploma portfolio. Along the way are delicate floral compositions, juicy fruit and vegetables, botanical dissections, and her adventures out in the field. Margaret Stevens's comments on each assignments are also included, giving an insight into the assessment process and an all-round view of Mary Ann's successes and (very rare) failures. The book ends with a glorious selection of Mary Ann's ongoing work as a botanical artist.

Jessica March is back, sleuthing in Parkdale. She's on the trail of an extortionist whose known victims are young refugee women students at her school. If the extortionist's victims refuse his demands for money he hurts them, or he shows them the doll. No one who has seen it is unaffected, and no one will explain its power. Jess and a group of female students are chosen to find out if there are other victims, too traumatized to complain. But the group is almost paralyzed by problems of its own: hot disagreements, personality clashes, jealousies, and worst of all, the possibility of an infiltrator. Someone (wittingly or unwittingly) is warning the extortionist. He evades every potential trap. Jess's "sort-of" boyfriend is also giving her trouble. Excluded from the hunt for the extortionist, Jon feels discriminated against. Jess tries to placate him, but in doing so wonders if she's telling him too much. She wonders if he's passing the information on to his friends, including the very attractive and likeable Anthony, who almost fits the description of the extortionist. Or does he?

Jessica Marsh, who is fifteen and "hasn’t lost her baby-fat yet," lives with her mother on the top floor of a hundred-year-old triplex in Parkdale, a multicultural area in Toronto. Being an ear-witness to a murder is frightening, but when Raffi, a gentle black man who is her mother’s boyfriend, is arrested as the killer, Jess is terrified. While struggling to unravel the crimes, Jess is also dealing with other problems. She has been estranged from her lawyer father for several years, and Raffi’s arrest gives her an excuse to reestablish contact. She is harassed at school. Her best friend becomes sexually active and runs away from home. And Jess herself has her own decisions to make about entering into an intimate relationship whe she is pursued by a handsome young refugee from Central America. These problems are typical of those faced by today’s teenagers. Jess handles them awkwardly, emotionally, and occasionally with considerable panache.