So Cute! New Cover Just Arrived!

I was thrilled to receive this pic in my inbox last night from illustrator Ron Lightburn. It's the cover for our new picture book, Juba This, Juba That, which will be published by Tundra Books this fall.

Isn't it adorable????

The book is based on a traditional work chant sung by slaves in the American South. I learned the "song" when visiting Monticello, the home of U.S. founding dad Thomas Jefferson. The costumed staff we met there were doing all the jobs that were done on the original estate, including grinding corn. The chant was being sung as part of that  job.

I never was able to get the catchy rhythm of the Juba chant out of my head. What a wonderful book it would make, I thought! So I put my thinking cap on, did some research, and re-wrote the chant to make a simple story that's fun to read and fun to hear. I also made sure to include some key preschool learning opps - my background is in the education world, after all. The story focuses on opposites like up and down, near and far, high and low.

I haven't seen the rest of the art for the book yet, by judging by the cover, it will be whimsical and beautiful and evocative. Can't wait!!!!

CBA Libris Book Awards Shortlist Announced

How thrilling! A Porcupine in a Pine Tree has been nominated for the Illustrated Children's Book of The Year by the Canadian Booksellers Association!

Here's the complete list of nominations.I'm delighted to see friends in almost every category!!!

Canadian Booksellers Association


CBA Libris Awards 2011 Shortlist

AUTHOR

Emma Donoghue

Kathleen Winter

Johanna Skibsrud

FICTION

Annabel by Kathleen Winter (House of Anansi)

Room by Emma Donoghue (HarperCollins)

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud (Douglas & McIntyre and Gaspereau Press)

NON-FICTION

Harperland by Lawrence Martin (Penguin)

The Tiger by John Vaillant (Knopf Canada)

Changing My Mind by Margaret Trudeau (HarperCollins)

Mordechai Richler by Charles Foran (Knopf Canada)

BOOKSELLER

The Book Keeper (Sarnia, ON)

Westminster Books (Fredericton, NB)

Blue Heron Books (Uxbridge, ON)

SPECIALTY

Vancouver Kids (Vancouver, BC)

The Flying Dragon Bookshop (Toronto, ON)

Sleuth of Baker Street (Toronto, ON)

CAMPUS

University of Toronto

University of Calgary

McGill University

YOUNG READER

Pluto’s Ghost by Sheree Fitch (Random)

Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger (Penguin)

Words That Start with B by Vikki VanSickle (Scholastic)

EDITOR

Sandy Bogart Johnston, Scholastic

Iris Tulpholme, HarperCollins

Adrienne Kerr, Penguin

SALES REP

Liza Hageraats, Canadian Manda Group

Debbie Brown, Kate Walker & Company

Genevieve Laughlin, Hornblower

Lynn Reeder, Random House of Canada

PICTURE BOOKS

Mabel Murple by Sheree Fitch, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Nimbus)

Giraffe and Bird by Rebecca Bender (Dancing Cat Books/Cormorant)

A Porcupine in a Pine Tree by Helaine Becker & Werner Zimmermann (Scholastic)

DISTRIBUTOR

North 49 Books

Penguin Group Canada

HarperCollins

SMALL PRESS

Coach House Books

Cormorant Books

Gaspereau Press

PUBLISHER

House of Anansi Press

Penguin Group Canada

HarperCollins

Douglas & McIntyre and Gaspereau Press

Sci/Why? Why Not, I Ask You.

Those of you who love books, kids and/or science (that's er, everyone, I think?) will love love LOVE the new group blog site Sci/Why. It's just getting up and running now, so bookmark it, subscribe and wait to be entertained, educated and delighted.

A circle of like-minded science writers based in Canada  - and yes, I'm one of them - has decided to create this site to bring together some of the awesome news and views we've collected as part of our work. There was just too much cool stuff to keep to ourselves, or to fit into our books, or to hog in our own personal blogs. So now you will have one handy-dandy site to get all kinds of neat info about bugs or extraterrestrials, as well as tips on how to engage kids in science activity and critical thinking.

I can't wait to read my colleagues' posts. I am already eagerly planning mine - so much to say! So little time!

Check it out!

Sci/Why Blog

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.

The Cow Fart-O-Meter - A Most Excellent Canadian Invention

When I present in schools on science topics, my most popular "bit" is derived from an experiment described in my book, Science in the Loose.

The experiment, conducted by a team of snorfing, giggling Aussies, sought to determine who farts more, boys or girls.

During my presentations, I work with kids to develop an experiment of our own that would get good, accurate results for this problem. Along the way, we usually determine we need to find or build some kind of machine, a "fart-o-meter," that we could use to measure the volume of gas produced by each of our subjects.

So imagine my delight when I came across a news story this morning announcing that a team of Canadians have devised such a machine - expressly for cows! They did so in conjunction with the planet's foremost fart experts, yes, a team of scientists from Australia. The measuring device involves shooting laser beams from above onto a bunch of grazing cattle. The data collected can be analyzed to account for variables such as, ahem, wind.

My only disappointment was in learning that most of cows' gas is emitted via the bovine burp. Only 2% comes out frow the cow-boose. So if you want to be nit-picky about it, the Cow Fart-O-Meter, alas, should really be called a Burp-O-Meter.

Even so, I think the Canadian-Australian collaboration is something to be celebrated. So let one rip and say hip hip hooray for the folks who think farting - and burping - are worthy of scientific research.


To read the full article in the Ottawa Citizen, click here.

Welland County Kids' Library Card Drive - Get Yours Today!

I had a lovely piece of news this past week. Next month, the Welland County Public Library System here in Ontario will be doing a promotion to encourage kids to get their own library cards. They'll be hosting classes in the library wherever possible, or going directly into the schools to highlight what the library offers. As part of the program, they are going to be giving out 600 copies of books from my Looney Bay All-Stars series as a way to encourage kids to sign up for a card.

This tickled me pink, I can tell you. I was an avid library user in my youth, and still remember that glorious day when I got my own first card. I read voraciously as a child, and would never have been able to feed my habit without the books from the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library. It was that library - and the school libraries too - that made me a writer.

I'm still a big library user, and a huge fan of the Toronto Public Library. I'm there at least three times a week - I think they should give me my own parking spot out back. ;)

So naturally, I'm delighted to be part of a project that will encourage kids to explore and use the library.

I'll be looking forward to finding out how the promo-blitz goes. I've also discussed with the Welland folks about doing some kind of author visit - in person or via Skype - to support their initiative.

And for anyone reading this, if you know a child who does not have a library card, plan an outing with her or him to get one. You'll both have fun and you'll be planting a seed that will grow, and grow and grow.....

Getting in a Right Snit over Kid Lit

If you are not directly involved in the world of children's literature, you might have missed the kidlit tidbit that has us writers all in a kerfuffle. Wannabe literary icon Martin Amis - what? you haven't heard of him? [snorf]  - gave an interview to the Guardian last week in which he said the only way he'd lower himself to write for children was if he had a "brain injury."

Needless to say, we kidlitters got our shortpants in a twist. But leave it to fabulous author and illustrator Patricia Storms to come up with the pitch-perfect response. She drew up some hilarious cartoons of Marty goin' native, kidlit style.

With Patricia Storms' permission, I am reposting her brill blogpost in its delightful entirety below. Thanks, Trish!

It's no surprise that Stormsy's wit and wisdom got traction, not only here in Canada, but all across the litosphere. Yesterday, the London Evening Standard picked up the story. Their wry observation? "her Amis as the Grinch may be a bit too close to the mark ..."

I've suggested to Stormsy that her next step should be to invite Marty to tea. Challenge him to match wits with her one and one. He'd be toast.

If she does, I'm hoping she will invite her oh-so-clever-but--still-perfectly-nice writer friends (both qualities ARE possible at once, Marty, really) to join the party. Whatever would I wear, though? The Paddington outfit? Or maybe something blingy, like Fancy Nancy. Or an Olivia tutu?

No! No! I got it! I'll come dressed as Harold, with nuthin' but my purple crayon....

Here's Patricia Storms' blogpost. Read and follow her regularly at http://storms.typepad.com/booklust/.




Only a Brain Injury Could Make Me Draw Martin Amis



Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration. I mean, I don't think I have a brain injury, and look what I've gone and done – drawn a whack of cartoons of this silly man. Never mind that I also draw and write for kids. Yikes – I must have a brain injury!






For those not in the know, Martin Amis recently made some silly comments on a BBC book programme called Falks on Fiction. In a nutshell, here's what Amis said that's got some folks cheesed off:






People ask me if I ever thought of writing a children's book. I say, 'If I had a serious brain injury I might well write a children's book', but otherwise the idea of being conscious of who you're directing the story to is anathema to me, because, in my view, fiction is freedom and any restraints on that are intolerable. I would never write about someone that forced me to write at a lower register than what I can write.






I can see why folks in the kidlit world would be offended by this, but really, this isn't the first time Amis has spouted such idiocy, and it certainly won't be the last. That's what this lad is known for. He says something stupid, and then people pay attention to him. We should all just ignore this wanker and move on to more important stuff. Unless, of course, Amis' utter wankerness inspires some creative fun. So it got me thinking: Perhaps Mr. Amis just needs to 'get into' some classic kidlit characters in order to truly appreciate the beauty of children's literature:














Hmmm...The Cat in the Hat, perhaps?













No, I think Amis is more Grinch than Cat in the Hat.













I bet deep down inside, Martin Amis has always wanted to dress up like Madeline...









You can never go wrong when you go Moomin, Martin.









Would you let this Pigeon drive the bus?









I wonder if Amis has ever felt like a Wimpy Kid...













If only Amis was as Curious as George, then he'd make the effort to understand the fine art of creating children's literature.









If you found this Bear at the Paddington Station, would you take him home with you?









We all know Amis was a Wild Thing in his youth, but these days? Meh.









I think Mr. Amis needs to take some lessons from the sweet and lovely Lola of Charlie and Lola fame.













Would Amis have to be Mad as a Hatter to want to write for children?









Meh. Enough of this silliness. Tip your hat to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and let's call it a day.





My sincere apologies to all the authors and illustrators who took part in my silly fun – it's only because I love your work so much that I chose you as part of my spoof.






February 13, 2011 in Cartoons and Comic Art, Humour, Writers and Writing
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