November 10, 2008

It's a glorious Fall day on Salt Spring Island. In between editing, writing and researching I try to go outside - to sweep, bring in firewood and fill birdhouses. Just in case you think that writing is hard work, I'd like to share a letter I just received from a student in Grade Two. After listening to my presentation on writing, editing, rewriting, submitting, rejection, acceptances, contracts, publishing etc, etc. this student writes:

Just so you know: being an author is a piece of cake compared to being a second grader! ☺
Have a good day,

Margriet

Ms. Bee's Magical Bookcase

Students at Shannon Lake school in Westbank, BC made wonderful drawings based on my book Ms. Bee's Magical Bookcase. Ms. Bee is a special teacher/librarian who spends much time visiting with fairytale characters. I thought you might enjoy seeing one of the drawings:

Notice the fairy sitting on the bookcase and two of the three little pigs peeking over the top!

Big Compliment from a Little Reader

I love reading letters that children write to me. I thought I'd share this one with you:

Can you decipher it?!
She liked the 'imagination' I put in my books! I love it.

School Visits in the Okanagan

I just got back after a two week stint of visits to schools in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley. It was fun to see old friends as well as meet new teacher/librarians! I visited 13 schools, did about 30 presentations to over 3,000 students ranging from Kindergarten to Grade Seven. It was fun to share stories and information about books with all of them. A highlight was the Literacy Conference in Kelowna where I was able to speak to many teachers from places as far as Nunavut.
The only problem is that I talked so much that I lost my voice! I'm sure it will come back soon since I'm now home for a while... I look forward to getting settled into our new home (I'm finally putting all of my books onto the new bookshelves) and working on my writing!

Margriet

Fall - time to read!

I just returned from a week of school visits in Ft St James, Vanderhoof and Burns Lake, B.C. I had forgotten how glorious fall colours can be. The entire area was lit up by the trembling yellow of aspen trees. Besides visiting 7 schools, I drove 800 KM! The children were lovely and excited about reading and books. Some of the teachers took me for a walk along Stuart Lake. I hadn't expected warm "summer" days in early October!
When I left I grabbed a book to read on the plane: I Heard The Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. It had been on my shelf for a while and I had no idea what a treasure it is.. It takes place in northern BC so it was very appropriate. The book deals with native people, changing societies and life in a small northern village. It was very well written - I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended, not just as YA but to anyone.

Children's Book Award Shortlisting!

News Flash: Wake Up, Henry Rooster (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) has been shortlisted for the 2008 Willow Awards! These are the popular children's choice awards for books in Saskatchewan. You can read more about the awards here: http://www.willowawards.ca/nominated-books/2008
Henry's excited! He's staying up late to read all of the shortlisted books in bed... He might even get up early to see if he is a favourite :-)

International School Visits

I'm working with schools in Taiwan, China and elsewhere in Asia to realize author visits in the spring. Today I received a copy of NewsLinks, the newspaper of International School Services. The Fall issue features my article on author visits on the front page. You can copy this link and paste it in your browser's address bar to see the sample issue:

file:///private/var/tmp/folders.501/TemporaryItems/com.apple.mail.drag-T0x40af50.tmp.5MePjA/NL_Sample.pdf

Hello from Salt Spring Island

I've been here for a few weeks now and still unpacking, reorganizing. This was move #24 and we're never moving again! ☺
Yesterday I joined the Salt Spring Public Library. It's housed in a lovely old house with additions, full of good books.
This weekend I'm flying to northern BC to visit schools in Ft St James and Burns Lake areas. Looking forward to meeting you all!

Award Nomination

I'm thrilled to tell you that MY LIBRARIAN IS A CAMEL has been nominated for Indiana's Young Hoosier Award 2008-2009! Keep your fingers crossed!
The photo is of me and my friend Dashdondog from Mongolia. His mobile library is one of those featured in the book.

Margriet

A New School Year!

Welcome to September - a new school year for most of us. I'm surrounded by boxes and boxes of books, unpacking in our wonderful new location on Salt Spring Island. It's been a hectic few weeks and my back is aching. But we're excited about our new surroundings.
I'm looking forward to speaking to students in Victoria schools and public libraries at the end of September.

Margriet