Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers and students can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process. OK. We’ve talked about how to take notes and how to track our sources, either manually or using a reference manager. Today I’m going to discuss another fabulous app for…

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The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome, has been nominated for a Yellow Cedar Award in the 2021 Forest of Reading! I am both thrilled and honoured to be in such great company, so I’ve created a series of video book talks to celebrate the work of my fellow nonfiction kidlit authors and – hopefully – to inspire readers like you to discover their work.  Today, we’re discussing Gone is Gone:…

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Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Dana L. Church. Take it away, Dana! As I write this, it is less than a week before my first book, The Beekeepers, is released.* I am thrilled, ecstatic, and excited! But to be honest, I am also a bit scared. Will readers like it? Will it sell? Will it get bad reviews? It sort of feels like I’m…

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The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome, has been nominated for a Yellow Cedar Award in the 2021 Forest of Reading! I am both thrilled and honoured to be in such great company, so I’ve created a series of video book talks to celebrate the work of my fellow nonfiction kidlit authors and – hopefully – to inspire readers like you to discover their work.  Today, we’re discussing Hawks Kettle, Puffins…

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Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers and students can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process. Last time, we talked about note-taking skills, and why it’s important for writers to know where every piece of their information originally came from. Today, I’m going to introduce a…

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The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome, has been nominated for a Yellow Cedar Award in the 2021 Forest of Reading! I am both thrilled and honoured to be in such great company, so I’ve created a series of video book talks to celebrate the work of my fellow nonfiction kidlit authors and – hopefully – to inspire readers like you to discover their work.  Today, we’re discussing Powwow: A Celebration…

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February 17th – next Wednesday – is the second annual I Read Canadian Day! Help me celebrate it by spending 15 minutes reading a book – any book! – by a Canadian author. Might I suggest The Boreal Forest? Or any of the other fabulous kids’ books nominated for awards in the Forest of Reading? There are lots of other ways that you, your kids, your schools, and your libraries can get involved. Visit I…

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The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome, has been nominated for a Yellow Cedar Award in the 2021 Forest of Reading! I am both thrilled and honoured to be in such great company, so I’ve created a series of video book talks to celebrate the work of my fellow nonfiction kidlit authors and – hopefully – to inspire readers like you to discover their work.  Today, we’re discussing Under Pressure: The…

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Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers and students can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process. So far, our discussions of research have focused on how to find interesting, relevant information for our writing projects. Now we’re going to look at a skill that’s equally important,…

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The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome, has been nominated for a Yellow Cedar Award in the 2021 Forest of Reading! I am both thrilled and honoured to be in such great company, so I’ve created a series of video book talks to celebrate the work of my fellow nonfiction kidlit authors and – hopefully – to inspire readers like you to discover their work.  Today, we’re discussing It Began With…

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