Mahtab Narsimhan: The Boy and the Banyan Tree – A Story About Gratitude and Giving Back

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Mahtab Narsimhan. Take it away, Mahtab! Who is the tree in your life? And whom will you be a tree to? There are many people in our lives, family, friends, teachers, and mentors, who nurture us and make us...

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Tipping Towards Fall: The Autumnal Equinox

Science Literacy Week is almost over – almost, but not quite! There’s still time to get some free science-y goodness in your life, so hop on over to the Science Literacy Week website to learn about last-minute events happening near you. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, today marks another ending… it’s the...

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Happy Science Literacy Week! And Also, What IS Science, Anyway?

It’s the most, wonderful tiiiiiime of the year – at least, if you’re a science person! It’s Science Literacy Week! If you’re not familiar, Science Literacy Week is an annual, national celebration of all things science. Universities, libraries, and other organizations all across Canada are offering FREE STEM EVENTS for all ages. Hop on over...

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Amanda West Lewis: Historical Fiction as Time Traveling

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Amanda West Lewis. Take it away, Amanda! People who write historical fiction generally love research. We have a reverence for minutiae and often find ourselves spending many hours reading about things that have nothing whatsoever to do with our...

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Lea Beddia: Struggle, Resilience, and Difficult Choices

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Lea Beddia. Take it away, Lea! What are the first words you think of when you read Teenagers are…? Did the words resourceful, hard-working, or resilient come to mind? We’ve all heard negative stereotypes about how today’s generation have...

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Frieda Wishinsky: How a Zinnia Sparked a Book

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Frieda Wishinsky. Take it away, Frieda! I’ve always been fascinated by the story behind a book.  What sparks an idea or theme? My latest picture book, A Flower is a Friend with luminous art by Karen Patkau, published by...

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Karen Krossing: Addressing the Monster in the Closet

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Karen Krossing. Take it away, Karen! I’ve loved playing with words and making up stories ever since I was a child. Back then, I drank imaginary tea and served it to my imaginary guests. I pretended a goblin lived...

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