There’s a new children’s choice award in BC — the Salmonberry Award — and I am pleased to report that our book The Burrowing Owls of the Prairie Grasslands has been nominated this year! The award is an offshoot of the long-running Red Cedar Award that was for students in Grades 4-7 (now for Grades 5-7). The Salmonberry is for younger readers — Grades 3-5 and is a welcome new category. Hooray for the hard-working creative minds who made this happen!

All of the nominated books look wonderful and I am honoured to have our book among them. To see more about the awards, you can check out their website.

My newest book, The Burrowing Owls of the Prairie Grasslands, is about to be released. Very exciting! It is the second book in our “Wild by Nature” series — an ecology series for young readers that features environmentally sensitive creatures and habitats, and offers hope for their recovery.

It was a joy to write this book and to visit a Burrowing Owl recovery centre in the BC’s Okanagan Valley. Karen Reczuch and I were able to be up close and personal with the owls, and her beautiful art reflects these wonderful little owls.

Fun fact: These are the only owls in the world to live underground!

My newest book is out in the world! Hooray! It is the third board book in the West Coast Wild series and is titled Seashore Hide and Seek.

Lots of fun for toddlers and young children to discover the amazing creatures that live along the rugged shoreline of the Pacific west coast!

They are resilient creatures who adapt themselves to the harsh conditions of the changing tides twice every day.

See them revealed as the tide goes out, then watch them hide as the waves wash over them again.

I heard today that The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island has been named in the long list for the Green Earth Book Award.

According to the award’s website, this is a prestigious environmental stewardship book award for children’s titles, honouring authors and illustrators who spark environmental awareness in young readers.

How lovely to be included! Fingers crossed for the short list!

Happy Book Birthday to Karen Reczuch and I, who are celebrating our new book released today!

The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island is now available in your favourite bookstore. We couldn’t be more pleased!

And we are delighted to share the day with our Groundwood colleagues who also have new books released today. Congratulations to all!

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Karen Reczuch and I are thrilled and honoured to have one of our books selected for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  West Coast Wild BABY ANIMALS is on the 2025-26 list. Hooray!

This wonderful program is a (free!) literacy initiative for young children – aiming to inspire them with a love of reading. The famous and talented singer, Dolly Parton, said she grew up with a father who was the smartest person she knew – yet he could not read. She remembered how it troubled him and so began this wonderful give-away program of books for young children in his honour.

Small children in many places will receive our little book in the mail, and we couldn’t be happier!

It was welcome news to hear that our little board book was selected for the TD Summer Reading Club this year. We thank everyone who made this possible.

Cheers for West Coast Wild Baby Animals! 

Spring is officially here and Groundwood Books is showing off their new works of the season. I’m thrilled to have my upcoming book The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island as part of this wonderful collection.

Although Tufted Puffins is not being released until August, I am already very excited about its arrival. It is the first title in a new series “Wild by Nature” that Karen Reczuch and I have been working hard on over the last couple of years.

As is our way, the two of us have had adventures in the creation of this book and the ones that will follow. What fun it has been! And so interesting, too!