Wow! What an amazing trip it’s been. Thank you so much to all the teachers, librarians, students and staff of the schools I’ve visited this week: Parkview, Hillcrest, Salmon Arm Middle School, Highland Park, and Silver Creek. You were all wonderful!
Today, I visit Bastion and Sorrento Schools. I can hardly wait to meet you.
A HUGE bouquet of thanks to everyone who has made me feel so welcome! I’m not going to want to go home. 🙂
I am busy organizing my presentation materials and beginning to pack for my trip to Salmon Arm, Armstrong, Sorrento and Sicamous next week. I will be visiting schools there and look forward to meeting all the students and staff.
It is a double pleasure for me to travel to the area because this is the school district where I was a teacher some years (decades!) ago. I have many happy memories of teaching at Armstrong Elementary School. In fact, it was teaching those classes of primary children that led to my becoming a writer — something I’ve never forgotten.
A big thank you to my friend and colleague, Chris McMahen, who invited me to the schools and organized my trip. Chris is a teacher-librarian in the district and he is also a popular and award-winning author. His most recent (and wonderfully written) book, Box of Shocks, just won the Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award. Hooray for Chris!
And now, it’s back to packing… See you soon, District 83.
Thank you to the students and staff of Kent Elementary School for making me feel so welcome yesterday. It was wonderful to meet you all! From the attentive audiences, to the potluck lunch, student research projects on the wall, and the sign on the front of the school, it couldn’t have been a nicer time!
Thank you especially to teacher-librarian, Karen Dumas, for inviting me. Thank you to the PAC for making it possible, and to principal, Chris Wejr, and his wonderful staff and students. It was an amazing day!
A big thank you to Patricia Bartha, teacher-librarian, and the students at Sir William Osler School in Vancouver. It was lovely to spend the afternoon with you yesterday! You were a fabulous audience, full of great questions and comments. 🙂
When I looked out the windows of the school library, I could see several ornamental cherry trees in full bloom.
Here on the west coast, it is the season for beautiful blossoms and for spring school visits.
What a wonderful combination!
I just received the happy news that my book, Rescuing the Children, has been nominated for the Hackmatack Award. This is the children’s choice award from the Atlantic provinces. Hooray!!!
The kind folks who administer the award apply for Canada Council grants to bring authors to their region for the award ceremony and for tours in the local schools. This will all happen in Spring 2014 (which seems a long time away), but nevertheless, I am thrilled!
If you are interested in reading more about the Hackmatack Awards, please go here.
By the way, the award is named after a tree (a species of Larch) that grows in the Atlantic provinces. The photo above shows the tree in bloom.
I look forward to seeing the tree in person. 🙂
Cheers!
I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Olive Jeffers this weekend (see his lovely art here).
He is a talented Irish-born author/illustrator from New York. He was funny and personable, and awfully wise about how he creates his books. I especially enjoyed the part where he talked about knowing “what to leave out” when making a book. That’s something I think about when writing my books, too.
If you’d like to find out about Oliver Jeffers and how he creates, you can check out his video here. Or see his website here.
A big thank you to Margo Filipenko and Kathryn Shoemaker of the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable for bringing Oliver to our fair city.
Here’s another wonderful book to help you get started writing and illustrating for children. It’s full of information on how to submit a manuscript, what publishers are looking for, and all kinds of other “how-to” tips. I’ve consulted the Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market for years and it’s always been excellent.
In the last month or so, I’ve had several inquiries from people keen to begin writing for children, and this is the book I like to recommend. Above is the most recent edition, but older editions are great, too. You can often track them down at the library. Or order the new edition at your local bookstore.
Just today, in fact, I was flipping through my copy trying to find the right publisher for a manuscript I am ready to send out into the world. I hope I chose wisely.
And you can go here for a reminder about the Getting Started Panel at the Vancouver Public Library on March 4.
Good luck, and happy writing!
I’m back from the ALA conference in Seattle and it was spectacular! Thank you to my publisher, Tundra Books, for inviting me to attend and sign my new book in their booth.
It was wonderful to meet the librarians who stopped by for a chat. Many were from various corners of the USA, some were from Canada, and one (at least) was from the UK. It was good to meet so many great folks who love books! Apparently, 12,000 librarians were registered. Wow!
One librarian told me she was a proud bibliophile and was surprised that I knew the word. I told her I also adored books and had a houseful myself.
Maybe you were at the conference, too. If so, I hope you had a fabulous time and picked up many new books to read.
If you’re interested in writing or illustrating a book for children and you live in the Vancouver area, you might want to attend the upcoming panel discussion at the Vancouver Public Library on how to get started.
It’s always a great night — full of information and inspiration. I hope you get inspired!
