When Toby Morton's sister asks him to play hopscotch, he asks if there's a video game version.

He hates physical activity, and he especially hates gym class at his New Brunswick school. If the kids on his team in gym tease him for being overweight, he goes out of his way to make sure they lose. So when his new homeroom teacher, Mr. Walker, asks Toby to join the running team, Toby thinks he's crazy. But when his friend Amy suffers a dangerous attack of asthma, Toby is forced to look at exercise in a different light.

Walker's Runners is a lively story for young people that introduces the joys of physical fitness, while highlighting the high costs of inactivity.

A former elementary school principal, school district consultant, teacher and journalist, in England, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick, Robert Rayner now spends his time writing and teaching music. He is the author of three adult novels, nine young adult novels, and three teen novels. His stories have been shortlisted for the Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Prize and (four times) for the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, and five of them have been included in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre annual ‘Best Books’ list. He lives on the Magaguadavic River in St. George, New Brunswick.

Robert Rayner's profile page

• Short-listed, Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
• Short-listed, Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature
• Winner, Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Selection

"This book is written with sensitivity and insight. The author is an elementary principal who understands emerging adolescents and their struggles."

Highlands Regional Library Cooperative Book Evaluation Program