Coming soon to a bookshelf near you!!

My latest picture book, You Can Read, will be published by Orca later this month. You can preorder it now at your fave indy bookstore (I'm partial to The Bookkeeper, Mable's Fables, Blue Heron Books and Ella Minnow, among others). It celebrates both literacy and life, and is a very funny. ;)

I'll be signing copies at the Ontario Library Association Superconference at the Orca Booth on Thursday, Feb 2. Come by, say hi, and get a book!

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.

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.

What Are Friends For? A Meditation. Ok, Not Really.

Because it's summer, a lot of us are reading light, fun books. Some of us actually enjoy light, fun books year round. And if you're a kid who happens to be a girl, and has a BFF, what could be better than reading a fun book with her?

Just in time for summer fun - or back to school (AGH I KNOW I SAID IT!!!! WHAT A DORK!!!!), Scholastic Canada has published the third book in my Quiz Book series just for us gals.

Here are some deets about it:

Are you and your BFF still meant to be? Take these quizzes and find out!

• Are you twins separated at birth?
• What sports star is she?
• Is she a princess, a peasant or a jester?
• Are you destined to remain friends?

Whether you want to make sure you've still got what it takes to be a great best friend, or have a new BFF, or need more questions for your best-ever sleepover, The Quiz Book for BFFs 2 is another fun way to celebrate your friendship and get to know each other even better!

Raves & reviews:

Praise for The Quiz Book for BFFs:

"The 31 quizzes in The Quiz Book for BFFs will have girlfriends talking and laughing... the combination of silly and serious questions would make this an entertaining book to bring along for a sleepover." —Canadian Review of Materials

You can also check out an excerpt here.

Previous books in the series are The Quiz Book for BFFs and  

The Quiz Book for Girls.

Two New Quiz Books - Sneak Preview!

I just got the covers for the two latest titles in my Quiz Book series from Scholastic Canada. They are so cute! Tell me what you think!

Short Chapters, Perfect Pacing and Lots of Action...

I was so delighted to return from Fireworks School (more on THAT in a later post) to find the Canadian Children's Book Centre's BookNews in my mailbox, with a review of Trouble in the Hills in it. I was even more delighted by the review. It says, in part:

"Filled with non-stop action, the story moves at breakneck speed as Cam faces numereous perilous situations...Short chapters, perfect pacing and lots of action make Helaine Becker's debut YA novel a perfect choice for reluctant boy readers, and once they pick it up, they'll find it impossible to put down until the end."

Thanks CCBC!

How to Get Kids to Read -It's Easy!

As a follow up to yesterday's post, I thought I'd present the single best way to get kids to read. It's so easy it's mindboggling.

Let them pick their own books.

I know it's hard for control-freaky parents to let go of the reins, even a little. And reading-level controlled teachers with nervous administrators and mandatory borrow-a-book programs might even break into a cold sweat at the thought. But when kids pick their own books, voila! They find stuff they like. And then, double voila! They want to keep reading.

It's shocking, I know but true, the books you loved when you were a kid might just not thrill your progeny. My kids can't stand any of the carefully curated collection I built for them from my own childhood faves.

And books that they should read, because they are worthy? Can you say 'kiss o' death?' No devoted reader was ever birthed from a forced encounter with The Stone Angel.

What if they choose books that are above their reading level? Won't that hurt their confidence? Perhaps, but that's just as it should be. Junior may learn that he doesn't exactly know everything yet, and the world doesn't shine out of his ass. The world will thank you for this. Besides, if the book is really interesting (and maybe even has dirty pictures), well, the motivation to improve one's reading skills is right there, and the means to develop them right at hand. Literacy 101 and Citizenship 101 at one easy go.

If you must must must feel compelled to choose books for your kids, at least pick books that kids are known to like. The good folks over at Sympatico have put together a short list of their top ten kid-tested and kid-worthy reads. I'm pleased to see my own Hilarious History of Hockey made this list (but of course it would- it has pucks made out of frozen cow poo in it, and you can't get more kid-friendly than that).

So buy em all, and leave all ten top titles scattered around for your kids to find. They'll be reading like fiends before you know it.

Storywalk for Juba? #fb #kidlit

Portland, Maine, is the home of a wonderful project called Storywalk. Text from a picture book is spread out on several signposts along a park's path. Families walk the path, read the story, and do accompanying actions tied to the book and to the location. The idea is to get kids reading and exercising, all at once!

Here's a photo of the Portland Storywalk, featuring the book, "And Here's to You!" by David Elliott (Candlewick Press) (photo courtesy Bangor Daily News)

When I returned from holiday, I got the good news that Bridgetown, Nova Scotia's public library is considering installing a similar storywalk in that town - featuring Juba This, Juba That! It does seem to be a perfect match up, both because the book reflects the historic roots of the city, and the because of the active nature of the story itself, which would be an ideal read-and-do adventure.

So thrilling to think about!!!

It's not a done deal yet, so keep your fingers crossed!