On Your Marks, Get Set, GO!

We're heading into the maniac season now. In other fields, people get Spring Fever. If the children's literature field, we get Spring Festival Fever. As all the book awards swing into high gear, so do we authors, racking up the kilometers on our cars and Aeroplan cards as we tour schools, schools, and more schools.

I love it - what could be better than having hundreds of kids cheering for you and your books? Not much, really. But a chance to sit still now and then, without a line of kids holding scraps of paper asking for autographs in front of you, is also nice.

Balance. I just want that elusive thing called Balance. If any of you ever find it, please let me know.

Anyhoo I'll be on the road for the next little while - first to the Frye Fest in New Brunswick, then doing rounds of school visits in association with Ontario's Silver Birch Awards, and then back to the Atlantic provinces for the Hackmatack Award's writers in the schools program. Good thing I take my vitamins, eh?

Before I disappear for a while, I just want to share some lovely news items.

1, The Hilarious History of Hockey has been nominated for next year's Hackmatack Award. Woot!

2. And the hot-off-the-press The Quiz Book for Girls just got a great, 4-star review from CM Magazine. You can read the full review here.