Deborah Kerbel

Deborah Kerbel is a Canadian author of picture books, middle-grade fiction, teen novels, and nonfiction for younger readers. Girl on the Other Side, published by Dundurn Press in 2009, tells the alternating stories of Tabby Freeman and Lora Froggett, classmates divided by popularity and circumstance but connected by private pain. Tabby’s apparently privileged life is unstable at home, while Lora faces persistent bullying and fears that her family’s difficulties will become public. Their narratives converge as concealed problems force each girl to reconsider the other. The novel was shortlisted for a 2010 Canadian Library Association award for fiction aimed at older teens. Kerbel’s later books include Lure, Under the Moon, Feathered, Sun Dog, and My Deal with the Universe. Her work ranges from realistic adolescent fiction to illustrated stories and historical nonfiction, often returning to friendship, empathy, and resilience. Girl on the Other Side uses its paired viewpoints to question easy judgments, showing how school status can hide vulnerability and how understanding begins when separate experiences are allowed to meet.