Thanks to the 49th Shelf for including The Mostly True Story of Pudding Tat, Adventuring Cat on its middle-grade Christmas wish list! Read the whole list here!

Aspiring kidlit authors in the Annapolis Valley! Children’s literature is one of the most creative and rewarding genres. I’ll be leading this 2-hour workshop on writing for young readers, sharing insights on writing for the juvenile market, leading participants through exercises that will help them create child-centred stories, as well as offering publishing tips. Click here to register.

Annapolis Valley kids! Please come out to hear this rolicking tale of a hero with a tail. And a flea! Tuesday October 1, 3:30-4:30. Details here.

I’m thrilled to be introducing these two cuties to the world. Pierre and Paul are two friends (deux amis) and the stars of my upcoming bilingual series with Owlkids Books! The first title is Avalanche! which is conveniently the same word in French and English. Many thanks to the talented Alice Carter.

And a good time was had by all! Please check out my conference interview with Kidlit TV.

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I’m thrilled to be taking Pudding Tat to Austin, Texas for the Texas Library Association conference. I’ll be signing books at 11:00 am on 16 April, 2019. Please drop by if you’re in Austin! For more about Pudding Tat, Adventuring Tat, click here.

So pleased to have my 16th children’s book come into the world! Read more about this adventuring cat and his miserable six-legged sidekick here.

I’m excited to share the cover of my upcoming middle-grade novel, The Mostly True Story of Pudding Tat, Adventuring Cat! Thank you to illustrator Stacy Innerst for the beautiful art work and to Groundwood Books. Pudding will be sauntering into the world April 1st.

I am just one of many children’s authors devastated by the news of Sheila Barry’s passing.  I began working with Sheila at Kids Can when she nurtured Jasper John Dooley into print.  She moved on to become publisher of Groundwood Books, where we also worked together.  Over the years we became snail mail correspondents and friends.

From Sheila I learned that children’s literature is every bit as creative and challenging to write as adult fiction; more so, if you dare. Despite the misconception that kidlit is didactic, she had only one rule that I ever heard her mention: if someone is jumping on a trampoline, give her a net. She urged us to take chances, walked us through the impossible, and so she kept her writers safe and published books that gave kids the chance to soar.

Sheila was our net.

Please read her Publishers Weekly obituary.

How thrilling to see a book translated into a another language.  Now Jasper John Dooley is making all kinds of new friends in … Turkey!  Here’s the information for Turkish speakers.