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

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me BOOK TRAILER

Whatever happened to Gwendolyn Golden? Find out in Everton Miles is Stranger than Me!

Here's the book trailer for the story of Everton Miles, sequel to Red Maple nominee, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, and book 2 in the Night Flyer's Handbook series. With thanks to the talents of video designer George Panayotou, the book trailer music is composed and performed by yours truly. Enjoy!

Reviews for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:
A page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining. Kirkus Reviews
Goodreads       All things "Everton" on this blog
The Book Trailer on YouTube

WIN a free copy of Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

"A charming sequel that is funny, magical and entertaining." Kirkus Reviews

It's GoodReads Giveaway time for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, book 2 in The Night Flyer's Handbook series.

The sequel to my Red Maple nominated title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (2014), this story picks up where we left off. Gwendolyn has to start grade 9, PLUS she has to get to know the strange new boy in town. He's Everton Miles, and he's a Night Flyer, too.

Get a chance to win your free copy now: Everton Miles Goodreads Giveaway 

Hurry, giveaway ends Feb. 18!

Rave Reviews:

                                                      "A must-read" CCBC BookNews
                                                      "Funny, magical and entertaining" Kirkus Reviews
                                                      "Wildly creative, wonderfully strange" OpenBook
                                                      Goodreads reviews 4.24/5 star average


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Thank you CanLit for Kids!

Thank you to the CanKit for Kids experts out in BC! They have selected not one, but TWO, of my titles for their winter catalog selection. 

Both Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (Dundurn, 2016) and Carter and the Curious Maze (Dundurn, 2016), have been selected.

You can read more about the books here.

CanLit for Kids selects great books for schools and libraries across the country, and their selections are updated spring and fall. Subscribers then order pre-selected book packages of high-quality books for school-age kids. Go and check them out, they are wholly Canadian and very knowledgeable (and lovely) book folks.

Publishing two books close together poses a few challenges (like how to be in two or three places at once!), but both books have done well so far and have fabulous reviews. It's very gratifying to see both books get the nod from a great service like Canlit for Kids.

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me is the sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (nominated for the OLA Red Maple Award 2015), and the series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Carter and the Curious Maze is book 3 in my award-nominated middle-grade series, Weird Stories Gone Wrong.

Thank you CanLit for Kids!

More about the books:

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (posts on this blog)
Carter and the Curious Maze (posts on this blog)

Happy New Year, Everton Miles!

"A must-read for Gwendolyn Golden fans, this latest addition to the Night Flyer's Handbook series will not disappoint."
--Amy Mathers for BookNews/Winter 2017

Here it is, a new year, with all our shiny hopes, dreams and new possibilities for 2017 just a few hours old. Happy New Year to you!

I love New Year's day. My family and I spend all day reading, eating, playing guitar, and gather at dinner time in a kind of New Year's day stupor. All the better if it's snowing and cold outside, no excuse to leave the house!

Last week I received exactly one piece of mail, the Canadian Children's Book Centre winter issue of BookNews.

How nice that my latest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, is a Recommended title! Thank you! The reviewer, the inestimable Amy Mathers, had very nice things to say, above. If you'd like to read more of her review, you can pick up a copy through the centre, and see what other great Canadian books they recommend this year (you won't be disappointed!).

My New Year resolution (one of them) this year, is to buy more books and support Canadian writers as much as I can with reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If we want good books, we have to buy them, read them, and report back for others.  Hope you'll join me, and happy reading for all in the year ahead!

More on Everton Miles
Kirkus Review

Villains, writing dialogue, naming characters and more on Open Book

"Philippa Dowding's wildly creative, wonderfully strange stories are the kind of books that turn young readers into book lovers. With pages full of lovable misfits and regular kids caught up in otherworldly happenings, a new Philippa Dowding book is a cause for celebration." --OpenBook, Dec 15/2017

Thank you, Open Book!

Today I'm the guest blogger on the Open Book website, to celebrate my latest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me (sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, shortlisted for the Red Maple Award in 2015). Together, the two books are called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

Read my complete In Character Interview with them. I answer 5 questions about my main characters in the new book, and we talk about how I choose names (and which character I borrowed from Neil Young), how I write dialogue, tips for creating memorable villains and more.

For the full Interview, click HERE. Thank you for the chance to answer these fun questions, Open Book. Here's an excerpt:

OB:

Some writers feel characters take on a "life of their own" during the writing process. Do you agree with this, or is a writer always in control?

PD:

I think most writers will tell you that their favourite characters came to them in a flash of inspiration, or madness, then took on a life of their own during the writing of their story. That’s definitely how it is with me. I usually hear a character’s voice loud and clear right from the start, then let them take me wherever they want to go. 

It’s the best part of being a writer, I think, following a character deeper and deeper into their story.

MORE BLOG POSTS ABOUT Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

The Everton Miles Blog Tour

FREE Classroom Activity Guide for Everton Miles

Kirkus Review "Charming sequel.... funny, magical and entertaining"

Goodreads Reviews

Free Classroom Activity Guide for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

Pick a friend for the End of the World...

Draw like a 15th Century Creative Visionary (or just draw something)...

Villains have all the fun, who is yours? ...

Just some of the intriguing questions for kids in grades 6-9 from the new Classroom Activity Guide for my latest YA title, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me. This new book is the sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, which was shortlisted for the OLA Red Maple Award in 2015. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

The Classroom Activity Guide is free on the publisher's site, thanks to Dundurn Press for putting it together and making it available.

Take a look at the guide now:  Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, Classroom Activity Guide.

Themes: loneliness, bullying, loss, family, friendship, community, volunteerism, teenage years, high school, parents, death, wisdom, bravery, self-esteem.

Reviews of Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

Kirkus Reviews
Canlit For Little Canadians
Fab Book Reviews
Resource Links, (E for Excellent)
Goodreads

It's BLOG TOUR WEEK for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me!

The week of Oct 10-15th, 2016, was BLOG TOUR WEEK for my new book.  From Vulcans to John Milton, I talk (a lot) about motivations for the story, themes, writing YA magic realism, and more. Enjoy!

I've never done this before, but with help from my wonderful publicist at Dundurn (thank you, Jaclyn), we've lined up five bloggers to talk about my new book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, all week. This book is my 8th children's book in 7 years, and is the sequel to my 2014 title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, which was nominated for the OLA Red Maple award in 2015. The series is called The Night Flyer's Handbook.

The questions from the bloggers have been fantastic, from "describe magic realism in 2 sentences or less," to "what's the nature of forgiveness and mercy in the story," to "who would play your characters in the movie version?" and a lot more. I've answered incredibly insightful questions, and it's an interesting experience to see your book through another reader's eyes. So thank you to all of you for reading my magic realism story, and for sharing it with your readers. It's been fun!

Here's the blog tour schedule:

Sunday/Monday, Oct. 9/10: Philippa Dowding BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, Oct. 11: Helen Kubiw at CanLit for Little Canadians BOOK REVIEW

Wednesday, Oct. 12: Helen Kubiw, CanLit for Little Canadians, AUTHOR Q&A

Thursday, Oct. 13: Michelle, Fabbity Fab, AUTHOR Q&A

Friday, Oct. 14: Rosemary at MomReadIt, AUTHOR GUEST POST

Saturday, Oct. 15: Dundurn Press Blog, AUTHOR GUEST POST

Please join me for the BOOK LAUNCH: Join me on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Yonge/Eglinton Indigo, 12-3 pm, to get your signed copy (and a free bookmark)! Author reads at 1 pm.

For more reviews of Everton Miles is Stranger than Me:

Kirkus Review "Charming sequel ... a page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining"
ReviewsInChalk (blogger)
Goodreads

More Info:

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, Posts on this Blog

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden BOOK TRAILER

A busy week, for sure, but lots of fun. I hope you'll dip into at least one or two of the blogs throughout the week, to check out their wonderful questions.

BOOK LAUNCH for Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

"Do we all think we're being chased by deadly entities, I wonder? Probably, but how many of us actually are?"
--Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

It's BOOK LAUNCH time! I hope you'll join me on October 22 at Yonge/Eglinton Indigo to launch my newest book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, sequel to my Red Maple title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden (2014).

Date: Saturday, Oct. 22/2016
Time: 12-3 pm (author reads at 1 pm)
Place: Yonge/Eglinton Indigo
Enjoy the coffee, cookies and magic realism.

In a year with two published books (Carter and the Curious Maze, book 3 in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, came out August 2016), this is the only event I'm calling a launch.

That's because this is my last book for a while, nothing is planned for publication in 2017. But it's also because I love this book. Yes, I love all my books, but this one is particularly special. It was so fun to write, for one thing. There's a fallen angel/dark Rogue character, and an 800-page medieval Night Flying handbook with illustrations, which is why we named the series The Night Flyer's Handbook. Revisiting the horrors of grade nine was also pretty interesting. But mostly, it was also so easy to fall back into Gwendolyn's life, once again. I missed her.

On the last page of The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, I left Gwen sitting on a swing, thinking about her future. Plenty of people have asked me what happens next, and to please write the next book. So ... I hope you'll enjoy the sequel! Please join me on October 22 to snag your copy. Also, watch for a blog tour, coming in the next few weeks.

Reviews
Kirkus Reviews "Dowding offers a charming sequel, funny, magical and entertaining"
Goodreads
Quill & Quire (Starred Review, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden)

Everton Miles is Stranger than Me KIRKUS REVIEW

"Dowding offers a charming sequel ... a page-turner that is funny, magical and entertaining."
--KirkusReviews July/2016

There's nothing tougher for an author than waiting for the first review of a new book. It brings new light to the old phrase, "waiting on tenterhooks"-- whatever those are!

(Quick lookup on Merriam Webster: "a sharp nail used for fastening cloth on a tenter." Oddly oblique, but the sharp nail part is apt.)

Sewing implements aside, I couldn't be more pleased with this first, fantastic review of my new book, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, from Kirkus Reviews in the U.S.

THANK YOU, KIRKUS! They bill themselves as the "toughest reviews of the world's bestselling books," so they're no nonsense, honest and it's quite an honour to get them to review you.

All to say, huzzah!

More to come on Everton Miles is Stranger than Me soon (release date is October 15, 2016 from Dundurn Press), but here is the Amazon page if you'd like to read the first chapter, or pre-order your own copy: Everton Miles on Amazon

And of course, here's the Goodreads page for book one, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden which was Shortlisted for the OLA Red Maple award in 2015.

And the booktrailer! The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

COMING OCTOBER 2016, Everton Miles is Stranger than Me

Sequel to The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, shortlisted for the OLA Red Maple Award.

'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 for sure, 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. 

Read more on the Dundurn Press Site

I have to say that I couldn't be more excited about a book! This story, book 2 in The Night Flyer's Handbook series, takes us further into Gwendolyn's life, and through her first year of grade nine. She's a little older, wiser, and more comfortable with her strange gift of flight, but there is still a world that she doesn't understand yet. There are boys (a kinder, gentler Martin Evells turns up again), and there's the bizarre world of grade nine, PLUS there's Everton Miles, the only other teenager she's ever met who can fly, too.

At first she thinks that he's nothing like her, but as she gets to know him, she realizes that he really is, at least in the things that matter most. She has a lot to face, including nefarious forces, the loss of her father, and the deadly Shade, not to mention the "decision" she has to make at the end of the book: to fly, or not to fly, for life. She has an 800-page handbook to help her navigate all these changes, plus her old friends, her family, her Mentor, Mrs. Forest, plus (most unfortunately) a school-appointed family therapist ... but more than all that, she has Everton Miles.

Here are reviews of Book 1, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, which was nominated for the OLA Red Maple Award 2015. If you enjoy magic realism, YA and flight literature, you're in the right place! Stay tuned for more!

Related Blog Posts:

Judy Blume's Read-Alikes (49th Shelf)
Birdman, The Karman Line, and The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden: Magic Realism in movies and Literature
Why I Chose a Poem from Gwendolyn MacEwen as an Epigraph and more

Reviews:

Quill and Quire (Starred Review)
Canadian Teacher Magazine (13 year old reader)
International Blogger (Giraffe Days)
Goodreads

Book Trailer:

Here's the Book Trailer for Book 1.

Sales:

The Night Flyer's Handbook Series is available at your library, favourite bookstore and from:

Amazon
Indigo
Dundurn Press

A beautiful book trailer in which I play guitar ...

Gorgeous book trailer

Here it is, the most gorgeous book trailer for my forthcoming novel, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, available January 25, 2014:

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Book Trailer

Thanks to George Panayotou, the video maestro. And thanks also to Chris Haddad, who generously provided the cornfield footage. The music is a piece I composed for the book, and that's me playing guitar. And the little dog is my bichon-poodle, Samwise Gamgee, who was a good boy and barked on cue.

Enjoy the flight!

YOU'RE INVITED: I'll be having a book-signing event at Yorkdale Indigo on Saturday February 1, 2014, at 2:00. I hope you'll come and say hello!

Beautiful book trailer for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

See the book trailer

"This morning, I woke up on the ceiling."
So begins The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, 
my new novel for readers aged 9-12, available January 2014. One morning, for no particular reason, Gwendolyn wakes up floating around her bedroom like one of her little brother's Batman balloons.

Puberty is weird enough, she thinks, now this? What follows is a coming-of-age story that Icarus himself would have loved.

I'm so pleased to announce that the book now has an astonishingly beautiful book trailer, shot partly in my house (that's my dog!), and cut with flight footage. It's an incredible gift to see the emotions conveyed in your book brought to life in a short piece like this, I can't imagine how it must feel to have your book made into a movie. It must be overwhelming. The copywriting expert in me says, yes, book trailers are an important part of the marketing mix for any book, but I can also tell you after helping in the creation of this piece, the REAL reason to do a book trailer is because they're beautiful, rewarding, joyful and creative little jewels, that say more about your book than a press release, tweet or facebook announcement ever could. I couldn't have asked for anything better, the trailer is a work of art. 

I have very talented friends. My special thanks to George Panayotou, for his careful and tender ministrations to the design and production of the video. Also many thanks to Chris Haddad, for generously supplying the cornfield video. That's me playing the guitar, too, a piece that I wrote for the trailer.

Here's the link: The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Book Trailer

Enjoy the flight!

Introducing Jake and the Giant Hand

Next year, 2014, is shaping up to be quite a year, a
2-book year in fact. In January, my fourth YA novel is coming out: The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. I'm really excited about this book about a young girl who, for no apparent reason, wakes up one morning floating on the ceiling of her bedroom like one of her little brother's Batman balloons. I've always wanted to write this book, since I love magic realism and I used to have incredibly vivid dreams of flying when I was a child.
Then, next September 2014, my fifth YA novel will come out. So happy to introduce Jake and the Giant Hand, the first in a new YA series called Weird Stories Gone Wrong.
There's no cover yet, but here's the link to the publisher's book description, and their copy, below:

Jake is excited about spending the summer with his grandfather. Sure, there are some things that aren't so great, like Grandpa's creaky old farmhouse or his slobbery, smelly hound dog, Gus. But basically it's pretty cool.

Jake just wishes his friend, Kate, hadn't told him an old lady once disappeared in the swamp behind Grandpa's place or that a neighbour once found a hand in a nearby field. And not just any hand either, but a weirdly large hand. A giant's hand.

Jake doesn't believe Kate's tall tales, but he has to wonder what she knows that she isn't telling. And there are other things he has to wonder about, too, like why are there so many flies buzzing around the farm this year? They aren't like any flies he's ever seen before. They're creepy flies, weirdly big flies, as big as birds. And here's another thing: Why is Grandpa's basement suddenly the creepiest thing of all?

A beautiful review for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

Coming Jan. 2014, available for pre-order now

"The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden is the kind of coming-of-age story that resonates. Combining teen angst with magic and a dash of mystery creates a richly layered story, and Dowding presents a heroine that readers of all ages will surely be able to relate to. Humorous and touching, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden is like a finely-tuned musical instrument that, when thrummed, you feel in your very bones." 
Giraffe Days

What a beautiful review for my upcoming YA novel, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. It seems like the reviewer not only understood WHY I wrote the book, but possibly even how I wrote the book.

My favourite passage is this:

"Yet despite Gwen’s habit of blowing up at small provocations at school, she narrates her story with intelligent wit and more than a dash of irony. Like many teens, the character of Gwen is a precarious and sometimes volatile balance of childlike immaturity and wisdom, naïveté and insight, adolescent foolishness and glib artfulness. Gwen is on the cusp, and this is her coming-of-age story. What I really admired, alongside the writing itself, was Dowding’s ability to maintain this fine balance. She put Gwendolyn in situations that forced her to confront her issues, thus putting her on the path to maturity, without making her grow up too fast. Gwen was able to keep hold of her childhood; it just became richer. I’m reminded of one of my favourite characters who similarly embodies this fine line between childhood and maturity: Danny from Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World."

Thank you Shannon, I'm really honoured. And a comparison to the great Mr. Dahl, too! 

Find the full review on Giraffe Days website here.

Or visit The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Goodreads Page, for a look at Shannon's review and others. 

CM Magazine Recommends The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden!

 CM . . . . Volume XX Number 5. . . .October 4, 2013

The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden. Philippa Dowding. Toronto, ON: Dundurn, January, 2014. 200 pp., trade pbk., PDF & EPub, $9.99 (pbk.), $12.99 (PDF), $8.99 (Epub). ISBN 978-1-4597-0735-1 (pbk.), ISBN 978-1-4597-0736-8 (PDF), ISBN 978-1-4597-0737-5 (EPub). Grades 3 and up / Ages 8 and up. Review by Stephanie Dror. *** /4 Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy.

CM Magazine has given my forthcoming book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden,
3 out of 4 stars and their much-coveted "Recommended" status. Thank you CM, I'm very honoured!

It's a good review. Here are some of the highlights:

"Gwendolyn Golden is an average kid with average kid problems. She is going through puberty, has anger management issues, and problems fitting in at school, but it all becomes even more complicated when she discovers that she is a Night Flyer. Waking up on the roof is not normal, but then her body does not feel normal any more either. Undergoing the initiation as a Night Flyer is not easy. Gwendolyn has to learn to trust her body and control her mind. There are dangers that threaten to eat away at her self-esteem and destroy her, but she has help. Gwendolyn has to grow up fast, and she just isn't quite ready yet.

     

The story of Gwendolyn Golden's coming of age is engaging – the kind of book you cannot put down. Gwennie narrates the story, which gets up close and personal with what it feels like to grow up, and to learn how to fly. Gwennie is a regular, relatable kid. She is funny, dealing with issues as they come. While the book focuses on Gwennie’s new ability, she also helps her single mother, struggles with her family's past, deals with her best friend, and everything else that goes along with life as a young teenager....

... The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden is an engaging realistic fantasy. It would be wonderful to read aloud to children; it may be a valuable suggestion for children dealing with loss, and it is great for middle graders who love stories with a little magic, a modern setting and which are a quick read.

Recommended." 

Thanks again, CM! You'll find the complete review and more here.

Back to school with The Gargoyle at the Gates

So pleased that The Gargoyle at the Gates
(book 3 in the Lost Gargoyle series) is on the Back To School Reading Guide by Open Book Ontario. Thanks so much! There are some great books on that list, I'm very honoured.

Here's the link: Open Book Ontario Reading Guide

And here's a quick recap of the other honours The Gargoyle at the Gates has garnered to date, thank you to everyone:

Shortlisted: The Diamond Willow Award, The Hackmatack Award, The Red Cedar Award
Commended: Best Books for Kids and Teens 2013, Starred Review, Resource Links Best Bets Book 2012
Selected: The White Ravens 2013 as chosen by the International Youth Library in Munich

ARCs for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden!

The ARCs for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden go out this week!

Coming January 2014

It's pretty exciting to see your book take shape. For the longest time its an idea, then an outline, then a string of chapters, then a manuscript, then a manuscript with a contract. Then a proof. Then another proof. And another proof. Then ... another proof. Then an e-ARC. Then a paper ARC. Eventually (although we're not quite there yet), it's a book. It's a fascinating process, one which is becoming more familiar and more transparent as I go through it a few times.
This time around, my publisher also asked me to provide a note to accompany the ARCs, to discuss my thoughts about the book. How it sprang to life, major themes, what I want people to know. It was an interesting exercise, which really made me express exactly how I feel about the book and the writing process. All good!
Here's a short excerpt from that letter:

When I was young, I used to have vivid dreams of flying. My favourite character in Greek mythology was always Icarus, I understood his yearning to soar, despite the dangers. When I started jotting down ideas for a new book a few years ago, I kept coming back to the idea of a flying girl. I wondered: If you woke up one day with the ability to fly, how would that change you?

Given all the other changes that teenagers face, it didn’t seem a huge leap to add the gift of flight to my main character. It would be just one more change in a huge jumble of hormones and change. And Gwen’s gift DOES change her, although she doesn’t grow wings or anything so obvious. Instead, her gift of flight is a metaphor for all those teenage changes we can’t see...

If you have requested an ARC, I hope you enjoy it. If you'd like one, please contact my publisher, Dundurn Press. There may be a few left! Here's their ARC announcement: http://ow.ly/i/2Apim

My Book Addiction picks The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

Coming January 2014

Thanks to the wonderful bloggers at MyBookAddiction for picking my forthcoming YA novel, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, for its "Waiting on Wednesday" choice this week. This is a list of books that they are "eagerly anticipating." Here's the link:The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden
I love what they said about WHY the book is on their To Be Read list:

Simply put: This just sounds like a fun read! Every now and then I like to read things that aren’t overly complicated or mind-boggling, and this sounds like it fits the bill perfectly. The cover caught my eye and once I read the synopsis it went directly onto my TBR list.

Thanks MyBookAddiction!

Why do I write? Just read this letter ...

Why do I write?

I could answer many things of course: because I breathe, because I walk here, because I have to. But there's another reason. Once in a while, as a writer you are lucky enough to receive a letter like this
(I've edited out specifics for privacy reasons):

Dear Philippa Dowding,

My name is M and I’m an educational assistant.  

This past year I have been working with two special needs children in grade 5. When I started working with the student I am about to tell you about, he did not like to read. His name is D. Every morning we start our day with journal writing. In September, I had trouble getting D to write more than a couple of sentences.

Later on in the year, I wrote headings on popsicle sticks, and D would choose a popsicle stick and write a few sentences about that topic. This seemed to help him with his writing, but it still wasn’t something that he was excited about.

Then one day I took one of your books out of our school library (The Gargoyle in My Yard), and started to read it to my students every afternoon. The boys always looked forward to this time of day, especially D. He even started reading chapters to me! After we finished that book, we continued to read the other books in your series. 

Then one morning in May,  D asked if he could write his own book during our journal time. He called his book, Gargoyle on my Street.  Since D was introduced to your books, I’ve seen a totally different student when it comes to his reading/writing. He has even branched out to reading other books from the library.

The reason I am writing to you, is because I wanted you to know what an impact you had on D. Thank you ... and keep up the great work.

M

Truly honoured, there can be no higher praise. Thank you M and D! I wrote back, and told D one day maybe I can read one of his books. I'd like that.

Here's a similar blog post about Henry's Apple.