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My Life Off-Key

by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Part of the Orca Anchor series

Subject
Family - General (see also headings under Social Themes)
Age
9-12 years
Format
Trade Paperback
Pages
96
Publisher
Orca Book Publishers USA
Size
12.4 cm × 18.5 cm
ISBN
9781459834798

Seventeen-year-old Jen is shocked to discover that the dad she grew up with is not her biological father.

Jen loves to sing. But the rest of her family can’t carry a tune. When a stranger named Mike gives her roses at her concert and reveals that he is her birth father, Jen's world flips upside down. Mike is a musician, just like Jen, and now she understands why she looks nothing like Steve, the only dad she’s ever known.

When Steve learns the truth Jen's mom has been hiding all these years, he moves out, and Jen can't help but feel responsible. Worse, she doesn’t know who she is anymore. It feels like her whole life has been a lie. Is Steve still her dad? What about Mike? When it feels like her family is falling apart, Jen doesn't know where she belongs.

This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

About the author

Gail Anderson-DargatzAuthor

Gail Anderson-Dargatz is the award-winning author of over a twenty books, including The Cure for Death by Lightning and A Recipe for Bees, which were finalists for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. She has also written a number of short novels for striving readers, including the Orca Anchor title My Life Off-Key, Orca Currents titles Bigfoot Crossing and Iggy’s World, both JLG Gold Standard Selections and The Ride Home, which was shortlisted for a BC and Yukon Book Prize. Gail taught for nearly a decade in the CW MFA program at UBC and now works as an editor and mentor. She lives in the Shuswap region of British Columbia.

Data provided by BiblioShare.

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What reviewers said

“Both a coming-of-age story and a road map for processing difficult emotions.”
“The plot was immediate, with no time for the reader to lose interest.”
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© 2026 Peekabooks Inc. All Rights Reserved.