Year in Review: nominations, book launches, and a magazine excerpt

Here it is, the last day of 2014. Like most of you, I have a Facebook page where I recently received my "Your Year in Review" compilation of photos. While I'm always creeped out when Facebook reaches into my life to show me who I am (weird hall of mirrors there), I did realize after looking at the photos that it was an amazing year for me. In fact, 2014 will be difficult to top. I'm very, very grateful for any successes that came my way, thank you to readers, voting committees, fans, and my publisher, Dundurn Press. Here's a brief rundown of an amazing year:

1. January: A book launch! The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden came into the world.
2. February: The Gargoyle at the Gates was nominated for 5 awards: the OLA Silver Birch Express award, the SYRCA Diamond Willow award, the Hackmatack and Red Cedar awards, and the Co-operative Children's Book Centre Award. It was also a White Raven Book from the International Youth Library in Munich, 2013.
3. March/April: I toured the Near North (North Bay and Parry Sound) with the OLA Silver Birch and Red Maple nominees. Won the Near North vote for best Silver Birch Express book (my first-ever win!), talked to 1500 kids in Nipissing University, had dinner with Kelly Armstrong (yes, THE Kelly Armstrong), and got to do 4 whirlwind presentations with my friend Rebecca Upjohn. Here's a video of kids' dancing to the gargoyle shuffle (that's me playing guitar) and a link to more about my Near North tour.
4. May: did the amazing OLA Harbourfront Festival of trees, where I whipped fake apples into the crowd (that was pretty fun!). Also my daughter and I toured New Brunswick and PEI with the Hackmatack award, which was fantastic. Met Dan Bar-El and Ashley Spires! I also won the Durham County Silver Birch Express vote for best book (my second-ever win).
5. June: Honoured to have an excerpt of Jake and the Giant Hand, published in the first-ever kids' issue of Taddle Creek Magazine. Have a read.
6. July/August: signed contracts for two new books, Myles and the Monster Outside, and Carter and the Curious Maze (the next two books in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, thank you to my publisher, Dundurn) coming Oct 2015 and May 2016, respectively.
7. September/October: A second book launch! Jake and the Giant Hand came into the world at Indigo Yorkdale. Shawna Daigle, the wonderful illustrator, and I signed books and answered many questions about our craft, really, really fun. (Her favourite illustration is the last one, of the giant hand, FYI).
8. November/December: An award nomination! Very, very honoured to say that The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden was nominated in November 2014 for an OLA Red Maple 2015 award, a first for me. Fellow nominees include Eric Walters, Kenneth Oppel, Richard Scrimger, Sigmund Brouwer, Jacqueline Guest, Caroline Pignat, Vikki VanSickle, Jess Keating and Sarah Ellis. Wow.

So, 2014 was a year of 2 new books, 6 award nominations, 1 magazine excerpt, and two author tours, plus two regional Silver Birch Express wins for The Gargoyle at the Gates. I'm very lucky, and very honoured, a banner year for sure. Happy New Year, and all the best to my readers in 2015!

It's been a year-long gargoyle party ...

...and now it comes to an end with the Hackmatack tour, which starts today. I'll be touring New Brunswick and PEI this week, and ending in Charlottetown for the big awards event on May 30th.
I've been so honoured that my book about a lost gargoyle in the big city,
The Gargoyle at the Gates, has been nominated for five awards this year: Red Cedar, Diamond Willow, Silver Birch Express, Cooperative Children's Book Centre (US) and the Hackmatack awards. It was also named a White Raven book 2013 by the International Youth Library in Munich, a huge honour. I've met so many wonderful librarians, teachers, parents, authors and kids all along the way. Thanks everyone for all the fun, it's been a wonderful year and I couldn't be more thankful. It's probably time to start writing another book! PD

Highest praise ever from a grade 5 reader: "I would pick the book over candy"

I had a fantastic school visit today in Clarkson, Ontario. A wonderful teacher and her grade 5 students made me feel SO welcome. They had just finished reading my Silver Birch Express nominated book, the Gargoyle at the Gates. First, they made these fantastic gargoyle statues.Then, they gave me pictures of gargoyles they had drawn, along with their thank you notes, which were AWESOME. And as if that weren't enough, they also choreographed the gargoyle shuffle, and 2 different groups danced while I played guitar. Could NOT stop smiling. A great day. Thank you Ms. Walker!

3 gargoyle buttons and a selfie, with Kobo

 Look what I just got in the mail! A lovely, tiny package from young fans of my OLA Silver Birch Express nominated book, The Gargoyle at the Gates. The children made me three really lovely buttons, plus a gargoyle friendship bracelet. Sweet!
Clearly, they've understood the message of friendship in the books very well! Thank you to the wonderful teacher and her students (I can't wait to meet you  in April, too).
I will wear the buttons with real pride.

Author with new Kobo in a bad selfie

And, in other news ... I'm possibly the worst selfie-taker in the world, but I did want to share this photo: I won a Kobo! I never enter draws, because I never win anything, but this draw was at my publisher's annual party in January, and at the very last minute I tossed my name into the box, and ... won. It's a lovely Kobo, and it now has books a-plenty on it. Thanks very much to Dundurn Press for the prize.

The Gothic Gargoyle Ballet

Listen to the Gargoyle Shuffle

What would a dancing gargoyle look like, do you think? 
I can't show you, sorry, you'll have to imagine it. But I CAN let you listen to the Gargoyle Shuffle. It's a guitar piece I wrote for the description of gargoyles dancing in my children's book, The Gargoyle at the Gates (p. 91).

Click here for the Gargoyle Shuffle. Enjoy!

"Christopher ... picked up his guitar and began playing into the night. Snow was falling delicately, softening and quieting the busy city. His music lifted through the snowy air. Ambergine came out of the bushes first and stepped into the spotlight near the apple tree ... Then she started spiralling and pirouetting in the snow, dancing to the guitar music. Slowly Gargoth joined her ... and there in the snowy, strange little gothic park, Christopher watched the two ancient creatures dance and pirouette and move together in a gargoyle ballet, as the snow fell gently upon them." From The Gargoyle at the Gates, p. 91

5 Award Nominations for The Gargoyle at the Gates

I couldn't be more honoured ...
I've started many of my tweets and blog posts with those words lately, and I mean it every time I write it.
The Gargoyle at the Gates, the third book in the Lost Gargoyle Series, has now received five award nominations, four in Canada and one in the US, plus it's been honoured with the White Raven 2013 designation from the International Youth Library in Munich and a starred review in the Canadian Children's Best Books for Kids & Teens, 2013.
I'm really, really touched and well, honoured, that this story has been so well received by the YA literary community.  I feel incredibly lucky to be able to share it with children across Canada and around the world.
It's a book about magic and friendship, family and ancestors. It's a book about how to stand up to a bully, how to banish secrets and how to build a community through urban renewal. It's also a book about cruelty, obsession and the courage of resistance.
But more than all that, it's a book about how to make a friend, even with something as seemingly unlovable (at least at first) as a gargoyle. Thank you to everyone who has read Gargoth's story, I hope you enjoyed it! And once again, I'm truly honoured.

Award Nominations & Commendations for The Gargoyle at the Gates:
OLA Silver Birch Express Award, Shortlist 2014
Red Cedar and Stellar Book Award, Shortlist, 2013-2014
CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens 2013, * Starred Review 
White Raven Book, International Youth Library, Munich, 2013
Hackmatack Children's Choice Awards, Shortlist, 2013-2014
SYRCA Diamond Willow Award, Shortlist, 2013-2014
Cooperative Children's Book Centre Awards Nominee for Best Books for Kids & Teens (2012)
Resource Links Magazine, A BEST BETS BOOK 2012

The Gargoyle at the Gates is a Silver Birch Express nominee!!

I could NOT be more honoured to announce that The Gargoyle at the Gates, the third book in my Lost Gargoyle series, is  a Silver Birch Express 2014 nominee!

Thank you so much to the Ontario Library Association for this fantastic honour and nomination. I am just overjoyed that I will be visiting schools and libraries across Ontario, to promote reading, books, and gargoyles to young readers once again.

I am also very pleased that kids across the province will be reading about my Toronto neighbourhood, and about landmarks across the city such as the Riverdale Farm, the Necropolis, Queen Street East and a certain magical, gothic little park.

Here is the complete list of Forest of Reading nominees this year, a very talented list of Canada's best children's authors:  OLA Forest of Reading 2014

Here is my first blog post, in October 2011, when I was a first-time Silver Birch Express nominee for my previous book, The Gargoyle Overhead. What fun! Gordon Lightfoot didn't show up, by the way, but his wonderful illustrator, Ian Wallace, did. This year there is another musician on the list, K'naan. I wonder if I'll meet HIM?? That would be very very cool. Stay tuned!