Tales From Cook’s Cove: One For Sorrow by Mary C. Sheppard

Issey just needs to make it through this school year. She has gotten to ninth grade by staying quiet and staying aloof. If she can manage to graduate, she can run away from her little Newfoundland town and escape her bedridden mother and nagging sister and their little Newfoundland town. But will she be able to find her way to Toronto, let alone find a job there, if she still can’t read? An old friend comes back to town, and with the help of some new friends and a few surprises, Issey learns much more than she expected to.