Daphne Greer

Daphne Greer is a Canadian writer whose fiction for younger readers draws on family life, school, sport, and her professional experience supporting people with special needs. Maxed Out, published by Orca Book Publishers in 2012, is a short contemporary novel about twelve-year-old Max. He wants to earn a place on a hockey team while helping care for his brother Duncan and managing responsibilities that have grown heavier since their father’s death. Greer worked with children and families for many years, and the novel treats Max’s frustration, loyalty, and limited time as connected parts of his daily life. Orca includes Maxed Out in its Orca Currents line, designed as accessible fiction for middle-school readers. The hockey plot supplies momentum, but the central question concerns balance: Max must decide how to pursue an important goal without treating his brother or his mother as obstacles to it.