Hi there.
Welcome to my website! I write children’s books, edit educational resources, swim, sweat, paddle, and explore.
Welcome to my website! I write children’s books, edit educational resources, swim, sweat, paddle, and explore.
We’re in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and so much has been turned upside-down. My heart goes out to children, teens, and young people who have had to adapt to huge changes.
I’ve had the pleasure of reading and reviewing some fabulous Canadian children’s books in the last few months: 1) Story Boat, 2) I Will See You Again, and 3) Song for China. Click to read the reviews in Quill & Quire.
I landed a one-year, full-time contract at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in October. It's very exciting and I'm working with great people. Everyone there is incredibly smart and cool and there are chalkboards EVERYWHERE! I really do mean everywhere. In fact, only the washrooms don't have chalkboards.
I’m half-way through writing my 20th book. YES! Since January, I’ve been blessed with four book contracts. They are all for educational publishers, so these books will be sold directly to schools, not bookstores (sorry!). I love knowing that kids in elementary schools across Canada and around the world will be reading and learning from these books.
Beginning with a description of a girl climbing a fence—using simple language, and with a sense of in-the-moment immediacy and raw intensity—readers may wonder at first if this could pass as a young adult novel. When a nun yells, “Get off that fence,” and it’s apparent that the fence is an enclosure around a residential school and this unknown girl—an Ojibwe—is trying to escape, the harrowing aspects of this coming of age story begin to take hold.
"You can't go wrong, if you're a reader." It's true that books can help you soldier through some of the challenges life throws your way, giving you a wonderful escape and a reprieve from the hum-drum and the ordinary.
I'm excited to share with you the recent posting of a video interview, recorded back in May, but released on July 22, 2014. This was during Canadian Children's Book Week and the location was the beautiful H.T. Coutts Library, University of Alberta. It was a great thrill to be asked by the talented team at the Coutts Library.
It's official. The Bank Street College Centre for Children's Literature has released its "Best Books" list for 2014 and Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs (published Sept. 2013) is on the list! I know I mentioned this in an earlier post, but now there is a link to the pdf for all the age categories. Click "Nine to Twelve" and scroll through to page 14 to find my book.
Inside state-of-the-art classrooms and spacious libraries, students listened attentively and volunteered eagerly. “If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?” they asked. Young children peered up at me with delightful grins when I kicked my legs high to the beat of my lollypop drum.
I just found out that Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs has earned a spot on the Bank Street Books "Best Children's Books of the Year, 2014" list. I'm so pleased! The Bank Street College of Education, based in New York, New York, has a Children's Book Committee, which was founded in 1909. This committee "fostered a growing awareness of the emotional needs of children, and of how books might affect children's feelings of themselves and the world around them." They began by publishing a pamphlet, but as time went by, they developed lists, reviews, a magazine, and now a booklet.
I've had a very thrilling last few weeks. My application to tour during Canadian Children's Book Week in May 2014 was accepted! This is truly a high point of my entire career. It is a great honour to be included and I am so excited about travelling out of province to give talks to kids at schools and libraries. And, last Friday, I found out where I'll be going for Book Week -- Alberta! I haven't been to Alberta for over 20 years.
September 18th is here at last. It's launch day. The day that Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs squeezes proudly onto a shelf at a bookstore near you. And the day that I have a cheery celebration with family, friends, neighbours, and members of the community at Novel Idea Bookstore in Kingston. Yes, it's sure to be an all-round happy day, filled with celebration.
After all that hard work, and tremendous team work with the editor, Kathryn White, and the talented crew at Second Story Press, it's time to welcome a new book to the world and watch it take flight.
“It’s not really work when you’re doing something that is serving a greater purpose.” – Nicole Robertson, media specialist and entrepreneur featured in this book.
Spring and fall are the choice times to schedule school book talks. The weather is more predictable for longer commutes, which means fewer snow days and cancellations. By this time of the school year -- June -- students are longing for summer. Classes take on a more celebratory tone with outdoor poetry lessons, strolls around the neighbourhood, and large-scale art projects, such as painting murals for graduation ceremonies. Fall marks the start of the school year and is a-buzz with enthusiasm, planning, and bountiful ideas for an exciting year ahead.
I'm not a playwright.
I finished writing a play this week. A play? Yeah, I know. I'm not a playwright, or didn't used to be.I'm not sure if completing a draft of a play makes me a playwright or not. Of course, it took me years to accept that I was a real author, too. It's that old insecurity complex that plagues authors, young and old, experienced and inexperienced alike.
Work-life balance. Have you got it? Do you want it? Adrienne Montgomerie, an accomplished editor and member of Dameditors, posted a comment about what she calls “work-work-life balance.” She made a point of stating that this was not a typo. I felt compelled to weigh in. After all, three of the ten women profiled in Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs refute the work-life balance paradigm.
Mmmmm. This is a celebratory apple pie that I baked.
That's A - P - P - L - E. My (almost) six-year-old helper put the letters on top. Thank you, Noah!
First, I'm very sorry for the delay in blogging. I've had too much going on. Ai-ya, where do I begin?
I was reading the December 2012 issue of Quill & Quire and saw a quote by Howard White that resonated with me. In responding to a question about the future of Canadian publishing, he says, "...we need to keep the faith." Then he raises the glass of water analogy: "I think one of the most damaging things that's happening to publishing right now -- and to writing -- is that people are looking at the empty half of the glass." I'm going to keep this analogy in mind over the next while and consciously try to talk more positively about the book biz. Why not?!
Eat locally. Read locally. I like it.
I have to say, I think this is the coolest thing. We've all been hearing about the importance of shopping locally and supporting local farmers for several years now. Then, the 100-Mile Diet evolves with families, chefs, and restauranteurs seeking fresh, local ingredients for their dinner tables. And now this new twist: the 100-Mile BOOK Diet. (If anyone knows why it is "miles" not "kilometres," please let me know.)
