Happy Publication Day to THE WAR LANTERN and a Q & A with Deborah Kalb!

 

It's publication day for THE WAR LANTERN! Hurray!

It's been a journey getting here, and thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way, including my publisher DCB Young Readers. You'll find many things I have to say about this new book in previous blog posts here.

For today, I'm going to bask in the arrival of my sixteenth book for young readers! It's been the most challenging and rewarding book of my career, and took three years of research and travel to museums and archives across the UK and Canada to write it.

BONUS: U.S. Blogger Deborah Kalb has kindly posted our Q & A today, you'll find it here!

A SHORT EXCERPT:

Q: ... did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

"There were many surprises during the research for THE WAR LANTERN, but one aspect of the story that I really hadn’t considered before I began, was the experience of writing about my grandparents. 

Their generation, often called “The Lost Generation,” lived through WWI as young adults then endured WWII as parents with children old enough to go to war. As I researched and wrote about them, I was surprised by how much their trauma had to be part of the story, too. It took me ages to capture their final act of love at the end of Marcus’s story, and I was rewriting that moment up to the final edits. I hope I got it right."

There's a NEW YouTube BOOK TRAILER TOO!

HOT OFF THE PRESS: The Children's Book Council (NYC) selected THE WAR LANTERN as a HOT OFF THE PRESS book for October, 2026!

6 Questions About THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD with blogger Deborah Kalb

 

Thank you to Deborah Kalb for asking me to answer 6 fascinating questions about THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD on her U.S. book blog!

The 6 questions are: 

1.What inspired you to write THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD?

2. How would you describe the dynamic between Mr. Byrd and Bat? 3. BELOW 4. What do you think the book says about friendship? 5. What are you working on now? 6. Anything else we should know?

I hope you enjoy reading about process, inspiration, art, epigraphs, writing by hand, love and friendship in children's books, and more! The entire blog post is here, enjoy question 3 below:

"3. What do you think Caroline Clarke's illustrations add to the book?

Caroline did a beautiful job on the illustration for the book cover, and on the ten interior black-and-white illustrations, one for each chapter. Her skill and creativity bring such warmth and individuality to the characters. I love them all, but my favourite image (right now) is the mouse inviting us to consider the feather in the “Feathers” chapter. The feather looks so soft, it would make any home cozy and warm!

The art style is mostly realistic (that is, no frock coats like Peter Rabbit). But how to make a robin seem dejected like Mr. Byrd in “Friend?” Or how to make Bat seem delighted in “Fireflies?” Not an easy task with a bird or a bat, but Caroline has created both characters to be both realistic and endearing. Her final drawing of Mr. Byrd is glorious too; he looks ecstatic as he sings.

I love that each illustration sits opposite the first page of the accompanying chapter; their placement is inviting and sets the tone for what’s to come next. If I were a child reading the book or a grandparent or parent reading it aloud, I would linger a long time over each illustration before beginning the chapter. The illustrations invite us into the world of Bat and Mr. Byrd in their journey together from summer to autumn."

Thank you to Deborah Kalb, I really enjoyed answering her questions! 

READ THE WHOLE Q&A with DEBORAH KALB

See more of Caroline Clarke's beautiful illustrations in the YOUTUBE BOOK TRAILER

Find all posts on this blog about THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD here.

Please consider buying your books from a local bookseller. In Canada, try Bookmanager. Or Order here.

Family, PTSD, homelessness and more, FIREFLY interview on Deborah Kalb's blog

I'm so honoured to be the featured author on US blogger Deborah Kalb's blog this week! She asked me some great questions about my latest book, FIREFLY, and I had a lot of fun answering them. Thanks Deborah!

See the FULL Q&A INTERVIEW.

We talked about finding story inspiration, how the story started, how it ended, my writing process along the way, what I hope young readers take from the story, and also finding that fine writing balancing act of pain and humour, a delicate combination in a middle-grade book about serious issues like PTSD, homelessness and parental addiction. 

Click for the whole interview. Here's Question 2:

"What do you think the novel says about definitions of family?

One thing I’ve learned from raising my family in a busy city is that our definition of family is constantly changing, and that we help, support and love each other in ways that make us family, whether we’re related by blood or not.

Firefly has a friend in the park who looks out for her, a homeless man named Moss Cart, who despite his own challenges helps her as best he can. She helps him, too. There’s also a group of therapists at Jennie’s, a women’s drop-in centre, who teach Firefly coping techniques for PTSD (the therapists don’t know she is only 13).

And there’s Aunt Gayle who barely knows her niece, but agrees to shelter and care for Firefly as soon as the social worker contacts her. Aunt Gayle’s staff at The Corseted Lady all care for Firefly, too. As they spend time together in the days before Halloween (a busy time in a costume shop), they give Firefly support and validation in the most unusual way (and a plot twist that I can’t give away!).

When she starts grade nine six weeks later than everyone else, Firefly also discovers a family of school friends she never expected.

The only traditional family member in the story is her mother (who she calls Joanne-the-mother), who has failed Firefly. At the end of the book, they are not reconciled although there are supports in place for Firefly if she ever wants to connect with her mother.

What is a family? Ultimately in this book, it’s up to Firefly."

NEW: Watch my short 3-minute reading from FIREFLY, on BIBLIOVIDEO

More about Firefly on THIS BLOG.