Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the festivities at Word Vancouver (the west coast version of Word on the Street) and what a grand day it was. As always, it was wonderful to see the range of books published by authors who live here.

The highlight was hearing some of my colleagues talk about their new works. I especially enjoyed seeing Irene N. Watts (author) and Kathryn Shoemaker (illustrator) speak about their graphic novel, Seeking Refuge — the story of a young girl, Marianne, who finds refuge in England after being rescued from the Nazis on the Kindertransport. (Irene helped me enormously on my own book on this topic, Rescuing the Children.)

I also stopped by the booth of our local organization,  CWILL BC (Children’s Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia), and was happy to see their presence there. At the top of this post, is the lovely CWILL banner designed and drawn by our very own Mary Jane Muir. (If you are ever looking for an author or illustrator to visit your classroom, you can search for one on the CWILL website.)

It was an excellent day to celebrate books and writing in our book-loving community!