The Gargoyle in My Yard, Ballerinas and Daisies

Gargoth of Tallus illustration by Emma Dolan
www.emmadarkandweird.com

Imagine this gargoyle in a tutu, doing a pirouette. Kathryn has to imagine it, since she finds him one inexplicable night, doing ballet moves in her backyard!

My first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard is
10 years old in April 2019, and the 10th Anniversary Gargoyle celebrations continue!

This week, I read Chapter 5 from the book:
Ballerinas and Daisies

Here's Chapter four from last week:
Moonlight Dance 

Also, enjoy The Gargoyle Shuffle, a piece of gargoyle-y music, recorded with the book's editor, Allister Thompson.

Finally, on April 8th, the 49th Shelf chose The Gargoyle in My Yard, as the Canadian Kid Lit Book of the Day, thank you! Here's the link AND below the book, you'll find a free teacher's guide: FREE TEACHER'S GUIDE

Next week, the last week of April, I'll be posting a blog on the publisher's website, about "10 Writing tips from 10 years as a writer", with a link mention here in this space. Stay tuned!

The Gargoyle in My Yard was published in April, 2009 by Napoleon Publishing. It is still in print (now with Dundurn Press), and the series of books based on the character Gargoth of Tallus, The Lost Gargoyle Books, have been optioned for a children's television series. Many thanks to publisher Sylvia McConnell for starting this party ten years ago!

The Gargoyle in My Yard was an SYRCA Diamond Willow nominee, 2012.

For more about the books on this blog: The Lost Gargoyle Series

Thoughts from a 3-Book Year, Paris finally, top blog post and more from 2018

Weird Stories Gone Wrong, Books 4 and 5

OCULUM, September 2018

Here it is, 2019! Somehow, 2018 has come and gone and we are left looking back at the year that was. Faster and faster, the whirligig of life goes.

So, in no particular order, here are five things that seemed important to me about 2018:

1. Thoughts on a 3-book year. I've been incredibly lucky to publish two more books in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series (Alex and The Other and Blackwells and the Briny Deep) in 2018. That's 5 books now in that series, with another coming in fall, 2019 (a resistance story, Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet).

PLUS, I also published OCULUM, a new middle-grade dystopia, in 2018 with Dancing Cat Books. Thank you to the publishers, I'm honoured and very lucky.

It was tough though, working on 3 books, and really tested my professional abilities to the limit. It brought back memories of being in graduate school, since I wrote into the wee hours a few times (not my regular writing time), particularly in November, 2017 and February, 2018. Luckily, my intrepid editor, Allister Thompson (who has been my editor from the start in 2009), helped, as did the amazingly smart editors at Dancing Cat. Can't thank them all enough!

If you read any of my 2018 published book efforts, my sincere and humble thanks.

Author and husband, Paris (baby), Oct. 2018

2. Paris, ah Paris, we finally meet. Okay, I came to the Paris party later in life, but it's been a bucket-list item for decades, and my husband and I finally booked two tickets in October 2018. (He retired, and I had a big birthday.) May I say that Paris really is an experience not to be missed. Everyone should go once, if they can, even if just to see a beautiful medieval city built to be seen, felt and experienced on foot.

The Gargoyle In My Yard,
In front of Notre Dame
by boat, OCT 2018

We went in October: no crowds, BEAUTIFUL weather, and not too hot. We walked 20+ km a day, ate like kings, rested in all the parks we could find, traipsed through all the museums and galleries we could walk to, and of course, hit the iconic spots too. I cried, at least once a day: at the Louvre, first sighting of Eiffel Tower, first walk beside the Seine, seeing St. Chappelle cathedral, at Notre Dame (twice, first sighting then again listening to an organ concert a few days later), and finally at the Rodin Museum. I'm not talking sobbing or making a spectacle of myself, just quietly moved to tears by the beauty of the place and the art and the blue, blue skies.

Also, at the bottom of this post you'll see that The Lost Gargoyle books (my first series), were optioned last year and were being presented in CANNES at MIP JR at the same time I was in Paris, so I carried a copy of the first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard, with me every day.

Author, summer 2018

3. Sailing. I love sailing. I've sailed all my life, and it's just one of those things I will always love. Here's a picture of me at the tiller of Short Circuit, our grand old lady (45-year-old C&C 27), sailing out of Toronto last summer. And in 2018, I finally got to set one of my stories, Blackwells and the Briny Deep, on a sailboat, which was a joy to write!

4. Magazine copywriting is still a thing.

In my earlier career, I was a magazine copywriter, first at Maclean Hunter (remember them?) and then at Rogers, then freelance. I've managed to continue to write copy at least a few times a year for my clients (old and new), even though the past 15 years in the magazine industry in Canada have been pretty lean. BUT ... in 2018 I noticed a definite uptick in freelance activity. I had some interesting new clients this past year, including Inuit Art Quarterly, Briarpatch and Canadian Art among them, and 2019 looks like it might be busy, too.

Why? I think quite honestly that magazines WILL survive (just as smaller publishers and independent bookstores are beginning to thrive again), especially the more targeted titles, for their longer, slower reads and even perhaps just for the retro joy of holding a magazine ... or maybe because people aren't getting what they need on the internet and an information-laden magazine is just the ticket.

ALSO, the marketing of magazines is kind of retro too, since mailboxes are definitely de-cluttered these days--when was the last time you got a magazine solicitation in the mail?--so it's a bit novel and new-feeling to receive a direct marketing/mailed sales pitch.  Everything old is new again.

And finally, magazines are figuring out how to access the new Heritage Fund formulas, so there is a little more money around to invest in copywriting and circulation marketing.
For a nice testimonial from one of my recent clients: Magazines Canada, Direct Mail Success
For more on my copywriting life: Copywriter, Philippa Dowding

5. Top 5 BLOG POSTS from 2018. Finally, I usually post my top blog posts each year right around now as a look back at the year that was (in blogging anyway). What I like about this list, is how it spans my entire (almost) ten-year, book-publishing career, from my first gargoyle books to OCULUM, my latest book. I'm grateful, thank you all for dropping by and all the best in 2019!

So here they are, the top five 2018 posts from this writer to you:

#5. CM Magazine Recommends Alex and The Other POST
#4. The Lost Gargoyle Books Are Going to Cannes POST
#3. Loneliness and the Evil Twin ... Happy Book Birthday to Alex and The Other POST
#2. Introducing OCULUM POST

AND #1 ... OCULUM is in the HOUSE! POST

A few thoughts on signing my 12th book contract ...

Weird Stories Gone Wrong, 2012-2018+

Warning: this blog post is totally self-serving, but hey, it's my party. Today I signed my 12th book contract and dropped it in the mail! It hardly seems possible.

How did that happen, really ....

One spring day in 2007, Sylvia McConnell, the publisher of Napoleon Publishing, emailed to tell me about my manuscript submission. Thumbs up or down?

Her tone was apologetic, bemoaning the slow nature of publishing, and I was fully expecting yet another rejection letter (albeit a pleasant one by her tone). Imagine my surprise when half-way through the email, I read the line...

"However, we are still interested in publishing your manuscript, 'Gargoyle.' Please let us know if it is still available."

I read those two sentences over and over.  My brain didn't get it, did somersault sequences of "Wait. What?" Slowly, much too slowly, I got out of my chair and gasped, that full body-gasp where you throw your hand over your mouth, close your eyes, shake your head a little.

The Night Flyer's Handbook series, 2014-2016

Then I burst into tears. 

Tears streamed down my face, I tasted them, I let them roll before I rubbed them off my chin. How often do you get to wipe tears of joy off your face, really? Then I ran from the top of the house to the bottom (a long way, four stories and 38 stairs), jumping up and down, fist pumping all the way, like a 10-year-old, heart racing with shock and something like ethereal joy. Tears and snot rolled freely, and I shrieked for the cat since no one else was home. (I did realize how crazy I looked but cared not.)

The cat cared, however, and quite rightly took one look at me and ran away to hide.

It was quite a moment. There are really only a few moments like that in life, at least for me. How often do dreams come true, anyway? Other than marrying the love of your life, or holding your child for the first time, or possibly winning the lottery (that one is just a guess), hearing that a publisher wants to publish your first book is right up there. Top five, anyway. Thank you Sylvia, Allister and Emma, you'll always have a special place in my heart!

The Lost Gargoyle Series, covers by Emma Dolan

That first gargoyle book, The Gargoyle in My Yard, was published in 2009 followed quickly by book two, The Gargoyle Overhead (2010), and The Gargoyle at the Gates (2012). I was so honoured and immensely grateful each time Sylvia agreed to publish the next book.

Writing The Lost Gargoyle series was one of the greatest joys of my life. I learned so much about writing, so much about character development, so much about story-line and narrative sleight of hand. I loved my main character, Gargoth, a grumpy but lovable 400-year-old gargoyle who had lost his greatest friend. In fact, Gargoth looked over my shoulder all the way. He taught me that I could write. For how Gargoth came to me, read an earlier (and also totally self-serving) blog post: Birth of a Children's Author

Then the writing floodgates opened and between 2012 and 2017, I published five more books: The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden and Jake and the Giant Hand in 2014, Myles and the Monster Outside in 2015, Carter and the Curious Maze and Everton Miles is Stranger than Me in 2016. Those books were all published by Dundurn Press, thanks for all the hard work and beautiful books guys!

Talented and smart people have helped me all the way: publishers like Sylvia and the good folks at Dundurn, editors like Allister Thompson, my editor through ten books now and counting, marketers, production experts, illustrators like Emma Dolan and Shawna Daigle, sales people, retailers, wholesalers, nominating committees, librarians, teachers, and kids too. Thanks to all of them. It's incredibly humbling to have so many people believe in me and in my books.

A cover by illustrator Shawna Daigle

Fast forward to today, November 29, 2017.

I have just dropped the contract for my 12th book in the mail.

I remember going to the OLA SuperConference in Toronto (a big library event) in 2009, and autographing my first book. A woman was watching me carefully, and when I'd finished, she came and introduced herself. She was children's author Marsha Skrypuch, and she asked me some great questions, and said welcome to the author world. When I asked her how many books she'd published, she said "Twelve. You'll get there, faster than you think."

How could anyone possibly write twelve books, I wondered?

I guess now I know. I've done it. And it happens fast, just as Marsha said it would. The secret, if there is one ... is just keep writing. Sorry it's not more interesting, but that's really all I can tell you. Keep listening to that inner 10-year-old, or manic creative voice, or hyperactive pen monkey, or whatever it is that inspired you to write in the first place, and trust it. Do it, despite the creative doubt, the loneliness, the dark thoughts that no one is going to ever read it, that it's trash, that you should just give up ... but you don't. 

Next year, 2018, is a year in which I publish three new books, which meant that 2017 was a year of intense writing! I wrote all winter and spring, and all summer too. In total, I wrote 110,000 words and hundreds of chapters. I wrote about an evil twin (Alex and The Other), a family of shipwrecked kids (Blackwells and the Briny Deep), and a destroyed world populated by children and robots (Oculum). I wrote into the night, slept little, wrote until my hands ached and my fingers seized up. I had to stop playing guitar for most of July, because I only had so much hand strength.

Author touring the neighourhood with
her first book, 2009

I went a little bonkers, to be honest. I dreamed about my characters. I woke up after a few hours of sleep, seeing words on the page, knowing exactly what had to be fixed. I grabbed my journal and scribbled down my fixes, or crept into my office at the back of the house, and typed. I only worked on one story at a time (some people can manage several manuscripts in the same day, I'm not one of them), but I'd switch back and forth between stories every few weeks.

I can't say I ever saw the dawn creep into the window of my office, but I came close a few times. It was the most intense writing I've ever done, with the possible exception of a term studying Moby Dick in grad school.

And here's the thing: I'll do it again. 

Author at 10

Every time I sign a contract, I'm still that 10-year-old running around the house, scaring the cat (except now it's a dog). I don't burst into tears anymore, though, which I guess means my heart has weathered a little, probably a good thing for everyone's nerves. At a reading recently, a boy asked me how many books I'm going to write in my life. I smiled. I've heard this question before, or something very like it. I looked up at the ceiling and said, "Twenty. I think that sounds like a good number."

Somehow, I'm already more than half-way there. My 10-year-old self has some writing to do ... 

Philippa Dowding reads Moonlight Dance!

10 Years! Published April 2009

Have you ever seen a gargoyle dancing in the moonlight? 
Katherine has. In fact, she has quite a problem: there's a gargoyle dancing in the moonlight in her backyard!

Hear a new recording of me reading from The Gargoyle in My Yard: Moonlight Dance 

The month of April 2019 marks the 10th Anniversary of the publication of my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard (April 2009)! Celebrations all month include a new recording of my guitar piece, The Gargoyle Shuffle.

AND I'll be reading chapters from the book over the next few weeks. This week, listen to Chapter 4: Moonlight Dance 

FREE Teacher's Guide: The Gargoyle in My Yard is a 49thShelfTeachers Canadian Kids Book of the Day for
April 8/2019, thanks! The post includes a FREE Teacher's Guide.

BONUS: Here's a link to my Dawg FM RADIO AD for The Gargoyle Overhead and the Forest of Reading, back in 2012. HAHA, that was a fun day. As I remember, the first take was the best one, even though we spent another hour trying to do another take that was as good. Beginner's luck!

Enjoy! More About The Gargoyle Series on this blog.

The Lost Gargoyle Series, YouTube, Interviews, Awards, author reading, and more

 Interviews, Lost Gargoyle Series:

May, 2014, Is there a real Gatepost Park?
Feb. 2012, 9-year-old interviews author (and her gargoyle puppet) at OLA Conference on Youtube The Gargoyle Overhead

YouTube:

Lost Gargoyle Series Book trailer

Philippa Plays The Gargoyle Shuffle, kids dance

Reading:

Author reads from The Gargoyle in My Yard

Author reads from The Gargoyle in My Yard, part 2

Music:

The Gargoyle Shuffle on Bandcamp (free listen)

Awards:

The Gargoyle at the Gates (2012): 

2014, OLA Silver Birch Express nominee

2014, SYRCA Diamond Willow nominee

2013, Red Cedar nominee

2013, Hackmatack nominee

2013, White Raven book, International Youth Library, Munich

The Gargoyle Overhead (2010):

2012, OLA Silver Birch Express nominee

The Gargoyle in My Yard (2009):

2010, SYRCA Diamond Willow nominee

Introducing The Gargoyle Shuffle

Gargoyle Image Courtesy Emma Dolan
www.emmadarkandweird.com

My first book was published TEN YEARS AGO today, on April 1, 2009!

That book was The Gargoyle in My Yard, about a grumpy, 400-year-old gargoyle lost in downtown Toronto. To celebrate, I'm posting all things gargoyle here throughout April. 

FIRST UP, MUSIC: The Gargoyle Shuffle 

I wrote this music in 2014, and I've performed it to thousands of kids across Canada ever since. My editor, Allister Thompson, a terrific musician, recorded this new version with me.

Listen to The Gargoyle Shuffle free. 
ENJOY!

Author going door to door
with champagne, 2009.
PHOTO: Andrea Gutsche

Here's a video of children dancing as I play the song in 2014: 
Kids Dance the Gargoyle Shuffle 

Thank you to author Rebecca Upjohn for the video.

Fast forward a decade, and later this year I'll publish my 12th book. Thank you to publisher Sylvia McConnell at Napoleon for getting this party started a decade ago!

I'll be posting more throughout April, including chapters from the book, "10 Writing Truths" on my publisher's website, and more. For now, take a look at the rapturous author, holding her FIRST BOOK, 10 years ago!

More about The Gargoyle in My Yard on this Blog
More about The Lost Gargoyle Series

Next Week, April 8: I'll post a reading of Chapter 4, MOONLIGHT DANCE

The Gargoyle in My Yard vs. The Little Prince

I had two teachers contact me this week to tell me how they use my books in their classrooms.

One teacher works with reluctant readers. She emailed me to share this:  one little boy she works with has never found a book he wanted to read all the way through, not even St. Exupery's Little Prince (which I love). They put that book aside to start The Gargoyle in My Yard, which he adored. It took him three years to fall in love with his first book, and it was mine. So very honoured!

   Another teacher contacted me to say that she
read The Gargoyle Overhead to her class last spring, then they begged her to read The Gargoyle in My Yard to them this fall. They liked it so much that they are doing a five minute play based on it. I hope they can send a video!

Here is a link to a wonderful free teacher's guide from my publisher:
The Gargoyle Overhead Teacher's Guide

FIREFLY launches February 6, 2021!

THEY CAME!! My author copies of my next middle-grade novel, FIREFLY, arrived yesterday!

The anticipation and joy as I opened the box hasn't changed since I opened my first box of author copies in 2009 (that first book was The Gargoyle in My Yard). My secret admission? I always cry when I first see my new book in print. To hold it, to carry it, to sniff the new paper smell ... it's pretty close to meeting your new baby.

Not many opportunities to cry spontaneous tears of joy, especially right now during a pandemic and rolling lockdowns. Thank you to my publisher, DCB Young Readers!

So, welcome FIREFLY, releasing in bookstores and libraries on February 6/2021. Right now publishers, authors and bookstores are fighting for their lives, although no industry is immune, please consider a pre-order and buy locally if you can.

Author in 2009 with 1st book, 
The Gargoyle in My Yard

MEDIA COPIES, PRESS RELEASE AND MORE:

To request a copy, book the author for an interview and/or other content, or for more information, please contact: 
Chantelle Cho, Sales & Marketing c.cho@cormorantbooks.com

From the FIREFLY Press Release:

"Philippa Dowding’s latest novel for young readers explores themes of self-esteem, child homelessness, and family. Philippa’s previous children's books have been nominated for numerous literary awards in Canada, the U.S., and Europe, including the SYRCA Diamond Willow, OLA Silver Birch, OLA Red Maple, and Hackmatack awards. Her last novel, Oculum, was a finalist for the 2019 SYRCA Diamond Willow Award, was nominated for the 2020 Forest of Reading Silver Birch (Fiction) Award, and is currently being adapted into a television series. Dowding lives in Toronto."

FIREFLY BOOK TRAILER
More about FIREFLY on this BLOG
Book Launch INFORMATION to COME!

Upon holding one's new book for the first time ...

Does anyone else burst into tears when they first hold their new book?

Or is it just me? 

The contractual publisher's copies of my new book,
The Gargoyle at the Gates, have just arrived on my doorstep. As a third book in a YA series, I wondered if I could love it as much as numbers one and two (The Gargoyle in My Yard, The Gargoyle Overhead).

This is a new publisher, a slightly larger size for the book, and well, as much as I love them, it's the third time around the dance floor with many of the same characters. 

When my first book arrived at the door in 2009, my husband took pictures of me opening the box and clutching a copy in either hand. I poured champagne into a thermos (!) and walked the neighbourhood, pounding on friend's doors and showing them my new baby. We drank champagne from coffee mugs on doorsteps. A friend coughed on a celebratory cigar (I declined).

When my second book arrived, I took pictures of my new child stacked up against the wall in my office. I spent a whole day mailing copies to far away family members. There was no champagne that time, though.

Now here is my third book, stacked patiently on the mantel. I am busily finishing another book (off to the editor this week) and trying to complete grant applications, while also planning a launch and bookstore appearances for book three. 

Still, when I opened the box this morning and pulled out that first copy, I did burst into tears. Why? Ask any writer you know, and I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing: spontaneous joy just never gets old.

A child's gargoyle story, a drawing, and a map!

I received a special package in the mail a few weeks ago.

I'd been waiting for this package since February, it was mailed seven months ago and I'd given it up for lost, so the fact that it finally arrived at all, even in August, made it pretty special. 

Where had it been all that time, I do not know, but I hope it had an adventure! 

Anyway, the other reason that this package was so special was its contents. Sent to me by a dedicated and wonderful teacher, M from BC, the package contained a story written by one of her students. When M first contacted me 18 months ago, she told me that her student, D, struggled with reading and writing until he read my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard. 

After that, he began to read more and more, until finally, he wrote his first story: Gargoyles on My Street.

The package I received in August had a copy of D's story, pages and pages of drawings and adventures about a gargoyle and a boy named Philip. Thank you and way to go, D! 

The package also had some lovely drawings by D's classmates, including a wonderful picture of Katherine Newberry (one of my main characters) and a very detailed map of Christopher Canning's house, the park next door and the gargoyles from my third book, The Gargoyle at the Gates. The artist really paid attention to the description of the house, the park, the gates, the fountain, the street and other shops. It's amazing.


Thank you to all of you for your great work, I'm really honoured.

Here is an earlier post about M and D:
Why do I write? Just read this letter

And a few other posts about children's work, and what it means to me:
Henry's Apple
I would pick the book over candy
I hope you make books for the rest of your life

The Gargoyle at the Gates

Introducing the fantastic cover for 
The Gargoyle at the Gates, 
Book 3 in the Lost Gargoyle Series

NEW PUBLISHING DATE: 
Now coming November 2012

Christopher Canning has a problem. He has just moved to Toronto. He has a new school and no friends. But even worse, the park next door is creepy: voices whisper in the bushes, and something throws apples at his window and howls at the moon.

But what?

Gargoyles! Their names are Gargoth and Ambergine, and they need help. An evil thief named the Collector is after them, and wants to lock them away in his dark mansion, forever.

Befriending a gargoyle takes courage, but it's worth it. Once he does, Christopher has more friends than he ever imagined, including Katherine, a girl from his class who knows the gargoyles as well. When the Collector steals Ambergine, it's up to Katherine and Christopher to get her back, as long as something else doesn't catch them along the way.

The award-nominated Lost Gargoyle series:
The Gargoyle in my Yard (2009) 
A CCBC Best Book and an SYRCA Diamond Willow Nominee 2011
The Gargoyle Overhead (2010) 
An OLA Silver Birch Express Nominee 2012, a Resource Links Best Bet
The Gargoyle at the Gates (2012)

Pick of the week, tech storytelling, a librarian's letter, free teacher's guides and more

Coming September 2019, Dundurn Press

It's been a busy week, lots to cover! 

FIRST, I want to say thank you to the 49th Shelf editors for choosing Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet as one of their 5 top middle-grade books this week. 

Here's the list: 49th Shelf Editor's Picks for July 29-Aug 4
Always exciting to see my book with other fine Canadian authors (and NYT Bestsellers) like Kelley Armstrong! August Update, Quinn is also on the 49th Shelf Most Anticipated Fall Books for kids list.

Quinn is the sixth and final book in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series. It comes out in September, so this is a nice early boost for the book. It was also named a Dewey Divas and the Dudes FALL PICK a few weeks ago, which is amazing.

Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet pre-orders are ON!
(and pre-orders = love, folks!)

Request a copy for review now from the publisher, Dundurn Press.

SECOND: Alex and The Other, book four in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong Series, is used as an example of great horror stories to inspire kids to tell their own ghost stories using tech, on the 49th Shelf Teacher's blog.

For 8 great ideas and tech solutions to help kids tell their own stories using video creation, stop motion animation, podcasts etc: Books to Inspire Storytelling (with tech to capture the tales) 

THIRD: I received a really lovely librarian's letter this week, talking about Carter and the Curious Maze and Myles and the Monster Outside (books 3 and 4 in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series)!

Here's an excerpt: 
"We have never seen our class so excited about our read aloud. They never wanted me to stop. My teacher would always use that time to prep stuff but when I started reading these books, she would just stop and listen.
...The last week of school we had an Indoor camping day and we all sat in the dark under a tarp and read the last of Myles and the Monster Outside by flashlight. One of the cards I got at the end of the year said that they thought I was such a good reader and that Carter was their new favourite story of all time."

Wow, honestly letters like this help to keep a writer going. Writing is such a lonely job most of the time, it's always such a shot in the arm to hear from actual people that actual children love your books! If you ever want to reach out to an author, do it. They will always be appreciative!

FOURTH: And here's some news I'm happy to finally share! There are three terrific new FREE Teacher's Guides on the Dundurn site, go see:

The Gargoyle in My Yard, Teacher's Guide
The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, Teacher's Guide
Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, Teacher's Guide

Keep reading everyone! I'm going on a wee break, so see you all in August!

FIREFLY is a SYRCA Snow Willow Nominee 2024!

 

I'm really honoured to say that FIREFLY has been selected as one of ten Saskatchewan Young Readers Choice Award Snow Willow nominees for 2024! Thank you, this is really wonderful and the first time one of my books has been nominated for the Snow Willow.

What does it mean? This wonderful list of Canadian books (find them all here) is curated by the SYRCA committee, and selected for students in grades 6-8.  For the next few months, the list and books will be available in schools and libraries across the province as a suggested read for kids in those grades. The books will get read, passed around, loved, absorbed, and the readers will vote on their favourite in spring of 2024. Congrats to my fellow nominees!

The Willow Awards are for young readers in grades 2-8, and over the years they have been very good to me, in fact my very first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard (2009) received the honour of a Diamond Willow nomination in 2010. 

I ran around the house like a mad thing when I got that email telling me the book had been nominated. It slowly sank in that not only did I get to PUBLISH a book, but that other  people would read it and if they loved it, it would be NOMINATED for AWARDS. Big revelation there.

It's been a wonderful career, I've been incredibly lucky. Thank you to the Willow Awards and all the other nominating committees and readers who have shortlisted or selected one of my books as a winner. It's always an amazing and humbling surprise.

Thank you as always to my publisher, DCB, and of course, thank you to my wonderful readers too! Keep reading, all. 

The Gargoyle in My Yard is a Toronto Public Library Great Reads for Kids!

Looking for a great book for your child?

Really honoured that my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard (Dundurn, 2009), has been selected by The Toronto Public Library and Kumon Math and Reading Centres as a Great Reads for Kids 2015!

The list is compiled by the children's librarians at the Toronto Public Library, and showcases the best of the collection for kids 6-12.

Here's the press release for this new annual list. There's a lot of fantastic Canadian and American authors in here, I'm pretty chuffed to be among them.

Thank you TPL!

4 Stars, Highly Recommended for Carter and the Curious Maze

"Carter and the Curious Maze is a short, fast-paced tale with engagingly eerie illustrations by Shawna Daigle that enhance Dowding's captivating storytelling style. Readers will be compelled by the historic tales of Toronto's past as experienced by the relatable and funny 12-year-old Carter and the cast of interesting characters he meets within the maze."--Highly Recommended, Canadian Materials, June 3/2016

It's a day of lasts for me: the last day of my daughter's university education, the last day of my son's high school days, the last day of CTV's CanadaAM (a 43-year old Canadian morning news institution).

But tucked in there is also a day of firsts, since today I got my FIRST EVER 4-star review from CM magazine, another Canadian institution, at least in the kid lit world, for my forthcoming novel, Carter and the Curious Maze (Aug 2016). This book is the third book in the award-nominated Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, for kids 8-12.

I've come close before, with a 3.5 star review for my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard, in 2009, and I've had mostly 3-stars from them for everything else (still pretty good). But this is my very first, flat out 4-star review. And it's a doozy. Thank you to Dundurn Press and to illustrator Shawna Daigle, for all the hard work.

Here's the 4-star review: CM Magazine, Carter and the Curious Maze

So while I spend today thinking about how quickly children grow up, and how media closings, however sad or misguided, are a part of life, I'll also take a moment to celebrate a lovely little story about a boy growing too old for the fair, until he comes across the curious maze. As Carter comes to discover, there is still wonder and delight all around us, we just have to seek it out. It's as good a message as any for me to take to heart on this day of firsts, and lasts.

For more about Carter and the Curious Maze:

Kirkus Reviews "This original take on time-travel historical fantasy is a sure bet for young scary story enthusiasts"
Book Trailer
Goodreads
Publisher's Page

OCULUM is a Silver Birch 2020 nominee and optioned for TV!

"We are delighted to announce that not only is @phdowding’s Oculum on the @ForestofReading Silver Birch Fiction Shortlist, we’ve also just sold rights to @saloonmedia, who want to produce a podcast, audiobook & tv series!"
--DCB, October 17/2019

My publisher, DCB (formerly Dancing Cat Books), posted that tweet last week.

Here's the tweet: OCULUM DCB NEWS

I couldn't be more honoured. An OLA Forest of Reading Silver Birch nomination for 2020 and an option on the book from a great Canadian production company like Saloon Media.  

Someone please pinch me (maybe twice). 

I couldn't be more honoured and surprised. It's just been an incredible week, THANK YOU to the Ontario Library Association, my publisher and editors at DCB, the wonderfully talented team at Saloon media, and everyone else who helped make these things happen for my middle-grade, science fiction dystopia. (The book also received an SYRCA Diamond Willow nomination in April, 2019, thank you!)
I cannot wait to discuss the book with the young readers of Ontario and Saskatchewan in the months ahead ...

Author and her publisher, OLA 2019

I also want to thank my editor Allister Thompson, who has guided me through the pitfalls of commas, adverbs, and nonsensical dialogue (plus much more) for TWELVE books now. And also warm thanks go to Emma Dolan, the talented illustrator of the absolutely beautiful cover for the book. Thank you guys!

And many thanks go to publisher Sylvia McConnell too (because I don't thank her enough), for publishing my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard, in 2009, and getting this party started.

A writer just doesn't get the kind of week I had last week very often. The truth is there are long spells, years really, when you write and write and write, not knowing if the book is good, if anyone will publish it, and if anyone does publish it, will anyone buy it, read it, review it, nominate it ...

... and so on. It's such a strange, perilous journey from idea, to manuscript to book deal to book, that really, it's such a surprise whenever something amazing happens. It's never expected, and always hugely appreciated.

So thank you everyone, this writer is really, really appreciative of all the support and great news. It's going to be a fun ride! More to come on the Silver Birch award and the Saloon Media option in the months ahead, but for now, read more about OCULUM:

Purchase a copy of OCULUM now

More about OCULUM on this blog
FREE Teacher's Guide for OCULUM 

You'll find me on Bandcamp ...

BIRCHES (2017) with Allister Thompson

I finally opened a Bandcamp account! 

Here it is:  Philippa Dowding, Bandcamp

You'll find a few tunes from my two guitar albums with my editor, Allister Thompson.

You'll also find recordings from my first book, The Gargoyle in My Yard. The book just turned 10 years in April 2019, and to celebrate I recorded me reading two chapters. 

You'll also find The Gargoyle Shuffle on there.

More to come, stay tuned!

SUMMER, from the album Fifth Season (2015)
with Allister Thompson

The first time I touched a guitar, I was 10 years old and I had just snuck into my older brother's room to crouch before his brand new birthday gift: an acoustic guitar. I drew my finger tips across the strings, and was shocked into wonder by the beautiful voice, the gentle whisper. That was it. Hooked for life.

I've played guitar ever since, and made friends for life through music. I've written dozens of instrumentals for the guitar since then, and have a handful of songs which I sing for friends (usually reluctantly) when pressed. You'll hear me singing in only one place that I know of: on Birches, Moonlight, a song I wrote for my sister-in-law, a song which Allister pressed me to record.

Does any amateur musician like the sound of their own voice?

I still play guitar for about 20 minutes every day, and I record new compositions all the time. Recording acoustic is hard though. You have to be perfect, you can't suddenly get itchy, or have to sneeze. The neighbours can't be cutting their grass, the dog can't bark, the front door can't slam, the cellphone has to be off ... it takes patience!

But there may be a new collaboration soon, so perhaps more tunes to come. Happy listening, everyone.

MORE ABOUT GUITAR on this blog.

Great Review for The Gargoyle at the Gates

 "The Gargoyle at the Gates, an interesting and appealing story, is a splendid sequel to the first two Lost Gargoyle books."

Here it is, the first review of The Gargoyle at the Gates, from CM Magazine: Gargoyle at the Gates
It's a good review, 3 out of 4 stars, from Daphne Hamilton-Nagorsen, the same reviewer of all three books.
Here are links to her reviews of the first two books:
The Gargoyle in My Yard 
The Gargoyle Overhead
I'm lucky to have had the same reviewer for all three books, thanks CM magazine.
There are two new themes in this book, too: urban renewal and standing up to a bully. Oh, and the Collector, the bad guy in all three stories, rears his ugly head once again ... can't wait to see what happens to him!