Today let's listen to the beginning of Heather O’Neill’s debut novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals. This book was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, as well as winning CBC Radio’s prestigious Canada Reads. It’s no wonder all of Canada was reading it. It follows the life of Baby, a young girl living on the mean streets of Montreal, with no mother, and a junkie drifter for a father. Once she turns 13, Baby attracts the eye of Alphonse, the neighbourhood pimp, who senses a good opportunity. O’Neill uses the first person point of view, so we can watch as a young girl, on the cusp of adulthood, navigates life in a dangerous urban jungle. Baby continually reinvents herself, to maintain a sense of innocence, and this requires resilience, and the incredible power of imagination. Miriam McDonald, one of the stars of Degrassi: The Next Generation, reads.