I recently attended a lovely weekend afternoon tea hosted by the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable. It was the annual gathering to announce the Sheila Barry Best Canadian Picturebook of the Year Award. Congratulations to Sydney Smith for Do You Remember? published by Groundwood Books.

The late Sheila Barry, who was my wonderful long-time editor and publisher, was a gem! I think she would be so pleased by Sydney’s win. I remember her thinking, as he started out, that he was such a gifted artist and she was thrilled to publish his work.

This charming illustration is by Kathryn Shoemaker, who works tirelessly to organize all the events for the Roundtable organization. Tea anyone? And she makes the room look beautiful every time! Thank you to her and all who are involved.

The rains continue on the west coast! We don our rain gear and put up our umbrellas and venture out into a sodden world. But we don’t complain because we know that the rain feeds the plants and the forest and gives us a lush green world by the time spring comes.

As the rain falls, I am thinking of the creatures of the forest who are preparing for the onset of winter. The bears have gobbled up the salmon and will soon head into their dens for a long winter nap.

This led me to my friend Bear, the sweet character from Bear’s Winter Party, who prepares for his winter sleep by hosting a party in his den for all his forest friends. Like Bear, I love to open my home to family and friends and cook for them. And now seems a great time to do so! Honey ginger cookies, anyone?

Fall is well and truly here and so is the rain! We west coast folks spent the weekend under an atmospheric river, where an immense amount of rain poured down upon us. We got soaked!

And so did the rainforests on our beautiful coast. Rather than complain about the rain, I like to think about how the plants and trees are soaking up the moisture and growing thick and strong, helping to enrich the vital habitat that so many of our wild creatures rely on.

These lovely pieces of art are from West Coast Wild Rainforest, illustrated by Karen Reczuch. It feels especially timely to flip through the pages of this book right now.

One of the joys of summer is travelling around BC and visiting local bookstores wherever I go. It has been so encouraging to see my West Coast Wild books on display in many places!

Thank you to all the stores that carry the books and set up such lovely, inviting displays.

Thanks especially to Munro’s Books and Twin Otters Science and Nature Co. both in Victoria, Mermaid Tales Bookshop in Tofino, and Kidsbooks in Vancouver and Edgemont Village. Happy summer, everyone!

I was recently asked by the wonderful folks at Teaching Books if I would write an article for them about how my background in teaching has influenced my writing. I was happy to oblige!

If you’d like to read the article, please see the post on the Teaching Books website. Here’s a preview:

Deborah Hodge on Teaching and Writing

It’s that time again when students and teachers have returned to the classroom and are beginning another year of learning together. As you settle in, I am thinking of you all and hoping it is a very good year.

My summer is over, too, and I am back at my desk working hard on various projects, including two new books for the spring, and a third for the following spring. It is a busy time, but exciting as always to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

The illustration in this post is by the very talented cartoonist and illustrator, Zoe Si. I was thrilled when she agreed to create this fun 5-minute portrait of me. I love her cartoons that show up in the New Yorker. Imagine how lucky I feel to have my own!

More to come soon about the new books. For now, I’m wishing you all a happy, healthy autumn season!

We are getting closer to the publication date of West Coast Wild Rainforest and I am thrilled about this upcoming book.

The art by my collaborative partner, Karen Reczuch, is gorgeous – as it has been for all the books in this series. The two of us feel fortunate to have been paired together in this creative endeavour. We share a love of nature and a love of making books for children.

The image on this page is very representative of the coastal rainforest on the west coast, where more than ten feet of rain falls every year. The rainforest is lush and green – so majestic and beautiful, with towering giants of trees. And it is often immersed in mist or rain, as this lovely art shows.

We look forward to sharing more about this book soon!