FIREFLY is Recommended by the Canadian Children's Book Centre!

 "In Firefly, Philippa Dowding presents serious topics such as homelessness and mental health in a way that fosters the readers' compassion for the dramatis personae, thus allowing them to develop sympathy for characters that are often vilified. 

The novel would be useful as a natural segue to the mental health literacy component of the curriculum for senior elementary students."

--Canadian Children BookNews, Summer 2021

Thank you for the lovely review of Firefly, Canadian Children's Book Centre!

Keep reading everyone, summer is here. My motto these days: we can't hold each other right now, but until we can, it may help to hold a book.

All posts on this blog, about FIREFLY

FIREFLY is an Expert Pick by the Canadian Children's Book Centre!

"Firefly's compelling story unfolds through her indomitable and spirited first-person narration, and flashbacks revisit her troubled childhood of neglect and parental struggles with addiction. Aunt Gayle's care and kindness wrap around Firefly like a comforting, hand-knit blanket."

--Canadian Children's Book Centre, March 2021 Expert Picks

So honoured that FIREFLY is an Expert Pick in the March 2021 newsletter of the Canadian Children's Book Centre! Thank you so much for the lovely review!

More about Firefly:

Youtube Video of FIREFLY Book Launch, Q&A with kidlit book blogger Helen Kubiw and me.

The Author Reads from FIREFLY, 3-minute YouTube Video

All posts about FIREFLY on this Blog.

FREE Teacher's Guide for OCULUM, online resources for parents and kids, and more

Silver Birch 2020 nominee;
SYRCA Diamond Willow 2020 nominee 

Hi all, since school is starting again for most Canadian kids this week, I've re-posted this for everyone keeping kids engaged and inspired at home during this global crisis. 

EXTENDED FOR 2021! Free Licensing Agreement for Read-Aloud Canadian Books Program with Access Copyright. 

Teachers, librarians, parents: you may now post video readings of many books through a temporary license agreement with publishers and Access Copyright until June December 31, 2021. Simply goodwill required. You'll find OCULUM on the list, under my publisher, Cormorant. (All of my books are now available to read aloud, check also Dundurn Press.)

READ VIDEO LICENSE AGREEMENT HERE

ALSO, below are free Teacher's Guides from my publisher, with critical thinking, discussion and more activities parents and teachers can use to inspire kids. These focus on my books, but most authors and publishers provide free resources for readers and teachers, just check their websites.

Here are links to the Ontario Library Association and the Canadian Children's Book Centre, with more links to Canadian author pages, resources for at-home learning, games, puzzles, and much more. 

AND here is a link to the Peel Virtual Forest of Reading celebration in June 2020, where I answer 25 questions about OCULUM from kids, in a live 30-minute Q & A. You will also hear from excellent authors Helaine Becker and Zetta Elliot. I begin @43 minutes.

These are free curriculum resources for you created by publishers, authors and educators. I hope this information helps you in the months ahead.

FREE TEACHER'S GUIDES for my books:

OCULUM Teacher's Guide, DCB Young Readers
A middle-grade dystopia, ages 10-13 (grades 5-8)

Sample question:

Q6. Grannie can remember Cambridge and the boys’ choir there. How old does that make Grannie? How far in the future must we be? (38) (See author's answer HERE)

FIREFLY Teacher's Guide, DCB Young Readers

A young girl escapes a difficult life with her mother, to live with her aunt in a downtown Toronto costume shop.

Sample question:

"Of all the costumes that Firefly wears, which is your favourite? Why?"

For all other Teacher's Guides, please VISIT 49th SHELF for free downloads of the following:

Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, Teacher's Guides

Alex and The Other, Teacher's Guide (doppelganger, evil twins)
Carter and the Curious Maze, Teacher's Guide (time travel)
Myles and the Monster Outside, Teacher's Guide (anxiety, road trip)
Jake and the Giant Hand, Teacher's Guide (urban legend)

An award-winning series of horror stories for middle-grade readers.
Great for reluctant readers, or hi/low readers. Ages 8-12.

The Night Flyer's Handbook Series
Family, flight and magic realism, a young girl realizes that her family history as a Night Flyer can bring clarity and a new community to her life. Ages 10-13. Nominated for the OLA Red Maple Award.

The Lost Gargoyle Series (2009-2012)
A young girl befriends a gargoyle lost in downtown Toronto. Series garnered 8 international awards, and has been optioned for television and film. Ages 8-12.


MORE EXCELLENT FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU:

FOREST OF READING: 

Register for the Forest of Reading, a children's reading program from the Ontario Library Association, which is now free for everyone as a response to COVID-19. They provide LOTS of great resources to keep kid's reading, author talks (including mine) and much more.

For my Forest Friday 1-hour talk about OCULUM, click here: FOREST FRIDAY WITH PHILIPPA DOWDING (you will need to download AdobeConnect at the prompt). There are so many Canadian authors here talking about their award-winning novels, please check it out.

THE CANADIAN CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTRE: A growing list of free resources from Canadian authors and publishers, check the new READ CANADIAN AT HOME resource guide from Canadian Children's Book Centre. They have links for many author's websites, book talks, and more added every day.

YOUTUBE: Here is my YouTube video channel, with book trailers for some of my books, and a few videos of me talking about writing and more. Ask your child to make their own book trailer for a favourite book, it's fun! Also, most authors have book trailers, youtube channels or livestream readings going on, visit their websites to check.

MUSIC: Also, visit my Bandcamp account for free book music (downloadable) and book readings by me. I'll be adding more readings and music in the weeks ahead.

WEBSITE: Also, visit my website for more free information and ideas. I'll be updating and putting more information on this blog and on my website regularly.

MY PANDEMIC MOTTO: 

We can't hold each other right now, but until we can, it might help to hold a book.

PD

Blackwells and the Briny Deep is a Canadian Children's Book Centre Expert Pick!

"An adventure full of creatures both terrifying and wonderful...perfect for reading aloud in a family setting." Canadian Children's Book Centre, September 2020

My title from 2018, Blackwells and the Briny Deep, is one of the Expert's Picks in the September issue of the CCBC Newsletter, thank you! Really honoured to be here with just a few other books.

Here's the whole newsletter link: CCBC September 2020

There are so many great ideas to keep your children reading and engaged during COVID, I hope you'll take a moment to look over their reading suggestions. 

The story of the Blackwells and their scary day at sea is one that I have always wanted to write since I've been lucky enough to sail on the Great Lakes since I was ten years old. I'm super happy to see this book get some critical attention. If your child enjoys scary stories that aren't too scary (and zombie pirates, mermaids and sea yarns in general), they'll probably love this! This series has been called "Goosebumps from north of the border" by Kirkus Reviews.

It's Book 5 in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series (6 books in total), for kids ages 8-12, enjoy.

More information:

Blackwells and the Briny Deep, BOOK TRAILER

More about Blackwells on this BLOG

All posts about Weird Stories Gone Wrong on this BLOG

CCBC Best Books for Kids and Teens Fall 2018, OCULUM makes the list!

Every spring and fall, the Canadian Children's Book Centre puts out their list of the 

Best Books for Kids and Teens.

So pleased that OCULUM made the list in the latest issue, Fall 2018! Thanks guys! 

I love the tags: Dystopia, Science Fiction, Adventure, Environment, Robots, Survival, Secrets. 

They could have added one more: Shakespeare 

The main characters in OCULUM are Miranda1 and Mann (remember The Tempest), and the main book that the children living in the domed world of OCULUM read is the WillBook, which is a collection of Shakespeare's plays and poems. 

Thanks to wonderful author Kate Blair for the picture (I still don't have my copy yet, due to a postal strike here in Canada).

Enjoy the full fall catalogue online at CCBC

Get a copy of OCULUM now

Quill & Quire Review

FREE Teacher's Guide

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me is a BEST BOOK for KIDS & TEENS!

So honoured to announce that the Canadian Children's Book Centre has selected my latest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, as a Best Book for Kids and Teens this spring!

Thank you! Very, very happy to be included in such select company with great Canadian books.

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me is the sequel to my Red Maple 2015 nominated title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Here is the press release from publisher Dundurn Press.

Here's the blurb: 

"I wander around like any normal, paranoid, self-absorbed teenager. Do we all think we’re being chased by deadly entities, I wonder? Probably, but how many of us actually are?

Gwendolyn Golden, Night Flyer, floats over the cornfields all summer. What draws her to the same spot, night after night? All she knows is that change is coming: she’s starting high school plus there’s a strange new boy in town.

He’s Everton Miles and he’s a Night Flyer, too.

Soon the mismatched teenagers face dangers they never imagined, including a fallen Spirit Flyer, kidnap, and the eternal darkness of The Shade. How will Gwendolyn handle her new life and grade nine? With help from The Night Flyer’s Handbook and her strange new friend, it might not be that hard."

For more on Everton and Gwendolyn:
Book trailer on Youtube
Blog posts about Everton Miles is Stranger than Me
Blog Posts about The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

Wonderful art from Toronto school kids, thank you!

Toronto school kids draw alternate covers for Myles and the Monster Outside.

The Author at Bloor-Gladstone Library

Cover art by
Shawna Daigle

I'm so lucky.  Last week I was invited to
Bloor-Gladstone library in Toronto, to speak to school kids in grades 3-5. Demand was high, and we ran the presentation twice, to a total of 5 schools, about 8 classes and over 200+ kids.

I love talking to children about books, being a writer, and reading to them, answering their questions. But I'm also always touched at the little things they do, the sweet extras they bring with them for me. One class did a class set of alternate covers for my Silver Birch Express title, Myles and the Monster Outside.

They are so great, and I was so touched. Each cover shows a lot of thought, and talent, and also tells me a lot about the child who drew it: the thinkers, the artists, the optimists, they're all there.

So thank you so much to Bloor-Gladstone library, the librarians and teachers who bring books to life for our youngest readers. Thanks also, once again, to the Ontario Library Association for nominating Myles and the Monster Outside for the Silver Birch Express award this year!

If you'd like me to visit your school or library, I still have booking space this spring. Here's how to contact me.

Here's a link with more information about my presentations: 
Philippa Dowding Presentations