Nominated for the Ottawa Book Award

Stan is an intense sixteen-year-old loner who desperately wants to make the junior varsity basketball team. And it seems that he may be about to do so, until he’s blindsided by the unexpected attentions of Janine Igwash. Suddenly Stan is no longer thinking about jump shots. Instead he is obsessed with Janine’s spiky hair, her milky white shoulders and the mysterious little tattoo at the base of her neck, not to mention the heat of her breath, her dark eyes, wide hips and . . . Then Stan’s father arrives on the scene with Stan’s four-year-old half brother, and things become truly insane. Tilt is a wonderfully droll and insightful story about a sensitive, intelligent and gently funny young man living through an impossibly absurd time of life. This book is a rare achievement -- a witty, sexy compulsively readable work of high literary quality.

Alan Cumyn has written many highly acclaimed novels for both children and adults. His three Owen Skye books have won several major awards. The Secret Life of Owen Skye won the Mr. Christie's Award and was nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award and the Pacific Northwest Libraries Association Young Readers Choice Award. After Sylvia was nominated for the TD Children's Literature Award, and Dear Sylvia was shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association Children's Book of the Year Award. Alan is also a two-time winner of the Ottawa Book Award. Alan teaches in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is currently chair of the Writers' Union of Canada.

Alan Cumyn's profile page

• Short-listed, Ottawa Book Award
• Commended, Kirkus Best Teen Books of 2011
• Commended, Quill and Quire Books of the Year: Books for Young People

...a delightful novel, one that is smart, tender and funny in all the right places...

The Globe and Mail

A complex and always engaging novel, this is a thoroughly satisfying read.

The Toronto Star

...a tender, funny, and insightful coming-of-age story.

Horn Book Magazine

"...a lovely, moving combination of teenage wonder and real life chaos."

The Novel Nation

. . . Tilt has great appeal for teens who enjoy the contemporary genre (girl or boy). The story is compelling enough to hold the attention of any reluctant reader. Similar authors like Corey Whaley, Jay Asher, and Gordon Korman came to mind as I was reading it. Recommended.

Lost in the Library

Cumyn demonstrates a great sense of phrasing.

Kirkus Reviews

Tilt is an edgy, coming-of-age novel that will appeal to most young adults. The authentic characters are engaging...

VOYA

Highly Recommended.

CM Magazine

...the novel is a strong, easy read with a fluid and often funny storyline...

Quill and Quire

. . . clever plotting. . .

The Winnipeg Review

Cumyn writes with an artless, resilient quirkiness, a wry, plainspoken inventiveness that instantly animates scenes and characters.

The Bulletin of the Centre for Children's Books