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December 27, 2017Reading Books While Desperately Avoiding Loneliness
There was a tree surrounded by countless of its kind, but also all alone, as the only one alive. Its nearby kin debarked and digested, steamed into slop, robbed of their resin and lignin, cleaned, screened, ...
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July 28, 2016Service Industry Hell (Part 5): Sex in Cemeteries and a Dancing Monkey
A lot of the inspiration for my new book, Congratulations On Everything, came from the things I saw while working in bars, restaurants, and hotels, and from the experiences of friends who did the same. ...
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December 01, 2016Enter 49th Shelf's Holiday Contest to Win Books for You and a School Library of Your Choice!
If you were lucky enough to have a terrific, well-stocked school library in your early years, you know what an impact such a space can have on reading development - both educationally and in terms of ...
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June 01, 2023Happy 45th Birthday to Groundwood Books! Enter to Win Classic Books & Iconic Swag
Groundwood Books is one of Canada's most iconic kids' books publishers and they're celebrating an incredible 45 years of bringing us books that are both highly decorated and loved by kids and caregivers ...
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June 09, 2020
What Makes a Good Children’s Book?
You’re buying a book for a new baby, or for your own restless 12-year-old. You know what books delighted you when you were a kid. But are those books actually good? And are they likely to please and ...
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November 28, 2022A Love Letter to the Canadian Children’s Book Centre
It’s November, month of #GivingTuesday, and I want to highlight the wonderful Canadian Children’s Book Centre, the only national, not-for-profit Canadian organization dedicated to “encouraging, ...
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August 30, 2017
Humour and Children’s Books
I don’t think I was raised in a particularly funny family. My dad was often described as being extremely intelligent, but I don’t think I ever heard someone call him funny.Growing up, I recognized ...
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August 09, 2016Doing My Song and Dance
I sent out my first godawful poem for publication when I was ten or eleven years old. I sent it to the Toronto Daily Star; I obviously hadn’t done my market research, since they didn’t publish poetry. ...
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November 17, 2017
The noir playing fields of YA
Today we'll leave the scotch-soaked detectives of noir at the bar and move on to the dark playing fields of YA! We have the great pleasure of chatting to the über-talented Evan Munday, author of The ...
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March 31, 2017
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Being a Writer #10: Amy Jones
I was so happy to meet Amy Jones several years ago in Thunder Bay, and then again when our books were released in the same season, and we shared the stage at a few literary festivals. What is the one ...