Dust

Arthur Slade

Image | BOOK COVER: Dust by Arthur Slade

When a stranger arrives in a town affected by drought, children start to disappear. But everyone is too distracted by the stranger's magic tricks to pay attention to what is happening. Except for Robert. He knows children are disappearing and it's up to him to figure out what's going on — before it's too late. Dust won the 2001 Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature.
Dust is for readers ages 12 and up.

From the book

They drove past the entrance road, and the stranger studied the town as they went by. Matthew stared too, his heart speeding up as Horshoe slowly disappeared behind them. He peeked through the back window as the elevators were eclipsed by a hill.
"Why don't we stop?" Matthew asked.
The man smiled. "Because you're a child. And you know what it's like to be young." He paused. "I was never young. I was never, ever young."

From Dust by Arthur Slade ©2009. Published by Penguin Canada.