Anna Analyst
Middle Grade Novel
On the last day of elementary school, eleven-year-old Anna finds a leather-bound book about handwriting analysis. Anna could use help deciphering people.
Patti Edgar’s writing can be found in books, newspapers, magazines and online. She teaches in Mount Royal University’s journalism program. Anna Analyst, a debut novel for middle grade readers published by Yellow Dog, is available now.
No. 1 Calgary Herald Bestseller!
Teachers and parents: Click here to download a free study guide
Read an interview with the author in Prairie Books Now
Praise for Anna, Analyst
“Bossy, inventive Anna is authentic and endearing. Her dilemmas and struggles—when her creative solutions breed new problems—are convincing, at once familiar and fresh…A droll, deftly executed debut.”
“Discord between best friends is the emotional core of the book … The novel is concise and funny. Anna is an average kid—a flawed, funny, relatable character.
Patti Edgar excels at delving into Anna’s head, demonstrating how unpredictable the world appears from her perspective.”
“Anna is a relatable heroine … Highly Recommended.”
CM: Canadian Reviews of Materials
Featured on:
Quill & Quire’s 2021 Spring Preview
49th Shelf – Most Anticipated: Our Books for Young Readers Preview
Other Publications:
New creative non-fiction appearing in The Dalhousie Review and Freefall in 2023. An essay appears in the anthology Waiting (University of Alberta Press, 2018). Grain Magazine published a short story called ‘Stolen’ in issue 42.3. Prairie Fire published ‘Floating’ in issue 42.2. ‘Life and Good Fortune’ was a finalist for the 2017 carte blanche/CNFC Creative Non-Fiction Prize. ‘Personal Flotation Devices’ won the Calgary Foundation’s Brenda Strathern Writing Prize. She worked as a journalist at the Winnipeg Free Press and the Ottawa Citizen, as well as the CBC, where she helped create a project that won an Alberta Film and Television Award.
Teaching:
Ms. Edgar holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She currently teaches at Mount Royal University and the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society. Mount Royal University students have won several awards for projects created in her classroom, including the Canadian Association of Journalists Student Award of Excellence (2017, 2018 and 2020), the MRU Faculty of Business and Communications Student Research Days Award (2019 and 2022), and the Emerge Media Award for Multimedia Production (2018 and 2020). She enjoys judging Alberta’s magazine awards and the International Regional Magazine Awards.
Patti Edgar would like to acknowledge the support of the Calgary Arts Foundation, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Access Copyright Foundation.
Explore & Learn
Waiting
An Anthology of Essays
The verb esperar means to wait. It also means to hope. This collection of thirty-two personal essays is as much about hope as it is about waiting.
School Visits
Available in 2022-2023
Ms. Edgar is an experienced teacher and guest speaker who brings creative digital storytelling into the classroom. She's worked with kids, teens and young adults.