Last Words

Written by Leanne Baugh

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-576-9

320 pp.

Ages 13+

2019

"I'm sorry" are the last words that Will Szabo speaks to a stranger on the Lion's Gate Bridge before he jumps to his death, but they are the beginning of a new chapter in sixteen-year-old Claire Winters's life as she struggles to understand his suicide.

Just before he jumped, Will hands Claire his cell phone–complete with passcode taped to the back–and this becomes the focus for Claire's probe into his death. She discovers a suicide note, emails, voice mail, text messages and more that help her reconstruct his life. But learning about the young man just leads her to question the way of the world and what hope there is. In fact, Claire's own life begins to unravel as she delves deeper, causing riffs with her boyfriend Ty, friends Izzy and Declan, and straining her relationships with her parents and older sister Belle who is moving to a group home–Belle has Down Syndrome–while also impacting her passion for painting. She speaks to different people, trying to get advice as to how to proceed, including from Paul, the executive director of a hospice, who suggests that

"Sometimes the best way to get to the other side is to go right through the pain, yelling, kicking, and screaming like a crazed fool." (pg. 173)

Then Claire meets Kiki, a teen with cancer, who sees life as a gift and a challenge that she will not deny and Claire begins to wonder who got it right.

It's not unusual for young people to look at the world and see the good and the bad as extremes. Except for a person like Kiki who is on the cusp of losing her life, many become distressed by break-ups and environmental disasters and changes that compel them to take a different perspective from the one with which they've become comfortable. They're not wrong to be distressed but they might not always see the circumstances in the realm of a big picture that might suggest these situations are not worth ending a life.

"...if there's meaning in life, there also has to be meaning in suffering. They go hand in hand." (pg. 241)

Leanne Baugh does not take sides. She doesn't make Claire seem over-the-top in her pursuit of Will's story or a victim of wrong-place-wrong-time circumstances, though it was unfortunate that Claire had to witness something so shocking. Leanne Baugh could have made Kiki into a saint who fights her illness with valour and perseverance but she doesn't. And she certainly doesn't depict Will as a victim or a young man in control of his own life. The paths for these characters, as are our own, are never set in stone and suggesting otherwise would be unfair. Ultimately, Leanne Baugh twists her plot to enable Claire to see her life and those of Will and Kiki from a different perspective, for good or bad, and recognize that, as Emily Dickinson is quoted, "Hope is the thing with feathers."

The Three Spartans: Book launch (Vancouver, BC)

New publisher Crwth Press

is launching its newest middle-grade novel

praised by

 youngCanLit authors

 Eric Walters as
"A great read! You’ll feel like you’re with them in the battle. Go Spartans Go!"

and

 Arthur Slade as
"This is a smart, funny story that cleverly sneaks in a history lesson. The action scenes are epic and the characters really shine."

The Three Spartans

Written by James McCann

Crwth Press

978-1-7753515-4-2

160 pp.

Ages 9-12

October 2019

It launches on

Thursday, November 7, 2019

7 p.m.

at

Kidsbooks

2557 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC

From the publisher's website at https://www.crwth.ca/thethreespartans/:

Twelve-year-old Arthur loves his summers in Birch Bay, a quirky seaside village where he spends all of his time with his best friend Lea. They play video games together, hang out at the beach and explore on their bikes.

This year is different, though. First, Arthur learns it will be Lea’s last summer in Birch Bay. Then their freedom is threatened by the Immortals, the swim team who torments all the local kids.

Lea and Arthur decide to take a stand. Using their video-game network, they gather a small army of kids who’ve had enough of the Immortals.

Armed with paintball guns and shields made of garbage can lids, the Spartan army takes on the Immortals. Their goal is control of a treehouse, but the prize is knowing they stood up for themselves.

A humorous retelling of the Greek battle of Thermopylae, The Three Spartans is a story of friendship and belonging and of standing up for what’s right—even when the odds are against you.

Paseka: A Little Elephant, Brave : Book launches (BC)

Join 

author Ruth James 

and 

illustrator Kent Laforme 
(Studiostone Creative)

for multiple events to launch

their picture book

 Paseka: A Little Elephant, Brave

Written by Ruth James

Illustrated by Kent Laforme

Page Two Books

978-1-989025-42-0

32 pp.

Ages 5+

May 2019
Reviewed here

Thursday, May 2, 2019
 7 p.m.
Kidsbooks
2557 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Monday, May 6, 2019
10:30 a.m. 
Salt Spring Island Public Library
129 McPhillips Avenue
Salt Spring Island, BC
(n.b. illustrator Kent Laforme will not be at this event)

Saturday, May 11, 2019
2 p.m.
Courtenay Public Library
300 6th St.
Courtenay, BC

Saturday, May 18, 2019
1 p.m.
Indigo at Mayfair 
Mayfair Shopping Centre
Victoria, BC

There will be

a reading of the story and craft activities, 
including finger puppet and diorama creation,

and a special photo station with 
a life-sized Paseka illustration

Books will be available for sale and signing.


I reviewed this lovely picture book yesterday here 
and 
emphatically recommend you attend one of the BC launches, 
if you can.
🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘

Wings of Olympus & Mya's Strategy to Save the World: Double book launch (Vancouver, BC)

While I'm getting ready to post reviews 

of both these wonderful novels, 

get this Vancouver book event on your calendars

for a double-dose of middle-grade youngCanLit goodness!

••••••••••••••••

Join authors

Kallie George

and

Tanya Lloyd Kyi

for the launches of

Wings of Olympus

 Written by Kallie George

Illustrated by Fiona Hsieh

HarperCollins Canada

978-0-06274-152-3

224 pp.

Ages 8-12

March 2019

and

Mya's Strategy to Save the World

Written by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Puffin Canada

978-0-73526-525-7

200 pp.

Ages 9-12

April 2019

 on

Thursday, April 25, 2019

at

7 p.m.

at

Kidsbooks

2557 W Broadway 

Vancouver, BC

••••••••••••••••

 

 Look for my reviews today and tomorrow 

for a glimpse at the rich stories of 

Wings of Olympus and Mya's Strategy to Save the World

Wild One: Book launch (Vancouver, BC)

Join debut author

Jane Whittingham

for the launch of her charming picture book

Wild One

Written by Jane Whittingham

Illustrated by Noel Tuazon

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-036-9

24 pp.

Ages 2-5

November, 2017

Reviewed here yesterday

on

  Saturday, November 4, 2017

1-3 p.m.

at

Book Warehouse

4118 Main St.

Vancouver, BC

There will be:

• activities for kids

• snacks

• prizes

• books for purchase

and

• author signing.

Heartwood Hotel: Book launch (Vancouver, BC)

Award-winning children's author

Kallie George

who delights young readers with

her series

Magical Animal Adoption Agency

will be launching her newest children's book series

Heartwood Hotel

with 2 books in one

Heartwood Hotel Book 1: A True Home

Written by Kallie George

Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin

HarperCollins Canada

978-1-44344-393-7

176 pp.

Ages 7-10

July 2017

Heartwood Hotel Book 2: The Greatest Gift

Written by Kallie George

Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin

HarperCollins Canada

978-1-44344-396-8

176 pp.

Ages 7-10

July 2017

on

Thursday, July 13, 2017

7 p.m.

at

Kidsbooks

2557 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC

604-738-5335

www.kidsbooks.ca

The two books are described, on the HarperCollins Canada website, as follows

Book 1: A True Home

Downton Abbey meets The Tale of Peter Rabbit in this heartwarming chapter book about a mouse discovering where she belongs.

When Mona the mouse stumbles across the wondrous world of the Heartwood Hotel in the middle of a storm, she desperately hopes the staff will let her stay. As it turns out, Mona is precisely the maid they need at the grandest hotel in Fernwood Forest, where animals come from far and wide for safety, luxury and comfort. But it’s not all acorn soufflé and soft, moss-lined beds. Danger lurks nearby, and as it approaches, Mona has to use all her wits to protect the place she’s come to love. Because this hotel is more than a warm shelter for the night. It might also be a home.

Book 2: The Greatest Gift

Follow sweet Mona the mouse and the rest of the Heartwood Hotel staff as they settle in for a relaxing winter—or so they think!

Mona has finally found a place to call home: the cozy Heartwood Hotel, where she works as a maid and sleeps cozily snuggled up to her best friend. Following the festive St. Slumber celebration, most of the guests have settled in to hibernate, and the staff is looking forward to a relaxing winter. But disruptions abound, from a difficult duchess to a mysterious midnight snacker. As the snow stacks higher and the food supplies shrink lower, Mona will have to gather friends both old and new to keep the peace, finding help along the way in some of the most unexpected places.

Though Vancouver is impossible for me to visit for this book launch, I look forward to reviewing both books for HarperCollins Canada who sent the book(s) in the most adorable of promotion packages I have ever seen.  See if you don't agree:

It's a box that opens into a hotel room 

(grass bedding, pillows and comforter) 

for a small woodland creature. Too cute!

Pandas on the Eastside

by Gabrielle Prendergast

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-1143-0

192 pp

Ages 9-12

October, 2016

Reviewed from advance reading copy 

Never underestimate the power of goodness to overcome that which others consider weaknesses: youth, poverty, lack of education, dysfunctional families.  Ten-year-old Journey Song doesn’t.  She sees beyond the slummy side of the 1970s Eastside of Vancouver and sees a community of friends, that includes classmates, school staff, street people and local merchants.

Some people call the Eastside a slum.  That’s because they are describing buildings and roads instead of people.  To them, people on the Eastside probably look poor, sad, uneducated, sick and worthless.  But I don’t care what they think.  To me, the people around here are friends. (pg. 1)

And she’s going to need all of them in her mission to help the pandas housed in limbo at a local warehouse while the governments of China and the United States engage in a bureaucratic kerfuffle regarding action during the Vietnam War.

Though Pandas on the Eastside is narrated by the youthfully buoyant voice of Journey, each chapter brings another Eastside community member to the forefront, from homeless Kentucky Jack and mentally ill Contrary Gary, to teacher Miss Bickerstaff and her black boyfriend Ben Wallace, and Officer Pete Baker, and grocer Mr. Huang. Everyone adds to Journey’s story, not the least of which is her father whom she meets for the first time, finally answering some of her questions about her heritage.  But, just like everyone else on the Eastside, it doesn’t matter where you come from but who you are now. For Journey, her now involves helping the pandas and hopefully spreading some happiness in a world filled with war and sadness and conflict.

Gabrielle Prendergast, who made her literary mark with young adult novels in verse Audacious (Orca, 2013) and Capricious (Orca, 2014), demonstrates a formidable skill for writing an intricately-plotted, character-filled middle-grade novel that confronts prejudice without preachiness.  Yet it’s Gabrielle Prendergast's rich setting that truly drives the story, providing the impetus for action and consequently acceptance.  Pandas on the Eastside is an uplifting story from a time long-gone but a place ever-present in heart and geography.


(A version of this review was originally written for and published in Quill & Quire, as noted in the citation below.)

Kubiw, H. (2016, September). [Review of the book Pandas on the Eastside, by Gabrielle Prendergast]. Quill & Quire, 82 (7): 37.

Burned, Exposed, Unleashed: Retribution series

But each of us had taken on the responsibility of protecting or avenging those few who had become dear to us.  Willing to risk our lives to see justice done.  We were all so different and yet so much the same. (Exposed, pg. 86)

Three teens: Josie, Raven and Jace.  Three injustices needing to be righted.  One series.  Retribution.

Exposed
by Judith Graves
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-4598-0726-6
137 pp.
Ages 12+
October 2015

Although the three books in the series can be read in any order–I read Unleashed first, then Burned and Exposed–and my image shows the books in alphabetical order,  I’d like to start with Judith Graves’ contribution to the series, Exposed.  Exposed is Raven’s story.  Raven, who has left the home of her meth-addicted parents, has found a new family working with other young people as an urban climber getting into high-end, secure car parkades to steal cars for Diesel.  And climbing is a release for her.

From here all my worries seemed smaller, so small they could be tucked away in my pocket and forgotten, like empty candy wrappers that would someday just slip away unnoticed.  (pg. 32)

Raven anticipates leaving this life when she turns 16 in a few weeks, diligently going to school and secretly saving her money and purchasing a houseboat for herself, and, to that end, Diesel has her training a younger climber Supersize.  But when Diesel sets up Supersize before he’s ready to lead a team and tragedy ensues, Raven is determined to get even with Diesel.

Burned
by Natasha Deen
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-4598-0726-6
161 pp.
Ages 12+
October 2015

While scouting out cars to steal, she meets Josie, the main character in Natasha Deen’s Burned. Jo has been on the streets for two years and has learned the way to survive is to trust no one, show no fear and that “hope is just another way to spell dead” (pg. 26).  But, though Josie has found a way to make herself useful,  scouting security leaks for a family grocer, helping stock shelves at a community kitchen, and painting art forgeries, she’s still looking for retribution against the woman responsible for the deaths of her mother and younger siblings.  Josie is out to

Burn her with the same heat she used to set my life on fire, and the orange red flames that scorched the breath from my family will cauterize her soul. (pg. 3)

Josie is out to prove this woman cop shot her family and another young woman, but she needs the help of  ATM Guy whom she spots using his tech skills to steal money at the family grocer.  When she approaches him to try to get evidence from the cop’s laptop, she learns that his name is Bentley and his brother is Jace, whom she refers to as Boxer Boy because of his physique, and so the third protagonist is introduced.

Unleashed
by Sigmund Brouwer
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-4598-0726-6
160 pp.
Ages 12+
October 2015

Jace, Sigmund Brouwer’s protagonist in Unleashed, leads a double life: one as a boxer slumming it at Billy’s gym, and one as the preppie, chess-playing son of disgustingly wealthy and emotionally-abusive Dr. Winchester Wyatt.

Life, to me, was a combination of chess and boxing.  You had to think everything through a couple of moves ahead and also be prepared to pound hard and often. (pg. 107)

Jace  is determined to get something on his father, especially because of the  horrific way he treats Jace’s tech-brilliant younger brother, Bentley, who was born with Laron syndrome which manifests as dwarfism.  Though he enlists a private detective and then Raven and Josie’s help to learn of some scandal in Winchester’s medical background, Jace has major trust issues and has to find a way to determine whom he can expect to be forthcoming and cooperative without taking advantage of his wealth.

The stories in Retribution are complex and intricate and the plot and characters interlaced in sophisticated weaves.  Writing the books must have been a complicated process for Judith Graves, Natasha Deen and Sigmund Brouwer.  But, the three authors stepped up, pen or laptops in hand, and were able to create a coordinated story with multiple plotlines while keeping their own writing voices unique and distinct.  That’s quite an accomplishment, especially for high-interest YA told in about 150 pages each. And, in the end, I believe that, though Raven, Jo and Jace are involved in less-than-legal schemes to get retribution, readers will admire their determination to seek justice.

I stopped thinking about my sorrows and focused on something else. Infinite possibilities. (Unleashed, pg. 160)

I’m hopeful that Jo, Raven, Jace and Bentley will continue to be that irrepressible team that is “living in the shadows, dispensing their own kind of justice” (Unleashed, pg. 156) and I look forward to their next quests for retribution.

†  †  †  †  †  †  †  †  

Remember: Orca Book Publishers has a contest on until November 30, 2015 (see my post about it here).  It's all about those infinite possibilities.

Kah-Lan The Adventurous Sea Otter: Book Launch (Vancouver and Kelowna)

Celebrate 
Sea Otter Awareness Week, 

Science Literacy Week, 

and 

the launch of children’s author Karen Autio’s new book!

Kah-Lan, the Adventurous Sea Otter

Written by Karen Autio

Illustrated by Sheena Lott

Sono Nis Press

978-1-55039-244-9

64 pp.

Ages 7-12

September, 2015

on Saturday, September 26, 2015

10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

at

Vancouver Aquarium

845 Avison Way

Vancouver, BC

AND

on Saturday, October 3, 2015

2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

at

Okanagan Regional Library

1380 Ellis Street

Kelowna, BC

Special to this event:

Contest for students!

A free author presentation 

for the school or homeschool co-op 

with the most students attending the event

Door prize for teachers!

Draw for a reading circle set of 6 copies 

(donated by Sono Nis Press)
for teachers who attend

Both events include:

• a reading by Karen Autio

• a Q & A with Karen Autio, and 

• a book signing.

Here's the description from Sono Nis Press, the book's publisher, retrieved here:

Kah-Lan, a young sea otter, is hungry. He is sure there are big crabs and sea urchins, his favourite foods, around the point, but his mother won’t let him out of her sight. Then, one day, Kah-Lan sees his chance. He and his friend Yamka race to the point and soon they are swept into danger. At first, the challenges are familiar: strong currents, crashing waves, the open ocean, and Orca, who is hungry too. Then, as the sea otters travel unfamiliar waters, they encounter new and strange dangers: two-legged furless creatures; fearsome, noisy, smelly things that pull log islands; and fish-filled webs that threaten to tangle them up and drag them down. All the while, they struggle to find enough food to keep going. Will they ever get back home? 

The heroic travels of two dynamic and realistic sea otter characters are a wonderful introduction to sea otters, and to the human activities that threaten them. Warm and appealing illustrations by Sheena Lott and a triumphant ending will inspire readers to learn more about these remarkable animals, helped by the factual notes and resources provided by author Karen Autio, who has loved sea otters from first sight.  

This is the fourth book by popular author Autio, and her first foray into illustrated chapter books and natural history.

Susan Juby and Susin Nielsen: Book Launches

Two authors

two new books

The Truth Commission reviewed here

We Are All Made of Molecules reviewed here

many book launch events

CALGARY 

Monday, May 11, 2015

7:00 p.m.

Indigo CrossIron 

BRAMPTON

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

7 :00 p.m.

Chapters Brampton

TORONTO (North York)

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

7:00 p.m.

Toronto Public Library, North York Central Branch 

OTTAWA

Thursday, May 14, 2015

6:30 p.m.

Ottawa Public Library, Carlingwood Branch

VANCOUVER (Kitsilano)

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

7:00 p.m. 

Kidsbooks in Kitsilano

Rabbit Ears

by Maggie De Vries
HarperCollins Canada
978-1-44341-662-7
222 pp.
Ages 13+
March, 2014
 
Don't be deceived by the innocuous, seemingly innocent, title. Rabbit Ears is neither.  It is a tough story, and it's based on a true story which is devastating. 

Kaya is only 13 but life has not been kind to her, though almost no one knows what she has and continues to endure.  Her sister Beth, 16, watches out for her as best she can but she doesn't understand what motivates Kaya, and their mom continues to want to save Kaya from herself, sending the police out for her, excusing her adopted daughter's attitude, and giving her opportunities to recover from her troubled times.  It's an endless cycle of running away to unsafe situations, returning home, trying to stick with the "normal" life, and then abandoning it yet again.

Told in the alternating voices of Kaya and Beth, Rabbit Ears takes readers into the unseemly and dangerous dark side of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, to which Kaya is introduced by another student, Michelle, who rescues Kaya from a beating at school.  Though she enjoys the freedom of hanging with street kids, taking pot and avoiding school, Kaya tries to do the right thing, knowing that her sister and mother have her best interests at heart.  But, with school feeling more and more impossible, especially after a girl, Diana, whom Kaya obviously knows, starts going to her high school, and home not feeling like the right place for her to be, Kaya goes downtown with Michelle again. This time, though, Michelle trades sex for heroin and Kaya meets a sex trade worker, Sarah, who tells her to go home.  But Kaya returns and begins her own descent into heroin use and prostitution.

Though Kaya is gone for weeks, and her mom and sister continue to search for her, there is a trip to Kamloops which rekindles Beth's fascination with magic and reminiscences of her dad's passing. It's those memories that help Beth put together the fragments of Kaya's life that may explain her sister's thinking and feelings.

Just like the toy rabbit in Beth's box-to-box trick–in which it is made to appear in a different box from the one in which it originated–there is much that is mysterious about Kaya's disappearances and reappearances.  Her thinking is unpredictable, based on circumstances unknown to her family, even to herself.  She knows that home is the better place to be, but it continues to feel wrong to her.  No child should ever feel that, especially when the option is to find consolation on the streets at age 13.  Like those rabbit ears, barely poking out of the box, Kaya tries to stay put and on her mom and Beth's radars, but sometimes going elsewhere is her only choice.

As I plainly announced in the introduction, Rabbit Ears is a tough read.  There are drugs, violent sex, rape, swearing, assault, and painful emotional trauma. Maggie De Vries does not minimize the horror, though she does create a less horrific ending than the one that her sister sadly experienced. Kaya's very existence is so vulnerable, so fragile; it's able to splinter with a single word.

"Diane has shattered a very, very fragile thing.  And no claws, needles, or paid-for sex acts are going to piece it back together." (pg. 168)

But never deny the fragility of the whole family, finding ways to deal with that shattering, with food, magic, work, therapy, anger.  This is Kaya's story but Beth and their mom are taken along, nay, join her in it, as the significant supporting cast that they are.  Rabbit Ears is the gnawing heartache that no child or family should ever endure, but Maggie De Vries tells it as it needs to be told and she tells it very well.

Mister Got To Go, Where Are You?

Written by Lois Simmie

Illustrated by Cynthia Nugent

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-490-8

32 pp.

Ages 4+

June 2014

Mister Got To Go, resident feline of the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver and star of Mister Got To Go: The Cat That Wouldn't Leave (2003) and Mister Got To Go and Arnie (2012), is back in his newest story, Mister Got To Go, Where Are You? from Lois Simmie and Cynthia Nugent.  This time, Got To Go is missing.

After nine years enjoying life at the Sylvia Hotel, Got To Go truly appreciates all the little perks, so it's hard to believe that Got To Go would just leave.  While Mister Foster, the hotel manager, has never thought the cat appropriate for the hotel, hence his name, Mister Got To Go's absence is of great concern to everyone at the hotel, including Mister Foster.

Got to Go hadn't planned to leave when he jumps into the leaves in the back of a gardening truck.  But when he jumps off, he doesn't know how to get home.  He makes a quick friend in Jim, a homeless man who shares his fish and chips and cardboard box in the park with Got To Go.  However, after three days, homesickness sets in. But how is he going to get home when he can't even smell the sea?  Poor Got To Go endures hardship upon hardship as he looks for any signs of home.  He gets wet in the rain, cuts his paw on something sharp, is chased by a dog, fights with another cat,  and goes hungry. But when he finally smells the sea again, Got To Go knows the direction he has got to go.

It's delightful to see Mister Got To Go again and in a story in which he is able to find a happy ending, i.e., his home at the Sylvia Hotel.  Lois Simmie's text doesn't anthropomorphize this special cat but rather gives words to the thoughts he must have when lost.  His demeanour is one of calm and quiet determination, coupled with resolve that he will get home, and it's this that will have little ones cheering for him.  Cynthia Nugent gets him right every time, whether he is curious, wet, scared or content. He may not do the big goofy grins of a Cheshire Cat but he is everyone's cat, the cats we love, worry over, spoil, and treat like family.  Maybe that's why we love Mister Got To Go: his story is the happy ending we wish for all the homeless, feline and otherwise.  As much as some may scoff at their contributions to our lives, they are all worthy of our care.  Lois Simmie and Cynthia Nugent get that right in Mister Got To Go, Where Are You?

Just as an aside, the endpapers of the book show Got To Go's extensive travels both from the hotel (front endpaper, below) and back to the hotel (back endpaper) and are a delightful means to track his journey.  Although the maps are reader-friendly, I suspect those who have been to Vancouver and specifically to the Sylvia Hotel will be particularly enamoured.

The Boundless: Book Launches (Canada and USA)

Award-winning author

of these favourites

Kenneth Oppel

launches his newest book and series

a middle-grade fantasy with trains, murder, steampunk automotons

and no-end adventure

The Boundless

by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Canada
978-1-443410328
336 pp.
Ages 10-14
Release April, 2014

While Kenneth Oppel will also be attending numerous schools, both in Canada and the United States,

most of the following tour dates at bookstores and such are open to all!

IN CANADA

April 26, 2014

2:00 PM
Chapters Brampton

Brampton, ON 

May 5, 2014

7:00 PM

Munro's Books
Victoria, BC 

May 6, 2014

9:15 AM

Belfry Theatre
Greater Victoria Public Library
Victoria, BC 

May 6, 2014

7:00 PM

Vancouver Kidsbooks
Teacher’s Night Event
3083 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

May 7, 2014

7:00 PM

North Vancouver District Library 
(Lynn Valley branch)
1277 Lynn Valley Road 
North Vancouver, BC
 

May 10, 2014

2:00 PM

Fish Creek Library
11161 Bonaventure Dr SE 
Calgary, AB 

May 11, 2014

2:00 PM

Chapters Sherwood Park
#500 - 2020 Sherwood Drive 
Edmonton, AB

May 12, 2014

7:00 PM

McNally Robinson Grant Park
1120 Grant Avenue 
Winnipeg, MB 

May 14, 2014 

1:00 PM

Point Claire Public Library
Point Claire, QC

May 14, 2014
7:00 PM
Beaconsfield Public Library
303 Beaconsfield Boulevard 
Beaconsfield, QC

IN THE U. S.

April 28, 2014 

4:30 PM

Children's Book World

Philadelphia, PA

April 29, 2014 

10:30 AM

Politics and Prose

Washington, DC

April 30, 2014

6:30 PM

St. Charles City-County Library 

Spencer Rd. Branch 

St. Louis, MO

May 2, 2014 

7:00 PM

Anderson's Bookstore
Chicago/Naperville, IL

May 20, 2014

7:00 PM

Copperfield's Books
Petaluma, CA 

May 21, 2014
7:00 PM

Hicklebee's

San Francisco, CA 

May 22, 2014

7:00 PM
Reading Bug
San Carlos, CA

Get more details at
 Kenneth Oppel's blog at http://kennethoppel.blogspot.ca/ 

and

check out the book trailer  here.

Lockdown: Book Launch (Vancouver)

Join 

author

Maggie Bolitho 

at the launch of 

her young adult disaster/survival book

Lockdown

by Maggie Bolitho

Great Plains Teen Fiction

978-1926531922

192 pp.

Ages 12+

Release June, 2014

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 This Book Launch 

will take place on

May 2, 2014

7:30 p.m.

at
 

Lynn Valley Library

Vancouver, British Columbia

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The following blurb comes from Great Plains Spring 2014 catalogue at http://www.greatplains.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/GP-Spring%202014_web.pdf

When a great earthquake rocks the Pacific Northwest, fifteen-year-old Rowan Morgan is hiking in a suburban forest. Tremors rip the coast from Oregon to Alaska and turn Rowan’s world upside down.  After her father is wounded and taken to the hospital, he orders Rowan and her brother to stay inside his earthquake-proof, survivalist home. While the electrified fences offer some protection, it isn’t long before mobs gather, desperate for some of the food and water rumoured to be held inside.

Rowan knows that if the hungry neighbours had any true idea of the riches in father’s cellar and water tanks, they wouldn’t be so easily sent away. Early one morning, Rowan leaves the compound and sets off in search of her father. She is turned away from the hospital and so goes to check on nearby friends where she finds a local gang has moved in. She escapes from them only to run into a stranger she met in the forest the day before.  Why is he following her and what does he want?

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That certainly gets my interest up.  I suspect it will do the same for many a reluctant reader as well.  Earthquake, survivalists, mobs, suspense, maybe a romance? Seems to have it all. Enjoy the book launch!