I feel very lucky to have such a talented illustrator partner for my books these days. Karen Reczuch creates extraordinary paintings in all of our works and I couldn’t be happier! As well as that, over the last 12 or more years, we have become  very good friends and gone on multiple adventures to see beautiful nature spots and fascinating creatures, while doing the research for our books.

We are excited about the upcoming release of The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island on Aug. 5. As a preview, here is an image of a couple of the interior pages — so lovely!

Today is a gloriously sunny day on the west coast after a long, wet, chilly winter and early spring. It finally feels like the weather is turning in the most wonderful way. Sunshine, blossoms and the promise of new growth is all around. Hooray!

On that note, I am thinking about my fast-approaching upcoming title called The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island. Karen Reczuch and I have once again collaborated on a book of nature and ecology for the young reading crowd and we are thrilled to see the fruits of our hard work. Karen has created beautiful images!

As I look forward to spotting the book on library and store shelves, I’m thinking about the spectacular tufted puffins that are flying to Triangle Island – right now! – to lay their eggs in deep burrows on the steep cliffsides of this rugged place. I wish I could be there to see them! But Triangle Island is off-limits to the public and restricted to a handful of scientists and researchers who visit the island each summer. I will have to close my eyes and imagine I am there!

This image shows a springtime scene of tufted puffins who have just returned to the island from a winter at sea. Soon they will be busy digging out their burrows, laying their eggs, and raising their chicks. Wish them luck! And a cool ocean with many small fish to eat.

My daughter was visiting early childcare centres in Powell River last week and was happy and surprised to see my book, West Coast Wild Baby Animals on display. Fun to see the little eagle stuffie beside it, too!

It made me very happy to see that small children of the area will have the opportunity to read and learn about the charming creatures of our beautiful west coast. My favourite part of being a writer? Knowing that my books have found their way into the hands of young readers!

We made it through another lovely (hectic!) holiday season, and I am grateful for the good times with family and friends. As 2025 begins, I am looking both forward and back. I am excited about three upcoming books that I’ve been working hard on – and include two books in a new series and a little board book. (More about those later.)

While going through some files recently, and in the spirit of looking back, I came across a photo, taken some years ago, of beloved writer friends and I at a colleague’s book launch at Vancouver Kidsbooks. I remember it being a wonderful evening of meeting up with friends and extending our warm congratulations to our colleague.

In memory of that evening, and with gratitude for the dear writing friends I’ve made over the years, I am sharing the photo here. From left to right are: Glen Huser, the late Irene Watts, Linda Bailey and I.

Happy New Year to you all!

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!