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October 26, 2020"I Didn’t Realize How Damaged I Had Become" Firefighter Bryan Ratushniak's Memoir is Powerful, Honest, & Moving
The image of a firefighter is an emotionally charged one: a person who literally exists to save us from one of the most inherently terrifying forces in the world. It's a heavy mantle both figuratively ...
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October 14, 2020Colleen Nelson on Bringing Playfulness to Picture Books, Her Favourite Canadian Kids' Books, & More
Whether you're a parent or just remembering your own school days, everyone can relate to the jangling nerves that come with starting a new school or new stage as a student. In Colleen Nelson's loveable ...
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October 06, 2020"There is Something Universal in How Children Connect with Stories" Bahram Rahman on Literacy, Equality, & Collective Memory
It's easy to forget how powerful reading can be, but when the right to literacy is denied, it is a chilling reminder. The children in Bahram Rahman's The Library Bus (Pajama Press, illustrated by Gabrielle ...
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October 01, 2020The sweet spot
First off, it’s an honor to be here. Thank you to Graham and Grace and all the good folks at Open Book for inviting me to sit in this month. I thought I’d start by telling you how I came to writing, ...
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September 30, 2020"Boring the Reader is the Worst Crime of All" Meet Our October writer-in-residence Dietrich Kalteis
As the temperature dips, there is no better time to curl up with a piano-wire-taut pageturner. Which is why we are so excited to welcome award-winning author Dietrich Kalteis as our October 2020 writer-in-residence ...
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September 29, 2020Matt James on Last Minute Edits, a Kitchen Table Studio, & How to Get the Most Out of Picture Books
Governor General’s Literary Award winner Matt James is well known for illustrating Northwest Passage (an acclaimed tribute to the Stan Rogers song of the same name) and writing and illustrating The ...
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September 22, 2020Lana Button's New Picture Book Helps Kids Cope with a Common Classroom Anxiety
New environments can be intimidating at any age, but all the changes that come with going to school as a kid can be especially tough. In Raj's Rule (Owlkids Books, illustrated by Hatem Aly) picture book ...
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September 16, 2020Adan Jerreat-Poole on Comfort Reads, Finding Identity in Fairy Tales, & One Fabulous L'Engle Quote
As readers enter Adan Jerreat-Poole's The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass (Dundurn Press), they sink into a richly rendered fantasy world at war, where witches' assassin are the most deadly of weapons. Like Eli, ...
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September 10, 2020"Great Books Will Find a Way In" Jon-Erik Lappano on His New Picture Book & the Magic of Writing for Kids
Remember the collection you had as a kid? Maybe it was seashells or marbles, Barbies or bandanas, but nearly every kid went through a phase of excitedly collecting something - and every new acquisition ...
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September 09, 2020"Your Past Inhabits Your Present" Emily Urquhart on Why Creativity Has No Age Limit
There's no age limit on creativity, and yet there's often an assumption that the most innovative and vital work comes from the young. Bestselling author and journalist Emily Urquhart doesn't buy that ...
