The Girl Who Writes

The Girl Who Writes, a picture book  by Richard Cole and K. Jane Watt.


My new favourite picture book is a delicate, powerful story of a girl who uses her imagination.
She reads every book she can get her hands on but soon realizes that she need to tell her own stories.
"I know that with a bit of ink and 26 letters, I can make new worlds," she says.
With her head full of images of kings and dragons and far-away places, but also with the splash of salmon and beaver in a nearby eddy, she writes. Her teacher and a writing contest encourage her to keep writing, even if her father says that she needs to get her head out of the clouds.

Perhaps this is how writers are made. I know this could be my personal story.
But it definitely is a story that will resonate with all those who love to use their imagination and dream of new world. A great gift for your favourite writer-friend!


http://fentonstreet.ca/projects/the-girl-who-writes/

ISBN 978-0-9917146-1-2

My exciting new book: Stepping Stones

Only a few months ago did I spot the amazing art work of Nizar Ali Badr. Nizar lives in Syria and posted photos of his art on his Facebook page. Somehow I glanced at one image and fell in love.
"This should be in a children's book!" I thought.

It took me three months to make contact with Nizar who lives in Latakia, Syria and finds both his inspiration and art supplies on the beach. He collects rocks and arranges them into beautiful images.
I used some of those images to put them in a sequence. Then I wrote the text for the story which I imaged his art told. It is the story of a refugee family.

Thanks to the internet I was able to communicated with Nizar and one of his best friends. We discussed the possibility of making a book for children together. Then I contacted Orca Book Publishers who create beautiful books. They agreed that Nizar's art makes amazing illustrations and contracted him to be the illustrator.

I can't wait to hold the actually book in my hands as words, art and design come together.
Stepping Stones, A Refugee Family's Journey will be out by mid October. Much of the proceeds will benefit refugee causes.

I hope you will be able to get a copy and share Nizar's art.
You can order to now from your local book store or click here to order and to see the trailer:

www.steppingstonesthebook.com

The publisher will make available books at a special discount to any schools who would like to sell the book as a fund raiser for a refugee cause of their choice.

• Mem Fox, award winning author of Possum Magic says: "It’s exquisite! One can only pray that its message will spread and make the difference we need".

• "Stunning, original artwork both childlike and sophisticated; a text that will both break and mend your heart.” Jane Yolen, Award winning author of Devil’s Arithmetic and The Stone Angel.

• KIRKUS review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/refugee-odysseys/
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/margriet-ruurs/stepping-stones-ruurs/

• ILA named the book a Notable Book For Global Society, 2017

• Quill & Quire article: http://www.quillandquire.com/omni/kidlit-spotlight-a-chance-discovery-online-led-author-margriet-ruurs-on-a-journey-to-her-altruistic-new-picture-book/

• Times Colonist: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/tale-of-refugee-family-s-flight-is-set-in-stone-1.2362119

• Canadian Teacher Magazine: http://www.canadianteachermagazine.com/article_2016_li_stepping_stones.html

• CM Magazine: http://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol23/no2/steppingstones.html

• http://picklemethis.com/2016/10/07/stepping-stones-and-the-journey/

• Fall 2016 BookNews, Canadian Children's Book Centre, review by Sandra O'Brien: '... beautiful words are twinned with the most stunning artwork... I hope this beautiful book will reach the shelves of classrooms, libraries and homes throughout the world and be read and shared many times over!'

• http://49thshelf.com/Blog/2016/10/20/Stepping-Stones-A-Transnational-Literary-Journey

A Swiss concert pays tribute to Nizar's art:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ7HC7zgDSg

• http://unpackingpicturebookpower.blogspot.pt/2016/11/interview-margriet-ruurs-author-of.html?spref=fb

• Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/72308-canadian-report-december-2016.html

• http://bcbooklook.com/2016/10/17/stone-warm-sober-hope/

• http://salsfictionaddiction.blogspot.ca/2016/12/stepping-stones-refugee-familys-journey.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+SalsFictionAddiction+(Sal's+Fiction+Addiction)

• http://www.todaysparent.com/family/parenting/kids-books-about-refugees/

• http://www.hbook.com/2017/01/blogs/out-of-the-box/refugees-welcome-here-resources-and-booklist/#_

14 Cows For America - My new favourite picture book!

Kids often ask me "What your favourite book?"
I always tell them I don't have just ONE favourite book - there are so many and all books are so different.
However, right now I do have a new favourite and I want to share it with you: 14 Cows For America by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez.
Why have I not seen this glorious book in every house, every school and bookstore? Everybody needs to read this amazing, TRUE story.

14 Cows For America is the touching story of Kimeli, a young Maasai warrior from Kenya. He goes to America to study. When he returns to his village, he brings with him the heart wrenching story of hatred and hurt, a catastrophe that happened in America on 9/11. The Maasai elders are shocked. How can anyone hate like that?
To the fierce yet gentle Maasai, cows are sacred. Cows ensure life.
And so they offer the greatest gift they can: 14 cows for America. To help the American people to heal. 'Because there is no nation so powerful that it cannot be wounded nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort.'
A true story - beautifully worded by the author, accompanied by breathtaking paintings of the beautiful Maasai people. This is a tale to treasure and share.

And for now, it's my favourite picture book.
I ordered my copy from: www.betterworldbooks.com


http://www.14cowsforamerica.com

Book Week 2016

I feel very fortunate to have been selected to tour for Canadian Children's Book Week this year. Book Week is an amazing event whereby 29 (this year) authors and illustrators travel across the country, reading and sharing their work with thousands of children and adults alike.
We each conduct presentations in schools and public libraries.
Funded by TD Canada and other sponsors, this program has tremendous impact on reaching and encouraging young readers. A writer from Nova Scotia might be send to the Arctic. An illustrator from British Columbia might get to share his art with children in New Brunswick or Quebec. I am touring, this year, in small towns in rural Ontario.
Each of us meets with hundreds of children who've been reading our books. We all show the process of how books are made and how these kids, too, can grow up to be the future generation of storytellers and artists.

I asked my fellow writers/illustrators on tour which book THEY are bringing with them, to read in planes, trains, busses and hotel rooms.
This is their eclectic list of titles. Have fun finding them and seeing what Canadian book creators are currently reading:

Birdwing, Rafe Martin

The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield

Flickers, Arthur Slade

The Dogs, Allan Stratton

The Nest, Kenneth Oppel

Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

Saving Montgomery Sole, Mariko Tamaki

Otherbound, Corinne Duyvis

Birdie, Tracey Lindberg

The Illegal, Lawrence Hill

Mortal Danger, Ann Aguirre

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, Paige McKenzie (with Alyssa Sheinmel)

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

#GoodMorningEarth: Chris Hadfield, Kate Lunau

Release, Daren Wride

Canadian Crusoes: A Tale of the Rice Lake Plains, Catherine Parr Strickland Traill

How the Heather Looks, Joan Bodger

Jenny Watson's Prove It, Josh

Lonely Planet Canada

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson

Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles, Shari Green

This One Summer, Mariko Tamaki

The Truth Commission, Susan Juby 

Saint Anyone, Sarah Dessin 

Mosquitoland, David Arnold
Legacy, Waubgeshig Rice

Ask and It Is Given, Esther and Jerry Hicks.

Author Visits in Kelowna BC

Had fun talking about books, reading, writing and the whole publishing process to nearly 2,000 students in 10 schools over 5 days in Kelowna BC.

Very nice to receive teachers' comments like this one:

Thank you so much for visiting Glenrosa Elementary. My students were already amazing little story tellers but your visit brought the whole process to life and we have been writing stories ever since.

And to see the kids producing such fun art based on books and inspired by Ted Harrison!

Author Visits

As a writer of books for children there is nothing more fun than to share my books with kids. Author visits are popular at schools across North America, but also at international schools. I have been lucky enough to travel to international schools across Europe, Asia, Africa and beyond.
I have made some life-long friends among teachers and librarians who share my love to literacy and travel.
Highlights include bringing books to nomad children in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, reading stories to children in Lahore, Pakistan, handing out books to children in Myanmar and many others.
Attached is an article about my recent visits to schools in Kenya and Ethiopia. I love the added bonus of learning about different cultures and now also write a travel blog:

https://globetrottinggrandparents.wordpress.com

Visiting international schools has led me to write books of a more international nature. My latests books include titles such as Families Around The World and School Days Around The World. Coming out in 2017 will be Birthdays Around The World as well as The Elephant Keeper, a book about my visit to an elephant orphanage in Zambia.

As I plan my next tour of schools in the Middle East, I often pinch myself and marvel at the fact that I am so lucky to be able to combine my passion for writing with my passion for travel.

Me, Jane by Patrick McDonnell

            This is simply the very best biography I have ever read.

Try writing a biography of a famous person who has led a long life, rich in a wide variety experiences. Chances are this will turn into a lengthy book.

But you are writing for children. 

A picture book is only 32 pages. Still, most biographies have dense text and many information boxes to cramp in the facts.

Me, Jane 

is a very short, simple story with lovely illustrations. 

It focuses on a very small girl with big dreams. Jane's favourite companion is a toy chimpanzee. 

Jane watches a chicken hatch an egg and is enamoured by nature. She sketches birds and other animals in her diary. And Jane dreams of, one day, traveling to Africa.

Jane grows up to become one of the world's most well known primatologists, Dr. Jane Goodall.

The story is told in such a way that degrees and accolades are not important. What is important is for a child to dream and to follow that dream. It's a beautifully told story.

Backpages do give more information on Jane Goodall, on all she accomplished and on her Foundation which enables many young people to follow in her footsteps and become environmentalists.


ISBN-13:9780316045469
Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers


Judging by this list of recognitions I am not the only one who loves this book:

A Charlotte Zolotow Award WinnerA Horn Book Fanfare BookA New York Times Best Illustrated Children's BookA New York Times Notable Children's BookA Booklist Editor's Choice BookA Kirkus Reviews Best BookA Kids' Indie Next List BookA 2011 Bank Street College Children's Book Committee Outstanding BookA National Parenting Publications Awards Gold Winner
A Booklinks Lasting Connections Book
A 2014 Illinois Monarch Children's Choice Award Winner
A 2014 Iowa Goldfinch Book Award Winner"


A 2012 Caldecott Honor Book

A University of Wisconsin-Madison CCBC 2012 Children's Choices Book

A Parents' Choice Silver Honor Book

The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary

The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary

"I was late to school, and that's all I could think about. I started across the field. And then suddenly a fire flashed in my face and the earth seemed to move beneath my feet. I remember a shower of soil and then nothing. I woke up on the ground, surrounded by a crowd, men and boys...no women. They were all staring down at me with huge eyes. Their lips were moving, but I could hear no voices. All I heard was a loud ringing in my ears."

How is that for a gripping opening?

All the more if you realize that this novel is nonfiction. It is an autobiography.

Farah Ahmedi is born at a time when the war between the mujahideen and the Soviets reaches its peak in Afghanistan. Bombs are falling all over the country, and her native city of Kabul is bursting at the seams with hundreds of thousands of people looking for homes and jobs. The sounds of gunfire and fighter planes are as normal to Farah as the sounds of traffic or children playing are to a schoolgirl in America. When Farah steps on a land mine on her way to school, her world becomes much smaller than the dreams and hopes in her heart. She begins to learn--slowly--that ordinary people, often strangers, have immense power to save lives and restore hope.

"The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky" recounts an epic journey. It shows what a childhood in Afghanistan is like, where classrooms are bare spaces with only chalkboards on the walls and are filled with more students than seats (and no books). In Kabul, they cancel school because of rockets and bombings; in Chicago, Farah might have a snow day. In Kabul, a schoolgirl wears a black dress and a white headscarf; inAmerica, girls need the right jeans and trendy tops.

Thanks to a number of good people who crossed her path at critical moments, Farah is thriving. She may be haunted by her past, but she is no longer enslaved by it. Farah is now a proud American citizen  and, in this time of new refugees coming from another country, this might be timely read.

https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/1134/farah-ahmedi

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/22735302#22735302