OLA Signing/Appearance Schedule

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

This year, I'll be busy busy busy!

Thursday, Feb 2:

Scholastic booth -   11 am - signing copies of Deck the Halls  

Orca booth - 2:30 pm - signing copies of You Can Read, Dirk Daring, Secret Agent, and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Friday, Feb 3:

Forest of Reading Breakfast - 8 am

Canscaip Forest of Reading Launch - 10:30-11-30

DK Books - 12 pm - Poster signing for Our Great Prime Ministers

Hope to see you there!

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!

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. 

Get Yer Book Signed at OLA! #fb #OLASuperconference #kidlit

It's less than a week away: OLA Superconference!

I'll be signing hot-off-the-press copies of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, at the Orca Booth at 11 AM on Friday.

I'll be signing equally sizzling copies of Top Secret: Uncover Your Inner Spy at the Scholastic Canada booth directly after that, at 11:30.

Please come by and say hi!

What's New in Science Trade Books for Kids - Join Me at OLA!

If you'll be in Toronto, next Wednesday, please join Gillian O'Reilly and Jan Thornhill  and me bright and early as we present an informative and fun session (There will be giveaways!) at the OLA Superconference. 

Here are the deets:  

When: Wednesday, Jan 27 | 9:00 am - 10:30 am

Location: MTCC 206C

Days: Wednesday. Event Types: Session. Sectors: School Libraries. Subjects: Children's Resources and STEM.

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Description:

Nonfiction for children, that under-appreciated workhorse of the literary world, is currently undergoing a Renaissance. Print resources, especially in STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, are more innovative – and useful – than ever. Did you know, for example, that breaking news in science frequently appears first in children’s books? Canadian authors are at the leading edge of the trend, producing ground-breaking, award-winning books that turn fact-finding into an adventure, and stimulate critical thinking skills with first-rate scholarship. In this session, we will shine white-hot laser beams on contemporary trends, explore how to evaluate science-related children’s books and determine how to highlight them in your collection. You’ll also receive a hot-off-the-press annotated list of science-related books by Canadian authors, keyed to curricular topics. This session will be led by the bloggers at http://sci-why.blogspot.ca/  where you can find the latest news related to science issues for children in Canada. PLUS: FREE BOOK DRAW!

Learning Outcomes
Learn about game-changing contemporary trends in children’s nonfiction, especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM
Learn techniques for evaluating the new style of print nonfiction for children, especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM
Receive a detailed, comprehensive list of Canadian science books for children, keyed by curricular topic, and links to on-line resources to make selecting science resources for children faster, easier, and more reliable.

Hope to see you there!

Silver Birch Honour Award

I'm thrilled to announce that Zoobots was named a Silver Birch Honour Book at the Forest of Reading Awards ceremony last week. The program reached over 250,000 young people in schools, public libraries and at home, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, children's choice award programs in the world!

You can find the complete list of winners, as well as more information about this wonderful program here.

And the Shortlists are Out!

One of the highlights of the Canadian kidlit scene is the announcement of the OLA's Forest of Reading Awards shortlists. That was today. And it's sweeter than ever this year because Zoobots has made the Silver Birch Nonfiction Shortlist! Woo hoo Zoo!!!!!

It's an honour to be selected, and to be in such great company with such wonderful friends and colleagues like Frieda Wishinsky, Liz MacLeod, Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Hugh Brewster and Deborah Ellis, among others! I'm also holding up the fist bump for all the great folks - and stellar books -  nominated in all the other categories.

I am so looking forward to meeting kid-fans at the extra school visits the award will generate, and to meeting everyone at all the great Forest of Trees festivities throughout the year! I know how much fun it all is, since I've had the great good fortune to be nominated several times before. (Psst: I've even won a few times! Boredom Blasters and Secret Agent Y.O.U. won in 2006 and 2008; What's the Big Idea? won an Honour Award in 2011.)

Honors for Little Jack Horner !

Nice news for Little Jack this week - it has been named a BEST BET - Honorable Mention by the Ontario Library Association. AND received a Best of the Year citation in the Picture Book category from Resource Links.

Way to go, Jack!