Good news for Counting on Katherine!

Counting on Katherine (Christy Ottaviano Books, June) has been selected by the Junior Library Guild. So pleased!

Updated cover!

Coming in June - but you can preorder now!

Cover Reveal for Nonfiction Monday

I'm so excited to show off this beautiful cover design for Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13.Coming June 2018! 

Silver Birch shortlists announced!

So pleased to have Monster Science nominated for the Silver Birch Award!

Looking ahead to Superconference - Woot!

The Ontario Library Association Superconference is always a highlight on my calendar.

This year, I'll be signing copies of Deck the Halls at the Scholastic booth on Thursday, Feb. 2.

I'll also be signing copies of You Can Read at the Orca booth that same day.

And if you just want to say hi, I'll be at the Forest of Reading Breakfast bright and early on Friday, Feb 3, talking about Worms for Breakfast and Everything: Space, which are both shortlisted for the Silver Birch Award. Expect me to be a bit overexcited, but sleepy-eyed!

Porcupine on Parade

Lovely to learn that the gang from A Porcupine in a Pine Tree had a featured spot in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade this year!

Here's the photo of the adorable Indigo/Chapters float:

Thanks to the folks at Indigo, and to CTV for taking the vid! (And to Debbie Ohi, author and illustrator extraordinaire of Where are My Books? who snagged the screenshot!)

CANSCAIP'S amazing PYI conference is this weekend!

I'll be speaking about nonfiction how-tos!

I'm giving the inside scoop on nonfiction at  the Packaging Your Imagination Conference this weekend.  You'll also get to meet outstanding industry professionals like Jacqueline Guest, Ashley Spires, Wallace Edwards, Suzanne Sutherland, and Christie Harkin. You really want to be there. Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Here are the deets:

PACKAGING YOUR IMAGINATION (PYI)
#PYI2016

WHAT'S AT PYI THIS YEAR?

• Choose from a dozen sessions, including three Master Classes and our popular panel of publishers and agents
• Terrific NEW location in the heart of downtown Toronto--close to subway, hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums, shopping...and more! 
• Two keynotes: Ashley Spires and David Booth
• One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript, illustration portfolio or author website/social media (additional fee)

YOUR PYI REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

• Full day of PYI sessions and keynotes for $195 (scroll down for our fantastic line-up of sessions and speakers)
• Sandwich lunch
• Coffee, juice and snacks served all day between sessions 

ONE-TO-ONE EVALUATIONS

• Add a One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript OR your author website/social media for $75 (you must also register for PYI for this option)

I'm pleased to be presenting:

Non-Fiction Truths: How to Plan, Pitch and Promote Your Nonfiction Project

Writing successful nonfiction requires plenty of research - and that's even before you begin the project! In this hard-nosed, nuts-and-bolts session, you'll get a step-by-step guide to how to take your idea from "Should I?"  to Sold. Learn how to Evaluate and Structure Your Idea, Do an Effective Market Comparison, Create a Clear, Complete  Proposal and Craft a Winning Cover Letter. Plus an up-to-the-minute look at the contemporary nonfiction market and how to target and evaluate potential customers, both in Canada and the US.

The Conference will take place at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto.  See you there!

The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
is located in downtown Toronto

Packaging Your Imagination is THIS WEEKEND!

Come to Toronto - yes, it's worth the trip  - to get the lowdown on everything kidlit!

I'll be speaking on Nonfiction:

Non-Fiction Truths: How to Plan, Pitch and Promote Your Nonfiction Project

Writing successful nonfiction requires plenty of research - and that's even before you begin the project! In this hard-nosed, nuts-and-bolts session, you'll get a step-by-step guide to how to take your idea from "Should I?"  to Sold. Learn how to Evaluate and Structure Your Idea, Do an Effective Market Comparison, Create a Clear, Complete  Proposal and Craft a Winning Cover Letter. Plus an up-to-the-minute look at the contemporary nonfiction market and how to target and evaluate potential customers, both in Canada and the US.

There are lots of other great speakers!!! I can't wait to sit in on all their sessions. For deets and registration info, go to Packaging Your Imagination.

See ya there!

Less than a week to go! Canscaip PYI Conference!

I'll be speaking about nonfiction how-tos!

I'm giving the inside scoop on nonfiction at  the Packaging Your Imagination Conference is next weekend.  You'll also get to meet outstanding industry professionals like Jacqueline Guest, Ashley Spires, Wallace Edwards, Suzanne Sutherland, and Christie Harkin. You really want to be there. Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Here are the deets:

PACKAGING YOUR IMAGINATION (PYI)
#PYI2016

WHAT'S AT PYI THIS YEAR?

• Choose from a dozen sessions, including three Master Classes and our popular panel of publishers and agents
• Terrific NEW location in the heart of downtown Toronto--close to subway, hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums, shopping...and more! 
• Two keynotes: Ashley Spires and David Booth
• One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript, illustration portfolio or author website/social media (additional fee)

YOUR PYI REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

• Full day of PYI sessions and keynotes for $195 (scroll down for our fantastic line-up of sessions and speakers)
• Sandwich lunch
• Coffee, juice and snacks served all day between sessions 

ONE-TO-ONE EVALUATIONS

• Add a One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript OR your author website/social media for $75 (you must also register for PYI for this option)

I'm pleased to be presenting:

Non-Fiction Truths: How to Plan, Pitch and Promote Your Nonfiction Project

Writing successful nonfiction requires plenty of research - and that's even before you begin the project! In this hard-nosed, nuts-and-bolts session, you'll get a step-by-step guide to how to take your idea from "Should I?"  to Sold. Learn how to Evaluate and Structure Your Idea, Do an Effective Market Comparison, Create a Clear, Complete  Proposal and Craft a Winning Cover Letter. Plus an up-to-the-minute look at the contemporary nonfiction market and how to target and evaluate potential customers, both in Canada and the US.

The Conference will take place at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto.  See you there!

The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
is located in downtown Toronto

Just 6 more sleeps!

I'll be speaking about nonfiction how-tos!

Canscaip's magnificent Packaging Your Imagination Conference is next weekend.  You really want to be there. Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Here are the deets:

PACKAGING YOUR IMAGINATION (PYI)
#PYI2016

WHAT'S AT PYI THIS YEAR?

• Choose from a dozen sessions, including three Master Classes and our popular panel of publishers and agents
• Terrific NEW location in the heart of downtown Toronto--close to subway, hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums, shopping...and more! 
• Two keynotes: Ashley Spires and David Booth
• One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript, illustration portfolio or author website/social media (additional fee)

YOUR PYI REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

• Full day of PYI sessions and keynotes for $195 (scroll down for our fantastic line-up of sessions and speakers)
• Sandwich lunch
• Coffee, juice and snacks served all day between sessions 

ONE-TO-ONE EVALUATIONS

• Add a One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript OR your author website/social media for $75 (you must also register for PYI for this option)

I'm pleased to be presenting:

Non-Fiction Truths: How to Plan, Pitch and Promote Your Nonfiction Project

Writing successful nonfiction requires plenty of research - and that's even before you begin the project! In this hard-nosed, nuts-and-bolts session, you'll get a step-by-step guide to how to take your idea from "Should I?"  to Sold. Learn how to Evaluate and Structure Your Idea, Do an Effective Market Comparison, Create a Clear, Complete  Proposal and Craft a Winning Cover Letter. Plus an up-to-the-minute look at the contemporary nonfiction market and how to target and evaluate potential customers, both in Canada and the US.

The Conference will take place at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto.  See you there!

The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
is located in downtown Toronto

Just 7 more sleeps!

I'll be speaking about nonfiction how-tos!

Canscaip's magnificent Packaging Your Imagination Conference is next weekend.  You really want to be there. Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Here are the deets:

PACKAGING YOUR IMAGINATION (PYI)
#PYI2016

WHAT'S AT PYI THIS YEAR?

• Choose from a dozen sessions, including three Master Classes and our popular panel of publishers and agents
• Terrific NEW location in the heart of downtown Toronto--close to subway, hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums, shopping...and more! 
• Two keynotes: Ashley Spires and David Booth
• One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript, illustration portfolio or author website/social media (additional fee)

YOUR PYI REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

• Full day of PYI sessions and keynotes for $195 (scroll down for our fantastic line-up of sessions and speakers)
• Sandwich lunch
• Coffee, juice and snacks served all day between sessions 

ONE-TO-ONE EVALUATIONS

• Add a One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript OR your author website/social media for $75 (you must also register for PYI for this option)

I'm pleased to be presenting:

Non-Fiction Truths: How to Plan, Pitch and Promote Your Nonfiction Project

Writing successful nonfiction requires plenty of research - and that's even before you begin the project! In this hard-nosed, nuts-and-bolts session, you'll get a step-by-step guide to how to take your idea from "Should I?"  to Sold. Learn how to Evaluate and Structure Your Idea, Do an Effective Market Comparison, Create a Clear, Complete  Proposal and Craft a Winning Cover Letter. Plus an up-to-the-minute look at the contemporary nonfiction market and how to target and evaluate potential customers, both in Canada and the US.

The Conference will take place at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto.  See you there!

The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
is located in downtown Toronto

Eureka!

Monster Science (Kids Can Press) has just received a Silver Eureka Award from the California Reading Association. 

I'm as happy as a zombie with a fresh brain.

Spots still available for Canscaip's Magnificent Packaging Your Imagination Conference!

There are spots still available for Canscaip's magnificent Packaging Your Imagination Conference! You really want to be there. Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Here are the deets:

PACKAGING YOUR IMAGINATION (PYI)
#PYI2016

WHAT'S AT PYI THIS YEAR?

• Choose from a dozen sessions, including three Master Classes and our popular panel of publishers and agents
• Terrific NEW location in the heart of downtown Toronto--close to subway, hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums, shopping...and more! 
• Two keynotes: Ashley Spires and David Booth
• One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript, illustration portfolio or author website/social media (additional fee)

YOUR PYI REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

• Full day of PYI sessions and keynotes for $195 (scroll down for our fantastic line-up of sessions and speakers)
• Sandwich lunch
• Coffee, juice and snacks served all day between sessions 

ONE-TO-ONE EVALUATIONS

• Add a One-to-One evaluation of your manuscript OR your author website/social media for $75 (you must also register for PYI for this option)

I'm pleased to be presenting:

Non-Fiction Truths: How to Plan, Pitch and Promote Your Nonfiction Project

Writing successful nonfiction requires plenty of research - and that's even before you begin the project! In this hard-nosed, nuts-and-bolts session, you'll get a step-by-step guide to how to take your idea from "Should I?"  to Sold. Learn how to Evaluate and Structure Your Idea, Do an Effective Market Comparison, Create a Clear, Complete  Proposal and Craft a Winning Cover Letter. Plus an up-to-the-minute look at the contemporary nonfiction market and how to target and evaluate potential customers, both in Canada and the US.

The Conference will take place at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto.  See you there!

The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
is located in downtown Toronto

Forest of Reading Lists are Out!

The Forest of Reading, one of North America's largest children's choice award programs, has just announced its 2017 nominees.

I'm proud - and humbled  - to have two books nominated in the nonfiction category this year!

Worms for Breakfast: How to Feed a Zoo (Owlkids) is  a wacky cookbook-style primer packed with facts from experts at zoos and aquariums. Covering everything from regular animal nutrition to feeding babies to mimicking how animals hunt and eat in the wild, this book explores the eating habits of carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, and insectivores. Inside, you’ll also find real-life recipes from zoos around the world for meals like eucalyptus-leaf pesto, kelp tank goulash, and mealworm mush. Beware! You probably don’t want to eat any of it yourself.

Written in a plucky, conversational tone with delightfully wacky illustrations, a glossary, and tips for zoo animal care, this book is bound to appeal to picky readers.

Everything: Space (National Geographic Kids) blasts off into space to explore planets, stars, and beyond! Watch out! Giant swirling nebulae of fun will pull you in like gravity.  Megaparsecs of  facts, reports from explorers, maps and infographics, and more than 100 pictures will send you supernova.

For more information on the Forest of Reading, go here. 

For registration information - if you work in a school, library, community centre, after-school group, etc - you really should register!!! - here. 

Deck the Halls debuts - and is an instant bestseller!

Deck the Halls: A Canadian Christmas Carol, hit store shelves last week. And to my utter delight, it immediately hit the national bestseller list in the #12 spot for children's books!

Deck the Halls is the sequel to A Porcupine in a Pine Tree  and Dashing Through the Snow. 

What's New for 2016 Part Two #fb #kidlit #nfkids

Do you have what it takes to be a super spy? Are you smart, sneaky, stealthy? Are you a master of disguise? Can you break a code in seconds flat? Take these quizzes and find out if you’re cut out for a life of intrigue and adventure.

I wrote Top Secret: Uncover Your Inner Spy as the Girl Power companion to my earlier The Quiz Book for Spies. Even though that book is not gender specific,it is indeed aimed at ALL kids, it somehow kept getting shuffled off to the "boy" book shelves. 

So my fabulous editor at Scholastic Canada, Tamara Sztainbok, and I put our heads together and came up with Top Secret, a very feminist version of that gender-neutral book. It's got all the humor and verve that we put into Spies. So what's different? Top Secret has 100% female spy references and trivia. For example, you'll learn about real life historic spies who were women, and why most espionage agencies think gals make the best spies in the world. Goodbye, James Bond. Hello, Kim Possible.

My goal with this book is to take back the power of pink - as it is with the other girl-oriented titles in my popular quiz book series. They all celebrate what girls really are - smart, capable, funny -  without suggesting for one red second that our interests or abilities fit into a corner (and that corner is filled only with makeup and cookery aids). 

 

Like many of my colleagues and friends, I deplore the pink-and-blue aisle thinking of our contemporary marketplace. We're all working to change it. But in the meantime, we can also use it - to deliver to girls the kind of material that makes them proud to be girls. To celebrate the accomplishments of incredible women like Barbara Lauer, Nancy Wake and Virginia Hall (If you don't know who they were, you'll have to read the book!). To give girls opportunities to use their smarts to solve logic puzzles and break codes. And to develop girls' belief in themselves, and their ability to become whoever they want, even if what they want to be is (shhhh!) totally top secret.

Silly, but not inane - that's me!

I am loving this review for Let Sleeping Dogs Lie from Kirkus!

"The author perfectly captures a middle school crush that is getting just deep enough to matter but not so much so that it's troublesome to either participant. The narrative is also peppered with the same spy jargon that made the first Dirk Daring adventure such a blast. This is a very silly book, but it never crosses the line into inanity."

My entire life purpose has now been fulfilled. 

Kirkus also says, 

"With a smart balance of humor and heart, this is a winning sequel."

If doesn't get better than that, does it? 

A STAR from KIRKUS!

I am so pleased that Worms for Breakfast (Owlkids) has gotten a starred review from Kirkus.

Here's what they say:

"Monkey chow, mealworm mush, and predator popsicles, yum yum. Here's a lively introduction to the foods zoo and aquarium animals eat and some people who choose and prepare them. Becker opens her zoo cookery book with a recipe for an appetizer—platypus party mix (crayfish, earthworms, mealworms, and fly pupae, all live and wriggling—and a table of contents labeled "Menu." Each double-page spread is a chapter. There's a puzzle asking readers to match plated food with pictured animals and a spread describing a zoo kitchen. Further pages present additional surprising recipes, introductions to zoo nutritionists, and explanations of feeding methods—from formula for newborns to special treats for picky eaters—and parties, puzzles, and games mimicking feeding activities in the wild. The description of fish-feeding includes a shoutout to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's seafood guide, and the author emphasizes the conservation mission of today's zoos. Boake's humorous computer-generated illustrations look like animal photos set on animation cels. One spread features seven nocturnal animals helping themselves to midnight snacks from the refrigerator. Superimposed on the final image of humans and the primates who are our relatives are suggestions for supporting animals inside and outside captivity. With fascinating facts and a lively design, this is a surprisingly nourishing treat. (glossary, puzzle answers, index) (Informational picture book. 7-10)"

And here's what I say: Woohoo!!!

New for 2016 - Part One!

Have you got what it takes to survive?

Would you survive an attack by intergalactic microbes? What about sentient robots? Ghost cats? Or a Sharknado? In my 7th title in the popular quiz book series from Scholastic Canada, you'll get to find out the truth. See how you stack up against evil masterminds, giant scorpions, and the neighborhood bully! Rate your bravery, confidence, musclepower, and find out if you can master your own inner demons.

Reader tip: Don’t open the book without a firm grip on your security blanket. You’ll need every extra bit of bravery-boosting possible!

What's New for Fall...Part 4

Who do you think you are? What makes you tick? Are you an extrovert or an introvert? A bold, brash Leo or a live-and-let-live Libra? An Ox or a Monkey? A creative red or a mystical purple? This insightful quiz book will give you a fascinating glimpse into the secret workings of your — and your pals’ — personalities.

And you'll laugh, too.