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!
January can be a long month, with weather that is cold and dreary, so what’s a writer to do? Read more and write more! Bundled up inside the house and finding inviting words on the page is a lovely pastime. Wishing you a happy January and many good books to read!
And if you need a bit of January inspiration, here’s a quote (in the spirit of the month) from poet and essayist, T. S. Eliot:
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”
— T.S. Eliot
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!
In a happy circumstance, I was delighted to be invited to include my story, Bear’s Winter Party, to become part of an annual online Advent calendar, created by the UK charity Roundabout Dramatherapy. It is an organization that works to transform the lives of vulnerable people with mental health issues through the use of dramatherapy.
My book was selected for December 23, and yesterday I got to watch the wonderful actor Nicola Martinus-Smith bring the story and characters to life with her lovely reading of it. If there are young children in your circle, they might enjoy watching the video, as well as seeing the festive stories for the other days of December.
Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday! Cheers!
As the year draws to an end, I am feeling grateful for many things: family, friends, a warm home and a stack of books to read and write.
I adore these sweet little Douglas squirrel babies in their cozy nest, staying warm and dry in the ancient tree of the coastal rainforest. What a lovely place to be! This charming illustration is from our book, West Coast Wild Rainforest, full of gorgeous paintings by Karen Reczuch.
Here on the west coast, we will be having a green holiday — no snow on the horizon as yet. Wherever you are, snow or no snow, I wish you a warm, cozy and happy holiday season. 
We are approaching the shortest day of the year, when darkness stays late in the morning and comes early in the evening. I love to watch the changing season and ruminate about the time when the days get longer again. There is always hope just around the corner.
For now, in these quiet moments leading up to the shortest day, I think about warmth and light, and wish you health and happiness as we proceed through the winter season.
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!
