I’m still freaking out a little bit about not being ready for Halloween, and here we are, with Christmas just around the corner. But I’m pretty sure I’ve nailed the holiday decorating: I’m back from a whirlwind trip to Boston, where Tech Support and I took in the sights, and where I – with author-friend...

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Jean Mills. Take it away, Jean! Like most authors, I use the world around me – especially my own world of experience – to create stories for young readers. So it’s not hard to identify the spark that ignited...

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Happy I Read Canadian Day, everybody! If you’re not familiar, today is the day we celebrate Canadian stories by reading a Canadian book for 15 minutes. All forms of reading count, and you certainly don’t have to stop after 15 minutes. Goodness knows I never do! This year, I’m celebrating I Read Canadian Day with...

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Karen Autio. Take it away, Karen! The most important tip for having a playdate with a child with developmental disabilities is just to have [a playdate]. —Sarah Lyons, freelance writer and mother of six Playdates at our home got...

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Alison Lohans. Take it away, Alison! Creating new things. Sometimes beautiful things. We rarely know the deep origins, or why a particular “something” begins to wiggle, and then morph into a new creative work. Ever since high school, already...

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Autumn is creeping up on me. It’s getting dark earlier and there are more cloudy days, neither of which my light-sensitive brain is very happy about. But as things get a little greyer, I’ve been gifted two enormous reasons to celebrate. Polar has just won the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Award! The...

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Lana Button. Take it away, Lana! My new picture book is best served with Sprite in a fancy glass and my Grammie’s scotch cake cookies. So set your oven to 325F and mix: 1 pound of soft butter 1...

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Heather Stemp. Take it away, Heather! I began writing Amelia & Me, the first book in the Ginny Ross Series, when Amelia Earhart dropped into my family history. The convergence of Amelia’s history with my own was an opportunity...

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So apparently it’s the middle of July already? The backyard menagerie doesn’t seem surprised by this news. The first clutch of robins has fledged, and a pair of goldfinches have set up house in a tree just over the neighbour’s fence, so we get to watch them swoop past our deck on their supply runs....

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Sheryl McFarlane. Take it away, Sheryl! Hi, I’m Sheryl McFarlane and I’m so excited to share my new picture book, The Blue Canoe. It’s published by Familius and beautifully illustrated by Laurel Aylesworth. Every cabin day is a paddle-on-the-lake...

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