Loretta Garbutt: A Little Story with a Big Message

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Loretta Garbutt. Take it away, Loretta! Writing for children is an incredible experience and it’s also a lot of hard work. But, I love it. Not every single minute, but when I sit to write, I feel like I’m...

Continue reading


Joanne Levy – How Bird Poop Inspired a Book

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Joanne Levy. Take it away, Joanne! One of the most common questions I get from young readers is, “Where do you get your ideas?” If you’re an author reading this, I’m sure you’re nodding along—it’s very common. I take...

Continue reading


Farida Zaman: Aliya’s Secret

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Farida Zaman. Take it away, Farida! Aliya’s Secret published by Owl Kids is a picture book very close to my heart. Firstly, because it’s my debut picture book as an author / illustrator, and secondly because it was inspired...

Continue reading


Aimee Reid: The Birth of a Book

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Aimee Reid. Take it away, Aimee! I remember the months of waiting for my first child to be born as both a thrilling and vulnerable time. As is my tendency when encountering change, I prepared and planned as much...

Continue reading


A Dickens Year and a Schrodinger’s Week

The week between Christmas and New Years’s is always a weird one for me. We’re poised on the brink between last year and next year, reflecting on 2023 and planning for 2024. Caught between leftover holiday indulgences and upcoming new year’s resolutions. Somewhere between the coziness and lights of the holidays and bracing ourselves for...

Continue reading


Rina Singh: The Lion Queen

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Rina Singh. Take it away, Rina! The Lion Queen was inspired by the true story of Rasila Vadher, the first woman guardian of the last Asiatic Lions of India’s Gir Forest. The book is gorgeously illustrated by Tara Anand...

Continue reading


Happy Antarctica Day: Fun Facts and Recommended Reading

Happy Antarctica Day! I’ll be honest: I have no idea how it’s even December already, so today’s post celebrating Antarctica is a little less polished and a little more… random. We’ll start with a couple fun facts leftover from Polar research, and end with a few gift-giving suggestions for the best of all winter holidays,...

Continue reading


Susan Currie: Perseverance and Iz the Apocalypse

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Susan Currie. Take it away, Susan! Iz the Apocalypse took me seven years to write. I’ve honestly lost count of how many versions there were. Characters and storylines came and went as I fought to figure out exactly how...

Continue reading