OLA Silver Birch nomination, and why the universe is laughing at me!

Gordon Lightfoot died last week (May 1, 2023), so I am reposting this blog entry from October 2011 which is mostly about him. Thanks to him for his music, and all the inspiration he gave this guitarist.

From October 17, 2011:

"The universe is a prankster, I think we all know that. Today, I can only laugh and shake my head along with the crazy pranking universe, which is laughing quietly at me.

On October 17, 2011 my second book, The Gargoyle Overhead, was nominated for the Silver Birch Express award. It's a large award, a great honour, from the Ontario Library Association. The book is listed along with 9 other books selected by the OLA committee, and many thousands of Ontario school-children between the ages of 9-12 will read it over the coming months, and vote on their favourite book from the list next spring, 2012.

Here's the link to the nominee page: Silver Birch Express 2012, Nominees

Some great books on there, I'm in fantastic company for sure. My book is number four on the alphabetical list. Now, cast your eye to book three on the list ... The Canadian Railroad Trilogy, by a certain Gordon Lightfoot. Yes, the musician who wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and "Early Morning Rain" and "If you could read my mind love" and well, hundreds of other songs. I have always loved Gordon Lightfoot, and I'm so awestruck and honoured to have my book listed along with his. I've listened to his music my entire life, and have learned to play many of his songs on my guitar.

Here's the hilarity.

I have recently created my first guitar CD. It's a collection of my own guitar songs, all instrumental. It is called (and I'm not kidding), This is NOT Gordon Lightfoot. As I say above, I love GL. It's just my picking style can sound a little like his, and when listening to me play people will often ask if my music is his. The title song of the CD is called, well, This is NOT Gordon Lightfoot.

Here it is: This is NOT Gordon Lightfoot

Give a listen. I'm giggling. Are you? And what if I spend time in his company, getting to know him at the awards ceremony at Harbourfront next spring (where presumably we'll stand side by side on the stage) ... do I take a copy of the CD for him, just in case? Or do I ... just shake my head and laugh?!

PD/OCT 17/2011

FIREFLY is on the Forest of Reading Summer Reading List 2021!

 

So honoured and delighted to see FIREFLY on the Forest of Reading 2021 Kid Committee Summer Reading List, in the Silver Birch category (ages 8-12)! This is an amazing list of books written by my peers in the Canadian kid lit world, and each book has been chosen BY kids FOR kids (so you know these are good reads)! 

Here's the whole list of suggested reading on the Ontario Library Association website: Silver Birch Summer Reading 2021 

You'll also find suggestions for Red Maple readers (grades 6-8), and White Pine readers (grades 9-12).

Author at Forest of Reading, 2017

What's the Forest of Reading, you ask? It's the largest reader's choice awards in North America, run  by the Ontario Library Association. Each year, dedicated librarians and adult readers pick 10 books in various age categories, for children to read over the year. In May, the kids get to vote on their favourites, and the books are celebrated at a huge celebration of reading at Harbourfront, in Toronto. Authors get to meet their fans, face-to-face, and young readers get the joy and inspiration of meeting their favourite Canadian authors. Win win!

Publishers are a business like any other, and they are struggling during COVID too (as are authors and all artists). If you want to support them and buy a good book, great! If you want to gift a book, also great! Or put the books on hold at the library, great too! If you want to share what you thought of a book, best of all, because those reviews help sell more books. Your author will get to write more books for you, your publishers will publish them. Also win win!

My motto these days: we can't hold each other right now, but until we can, it may help to hold a book!

More Posts about FOREST OF READING on this blog

All posts about FIREFLY on this blog 

The Author Reads from FIREFLY on YouTube

Top 5 Memories from Forest of Reading 2017

Here's a post from a few years ago, to celebrate the Forest of Reading week May 12-14, 2020, which is postponed this year. My book OCULUM was a Silver Birch nominee. I hope this post reminds us all of better days ahead.

Original Post, May 24, 2017:

Well, the OLA Forest of Reading adventure is over for another year. My 6th book, Myles and the Monster Outside, was nominated for the Silver Birch Express award, and WON HONOUR BOOK!

A thousand, thousand thanks to the OLA for  running such a spectacular reading program for tens of thousands of young Ontario readers. Thanks also to the super-hero librarians, teachers and educators who bring Canadian books into Canadian schools and libraries, and to publisher Dundurn Press for letting me tell such a weird little story. SUPER thanks to Shawna Daigle, the wonderful series illustrator.

Thank you to the school who posted this!

Finally, thanks to Ontario school kids, who read so many books, and picked the story of anxious Myles and his monster, as one of their winners!

The Forest of Reading is always a major event in the life of any writer, and here are my top 5 memories from this year:

1. FOREST FRIDAYS. This year, the OLA ran a pilot project, called Forest Fridays, which was entirely online. Each week, one nominated author presented in the Friday lunch time slot, using Adobe Connect, talking to kids across the province, and across the country, in lunchrooms, gyms, libraries and classrooms, for 45 minutes. My Forest Friday was March 24: here's the link to find out more.  We had @ 100 schools and close to 1000 kids listen in.

Best FOREST FRIDAY Question: What would you say to an aspiring writer?
A: Keep writing, write what you're passionate about because your readers will feel that passion and enjoy your story, don't let anyone tell you you can't be a writer.
2020 update, Watch a free Forest Friday (OCULUM) with Philippa Dowding

Myles WINS the London Regional Award!

2. LONDON FESTIVAL OF TREES: Driving to London for the first of the 3 major festivals in early May, I got a ride with the Executive Director of the Forest of Reading and author, Richard Scrimger (Lucky Jonah). We laughed all the way (Richard will do that to you!). That night I had dinner with authors Teresa Toten (Shattered Glass), Helaine Becker (Worms for Breakfast), Kira Vermond (Half-Truths and Brazen Lies), Niki Tate (Deep Roots), Richard Scrimger, Karen Bass (The Hill), and we talked late. The Festival the next day was fantastic, with 1700 kids, and Myles WON the Silver Birch Express London Regional award! Thanks to all for a great day!


Best London Festival of Trees Moment: a young boy came up to me after my presentation, to tell me that Myles and the Monster Outside, "blew him away." When I asked why, he considered very carefully, then said, "It's the care you put into it." Awww. Thanks young man, that's a keeper.

Rock Star Moment on stage with Shawna (L) in Toronto
Photo courtesy Riley Murray

3. TORONTO FESTIVAL OF TREES: If you've ever wanted to feel like a rock-star ... the Festival of Trees in Toronto is just the ticket! This year, I got to share the experience with my awesome illustrator, Shawna Daigle, who rocked the stage wherever we went. We did a signing, a presentation, and the award ceremony together. It was Shawna's first Festival, and it was so fun to share it with her.

Best Toronto Festival of Trees Moment: Standing on stage with Shawna at Harbourfront, and holding up our favourite books: Charlotte's Web and Animalia. I said, "Books unite us, inspire us, and stay with us, our whole lives." Thanks Toronto!!

Second Best Moment: telling Kevin Sands (The Blackthorne Key) about my Star Trek: TNG script from 1987, and apologizing for it being so weird. His response? "We're writers, nothing is weird."

Thanks Maggie Ewert for the pic; Chi-Cheemaun, Toronto

4. SAULT STE. MARIE Festival of Trees:
Part of the excitement of being a nominee for the Forest of Reading, is travelling and talking to kids and librarians in other cities  you've never been to before. This year, I joined the Festival in Sault Ste. Marie. Yep, I'd never visited. It was so fun to fly in over the lake, to talk to the hosts, other authors, and the local librarians at a party the night before.

Me with my sign holder and presenter, in Sault Ste. Marie!

 It was fun to be part of the literary and school community in a fairly remote part of my home province.
And ... Myles won the Algoma Regional Silver Birch Express Award, THANK YOU!

Best Sault Ste. Marie Festival Moment: talking to my sign holder, Matteo, who was SO EXCITED about talking to me, because he loved my book. It's just so inspiring to meet a young reader like him.

At left: What authors do after the Festival of Trees!
L to R: Vikki VanSickle (If I had a Gryphon), Joel Sutherland (Haunted Canada 6), Me, Helaine Becker rocking her pink bag, (Worms for Breakfast), Rob Laidlaw (Elephant Journey), Shane Peacock (The Artist and me)

5. Winning Silver Birch Express Honour Book.
Yes, I can honestly say, that winning Silver Birch Express Honour Book 2017, was one of the thrills of the year. Congrats to all the nominees this year, and to Jess Keating for her Honour book win (Pink is for Blobfish) and to Andree Poulin who won the Silver Birch Express top spot for The Biggest Poutine in the World. We chatted afterward, I congratulated her, and she said (because she is totally cool) ... but we all win right?

View from the stage, Toronto Festival of Trees Ceremony

And that's pretty much the whole idea.

We do all win, the nominees, the libraries, the schools, the publishers and mostly, the kids. Thanks to all for another fantastic Forest of Reading year! Keep reading, everyone.





Forest of Reading Posts from Previous Years:
Red Maple, 2015: The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden
Silver Birch Express, 2014: The Gargoyle at the Gates
Silver Birch Express, 2012: The Gargoyle Overhead
All Forest of Reading Posts

OCULUM is a Best Reads 2019 plus a special thank you card from a class visit...

Thank you to The Sound magazine, for picking OCULUM as one of it's Best Reads of 2019 titles (one of only three, I'm in amazing company with Terry Fallis and Tanya Boteju). 

Here's what they had to say:

"Similar to The Giver in quality, content, appeal, and originality, Oculum really is children’s literature. It’s written beautifully, simply, and thoughtfully, and covers subject matter that is not common enough in Middle Grade. Every scene can be pictured in vivid detail, and readers of any age will be desperate to learn more about this strange world." Wow, THANK YOU!

Read the rest of the article here: The Sound Best of 2019

Also, I got the sweetest card from a class visit today! 
It's a peach, a symbol of fragility of the planet in OCULUM, with a special door in it! Part of the story involves a hidden door ...

The letter inside reads:

"Dear Philippa,

Thank you so much for visiting us. We love your book OCULUM and hope it wins Silver Birch. [edit: THANK YOU!] We will be cheering for you, when you're on stage at the Forest of Trees. [edit again: AWWW!] 

We connect so much with Miranda & Mannfred. We hope you write another book just like it. You created OCULUM for everyone and just like the seeds[,] everyone loves it."

Thank you so much, to the 5 & 6 class I visited last week. Honestly, when they read this 
note to me after my presentation, it was hard to hold it together. Connecting with kids is one of the very best parts of being an Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading nominee, I absolutely love talking to children about my books and hearing and answering their always unique and interesting questions.

KEEP READING EVERYONE! 

For more on OCULUM on this blog, click here.

OCULUM makes the 2019 Forest Kid Summer Reading List!

What are your kids reading this summer?

I couldn't be happier to announce that my middle-grade dystopia, OCULUM, has been selected by young readers on the Forest Kid Summer Reading Committee, a first for me!

OCULUM is in the Red Maple category with some terrific books by Canadian writers like Susin Nielsin, Kevin Sands, Wendy Orr, Gordon Korman and more.

Here's the list: Forest Kids Committee 2019

The OLA Forest of Reading says: "This is what your readers should read over the summer - as chosen by the readers themselves!"

YES to that! Keep reading everyone, and read Canadian. Thanks to my publisher, DCB Young Readers, for letting me tell this near future environmental dystopia (with robots)! 

Borrow OCULUM from Toronto Public Library 
(or check your own hometown library)

Purchase a copy online AMAZON INDIGO 

Check out the FREE Teacher's Guide
More about OCULUM on this blog.
Publisher's Page

The Best Part of The Forest of Reading and more ...

"We had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Philippa Dowding to talk about her experience at the Festival of Trees and participation in the Forest of Reading."--OLA Live (Ontario Library Association), Forest of Reading, July 27, 2017

Winner, OLA Silver Birch Express
Award Honour Book, 2017

The pleasure was all mine! Thank you to the Ontario Library Association and the Forest of Reading for posting this interview with me, filmed at Harbourfront Festival of Trees in May, 2017. I laugh at the beginning of every question, not because I'm unusually happy or laugh effusively all the time, but because the interviewer (Michael, you know who you are), is so affable. I blame him.

So, watch it if you'd like to find out how a Forest of Reading nomination changed my life, or what I love most about being a nominee, or the most memorable moment if I had to pick one (and there are many)!

Here's the Youtube link: Philippa Dowding interview, Festival of Trees. There are more creator interviews from Festival of Trees 2017 at OLA Live, including authors Richard Scrimger, Vikki VanSickle, Arthur Slade, my series illustrator Shawna Daigle, and many more. Fun to hear what each creator has to say about the event, how it inspires them and impacts their career.

Here are more posts about the Forest of Reading, on this blog, enjoy!
Myles and the Monster Outside, Book Trailer with illustrations by Shawna Daigle.

Myles and the Monster Outside is the Silver Birch Express Regional Winner!

Author with her surprised face on!

Myles and the Monster Outside was the Regional Award Winner at the Festival of Trees in London, Ontario yesterday (May 12, 2017)!

Thank you to the Ontario Library Association, the fabulous teachers, librarians, and 1700 young readers, it was a great day for reading. So surprised and delighted to win, and such a lovely award!

Lovely Award for the London 2017 Silver Birch Express

Next week, the Festival of Trees continues in Toronto and Sault Ste. Marie. I'll be in both cities, come join us!

what 1700 kids look like at the London Festival of Trees

Here are dates, schedules and ticket sales:

May 17: Festival of Trees, TORONTO
(Appearing with series illustrator Shawna Daigle in Toronto)
May 19: Festival of Trees, SAULT STE. MARIE

I see you, Myles ...

Here's the Myles and the Monster Outside Book Trailer.

Forest Fridays was so much fun, thanks everyone!

Thanks to Librarian Karen Upper for the image

Forest Fridays was really fun! Thank you to the Ontario Library Association, for inviting me to talk to kids across Ontario and Canada today.

We had dozens of schools, hundreds of kids, teachers and librarians joining in to listen and ask great questions.

I talked about being a writer, and about my Silver Birch Express nominated title, Myles and the Monster Outside.

The questions were all fantastic, but here are my three favourites:

1. From a student: I'm a writer too. What advice can you give me? A: Believe in yourself, write the stories you are most passionate about, don't let anyone tell you you can't be a writer, and keep writing!

2. From a teacher: What was it about Charlotte's Web that inspired you to be a writer at age nine?
A: It was the first time that a book made me feel something, the first time I realized that books are powerful.

3. From a school: do you like reading horror stories?
A: Yes, I like reading some horror writers. I like Stephen King, Anne Rice, Kelley Armstrong, but I don't like watching horror movies!

As always, a real honour to be a Forest of Reading nominee and have the privilege to talk to young readers. Keep reading, everyone!

Here's the Myles and the Monster Outside BookTrailer, enjoy!
Here's the schedule for the rest of the Forest Fridays author presentations. All you need to do is register, and enjoy.

Tips for school visits by SKYPE

I was lucky enough to do a few school visits by SKYPE a few weeks ago. Originally, I was scheduled to visit Northern Ontario in person, but due to a sad loss in the family, I couldn't make it.

But SKYPE saved the day, and I met with both schools, not in person maybe, but via the next best thing. That's me on the left, a disembodied head floating around on the screen, but we managed to have a lot of fun.

I set up a simple stage, I have props, puppets, hats, pictures and I do a short presentation, followed by a short reading, then kids ask questions. It all takes about 35-45 minutes (or more if we want).

Check out this blog post from a few years ago:
 11 TIPS for a Skype Author Visit.

SKYPE sound stage set up in my house, the squid hat was a hit.

I'd like to do more SKYPE visits with schools this winter, so please contact me if you're interested. I'm also doing SKYPE visits through the Forest of Reading in 2017, since my book, Myles and the Monster Outside, is a Silver Birch Express nominee. It's also a Hackmatack nominee this year, thank you to both nominating committees.

Contact me to find out more about a SKYPE or web visit now.

Myles and the Monster Outside KIRKUS REVIEW

Coming Sept. 2015, Dundurn Press

UPDATE: Myles and the Monster Outside has been nominated for an OLA Silver Birch Express Award 2017 by the Ontario Library Association, thank you! I thought I would re-post this great Kirkus Review (which also happens to be my all-time #1 post). Enjoy. 

"Dowding’s second Weird Stories Gone Wrong is a relatively realistic, carefully written Goosebumps ... this is a gentle but still shivery spook tale.

Readers who have made a big move will identify with Myles and his fears made manifest. (Horror. 7-10)"
--Kirkus Reviews, July/2015

I'm quite thrilled with this review from Kirkus for my 2nd book in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, thank you! Their reviews are no-nonsense and their tagline is: "The World's Toughest Reviews on the World's Top Selling Books."

1 of 6 illustrations from Shawna Daigle

I particularly appreciate the "Goosebumps" mention, my children read R.L Stine until the books fell apart, I'm very honoured to be compared to that classic middle-grade horror franchise.

This story is a truly creepy paranormal road-trip told through the eyes of an anxious 12-year old boy. We all have monsters, right? Who hasn't been that child in the back seat on a long car drive, who starts to see things out the window? I know I definitely was. 

Myles and the Monster Outside is forthcoming from Dundurn Press, Sept 19, 2015, and is accompanied by 6 fantastically creepy illustrations by Shawna Daigle. Here is the book trailer which showcases her art (and that's me playing the spooky guitar). 

Booklist Review 
For more reviews, check Goodreads. 
Here is the complete Kirkus Review.
Read my author letter which accompanies the ARC of Myles and Monster Outside.
To request a Media Copy please contact Dundurn Press 
Read a Q&A blog post about the book on the Dundurn Blog Here

A Forest of Reading Nomination 2017!!

I couldn't be MORE honoured and excited to share the news that Myles and the Monster Outside (Dundurn Press, 2015) has just been nominated for a Silver Birch Express Award, with the Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading!

Here is my publisher's press release: Dundurn Press

It's the biggest Reader's Choice Award in the country, and is a huge honour to be nominated. So thank you, so much, to the OLA, and thank you also to my wonderful illustrator, Shawna Daigle, for making the book look so great, and to my publisher, Dundurn Press, for believing in a weird little story about a boy who sees a monster outside the car window.

Thank you also to the thousands of young readers who will read the book this winter. I can't wait to meet them next spring!

More soon, but for now, here's the booktrailer for a look at some of the brilliant illustrations: Myles and the Monster Outside Book Trailer

Here are more links to reviews and blog posts about the book: More about Myles
And the Goodreads book reviews page: Myles on Goodreads

Thank you all!!

Red Maple Forest of Reading 2015 was amazing!

108 great Canadian books selected in 9 categories.

Well, the 8-month Forest of Reading party is over for another year. 

And what a party!

I have to say that once again, I'm totally honoured to have been an Ontario Library Association Red Maple 2015 nominee. My book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, didn't win the Red Maple award but it hardly matters. It was a fantastic experience to be nominated, to travel around Ontario talking to kids in grade 7 and 8,  meeting librarians and the other wonderful authors.
Take a look at this Forest of Reading youtube video to get some idea of the fun (yes, that's yours truly around the 1 minute 17 second mark, my sign gets bashed into a tree).

Here are my top 6 take-away memories in a fascinating and wonderful year, thank you to the OLA!

Harbourfront, May 12, 2015

1. October/2014: finding out I was nominated for a Red Maple award alongside some iconic Canadian authors including Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger, Sigmund Brouwer, Sarah Ellis, Ken Oppel, Deb Ellis ... and all the others. Wow. Memorably sitting on stage with Richard twice, and realizing how funny he is, trying not to laugh. (Me: Richard, if we were in the same grade two class, the teacher would never let us sit together.) And telling Ken Oppel the story about how he and his wife used to live in my neighbourhood in Toronto, and for the longest time whenever I met someone new, they'd ask if I was married to Ken Oppel. (His wife's name is Philippa). That went on for years until they moved away. Until May 12, the day I got to tell him that story, I'd never met him.

Thorn between roses: Pignat, Dowding, Van Sickle on stage

2. March/2015: getting letters from grade 7 fans, and answering this question a lot: Why did Martin just think that Gwendolyn liked him? (A: he has no idea how to go about telling a girl he likes her, because it's his first crush. He has to learn to be better at that.)

3. April 2015: Travelling to Thunder Bay to meet all the kids, teachers and authors up there. Hanging with the great TVO hosts Melissa and Daniel in the green room, and asking them if they are ever worried about blurting out something inappropriate on air? (A: not really, the only problem is mild swearing, Holy Moly is always a safe one).

4. May 12,  2015: Sitting on stage with 19 other fiction and non-fiction Red Maple authors, and getting up to read my T-shirt from my publisher, Dundurn: Canadian Authors Telling Canadian Stories. About 60% of kids put their hands up to my question: do you have a Canadian author in your top 5 all-time faves?

5. Signing line-up conversation, May 12, Forest of Trees: a boy comes up and tells me that my book was his favourite. Me: Really? That's nice. How come? Him: Because it got me through a really terrible winter.

My wonderful presenter, OLA 2015

Signing table, OLA 2015

6. Best question ever at my OLA presentation, from a young author. Q: Do you prefer your first draft or your finished book? Me: Wow, what a great question, I'll have to think about that. Um. I guess the first draft is probably closest to the book you imagined. The finished product is hopefully the book you never imagined you could write so well.

Thank you to all my readers, the volunteers, the librarians and teachers who work so hard to bring the Forest of Reading to schools and libraries, the other Canadian authors, and the OLA. A truly great year.

Thunder Bay Forest of Reading was GREAT!

 Oh, it's Forest of Reading month! My book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, is nominated for The Red Maple award, the winner of which is going to be announced on May 12th at Harbourfront in Toronto. I'll be there on stage with the other nominees, can't wait. Here's a full list of the other great books.

On April 30-May 1 2015, I attended the first of the Forest of Reading celebrations up in Thunder Bay, that was really fun. Here's me standing in the Thunder Bay Silver City beneath my name in lights, getting ready to do my presentation (and I'm a 3D Avenger, apparently). And below is a photo of my presentation on the Silver City screen ... probably the only time my name will ever be on a 40-foot high movie screen! Pretty cool. (I asked the kids in the front row to stand up for some size context).

It's going to be an exciting month. Thank you to the Ontario Library Association for all their hard work, and all the librarians, teachers and young readers who love books, reading and authors.Wish Gwendolyn and I luck!

Here's me doing a library presentation on April 23 in Aurora, that was fun too!

Why fight when you can just float away?

"It's not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences." --Audre Lorde

We are deep into the last few weeks of reading for the OLA Red Maple nominated books, and soon grade 7 and 8's across Ontario will vote for their favourite book. On May 12, I'll be at Harbourfront celebrating readers and reading with the OLA, and finding out who wins the Red Maple award this year (I know my favourite!).

Today, I found this wonderful video, made perhaps by a teacher or students, comparing two Red Maple books, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (mine) and Why Do We Fight? by Niki Walker (nominated in the non-fiction section).

What a thoughtful comparison. Here's the Video: What would you do if your troubles could float away?

My favourite slide is #14: 'When Gwendolyn discovers her floating is a part of her...she makes peace with herself and places her struggles aside." Lovely. Love the picture, too.

This is the first time I've seen anyone note specifically that Gwendolyn's Night Flying community is what saves her. The metaphor of flight could be replaced by any number of struggles that teenagers face as they navigate the changes in their lives, from friendships, to relationships with family and the opposite sex, to self-awareness and self-esteem. But gaining a wider sense of community, to me that's the key to Gwen's salvation. Where would she be without her mentor Mrs. Forest? And Mr. McGillies watching faithfully?

As the slide says, "In many respects countries, just as people, must keep their peace promise." So true, thank you.

Here are two more recent and very sweet Red Maple fan-made videos for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden:
Watch My Amazing Book Presentation
The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Video

It's a Red Maple nomination for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden!

I could not be more honoured to announce that my 2014 novel, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, has just been nominated for a Red Maple Award by the Ontario Library Association. This is an annual Reader's Choice award, and young readers in grades 7 and 8 (ages 11-14) all across Ontario will be reading the book in school, and discussing it in book groups all winter, then voting on their favourite book out of the ten selected next spring.

Here is the amazing list of nominees: Kenneth Oppel, Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger, Vikki VanSickle, Jaqueline Guest, Sigmund Brouwer, Jess Keating, Sarah Ellis, Caroline Pignat, and me.

I'll be touring the province with many of these wonderful Canadian authors (cannot wait to meet Ken Oppel!), talking to young readers about the book, about writing, about my fascination with the gift of flight. Next spring, May 2015, the program culminates in a huge celebration of reading and books at Harbourfront in Toronto, at the Forest of Reading.

I'm so very honoured to be part of this in 2014-2015, it's a huge achievement and a remarkable program. Hundreds of thousands of children in Ontario take part, from ages 4-18, and all the authors are locally-grown Canadians, which is also wonderful.

Thank you to the Ontario Library Association, and to my publisher, Dundurn Press, for letting me tell a strange story about a girl who wakes up one morning floating on the ceiling of her bedroom. More to come, but for now, please have a look at some reviews and earlier posts about Gwendolyn Golden:

Starred Review in Quill & Quire
Goodreads reviews
Why I chose Gwendolyn MacEwen's poem for an epigraph
Earlier Blog Posts

Cutest gargoyle ever!

Thanks to Joanne Richards and the students of Magnetawan school for this adorable gargoyle ... cutest gargoyle ever. Hope you guys enjoy the books!

Forest of Reading 2014

On stage with the Silver Birch Express Nominees

Once again, a great Forest of Reading experience this year, thank you to all the organizers, librarians, OLA staff, teachers, authors and young readers for making it so memorable. Very honoured to be a nominee (The Gargoyle at the Gates won the Near North and Durham county regional votes, too) and to get to spend time with awesome authors like Cary Fagan, Natalie Hyde, Kari-Lynn Winters, Jennifer Lanthier, and the winner, Rebecca Upjohn with her lovely book, The Secret of the Village Fool. Congrats to all, and until we meet again ... happy writing!

Explaining why I have to throw apples at the crowd (while Jennifer Lanthier smiles)

Here comes an apple

Cary Fagan and Natalie Hyde

Saying hello and signing a book ... the best part ...

The long signing line up

Amazing Near North Forest of Reading Author Tour

With Belle and Natalie, North Bay. Photo credit, thanks to Rebecca Upjohn

Wow, that was exciting! I've just come back from three days in North Bay and Parry Sound, for the Ontario Library Association Near North Forest of Reading tour. In the course of 3 days we saw almost 3,000 kids from all over Northern and Eastern Ontario. Day one was in lovely Nipissing University, with the great Sid Bobs from CBC Kids as our host. There were over 1500 kids there!!
Day two was held in Parry Sound at their high school, with an only slightly smaller crowd of 1200 kids in attendance.

1500 kids at University of Nipissing, North Bay, photo Joanne levy

A gargoyle finger puppet the kids made,
photo Rebecca Upjohn

The kids were fantastic and so excited to meet the team of authors, and we were just as excited to meet them. My presentation partner Rebecca Upjohn and I ran four presentations where we talked about research and imagination in fiction and non fiction. Kids hid in a tent to imagine what it would be like to hide for 9 months (Rebecca's book, The Secret of the Village Fool, is about hiding from the Nazis), and I played the gargoyle shuffle on a borrowed guitar and got to see kids dance like gargoyles. I'm also really very honoured to say that my book, The Gargoyle at the Gates, was selected the Near North Festival of Reading Regional Winner for the Silver Birch Express category. I was so surprised and delighted!!! Thank you North Bay and Parry Sound, and thank you Ontario Library Association! And of course, a million thanks to the volunteers, librarians and hard working OLA staff who made it all happen. Also, I'd just like to add that the authors I met on the tour were all wonderful and lots of fun, and Meredith Tutching is a very, very good driver (as is Joanne Levy).
You can also read my interview with the North Bay Nugget here. Keep reading, everyone!

The author crew, with thanks to Joanne Levy for the photo.
Left to right: Melissa Marr, Kelly Armstrong, Kari-Lynn Winter, Maria Birmingham, Rachelle Delaney,
Pat Bourke, Joanne Levy, Jennifer Lanthier, Michael Glassbourg, me, Rebecca Upjohn