I’m back from my tour of schools in the North Okanagan/Shuswap and very grateful to everyone for making me feel so welcome. Thank you, teachers, librarians and students. It was lovely to meet you all!

And now that I’m home, I’m getting back into the swing of literary things right here in Vancouver. Today, I’m looking forward to attending the book launch of my pal, Shelley Hrdlitschka, who is introducing her new teen novel, Allegra, to the world.

You can read all about her novel here. And, if you’re in the neighbourhood, come and join us at the launch.

Congratulations, Shelley!

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!

I’m happy to announce that today is the publication date for my new book. Hooray! It’s been a long time coming.

Thank you to Tundra Books (a division of Random House Canada) for publishing the book, and to my editors, Kelly Jones, Kathryn Cole and Tara Walker, for their support and help.

And a huge and heartfelt thank you to the book’s contributors who so generously shared their personal stories and photographs. Their memories, quotes and beautiful art bring this book to life.

If you’d like to learn more about Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport, please go here or here.

I recently received a letter from my publisher at Kids Can Press informing me of the happy news that my series, Who Lives Here? has been sold to Shanghai Xiron for Simplified Chinese rights. Hooray!

I am thrilled to know that young children in China will be able to turn the pages of these books and learn all about animals and their habitats.

I visited Shanghai a couple of years ago and had so much fun meeting elementary school students who were keen to say hello and practice their English. Maybe some of them will read these books. 🙂

It was a happy surprise this morning to open up the Globe and Mail this morning and see a review of my most recent book, Watch Me Grow! If you’d like to read the review and see the lovely photo of my young niece watering her windowsill garden, go here.

If you’d like to read more about the book, go here, and if you’d like some child-friendly gardening and growing activities for the kids in your life, go here.

Now, if only the sun would come out so that I could actually plant my garden. 🙂

Happy long weekend, everyone!

Mark your calendars! Thursday, April 21 at 7 pm is the annual celebration of local books and authors at the BC Book Prizes Gala. It’s always a fun night, and great to see what authors wear when they get dressed up. (Most of us rarely leave our homes and don’t often have occasion to don formal wear.)