I Want to Read All the Books: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

 Debbie Ridpath Ohi

author and illustrator

 

is launching her new picture book!

 

I Want to Read All the Books

Written and illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

978-1481416306

48 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 17 2024

 

 

 

Book launch will take place on

 

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

 

at 7 PM 

(doors open at 6:30 PM)

 

at

 

TYPE Junction

2887 Dundas Street West

Toronto, ON

Night of the Living Zed: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Join authors

  Basil Sylvester & Kevin Sylvester 

 

for the launch 

 

of their newest middle-grade collaboration

and

sequel to their Governor General Literary Award-nominated book The Fabulous Zed Watson!

HarperCollins Canada, 2021
 

 

Night of the Living Zed

Written by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester

HarperCollins Canada
978-1-4434-6920-3
256 pp.
Ages 8-12
January 2024

Review here

 

on

 

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

at

7:00 -9:00 PM

at

Another Story Bookshop
315 Roncesvalles Ave. (at Grenadier)
Toronto, ON

416-462-1104 

 

If you thought The Fabulous Zed Watson! was a fabulous mystery with lots of twists and turns, then you're going to love Night of the Living Dead as young sleuths Zed and best friend Gabe set out at Halloween to solve the mystery of Glyndebourne Manor. It's a weirdly wonderfully romp through a house filled with opera costumes and magician's props, trap doors and secrets, and ghosts and plenty of laughs.

 

Dual Book Launch: Gnomes is Where Your Heart Is & The Magic Cap (Toronto)

 

Authors Casey Lyall and Mireille Messier 

are promising

 

E-GNOME-US FUN

 

with a joint book launch for their newest books

 

 

Gnome is Where Your Heart Is

 Written by Casey Lyall
Greenwillow Books (Imprint of HarperCollins)
978-0-06-323982-1
304 pp.
Ages 8-12
May 2023 

Reviewed here

and

The Magic Cap

Written by Mireille Messier
Illustrated by Charlotte Parent
Milky Way Picture Books
978-1-990252-21-1
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
May 2023 

Reviewed here

 

 

Here's the info to get in your calendar early:

 

Date:  Sunday, July 30, 2023

 

Time: 1 PM

 

Location:  Another Story Bookshop

315 Roncesvalles Avenue

Toronto, ON

416-462-1104 

I haven't been to many launches in the past few years 

but I may just see you there. 

With two charming books, one middle-grade and one picture book, 

and a whole lot of gnomes, this may the one to get me out to celebrate great #youngCanLit.

Forest of Reading®: Festival of Trees coming soon

If it's April, then young readers are voting for their favourite books in the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading® award programs. And those votes will be tallied and awards announced at the Festival of Trees. These award ceremonies were always a big event at Toronto's Harbourfront, though over the pandemic, award ceremonies were conducted online. For the first time in several years, young readers will have the opportunity to attend in-person events which include workshops by authors and/or illustrators, get their books autographed by authors, and cheer in person when the award winners are announced. The Festival of Trees will be held from Tuesday May 16 through Thursday May 18, 2023. If you're still not convinced to attend (tickets available here), check out the full schedule of events below.

 

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023

SILVER BIRCH EXPRESS

 

AWARD CEREMONY 10:30-11:30 AM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM Eric Walters: Bear in the Family

  

12:15-12:45 PM  Shenaaz Nanji: Alina in a Pinch

 

12:45-1:15 PM Alma Fullerton: Flipping Forward Twisting Backward

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM

    Alma Fullerton: Flipping Forward Twisting Backward
    Greer Stothers: Kaleidoscope of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life: Their colors and patterns explained

    Rachel Poliquin: The Strangest Thing in the Sea: And Other Curious Creatures of the Deep

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Shenaaz Nanji: Alina in a Pinch
    Eric Walters: Bear in the Family
    Juliana Armstrong: This is What I’ve Been Told / Mii yi gaa-bi-wiindmaagooyaan

    Kallie George (tentative): Crimson Twill: Witch in the City
  

 

 

SILVER BIRCH FICTION

 

AWARD CEREMONY 12:00-1:00 PM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

10:15-10:45 AM Colleen Nelson: The Undercover Book List

10:15-10:45 AM J. Torres and David Namisato: Stealing Home

 

10:30-11:00 AM  Wesley King: Butt Sandwich & Tree

11:15-11:45 AM Catherine Egan: Sneaks

 

11:15-11:45 AM Meagan Mahoney: Meranda and the Legend of the Lake

1:15-1:45 PM David A. Robertson: The Stone Child (The Misewa Saga, Bk 3)

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

10:00-11:00 AM

    Rosena Fung: Living with Viola
    Meagan Mahoney: Meranda and the Legend of the Lake

    Catherine Egan: Sneaks

    David A. Robertson: The Stone Child (The Misewa Saga, Bk 3)

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Wesley King: Butt Sandwich & Tree

    Colleen Nelson: The Undercover Book List
    J. Torres and David Namisato: Stealing Home  

 

 

BLUE SPRUCE

 

DIGITAL AWARD CEREMONY 1:30-2:00 PM EST

 

 

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •

 

 WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023

 

RED MAPLE

 

AWARD CEREMONY 10:30-11:30 AM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM  Teresa Toten: Eight Days

12:15-12:45 PM Meaghan McIsaac: The Bear House

12:15-12:45 PM Chad Lucas: Let the Monster Out

 

12:45-1:15 PM Kevin Sands: Children of the Fox (Thieves of Shadow, Bk 1)

1:15-1:45 PM Paul Coccia and Eric Walters: On the Line

 

1:15-1:45 PM Lori Weber: The Ribbon Leaf

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM

    Kevin Sands:  Children of the Fox (Thieves of Shadow, Bk 1)
    Paul Coccia and Eric Walters: On the Line

    Lori Weber: The Ribbon Leaf

    Joanne Levy: Sorry for Your Loss

    Kathy Kacer: Under the Iron Bridge 

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Leisl Adams: Batter Royale
    Meaghan McIsaac: The Bear House

    Teresa Toten: Eight Days

    Chad Lucas: Let the Monster Out

 

WHITE PINE

AWARD CEREMONY 12:00-1:00 PM

WORKSHOPS

10:15-10:45 AM Christy Goerzen: River Mermaid

 

10:15-10:45 AM H. N. Khan: Wrong Side of the Court

 

10:30-11:00 AM Kate McLaughlin: Daughter

11:15-11:45 AM Nicola Davison: Decoding Dot Grey

 

11:15-11:45 AM Jen Ferguson: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

1:00-2:00 PM
    Kate McLaughlin: Daughter

    Nicola Davison: Decoding Dot Grey

    Christy Goerzen: River Mermaid

    Jen Ferguson: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

    Louisa Onomé: Twice as Perfect

    H. N. Khan: Wrong Side of the Court 

 

 

YELLOW CEDAR

 

Digital Award Ceremony  1:30-2:00 PM EST

 

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •

THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023

LE PRIX MÉLÈZE

 

AWARD CEREMONY 10:30-11:30 AM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM Andrée-Anne Gratton: L'enfant qui jouait du piano dans sa tête
 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM Marie-Andrée Arsenault: La Guerre des pupitres

  

12:15-12:45 PM  Patrick Blanchette: Aube du monde des rêves 01 Le réacteur onirique
 

12:15-12:45 PM Carole Tremblay: La chose dans l'étang

 

12:45-1:15 PM  Jocelyn Boisvert: La ligue des (pas si) champions
 

12:45-1:15 PM Pierre Chastenay: Une visite guidée du système solaire

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM
    Jocelyn Boisvert: La ligue des (pas si) champions
    Pierre Chastenay: Une visite guidée du système solaire

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Patrick Blanchette: Aube du monde des rêves 01 Le réacteur onirique
    Carole Tremblay: La chose dans l'étang
    Andrée-Anne Gratton: L'enfant qui jouait du piano dans sa tête
    Marie-Andrée Arsenault: La Guerre des pupitres

 

 

LE PRIX TAMARAC

 

AWARD CEREMONY 12:00-1:00 PM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

10:15-10:45 AM Annie Bacon: Chroniques post-apocalyptiques d'un garçon perdu

 

10:15-10:45 AM Dïana Bélice: L'escouade du bonheur

 

10:30-11:00 AM Isabelle Roy: Brûlé 01 Premier degré

 

10:30-11:00 AM Marie-Hélène Jarry: Les carnets de novembre

 

11:15-11:45 AM Simon Lafrance: Carnet de bord d'un (aspirant) chef de meute

 

11:15-11:45 AM Alexandre Côté-Fournier: Quincaillerie Miville

 

1:15-1:45 PM  Suzanne Aubry: Le Septième étage et demi

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

10:45-11:45 AM

    Isabelle Roy: Brûlé 01 Premier degré
    Marie-Hélène Jarry: Les carnets de novembre
    Suzanne Aubry: Le Septième étage et demi
    Paul Tom: Seuls
    Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay: La voix de la nature

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Simon Lafrance: Carnet de bord d'un (aspirant) chef de meute
    Annie Bacon: Chroniques post-apocalyptiques d'un garçon perdu
    Dïana Bélice: L'escouade du bonheur
    Alexandre Côté-Fournier: Quincaillerie Miville 

 

 

LE PRIX PEUPLIER

 

Digital Award Ceremony: 1:30-2:00 PM EST 

 

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •

         

Links to purchase tickets for these Festival of Trees (including General Admission tickets without award ceremonies but all other events) as well as those that are only available as Digital Ceremonies (Blue Spruce, Yellow Cedar and Le prix Peuplier) are available at https://forestofreading.com/festival/.

Halloween Book Launch with Kenneth Oppel and Kevin Sylvester (Toronto and streamed)

If you're fortunate to be in and around Toronto this weekend, consider this extra special book launch with two of youngCanLit's favourite authors to start off your Halloween season.

 

📙📙📙📙📙 

 

Halloween Book Launch!

 

with authors 

 

Kenneth Oppel and Kevin Sylvester

 

for 

 

Ghostlight  and  Apartment 713 

On

 

 Sunday, October 16, 2022

 

there will be an Author Talk and Book Signing

 

 

at 2 PM

 

at the

 

Revue Cinema

400 Roncesvalles Avenue

Toronto

 

 

This will be followed by a free screening of 

the movie "Monster House" at 3 PM

RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/oppelsylvesterlaunch

(The author event will also be streamed at

 https://youtu.be/5l-UKFoL0Zg  

for those who can't attend in person.)

 

📙📙📙📙📙

 

Do check out my reviews of both books to see why you'll want to attend this event!

 

 

Apartment 713

Written by Kevin Sylvester
HarperCollins
978-1-4434-6094-1
240 pp.
Ages 8-12
September 2022 

Reviewed here

and

 

Ghostlight

Written by Kenneth Oppel
Puffin Canada
978-0-7352-7233-0
400 pp.
Ages 10+
September 2022

Reviewed here

 

📙📙📙📙📙

Ghostlight

Written by Kenneth Oppel

Puffin Canada

978-0-7352-7233-0

400 pp.

Ages 10+

September 2022

With Halloween almost upon us, how about a new middle grade novel about a trio of teens trying to help a ghost from the 1800s fight an evil one and save her father? Want some fantasy? How about some horror? Action-adventure? Ghostlight has it all. (Even a little romance.)

Sixteen-year-old Gabe is working the summer at Toronto Islands giving the island ghost tour while his best friend Yuri, a mechanical whiz, works maintenance for the rides at the amusement park. Part of Gabe's tour is the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse whose original keeper, William Strand, and daughter Rebecca met their unexplained and tragic ends in 1839. After Gabe unintentionally makes a connection with the ghost of Rebecca Strand in the off-limits lamp room of the lighthouse, enabling him to see and hear her, she tells him that she and her father were murdered by the ghost Nicholas Viker who devoured others to make himself more powerful. Rebecca's father, one of his victims, had been part of the Order of Keepers who protected harbours, cities and coastlines from ghosts by using powerful amber lights called ghostlights to strengthen a lamp's beam and zap ghosts.

We stand guard over the night, to protect the living from the wakeful and wicked dead. (pg. 12)

Enlisting the help of Yuri and a new acquaintance, Callie Ferreira, a teen who works at the CN Tower but also writes a ghost blog, Gabe and burgeoning-techie Rebecca follow ghosts and history to locate the ghostlight and thwart the diabolical Nicholas Viker–"His rage was boundless. His dream denied. His envy unvented." (pg. 109)–who wants the amber crystal for his own nefarious use. It's a race across time and space to find that ghostlight, fight evil spirits, ally themselves with those who do good, and reunite Rebecca with her father, while Gabe also comes to terms with the death of his own father after he'd abandoned the family. Whether they can make things right for Rebecca and her father, the other ghosts, the city of Toronto, and themselves is the story of Ghostlight and it's a doozy. 

 

Kenneth Oppel will always give us a grand story, often taking realistic fiction into the realms of fantasy but with such subtlety that the reader will always wonder: Could this really have happened? Whether it's bats or alien invasions, a sasquatch or a live-forever machine, Kenneth Oppel makes us believe. Often, he does this by embedding a strong historical basis for his story, as he does in Ghostlight, taking us to legitimate Toronto locations like the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, the Grange, the CN Tower and the Fisher Rare Book Library at U of T, and including real persons as characters such as George Brown and William Ward. And Ghostlight makes us believe in the spirits that are still of our world, whether looking for release to a better place or to create havoc for the living. 

 

Whether you read Ghostlight for Halloween or save it for another time, Kenneth Oppel will give you the creepiness of a great ghost story but also remind readers of the pervasiveness of history, good and bad, and the promise of overcoming evil through partnerships. And that's as brilliant as any ghostlight.

From Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel

• • • • • • •

Check out the following post for news of an author event with Kenneth Oppel this weekend.

Eight Days

Written by Teresa Toten

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9002-2

312 pp.

Ages 10-14

January 2022

A lot can happen in eight days. Death, love, journeys and change. And, like it or not, it is what it is.

At almost 14, Sami Stanic has lived through a lot. Since she was three, she has lived with her grandfather Carl in the White Towers apartment building at Thorncliffe Park in Toronto. Carl is a recovering alcoholic, having stopped drinking when he brought Sami to live with him, and Sami is determined to keep it that way. She works at ensuring he stays sober by attending AA meetings with him and by keeping herself apprised of all the programs and readings, and she is determined to prove herself useful. In her own way, she does not want to be abandoned again. But, without knowing it, Sami has become part of the community, regardless of Carl's intolerance to the diverse community that is the Towers now. Her best friends are Nilofer and Tarek (also her crush) and there are lots of people watching out for her, though she doesn't realize it. So when she learns that her mother has died, a woman she'd always thought of as gone already, Sami is both perplexed and ashamed.

 

Within days, Sami, Carl and their neighbour Aggie are heading to Chicago in Carl's '77 Olds, affectionately known as Sophie, to deal with Shannon's funeral arrangements. But the journey becomes an opportunity for truths to finally emerge about all their stories: Sami's first few years, Shannon's issues, and Carl's despair. And their return to Canada may just be a new pilgrimage for all.

Teresa Toten may be better known for her extraordinary young adult novels (e.g., Beware That Girl, Shattered Glass, and The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B) but her voice shines just as brightly in this middle-grade novel. Perhaps it's because Teresa Toten has still focused her story on the foundation of most children's lives: their relationships. For Sami, it's her many relationships that drive her. Her relationships with Carl, with Nilofer, with Tarek, with Aggie, with her mother, and with so many in her community offer some security and comfort, but also some worry and angst, while often leaving her questioning her memories and her feelings.

I'd been whiplashed by every possible human emotion in the past few hours. I liked me better before. Clamped down, in charge. (pg. 253)

Teresa Toten makes sure that Sami's journey does not start and stop with a road trip. It becomes one of self-discovery and tenacity in which Sami sees and hears more from those around her and allows herself to be more. As alone as she may feel, living with a dry alcoholic who could relapse at any time, Sami learns she's part of a big community and one so diverse in its cultures that there is more than enough offering to be the family she needs.

Eight Days may have a road trip story line at its core but the journey is more one of life. But, as with any journey, where you come from is just one part. Where you're heading and where you end up are just as meaningful.

The Good Fight

Written by Ted Staunton

Illustrated by Josh Rosen

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-6383-5

224 pp.

Ages 10-13

June 2021 

The 1930s were a difficult time. It was the Great Depression, Nazism was growing in Germany and elsewhere, and people were looking to blame others for their hardships. With antisemitism on the rise and prejudice against immigrants a perennial vocation for many, the city of Toronto was primed for a fiasco in the heat of the summer of 1933. It got one.

From The Good Fight by Ted Staunton, illus. by Josh Rosen

Sid Klein and his friend Plug Venditelli have been recruited by Tommy Ryan to be part of his whiz mob, a pickpocket gang. Tommy, who'd been taught by his uncle, would chose their mark and steal from him while Plug, as the stall man, distracted him, before Tommy passed the money on to Sid, the duke man. Though he was full of bravado about his Irish heritage, Tommy was actually Tadeusz Lepofsky and scoffed at Sid and Plug whose heritages–Jewish and Italian– might mark them on the streets of Toronto. Still, with the desperate times, the boys are willing to do what they could to provide extra coins for their families, including selling newspapers, running errands, collecting cockroaches, or stealing.

From The Good Fight by Ted Staunton, illus. by Josh Rosen

But when Sid pockets a swastika pin and learns more about efforts by the Swastika Club and local Nazi sympathizers to stop Jews from using the boardwalk on Balmy Beach, Sid is warned to watch himself. Still Christie Pits, a popular place to watch the city's ball teams play, including the championship games between the Harbord Playground and St. Peter's Church teams, is too inviting to avoid as a location to pick a pocket or two. When the trio of boys is picked up and threatened with jail unless they help the Red Squad–police tasked with putting away union agitators, anarchists and communists whom they believe are all immigrants and Jews–Sid and Plug find themselves caught up in trying to save themselves and protect their families on the night of the infamous Christie Pits riot of August 16, 1933.

From The Good Fight by Ted Staunton, illus. by Josh Rosen

Ted Staunton has penned a number of picture books, early readers, and middle grade and young adult novels including those as part of The Almost Epic Squad and Seven series, but I believe this is his first venture into historical fiction. Still, with his familial connection–his grandfather was the mayor of Toronto at the time of the Christie Pits riot–he ably links a story of the past to issues of prejudice and discrimination and helps us see how those injustices have been perpetrated. From the vile name-calling, violent skirmishes and exclusionary tactics, Toronto was not unconditionally welcoming to all its communities and not the mosaic it was purported to be. And during the Depression, desperation fuelled those prejudices, sparking abominable behaviour and attitudes throughout. But communities like Sid and Plug's overcame and even thrived, making opportunities for themselves, as the epilogue to the main story shares. 

 

By focusing on Sid's story with Plug and their families, Ted Staunton gives us multiple perspectives: that of children, those of immigrant families, and those struggling financially. And, of course, those targeted by hatred. The Good Fight tells us how they felt, how they managed, how they fought. Illustrated by Toronto's Josh Rosen, the story is gritty and distressing, and I suspect young readers will be hopeful that Sid and Plug don't go to jail, that their families aren't thrown out on the streets, that their Jewish and Italian friends will not be attacked, and that those responsible for the Christie Pits riot are brought to justice. From newspaper stories, accurate depictions of the clothing and speech of the day, and social conditions, The Good Fight gives parents and teachers a wonderful opportunity to talk about the past and the need to ensure atrocities such as the Christie Pits riot aren't repeated.

For a time, Toronto was known as Toronto the Good but, like anything, Toronto is neither all good nor all bad. It has moments in history of which is should be immensely proud and others, like the Christie Pits riot, which are a stain on the city's reputation. Making it right begins with telling those stories so that learning might happen and social justice prevail.

When You Get the Chance

Written by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson

Running Press Teens

978-0-7624-9500-9

272 pp.

Ages 12+

May 2021
(n.b. The original release date was May 2020 but I have been informed by author Robin Stevenson that the date has been changed to May 2021)

Teens Talia and Mark may think that their destiny is to attend Toronto Pride when they and their families visit Ontario for a funeral but, though they get there, their stories in When You Get the Chance are all about the journey.

When Talia and her dad Gary come from Victoria and meet up with his sister Janet and two kids, Mark and 10-year-old Paige, who live in Halifax, the atmosphere is cool. Though Gary and Janet are attending their father's funeral and trying to help their mother through the loss, their long-term estrangement causes great friction, especially about the family cottage in Muskoka which Gary thinks should be sold and Janet hopes to visit with her kids. Grandma insists they all go up there together and spend a week before a decision will be made.

But, when Grandma has a fall and the adults rush back to Toronto, leaving the kids to fend for themselves–grant you, Talia and Mark are in their late teens–the summer becomes a whole lot more interesting. Paige is determined to discover what lead to her mom's estrangement from her brother so, while she and Talia clean and sort, she speculates and puts clues together. Mark, on the other hand, is smitten with local boy Darren who has come around to help fix a 1970 Ford Mustang discovered in a shed. Mark, unfortunately, is all about Mark and, after he learns what Darren is really like, he decides to head to Toronto for Pride. Talia, whose partner Erin had recently moved to Toronto, is desperate to see them (Erin is non-binary and uses they/them/their pronouns), insists Mark take his cousin and, of course, Paige must come along too.

However, when the old Mustang breaks down, their trip looks like it's ended early. But, after meeting diner owner Shirley Jr. and her mechanic partner Babs who offer to take the kids to Toronto themselves, it's a new journey for Mark and Talia in resolving past relationships, meeting new people, experiencing their first Toronto Pride, and discovering who they are and what they need.

For anyone who doesn't know where they fit in, When You Get the Chance provides the promise that somewhere there is such a place for all. While Mark is confident in being out as gay, Talia has come from a small community where she and partner Erin depended on each other for support. But when Erin leaves for the big city and finds a new community, Talia has to balance what she needed then with what she wants now. Fortunately, with much soul-searching and some heartbreak, Talia finds her way.

These are my people, this is my community. I may not know how I identify or whatever, but I'm pretty sure that whatever I am, there's a place for me under this great big queer rainbow. (pg. 177)

Writers Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson have given us a road trip story with a twist in When You Get the Chance. By writing in the alternate voices of Mark and Talia who are from different coasts and have different experiences with their sexuality, Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson present distinct and valid perspectives on being gay or queer or however a young person may identify. By including a myriad of communities from young and old, to gay, straight, non-binary and even polyamorous, they have demonstrated that everyone belongs and sometimes all it takes is one chance and a trip in a vintage yellow Mustang to find one's self, one's voice and community.

Canadian KidLit Gala: 2019 (Toronto, ON)

Writers! Illustrators!

Lovers of youngCanLit!

On October 15, 2019, the second Canadian KidLit Gala will be held as the *unofficial* after-party of the Canadian Children's Literature Awards. The brain child of authors Ishta Mercurio, Kari Maaren, Star Spider and Claudia Osmond, the Canadian KidLit Gala will celebrate the winners and nominees of the 2019 Canadian Children's Book Awards and all creators of Canadian children's books. It will be a great opportunity to celebrate, schmooze, imbibe, and share with writers and illustrators of youngCanLit.

This volunteer-run event will be fundraising for the Canadian Children's Book Centre to support the Children's Book Week, an annual event that allows dozens of Canadian children's authors and illustrators to visit and present to thousands of Canadian kids across the country.

The event will include the music of The Intentions, canapés, a live auction and raffle (with everything from book bundles to critiques to original art), drinks and dancing.
​

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Here's the scoop on the event and how you can attend:

Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Time: 7 p.m. to midnight

7 p.m.: Doors open

8 p.m.: Performance by The Intentions

9:30 p.m.: Recognition of winners and nominees

9:45 p.m.: Live Auction and Raffle winners announced

Location:  Lula Lounge

1585 Dundas West

Toronto, Ontario

M6K 1T9

Tickets:  $45 ($55 at the door) 
(includes free coat check, canapés, one drink ticket) 

Full details are available at the website at https://www.cankidlitgala.ca/ 
Tickets here

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Come and join creators and readers of youngCanLit

 at the

Canadian KidLit Gala

and

help celebrate the writing and art achievements of creators of Canadian children's books.

A Likkle Miss Lou: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Join children's author 

Nadia L. Hohn

for the launch of her newest picture book

A Likkle Miss Lou

How Jamaican Poet 

Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice

Written by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-350-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2019

on

Saturday, September 14, 2019

3-5 p.m.

at

A Different Booklist

779 Bathurst St.

Toronto, ON

There will be a reading, book signing and refreshments.

•••••••••••

From publisher Owlkids Books website at https://shop.owlkids.com/collections/new/products/a-likkle-miss-lou

Jamaican poet and entertainer Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as “Miss Lou,” played an instrumental role in popularizing Jamaican patois internationally. Through her art, Miss Lou helped pave the way for other poets and singers, like Bob Marley, to use patois in their work.

This picture book biography tells the story of Miss Lou’s early years, when she was a young girl who loved poetry but felt caught between writing “lines of words like tight cornrows” or words that beat “in time with her heart.” Despite criticism from one teacher, Louise finds a way to weave the influence of the music, voices, and rhythms of her surroundings into her poems.

A vibrant, colorful, and immersive look at an important figure in Jamaica’s cultural history, this is also a universal story of a child finding and trusting her own voice. End matter includes a glossary of Jamaican patois terms, a note about the author’s “own voice” perspective, and a brief biography of Miss Lou and her connection to Canada, where she spent 20 years of her life.  

The Starlight Claim: Book launches (Perth, Toronto, Ottawa and Kingston, ON)

It's not a sequel but it shares commonalities with

Tim Wynne-Jones's
Governor General award-winning novel

The Maestro

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
 Groundwood
231 pp.
Ages 11+
1995

and it is launching this fall.

Join author Tim Wynne-Jones

for multiple launches of his new #YA psychological thriller

The Starlight Claim

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-1-5362-0264-9

240 pp.

Ages 13+

September 2019

on

Sunday, September 15, 2019
1-3 p.m.

The Book Nook and Other Treasures
60 Gore Street East
Perth, ON

•••

Monday, September 16, 2019

 6 -8 p.m.

Ben McNally Books
366 Bay Street

Toronto, Ontario

•••

Thursday, September 19, 2019
7-9 p.m.

Books on Beechwood
35 Beechwood Avenue
Ottawa, ON

•••

Thursday, October 3, 2019 
7-9 p.m.

Novel Idea Bookstore
156 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario

Fast-paced, evocative, and intensely suspenseful, Tim Wynne-Jones’s latest psychological thriller finds a teenager setting his wits against the frigid wilderness and a menacing crew of escapees.

Four months after his best friend, Dodge, disappeared near their families’ camp in a boat accident, Nate is still haunted by nightmares. He’d been planning to make the treacherous trek to the remote campsite with a friend — his first time in winter without his survival-savvy father. But when his friend gets grounded, Nate secretly decides to brave the trip solo in a journey that’s half pilgrimage, half desperate hope he will find his missing friend when no one else could. What he doesn’t expect to find is the door to the cabin flung open and the camp occupied by strangers: three men he’s horrified to realize have escaped from a maximum-security prison. Snowed in by a blizzard and with no cell signal, Nate is confronted with troubling memories of Dodge and a stunning family secret, and realizes that his survival now depends on his wits as much as his wilderness skills. As things spiral out of control, Nate finds himself dealing with questions even bigger than who gets to leave the camp alive. 

Retrieved from https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/611957/the-starlight-claim-by-tim-wynne-jones/9781536202649 on July 15, 2019.

The Magpie's Library: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

I loved her sci-fi YA

Transferral (DCB, 2015)

and

Tangled Planet (DCB, 2017)

and now

author KATE BLAIR

is set to launch 

her middle-grade fantasy

The Magpie's Library

Written by Kate Blair

DCB

9781770865549

208 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2019

on

Thursday, May 23, 2019

6:30 p.m.

at

Bakka-Phoenix
84 Harbord Street
Toronto, ON

From DCB's website at https://www.dcbyoungreaders.com/the-magpies-library:

Silva and her family visit her grandfather, only to find his health has taken a bad turn. As they struggle with this news, Silva seeks escape in books – at the local library.

But she gets more than she bargained for when a magpie guides her to a secret, magical room containing books that she can not only read, but that she can live. Silva finds herself in the worlds of the characters … who all turn out to be real people. People she knows.

There’s a catch, though: she soon discovers that the magpie has lured her to these books for selfish and dark reasons. Going back to the books could mean losing her soul …

Moon Wishes: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Join

authors

Patricia and Guy Storms

and

illustrator

Milan Pavlović

in celebrating the launch of 

Moon Wishes

Written by Guy and Patricia Storms
Illustrated by Milan Pavlović
Groundwood Books
978-1-77306-076-7
40 pp.
Ages 4-7
March 2019
Reviewed here

on

Sunday, March 10, 2019

10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

at

TYPE Books Junction

2887 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON

416-761-9973


This free event for all ages
promises

cookies, music and fun!